Hooked on hiking: 1st woman to finish 900 miles of Smokies trails 5 times hopes to hike more

In 1995, Jennie Whited finished hiking all 900 miles of maintained trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Two years later, she did it again.

The following year — 1998 — she again completed all the trails on the park's trail map, and in 1999, she got really busy and knocked off all 900 miles for the fourth time, finishing on her 60th birthday.

At that point, she contemplated quitting. Instead, she spent the next five years doing what was by now second nature. On Nov. 20, 2004, at age 65, Whited finished her fifth time around every trail in the park.

People who have hiked all 900 miles of marked trails in the Smokies belong to the 900 Miler Club. The club has approximately 250 members, and Whited is the only woman who has earned her 900-Miler patch five times.

"The mountains do something for me that nothing else does," she said. "It's just a feeling I get. I've never found a better stress reliever."

Whited grew up in Johnson City and moved to Knoxville in 1980, where she taught middle school and high school business education for 25 years. In 1980, she competed in the Marine Corps Marathon; in 1993, she hiked up 6,360-foot Mount LeConte, the third-highest peak in the Smokies.

It was her first hike, and it changed her life.

"I thought that I was in fairly good shape, but it took everything I had," she said. "It was enough of a challenge to get me hooked."

The foundation for Whited's five completions of all the park's trails was laid when she joined the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club and the Thursday Hikers, two hiking clubs that frequent the Smokies. Hiking mostly on weekends and during the summer, she eventually realized she had only 15 more hikes to go to complete every trail in the park.

Her hiking companions were mostly schoolteachers like herself who had summers off. They called themselves "the driven women."

Hiking all the park's trails actually requires logging more than 900 miles because of the way the trail system is laid out. According to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 900 Miler Club, the lowest number of hiking miles claimed by a club member is 1,092, but most people hike about 1,500 miles before their maps are complete.

It takes a team effort to complete all the trails in the Smokies. Shuttles have to be provided, and hikers need companionship for safety's sake as well as to stay motivated. Whited was fortunate to receive encouragement from Lou Murray, who founded the 900 Miler Club, as well as a wide circle of hiking friends drawn from the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club and Thursday Hikers club.

During all those years of intensive hiking, Whited backpacked and camped out overnight in the Smokies only three times. Most of her hikes stretched between 10 and 20 miles, but there were a few 25-milers that demanded predawn starts and post-sunset finishes.

Whited said her favorite spot in the Smokies is still Mount LeConte, where she went on her first hike.

Whited, who is 69, is scheduled to have a knee replacement this month but plans to resume hiking as soon as she can.

"I'm pretty competitive, and I like being the first one in the group," she said. "Now, I try to keep up where I can see everybody. It certainly has humbled me."

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com