Jennifer Pharr Davis grew up in the North Carolina Mountains where she developed a love for hiking at a young age. At 21, she hiked the entire Appalachian Trail alone, the first of many journeys on the famed Maine-to-Georgia trail, and fell in love with long-distance backpacking. Davis has hiked more than 11,000 miles of long-distance trails, trekked on six continents and currently holds endurance records on the Appalachian Trail, Long Trail and Bibbulmun Track. She is the first woman to be the overall record holder on the Appalachian Trail by hiking the 2,181-mile trail in 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes – an average of 46.9 miles per day.

In 2008, Davis was named Blue Ridge Outdoors Person of the Year. In 2011, she appeared in the Sunday edition of the New York Times; and on national television and radio shows such as CNN, Headline News, the CBS “Early Show” and NPR’s “Talk of the Nation.” She was also named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and voted Ultrarunning Magazine’s top female performance of 2011.

Davis has also authored four books, including three North Carolina guidebooks and her hiking memoir, “Becoming Odyssa.” Davis, 30, will be talking about her new book, “Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph,” on Friday, June 28, at 4 and 7 p.m. at L.L. Bean. The book concerns her love for hiking, and more significantly a love for her husband Brew as she embarked on her record-setting journey on the Appalachian Trail.

She took a few minutes to speak to the Tri-Town Weekly about her love of hiking, the spiritual component of hiking the Appalachian Trail and the reaction her parents had when she set off into the woods alone at age 21 for a five-month trek.

Q: Growing in the mountains of North Carolina, did you have an early appreciation for the outdoors?

A: It’s interesting because my parents took my brothers and I day hiking growing up, but I never started backpacking until I got out of college in Alabama and decided to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Q: So you’re just out of college and at an age when people are interning or waiting on tables, you decide to hike the Appalachian Trail. Why?

A: I think I wanted to have an adventure between my formal education and career. I wanted to do something unique that I might not have the opportunity to do at any other time in my life. I didn’t think the Appalachian Trail would form a habit and make me want to work in the outdoor field. It was the hardest five months of my life, but probably the best five months of my life. I became a different person.

Q: What were your expectations before you started the hike?

A: I was really nai?ve as a 21-year-old. I thought the Appalachian Trail would be an adventure, which it was but I didn’t anticipate it being nearly as difficult as it turned out to be. I’d been an athlete, played tennis in college, run marathons, run triathlons, and so I felt pretty confident about my physical abilities. The trail is a huge mental and emotional challenge, as well. It’s holistically hard and humbling.

Q: How did the experience change you as a person?

A: It changed my values and the trail taught me to appreciate simplicity, silence and solitude. It also taught me about quality relationships and increased my self-confidence and self-esteem. By the time I finished, I felt I was really a part of nature.

Q: Did your parents have any misgivings about their 21-year-old daughter hiking the Appalachian Trail alone?

A: Oh yeah, definitely. My father has always been extremely supportive, but my mother has always had reservations.

Q: Hiking the Appalachian Trail is on a lot of people’s bucket list. What is the appeal? Is it because it’s there, as George Mallory said of Mount Everest?

A: It’s an incredible experience, it provides a place for you to think and be yourself removed from the multi-tasking of our day-to-day lives. The trail is very simple: you put one foot in front of the other and think about essential needs like food and water. The trail is very primitive and I think that’s one reason why it really calls to people. We belong out there in nature, that’s where are ancestors stood and it’s hardwired in us to be outdoors. You also form tight bonds with your fellow hikers. After hiking the trail 10 years ago, I didn’t realize how tight the bond was really. It was after finishing and years passed that I began to.

Jennifer Farr Davis on a recent hike near her hometown of Asheville, N.C. She will be appearing at the L.L. Bean flagship store on Friday, June 28, to read from her new book, “Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph.”

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