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Heather Anderson          

Endurance Hiker & First Female To Complete Triple Crown In Under A Year

With 28,000 miles to her name, 2019 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Heather Anderson has made history on America's most iconic trails. Anderson, who goes by the trail name Anish, is the only woman who has thru-hiked the U.S.'s mega trails — the Appalachian, the Continental Divide, and the Pacific Crest three times. This includes her historic Calendar Year Triple Crown hike in 2018 when she hiked all three of those trails in one March-November season, making her the first female to do so.

She also holds the overall self-supported Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Pacific Crest Trail (2013) – hiking it in 60 days, 17 hours, 12 min, which broke the previous men’s record by four days and established the first female record. She also holds the female self-supported FKT on the Appalachian Trail (2015) in a time of 54 days, 7 hours, 48 minutes, and the Arizona Trail (2016) which she completed in 19 days, 17 hours, 9 minutes.

As a professional speaker, Anderson speaks regularly about her adventures and the lessons learned on trail. She is the author of "Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home," chronicling her Pacific Crest Trail record, and "Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail" about her 2015 AT record. She is also an avid mountaineer and peakbagger working on several ascent lists in the US and abroad.

Speech Topics

Education and Instruction

These talks synthesize Heather’s deep knowledge and experience base into concise and informative presentations. These presentations can be combined with one another and/or interactive sessions to create a workshop format. Great for outdoor clubs looking for educational programming. Sample topics: Intro to Ultralight Hking, Thru-hiking 101, Backpacking for Women, Trail Nutrition, Training for your First Thru-hike

Dream Big, Be Courageous

This talk centers on the concept of choosing your own path in life. Heather has pursued her dreams both on trail and off despite setbacks, failures and societal pressures to the contrary. An excellent choice for any group seeking inspiration through the lens of wilderness adventure.

Adventure Stories

These talks center on a specific hike and weave stories and experiences from the trail into a compelling storyline. Perfect for outdoor groups looking for an evening of entertainment.

News

Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Heather Anderson on Her New Book
Heather sat down in the middle of the trail and thought to herself, “I really am incapable.” Tears streaming down her face and blood running down her legs from cuts, she contended with the possibility of failure. It’s a feeling we’ve all experienced, long-distance backpacker or not. Everything’s going wrong, you’re tired, frustrated, probably hungry, and the three-year-old child inside you attempts to take over and force you to give up.
How Heather “Anish” Anderson Finished the Triple Crown in a Single Year
First, the numbers: It took Heather “Anish” Anderson 251 days, 20 hours, and 10 minutes to hike the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. In that time, she covered a total of 8,000 miles, averaging 25 miles a day from March to November and wearing through a pair of shoes approximately every 20 days. She hiked her way through 22 states in the company of bears, wildfires, and knee-deep snow. And when she finished her in New Mexico this November, she became the first woman to complete America’s three most famous trails in a calendar year.
Heather Anderson Found Healing on Her Historic PCT Hike
Heather Anderson will probably never read this story. It’s not personal. The 37-year-old hiker, ultrarunner, and writer, known as Anish in the long-distance hiking community, doesn’t read most stories about her achievements. Not even the ones about her impressive fastest-known-time (FKT) records on long trails or her most recent accomplishment, becoming the first woman to hike a calendar-year Triple Crown—that is, knocking out almost 8,000 miles to complete the Appalachian Trail (AT), Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and Continental Divide Trail within a single year.
Pro Tips for Journaling Your Next Adventure
If you know anything at all about Heather “Anish” Anderson, you likely know how her two books about hiking end. Thirst (2019) finishes at the Canadian border, where she successfully completed the fastest-known self-supported time of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013. Her new Mud Rocks Blazes, published in March, culminates on Georgia’s Springer Mountain, where she obliterated the previous record for a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. They end, in essence, with success.
Meet the trailblazing thru-hiker who walked 8,000 miles in a year
I ask Heather “Anish” Anderson if she is a spiritual person. I know it must take more than pure physical strength to will someone to walk 8,000 trail miles in 251 days. I have also heard that she does not like a lot of fanfare—such as being named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year—and I want to give her a question that will resonate deeper than just asking how she pulled it off. She answers simply, “yes.” Nothing more. No explanation.

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