Edible Asheville: It seems natural to assume that you’ve learned many lessons through hiking that have shaped the course of your life and helped you along the way. Is that safe to say, and what insights could you share with us?

Day in and day out, the biggest part about being successful in life is just showing up, even when you’re not at your best. And I’m not talking about just looking nice, but finding a way to hold on to joy when things are tough, taking a moment to pause and take a breath when it all feels overwhelming, finding a way to be the best version of yourself even when it’s not as good as you’d like—that’s a life lesson I hope I can share with my kids as they grow up.

Jennifer Pharr Davis on a segment of the Appalachian Trail

You’re currently pursuing your Master’s Degree in Public Policy. Have the lessons you’ve learned in nature helped you as an academic?

I think the biggest lesson is probably learning to recover on the go. Whether I was going after a trail record or doing a more traditional thru-hike, you had to keep moving even when you didn’t feel like it. There’s an expression on the Appalachian Trail: “No rain, no Maine.” Meaning, if you’re not willing to hike in the rain and when you don’t feel like it, you’re not going to reach Maine and finish your thru-hike. Grad school has been like that.

You’re well known for being the fastest female thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail. What did you eat while hiking your record-setting hike?

The short answer is: everything. I ate a lot of cookies, cheeseburgers, fries, chips, shakes, and some fruit. I drank a lot of protein shakes like Ensure. It’s a constant battle to keep meat on your bones when you’re hiking 47 miles a day.

You’ve written nine books, including two memoirs and two guidebooks for hiking in North Carolina. Would you ever consider writing a cookbook?

Haha. Nobody wants me to write a cookbook. I think if I did it would be like “Go to Trader Joe’s. Find a parking spot. That’s your first challenge. Now walk to the freezer section and buy a bag of fried rice. Then go to the meat section and get the chicken breasts. Now go home and stir-fry it all together and voila, dinner!”

Unlike many people in Western North Carolina, you’re actually from the area—from Hendersonville—and grew up around regional foods. What sorts of foods or meals do you remember eating?

My mom was very strict about what we could eat in our house. I remember one of my elementary school teachers telling us if we memorized all the presidents she would take us to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. I came in the next day and rattled them off. Then she said “I can’t take just you. We have to wait for some other kids to memorize the list.” I was so mad! I guess their parents took them to McDonald’s a lot more than mine did because it felt like forever before anyone else memorized the list.

In 2012, National Geographic named you “Adventurer of the Year.” Are you an adventurous eater? And what are some of your favorite local eats?

I’m not not an adventurous eater. But I’m also not nearly as adventurous as my kids. We went to Fiji a couple summers ago for a clean water project. They served lots of fish and one of our guides challenged my son—who was only 5 at the time—to eat a fish eyeball. He crunched it up and swallowed it and said, “Mmm. Fishy!” We all got a good laugh out of that.

As for restaurants, I’m a big fan of Vinnie’s Italian, The Lobster Trap and our family favorite, 828 Family Pizzeria. I also love a good burger and a beer so going to Highland or Hi Wire and hitting up the food trucks and just sitting outside makes me happy.

So much of your work with writing and the business you founded, Blue Ridge Hiking Company, has promoted the benefits of getting folks outside and into nature. Any chance this love of the outdoors translates into gardening at home or working in a yard?

Yes and no. I am a wannabe gardener, but travel for work and adventures makes it difficult to keep up a green thumb. I’m big into creating space for native plants in my yard. I’m hopeful that later in life I can be a better, more devoted gardener.

You’ve hiked on six continents and in all 50 states, a total of more than 14,000 miles. How do those hiking experiences compare to hiking the AT?

I love being on trails and am a lot more comfortable on any trail than in a big city. For the most part, the primary use I have for big cities is to fly in and out of them. I tend to escape to the country as quickly as my little feet will carry me.

I’ve loved hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees and the French Alps and the coast of Australia and climbing Kilimanjaro. I’ve loved hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and the Colorado Trail. But they are all so far down the list for me compared to the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Trail.

In late 2022, you launched a petition to add wildlife passages to the area after accidentally hitting a bear on I-26. Can you give us an update on that effort?

Yes, my kids and I were driving home on I-26 and struck and, sadly, killed an enormous black bear. The tow truck driver said it was the fifth car he’d picked up in two weeks that had collided with a black bear.

I started a petition and got over 5,000 signatures and reached out to NCDOT. They were really great and said they’d look into it. We emailed back and forth and they eventually said “Yeah, a wildlife corridor is something we need to do here.” They have them all over out west, and of course we’re not as big of an open space as Montana or Wyoming or something, but we have a lot more traffic and a high density of black bears who use our area for migration, so I felt like it was really important to push for it. The last I heard they were planning to install fencing to help direct wildlife to an animal crossing underneath the bridge that spans the French Broad River.

What’s next for you?

I’m just taking it one hour at a time, honestly. I have four more weeks of grad school and will sort of survey the landscape then. I’m finishing up a book with a neighbor and close friend who we lived on our old street with for years. She’s African American and grew up in the East End. I think coming together and bridging differences is really important, especially this year with the election and all the vitriol there.

I started a nonprofit called Crossing Our Divide. You can check it out at crossingourdivide.org. I’d like to put my policy degree to use in some way. I don’t know what comes next, but I do hope that I’ll move in the direction of conserving and preserving land and caring for people. The mountains have given me so much. I’ve always felt like the Appalachians are a wise old grandma. I just want to say thank you to her, protect her and give something back.