Plateau Magazine June-July 2023
This issue we feature women entrepreneurs with locally run businesses and cowgirls who are protecting local animals. We also highlight protecting the land and fields that are important for bees and butterflies pollination. And for the foodies, check out our feature on the Highlands Tavern. Get outdoors with this issue, with our interview on legendary hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis.
This issue we feature women entrepreneurs with locally run businesses and cowgirls who are protecting local animals. We also highlight protecting the land and fields that are important for bees and butterflies pollination. And for the foodies, check out our feature on the Highlands Tavern. Get outdoors with this issue, with our interview on legendary hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis.
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Next Steps for hiking legend Jennifer Pharr Davis<br />
By CARLA BECK<br />
hiking<br />
Speaking for the Trees<br />
AS NORTH CAROLINA CELEBRATES THE YEAR OF THE TRAIL, FAMED HIKER, AUTHOR, AND<br />
successful businesswoman Jennifer Pharr Davis shares how trail life shaped her view of herself and the world<br />
around her. Although a native North Carolinian, Pharr Davis didn’t explore the vast outdoor recreational<br />
opportunities of this region until tackling her first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) in 2005, a journey of<br />
discovery that she documented in her first book Becoming Odyssa: Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail: “I<br />
used to think that people perceived me based on how I looked, but now that I don’t see my face, I feel like people perceive me by<br />
how I treat them—that is, by what I say to them and how well I listen. Now I feel beautiful when I make other people smile.”<br />
Jennifer Pharr Davis<br />
hiking with son, Gus.<br />
PHOTO BREW DAVIS<br />
Since her first A.T. thru-hike, Pharr Davis<br />
has clocked more than 14,000 miles on six<br />
continents, established a lucrative outdoor<br />
adventure company, launched a professional<br />
speaking business, and authored<br />
nine books. Her dream was to “engage people<br />
with the outdoors,” and now her aspirations<br />
include exploring the “intersection of<br />
politics and conservation.” After 20 years<br />
of work and life experience, Pharr Davis<br />
looks forward to learning more about how<br />
to make large-scale change happen as she<br />
works toward earning a Master’s of Public<br />
Affairs from the University of California,<br />
Berkeley. Shifting into the world of policy<br />
and politics may appear to be drastic for<br />
someone who is at home in nature, but<br />
Pharr Davis acknowledges that hiking<br />
forced her to adapt, leading her to overcome<br />
the fear of the unknown, and to grow,<br />
learn, and give back to her environment. It<br />
is precisely the desire to grow that sparked<br />
her recent decision to sell her Ashevillebased<br />
Blue Ridge Hiking Company, which<br />
she began over 15 years ago. “I knew I<br />
wouldn’t be personally growing if I stayed.”<br />
Pharr Davis explains that she and her<br />
husband Brew Davis maintain an effective<br />
work-life balance by considering everything<br />
through the filter of one question:<br />
“Is this good for our family?” The couple<br />
strives to raise their two children, tenyear-old<br />
Charley and six-year-old Gus,<br />
with a sense of adventure that naturally<br />
lends itself to flexibility with transitions.<br />
In 2013, the couple hiked with daughter<br />
<strong>June</strong>/<strong>July</strong> <strong>2023</strong> | 85
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