Liz Thomas

Elizabeth Thomas (born 1987) is a thru-hiking champion and former women's unassisted speed record holder for the Appalachian Trail. She holds the hiking "Triple Crown," having completed the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. She is the pioneer of the Chinook Trail in Washington and the Wasatch Range in Utah. She is Vice President of the American Long Distance Hiking Association-West, an ambassador for the American Hiking Society, and an outdoors writer for Wirecutter, a New York Times publication. She is also Editor-in-Chief of Treeline Review, a hiking gear publication. As of 2018, she completed 20 long-distance wilderness hikes.

Early life Thomas was born in Sacramento, California and experienced a "typical suburban upbringing." As a child she was "really drawn to nature, but [...] wasn’t really that active." However, a first-grade trip to a mile-long nature trail made a big impression on her, and from then on she attempted to get her parents to take her back to the trail on weekends. (Cascade Hiker Podcast, Ep. 127, 4:30) Thomas's mother was born and raised "in a Japan that--and even now--is not really for equality...not a great place to be a woman. Women didn't really do physical activity, they didn’t run or anything;" therefore, Thomas's "becoming physically active, becoming adventurous was a way [she] rebelled as a teenager." In the process, Thomas received the Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship for her research on long-distance hiking trails, conservation, and trail town communities. she completed her first thru-hike, the Tahoe Rim Trail, solo in six days. At the time, she "had a lot of experience dayhiking solo and doing big peakbagging trips with <24 hour goals" and had "car camped" and led a five-day backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon, but had never "overnight-in-the-woods" hiked. In 2011, Thomas hiked the 2,181-mile Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine, in 80 days and 13 hours. who simultaneously broke the male record held at the time by Matt Kirk. In 2018, Karel Sabbe beat Anderson's record.

In 2013, Thomas near-completed a thru-hike of all of Denver, Colorado's breweries. In 2014, Thomas, Whitney La Ruffa, and Brian Boshart pioneered the approximately 290-mile Chinook Trail in Washington. In 2015, Thomas trekked the Sierra High Route. In 2017, Thomas published her book, Long Trails: Mastering the Art of the Thru-hike. In August 2019, Thomas was featured in Condé Nast Traveller's feature story 14 Globetrotters Redefining the Way We Travel.

Thomas leads groups on urban hikes of 11 American cities. for Backpacker Magazine "Liz Thomas, Queen of Urban Hiking" Guest Nov. 19, 2018 Cascade Hiker Podcast "135: Treeline Review with Liz Thomas" Guest Nov. 5, 2018 By Land "Episode 52: Learn To Thru Hike with Liz Thomas" Guest Sept. 24, 2018 Cascade Hiker Podcast "127: Liz "Snorkel" Thomas—Her Story" Guest Feb. 19, 2018 The Adventure Sports Podcast "Ep. 350: Mastering the Art of the Thru-Hike--Liz 'Snorkel' Thomas" Guest Jan. 4, 2018 Dirt in Your Skirt "#78: Liz Thomas - Author, Thru-Hiker, Environmentalist" Guest