Late one afternoon in the Fall of 2003, my phone rang. The voice on the other end was reserved, but held enthusiasm. "My name is Andrew Skurka. I'm preparing for a long hike, and I'd like to use DeFeet socks for it." The 'long hike' part was an understatement. Skurka was 22 years old, and he was setting out to do the 'Sea to Sea' route that crosses the width of the United States. 7,778 miles in all. Never having seen him, I wondered if he was capable. He did it in 339 days. If you do the math, that's about 23 miles a day average, including rest days. He doesn't carry much with him. He's a pioneer of the light backpacking movement. Go Lite is his primary sponsor, and a fitting one.

Doing some wheel maintenance next to the trail.

After 650 hard miles, it's time for a new pair of shoes.

In hindsight, I was pretty miffed by his achievement. I had wanted to go see him on his trip and witness his style. We were not able to coordinate it. He doesn't carry a phone. If you want to see him out there, you need to either walk backwards on the trail, or wait for him at an obscure point agreed on well ahead of time. Every day you miss him, figure that you will need to drive an hour or two further up to find him. It's amazing to consider the amount terrain he'll cover in just a week. DeFeet was very proud of Skurka, and we weren't suprised to see him win Backpacker's 'Person of the Year' in 2005. His promotional trip back across the United States right after that might have been even more grueling for him. He did well over 100 appearances and talks in different towns almost every day. He showed that he is capable of way more than hiking. He brought the trail back to the people. That, in essence, is what his goal was from the start. If he is given the chance, he will always say that what he really wanted to do is increase awareness of our natural places and get more people out there experiencing them. "That", he says, "is what will preserve these places for the future."

"I sent my purifier home." Skurka drinks it down.

The lightest backcountry stove in the World? A can of cat food, with holes in it. Add some fuel, light, and you're cookin.

Skurka is 26 years old, now. He is currently on another big hike. The 'Great Western Loop', and he is again the first person to do it. It's a hike that is jaw dropping from a statistical view, let alone from the trail view. This time, I wanted to see him out there. One day there was a message on my phone. "It's Andy, I'm at Crater Lake. If you can meet me at the Columbia River, I'll be there in about five days. Pick up your phone if you see a strange number calling." The time passed, and he rang again. "It took me a while longer. I had to walk across a lot of snow, and it's kind of hard to do that." Indeed, it is. Even trying to do 10 miles through a few inches of snow takes a toll on a well trained person. So, I drove across the Columbia into Washington one morning. Skurka was where he said he'd be, exactly when he said he'd be there. I delivered him a new pair of Go Lite shoes. The shoes he had were officially detonated, having done 650 miles. I didn't bring socks. He didn't need them. He only carries two pairs of DeFeet socks. The pair on his feet included. The mileage that he can do in a pair of DeFeet's is staggering. "Maybe I haven't expressed to you how good DeFeet stuff actually is. I mean, do you even know?" he said while we walked, that day. "I've never seen anything like it. Even the DuraGloves and ArmSkins. I can't believe how good they work and how long they last." If DeFeet products spoke, they would brag with their Andrew Skurka tales.

Creature comfort: DeFeet socks inside a fresh pair of kicks.

I hiked over seven miles with Skurka that day before I had to turn around. It had been nearly all uphill. Climbing out of the Columbia River Gorge is brutal any way you cut it. We admired Mt. Hood in the distance. So far away, now, he had walked across it just two days earlier. Talking with him as we hiked, I realized I was with someone I wouldn't be able to spend enough time with. Skurka has spent a disproportionately large amount of the last four years exploring this country in a way that possibly no other person has ever done by the age of 26. I always say the best way to know a place is through your own power. Your legs, heart, lungs and mind. No motors. Skurka knows these United States. He knows our people, too.

One of these guys has been doing more hiking than the other one, lately.

Though I had met Skurka in civilian ways over the years, knowing him on the trail was a requirement for me. 2,500 some miles into his Great Western Loop, he was banged up but managing well. The snowy Cascades in Oregon had extracted their toll. For him to continually average 37 miles a day through difficult terrain means he needs to start moving early in the day and not stop until around 9pm. When we said our farewells, he gave me some water and made sure I had enough food. We backed away from each other, laughing, and then he was gone. Back at the car, with only 15 miles on me, I was in a bad way. Driving along the mighty Columbia, I was dizzy, my stomach grumbling in hunger, and the stench of Skurka's old shoes gagging me. I pulled into Hood River and within minutes downed a pizza and a Coke. By 10pm I was in my bed, but my body was hurting. Two hundred miles North, Skurka was in his bivy sack under the celestial canopy. At least 20 miles beyond where I had left him.

In a short hike, Skurka had shown me many things. I would have liked to have done 100 miles more with him. In my condition, I would have been an anchor by the end of day 1. Of all the great ambassadors that DeFeet has had over a 15+ year span, Skurka stands at the peak. When you spend some time with him, it becomes very clear that his greatest abilities are not even physical. When he stops walking, someday, he will have the capacity to do even larger things. Not that what he's already done isn't large. It's just that there is an extremely powerful force out there in the United States right now, and it's alone in the forest. This won't be the last you hear of Andrew Skurka.