Deviot resident Simon Morris is no usual retiree.

While most of the elderly population begin to slow down and live at a leisurely pace upon leaving the often rigorous and monotonous nine-to-five working life, the English-born avid outdoorsman began to ramp up his daily physical output well past the point even peak athletes would consider.

After celebrating his 60^th birthday, Mr Morris decided he would attempt to achieve a feat only about 500 people in the world have completed - the triple crown of hiking.

So he began a process that took several months of extreme persistence and tireless dedication ... convincing his wife, Maggie, to tag along with him.

"I woke up to an elbow in the ribs from her at about four one morning and she said 'I'm excited,' so I thought 'wow I think I know what this means'," he said.

"But I was wrong, as she went on to say 'I'm excited because I've decided to do the hike with you,' that was equally as thrilling of an outcome for me, and so we began our preparations."

The couple - both veteran hikers - set off for the Mexican border in April of 2015 - the starting point of the iconic 4,270-kilometre Pacific Crest Trail.

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The mammoth hike was expected to take seven months, and would have seen the Morris's trek through the Mojave Desert, up into the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, and across the inland wilderness of Oregon and Washington, before reaching the Canadian border.

However, a decision was made about halfway through that Mrs Morris had lost too much weight to continue safely, and the pair made the hard choice to stop and fly back home to Australia.

"It gets dangerous at times, because you simply can't eat as many calories as you're losing," he said.

"That's mainly due to having to carry a light rucksack, which obviously can't have too much food in it or it'll get too heavy and impede your ability to walk - so the diet of the average long-distance hiker usually consists of ramen noodles, dried fruit, and chocolate bars, which you have to stock back up on in each new town you pass."

Four years on from the duo's failed attempt, Mr Morris returned to the states on his own. He completed not only the final section of the PCT, but also the entirety of the Appalachian Trail.

His journey from Georgia, through 14 states, and into Maine, resulted in him losing 15 kilograms and burning through three pairs of shoes. However, that was not enough to deter him from coming back for more, and he planned to do exactly that a year later, if not for the untimely intervention of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, Mr Morris was afforded an extra two years to recuperate and plan, the latter of which, he said, was one of the most crucial aspects to consider when hiking extremely long distances in overwhelmingly isolated and rural areas.

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"There's such a diversity of terrain and temperature, because one week you're in a desert and the next you're enduring heavy rain and biting cold wind, so it's of great importance to properly prepare for that," he said.

"Not to mention organising your VISA, as well as transport like shuttles, and accommodation when you reach towns to rest at, plus figuring out where you're going to be able to get food."

However, Mr Morris said as important as plans were, they often fell over, and the true adventure began at those stages of the journey.

"Rather than having the carpet pulled from under you, you learn to dance on a moving carpet," he said.

It was that exact organised yet loose mentality that Mr Morris brought into his final American odyssey this year - the 5,000 kilometre Continental Divide, beginning in Mexico, before following the Rocky Mountains through five states and into Canada.

The feat took Mr Morris 139 days - only 11 of which were spent immobile - and required him to do it back-to-front after a 400-kilometre portion of trail was blocked off due to the possibility of a bushfire occurring there.

Rather than trekking around that area - instead of through it - and risking getting to the mountains three weeks too early, where the snow would be far too thick to walk through, Mr Morris took up the offer of a friend he'd met on the trail and flew out to his home in Canada for a month where they would wait for the ideal time to set off once again.

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"At least 50 to 60 per cent of hiking is problem-solving, and this was a perfect example of the repetitive requirement to adapt, adjust, and overcome without wasting important time thinking about it too much," he said.

"But that not only applies to situations that involve human error and correction but in those that we have no control over too, like the presence of wildlife."

Mr Morris said he had heard many a tale - that sounded like they had come straight out of a Jack London novel - of hikers encountering mountain lions, wolves, moose, and both grizzly and black bears, the latter of which were known to be particularly violent when protecting their young cubs.

It was for that reason Mr Morris carried around bear spray, never ate at the same campsite he would sleep at, and used a rope to lift his rucksack into a nearby tree each and every night. But even that wasn't enough to spare him the horror of encountering a protective mother grizzly, with her frail cub cowering close behind.

"She sent the cub up a tree and just stood there and watched me, all I did was just do a big circle around her and I was fine," he said.

Aside from external factors, Mr Morris believed the true challenge of a long-distance hike was working through the three states of being that, in his view, were bound to be experienced at some stage of the journey.

The first was physical, as Mr Morris believed most hikers attempting any of the three trails he had conquered were weeded out within the initial 1000 kilometres due to soreness or endurance issues, both of which he faced on a daily basis. On top of that, he even managed to contract COVID, but fought off head spins and shortness of breath to make a full recovery, all while continuing to hike about 30 kilometres per day.

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"You just don't entertain the thought of stopping. Instead, you keep pushing - it's a mindset thing," he said."

"Funnily enough though, while your brain helps you overcome the first phase, it is the main issue in the second - which I call the phycological and emotional stage."

Mr Morris said it was there he had seen countless young hikers throw in the towell due to the pure dullness of being with their own thoughts 24/7, listening to the same music on repeat, and living identical days over and over until they couldn't bear it anymore.

"There are three solutions I implemented to overcome physical and mental problems on my hikes - rest, rest, and more rest," he said.

Mr Morris believed if those who gave up hung in there a little longer they would have eventually reached what he referred to as the spiritual phase.

"After a while of hearing the repetitive sounds of your feet hitting the ground, your rucksack clattering into your shoulders, and working through every thought that enters your mind - you reach a stage of quiet, where all internal monologue momentarily disappears and the veil between you and your environment begins to slowly fade away," he said.

"It's a total feeling of oneness ... a blending."

Mr Morris said those moments - that the more religiously inclined types might describe as finding god - were what hiking was all about, often outweighing the satisfaction of completing the journey itself.

"Hiking will wreck your life in the best way and change your perceptions."

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