Jeff Garmire doesn't exactly stop to smell the roses when he hikes. In fact, he doesn't stop for much at all — not for snow, snakes or even blisters.

On Sunday, he achieved what's known as an FKT — fastest known time — for the 800-mile Arizona Trail, one of the 11 National Scenic Trails.

He did it in a record 15 days, 13 hours and 10 minutes. Meaning he averaged 51 miles a day.

The trail, which most people take years to complete by checking off one segment at a time, starts at the border with Mexico and wends through the state's deserts, canyons, forests and mountains to the Utah state line.

"It was a different kind of hike," he said this week in an interview with The Arizona Republic. "I was definitely pushing myself, up to 18-20 hours a day, moving forward, constantly."

Along the way he battled sleep deprivation, blisters, injuries and snow, lots of snow, especially for the last 30 miles.

On Day 7, he was pushing to get to one of his resupply stores before it closed at 7 p.m. His feet got wet and "couldn't handle the pressure of 44 miles in 10 hours." They began to crack and bleed. He used superglue to close the wounds and pressed on.

"You get pretty good at accepting discomfort, and I was becoming as accepting as I could logging 800 miles in two weeks," he says.

So why did he do this? In case you haven't guessed, Jeff is somewhat of a free spirit with a competitive streak. And he'd rather be outdoors than, well, anywhere. And hiking is a lot cheaper than a lot of other recreational pursuits.

He grew up in Vancouver, Washington, which is just across the river from Portland, Oregon and attended Oregon State University, where he majored in accounting. Accounting. And outdoor recreation.

"Accounting isn't really my passion, but I knew I would need something that would pay the bills," he says.

He now lives in Colorado, but says, "I'm not really tied down in any way. I don't even own a car.

"I’ve kind of just been nomadic, living on couches, spare rooms, living as cheaply as possible."

He quit his last accounting gig last year after saving up money to launch his assault on the Arizona trail record as well as FKTs on other state trails this year, namely the 215-mile John Muir Trail in California, the Colorado Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail.

While this year's focus is speed, in years past he's focused on distance, chronicling his adventures on his website, freeoutside.com.

Last year, he hiked what's known as the Great Western Loop — a 6,875-mile trek over five major long-distance hiking trails in the Western U.S.: the Pacific Crest Trail, the Pacific Northwest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Grand Enchantment Trail, and the Arizona Trail.

In 2016, he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail — more than 7,700 miles — in one calendar year, a feat known among the hiking elite as the "calendar triple crown."

And the year before he climbed all 58 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks — while holding down a full-time job.

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How 'FKT' records work

For the uninitiated, there are two types of FKTs, supported and non-supported. Supported means that someone can bring you supplies along the way. Non-supported means you have to carry everything yourself, stash supplies along the way and risk having them pilfered or raided by animals, or buy them along the way.

Jeff's Arizona Trail FKT was non-supported. Before he began, he mailed three boxes to stations along the hike — a guest ranch, a marina and a restaurant — and picked them up when he walked into town. The rest of the way he bought supplies at general stores or other outlets.

He admits to miscalculating slightly: He lost 12 pounds from his already lean frame on the journey.

"My feet are cut and bruised, my mind is cloudy with exhaustion and my body has wasted away down to nothing. It was not exactly the experience I was expecting, but it was the one I was searching for," he said in a Facebook post at the end of his journey.

But it was worth it.

"Being out there, it's a pace of life I really enjoy," he said. "The idea of 800 miles in two weeks is too big to think about, so you're in a routine just thinking about each day individually.... You're doing it all under your own power, building up a competitive edge."

Along the way he did manage to take in visuals of some of Arizona's wildlife.

"I saw quite a few snakes, coyotes, elk. I'm pretty comfortable with wildlife, but I did hear rattles that made me jump a couple times."

Still there were moments.

"On the Arizona trail, I was dealing with a lot of sleep deprivation. On the second to the last night, I was seeing moon shadows on the trees and hallucinating that they were Sasquatch," he said.

"On the opposite end, dropping down into the Grand Canyon on a night with close to a full moon, and seeing in that light was pretty amazing."

It was enough of an inspiration to keep him going for the last 30 miles or so after the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which meant plowing his way through fairly heavy snow, which he hadn't anticipated.

And when he finally finished, his celebration was pretty low key.

"I walked up and there was actually a few other hikers around a camp fire. A lady at the campground handed me a beer, and we sat around the fire and talked a bit, which was pretty nice.

"It didn’t really sink in until I was on my way out to Los Angeles," where he's "visiting a friend for a few days, enjoying the sunshine and the beach."

John D'Anna is a reporter on the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com storytelling team. He likes to hike, mainly from his desk to the coffee machine. Send story ideas for him to john.danna@arizonarepublic.com and follow him on Twitter@azgreenday.

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