10,000th Milestone

[Dschur]

From Grand Canyon Paper

4/30/2008 10:26:00 AM

Hiker marks 10,000th milestone

John Upchurch pauses on the hike that surpassed the 10,000-mile mark.

Imagine walking from Flagstaff to New York City and back, two times! Or imagine walking nine miles a day, every day, for three years.

That's the equivalent of what Grand Canyon resident Jonathan Upchurch has accomplished during his lifetime - hiking 10,000 miles.

Upchurch completed his 10,000th mile on Monday, April 14, hiking out of the Grand Canyon on the South Kaibab Trail.

His first recorded hike was also on the South Kaibab Trail in June, 1961. He then became a Boy Scout, earned the Hiking merit badge, and just hasn't stopped hiking.

He needed to keep track of miles for the merit badge and for another award, called the Century Award, for hiking 100 miles. He's kept track ever since.

In 1967 Upchurch accompanied legendary Grand Canyon hiker Harvey Butchart to Clear Creek and Cheyava Falls. The hike on which he logged his 10,000th mile retraced those same steps.

Upchurch has hiked all over the United States, and in some other countries as well. He and his wife Betty have hiked most of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.

They've also hiked the 210-mile John Muir Trail in the California Sierras.

Over 1,100 miles of his hiking has been in Grand Canyon National Park, where he now serves as a Volunteer-in-the-Park for the National Park Service.

He has also hiked in 50 other national parks and monuments around the country.

[joebartels]

That's an average of 212.77 miles hiked per year. Don't think I'd be calling Ripley, but definitely an accomplishment to sustain that rate for 47 years.

[Davis2001r6]

It's a lot, but doesn't seem like a huge amount. Heck I'm around 1600 and have only been hiking for 4 years now. I wouldn't be surprised if some people (lurkers maybe) have that much.

[te_wa]

the "Triple Crown" involves hiking the CDT, PCT, and AT all within a year. Thats almost 10,000 miles, in ONE year. In case anyone is surprised, it has been done by numerous thru-hikers.
Id think Grand Canyon would get boring after a month or so. I just dont get all suped up on the place. YMMV.

*then again, this is a medium in print addressed to most average americans, who walk less than 1.2 miles a week. people flip out when I tell them I just did a 6 mile hike... god our society is lazy

[joebartels]

27 miles averaged daily
I can bow to that considering I couldn't hang for one day

UPS is looking to hit the real Triple Crown, go Big Brown!

[Hoffmaster]

I just dont get all suped up on the place.

Oh yeah? What about your seeming affinity towards the Supes and the Mazzy's? There is hikeable land outside of the Tonto National Forest. ;-)
I suppose I can't imagine ever being bored with the Grand Canyon. Right now, a lot of those feelings stem from the fact that I am reading the biography of Harvey Butchart. Now I am jonesing real bad for the canyon. Too bad I wither and die above 85°!

To comment on the topic...I am not impressed. Well.....................maybe a little bit.

[te_wa]

its a seeming affinity alright. And it goes something like this... I set a goal to finish all of the trails and routes in the Supes. Im almost done. Its much easier than spending 3 hours drive each way to GC, and I cant afford that much gas money for a overnight trip.
The Mazzies are great and top my list of cool places because.. get this.. Im pro'lly not going to see many Hickers with their brand new Butterscotch Nalgenes and thier totally cool Nike visors. ( you know, the ones who - if told they needed designer jeans to go hiking they'd be down at Macy's first thing tomorrow - see arizona hikers for some great examples)

[Hoffmaster]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the Supes. I went crazy on that place a few years ago. I'm almost done with the trails too. But...I've got lots of old trails (not on most maps) and off-trail routes to do there. So I'll never be "done" with the Supes.

Seriously, I need a Mazzy trip to come up on a weekend when I don't already have plans. I haven't been there in over 5 years. My butterscotch Nalgene is almost beat, so I guess it'll be time to head back up there again.

BTW, you don't need to be able to afford gas for a GC trip when you go with me. Company cars rule!

[Davis2001r6]

I'm with you Matt, I can't ever get bored of the canyon either. There are still tons of trails I haven't done there and all will keep me occupied. It takes me 3 hours from my house to the canyon. Heck just to get to LDSP it takes me 1 hour, with no traffic, 4 peaks is a good 2 hours, 1 1/2+ out to tortilla flat, don't even mention Reavis or Haunted canyon, I'd be hiking in the canyon by the time I got there. I think that is what drives me a bit.

Mike your in FH's, heck the Mazi's are your backyard practically.

So 10k miles over 40 years. Yeah, pretty sure that is doable by most of us. As long as HAZ is still up and running, thats the only place I track my trips at

[te_wa]

well dont get me wrong, I think the guy is cool for being passionate about his hiking. And at that age, with all that experience, most of us pale in his shadow. Proll'y most of my opinion on the article stems from just meeting a guy on the AZT that dropped everything 3 years ago, left his residence in Oakland and headed for Europe where he hiked from Bulgaria cross country to Spain. After returning to the States, homeless, he embarked on the 3K journey along the PCT. Just before we met, he had passed through the halfway mark (~400 miles) of the Arizona Trail... he should be set to finish up on Utah's border by the next full moon. I got more information about living in the woods from that guy in 15 minutes than I have on the forums in a year. One of the funny things he said was when I asked if he was going to throw the AT into his hiking resume. He said no way, the AT is for hillbillies. (then remarked something about PCT hikers being snobs or something...) So where's his article in the paper?