By Clyde Noel
Town Crier Correspondent
Los Altos resident Brian Robinson hikes into the record book - 7,371 miles in under 10 months
Brian Robinson, a 1979 Los Altos High School graduate, is becoming world famous as a hiker. Two weeks ago, he plodded up Mount Katahdin, the icy 5,268-foot summit in Maine at the end of the Appalachian Trail, becoming the first person to complete hiking the Triple Crown in one year.
Covering the Triple Crown means hiking the Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide and the Pacific Crest trails. Robinson became famous by walking all three trails - 7,371 miles - in under 10 months.
“There are probably two dozen people in the world who have hiked the Triple Crown during their lifetime,” said Roy Robinson, Brian’s father, “But only one, my Brian, did it in the same year and I’m proud of him.”
The Robinson family has been residents of Los Altos for 27 years. Each of the kids went through Los Altos schools. Brian went to Portola elementary, Egan Intermediate and Los Altos High schools. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley.
Brian started his hiking experiences with Boy Scout Troop 39 when scouts made hiking treks into the Sierra. The family, including mother Julianne, ventured into the mountains for car camping and fishing trips.
May 4, 1997, Brian and Roy began their quest to tackle the Pacific Crest Trail together, a 2,665-mile journey. They began at the Mexican border, walking through California, Oregon and Washington and ending just inside the Canadian border.
For Brian, his pursuit of the Triple Crown started Jan. 1, 2001 at the frozen summit of Springer Mountain at the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
Prior to starting, he spent six months getting into condition by increasing his walking from 30-40 miles a week up to 90. Those hikes often meant going up 7,000 feet of elevation.
After completing the Appalachian trail, Robinson went to New Mexico to begin hiking the Continental Divide during warmer weather. He considered the Continental Divide the most crucial stretch of the trip because with snow, the trail would become impassable.
“I got hit with one big storm that left a foot of snow, but otherwise the CDT was a wonderful hike,” Robinson said. The trail is 2,588 miles long, but there is not a fixed route over much of its length.
Robinson hiked the 2,665-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 84 days, averaging better than 31 miles a day.
He celebrated his 40th birthday June 1 with four former Los Altos High School grads, Kris Bunya, David Tabuchi, Theo Martinez and Frank Rosenblum, who met him on the resupply trail. They brought pizza and a cake with 40 candles.
“Isolation is the hardest part of the trip. You get homesick,” Robinson said. “People join me, but they can’t keep up because I’m on a schedule. I met some good people who could communicate and make good company, including some interesting female hikers, but I had to move on.”
His mom and dad visited the trail several times and wondered how he looked. He kept in communication through a satellite cell phone.
He enjoyed the use of the cell phone, but he described it as a “brick.” Even though it weighed less than a pound, it was one of the heavier items in his backpack.
To save time, he ate as he walked. Among his diet were Snicker bars, peanut butter and anything calorie-rich. He went through seven pairs of running shoes.
At a get-together in his Los Altos back yard this past weekend, Robinson still wore his 9-month beard and the thin and wiry stature of a marathon runner. His Los Altos home has become the site of press conferences with the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News. Sports Illustrated, U.S. News and Back Packing magazines also have contacted him for information.
After graduating from college, Robinson worked for Tandem Computers for 17 years before it was sold to Compaq. He hasn’t decided whether he wants to return to his job as a systems engineer at Compaq or hike the Trans-Canada Trail.
Robinson plans to write a book because he feels most people don’t appreciate the value of trails. “There is such a thing as a spiritual connection with nature and I want to write something about that feeling,” Robinson said.
