Dream of ‘American Perimeter Trail’ still alive for Bend backpacker

One day in July 2019, Rue McKenrick left his home in Bend and started walking.

He kept going for about 15 months.

McKenrick is a professional backpacker and had already through-hiked the 2,190 mile Appalachian Trail, the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail and the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail. Now he’s working to create a new hiking trail to connect the contiguous United States.

According to McKenrick, the American Perimeter Trail will be more than 14,000 miles long once developed. He set out to hike the whole thing and made it about 10,000 miles before weather conditions and health problems forced him to come back to Bend. He was diagnosed with overtraining syndrome in October of last year and spent a few months recuperating. He’s heading back to North Dakota to pick up where he left off and hike the remainder of the trail he hopes will be nationally recognized one day.

“What you see now currently on our map is the first scouting mission,” McKenrick told OPB’s Think Out Loud. “The trail is very much an organism that changes and grows and adapts as time goes on.”