Cale Newby was trudging down the trail leading away from the highest peak in Wyoming when his hiking partner, Matheson Brown, began hallucinating.
The effects of sleep deprivation were finally setting in.
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The duo was nearing the end of their 28-hour hike of Gannett Peak, a journey infamous for its remoteness, length and the glacial terrain found near the approaches to the peak, one they attempted to make without sleeping.
“We had planned on bringing a sleeping bag up and maybe just camping out for a little while to get some extra sleep, but we ended up just going straight through,” Newby said. “(We) didn’t feel like we needed it and basically just walked 28 hours straight.”
They had a world record to beat.
The trek up to Gannett Peak was not an isolated adventure, but instead it was one of the 50 hikes in Brown’s attempt to beat the world record for the fastest time to climb the highest points in each state.
Newby, a Bemidji High grad and adventure-seeker, was along for the ride as Brown’s pacer, ensuring his partner’s safety on this particular hike.
“When I (was with Brown), I just tried and made sure we were going at a decent pace, not going too fast and making sure that he’s getting enough nutrients in, drinking enough water and that kind of stuff,” Newby said. “(He) needed someone else out there to make sure that he (kept) going, basically, and didn't fall off a cliff or something.”
The sojourn to Gannett Peak was putting Newby’s pacing ability to the test.
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Both Newby and Brown had been awake for well over 24 hours as the hike neared its end. Brown had finished King’s Peak, the highest point in Utah, before attempting Gannett’s Peak, clocking just a few hours of sleep between the hikes.
In addition to the ever-growing mental fatigue, physical exhaustion was setting in.
Stream crossings and icy rivulets of melting snow had soaked Brown and Newby’s feet early on in the hike. Intent to march on, there was never a chance to dry out the hiking books.
Descending from the snow and ice on the trail closer to the peak offered a chance for the drying process to really kick in. But it quickly became apparent that the previous numbness might be preferable to the newfound itching and swelling of their drying feet.
So, with minds swirling from exhaustion and swollen feet peppered with deep blisters, Brown and Newby made that final push to find the finish line — which, in this case, was Brown’s dad Phil and a friend, Brooks Matetich, waiting at the rented minivan turned mobile hotel.
In that final stretch, Brown began sleepwalking. Newby would turn to find his partner walking “on autopilot” with his eyes closed. Moments later, Brown recanted a strange dream.
“One time he was in a convenience store in Alaska buying a soda and then he woke up and (was) like, ‘Oh, that wasn’t real?’” Newby said. “There was another time where he was a dog and he was being adopted by his younger self — it was kind of weird. He was really loopy for a while there.”
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As they neared the end, the hallucinations started kicking in.
“We had been talking about (Phil), we were almost to the trailhead and we were like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna see him soon,’” Newby said. “Then he sees the stump in the woods and he’s like “Oh, there he is,” and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’”
The lack of sleep started playing tricks on Newby, too.
“The last five miles or so of that were pretty brutal,” Newby said. “We were both pretty much just trying to make it back in the pain cave, just pushing through. … We knew we just had to keep moving.”
Finally, Brown and Newby made it back to the minivan intact, calling their hike one of the most “insane” things they’d ever done.
But Newby and Brown didn’t spend too long reminiscing on the previous 28 hours. Instead, they hopped into the back of the minivan to catch some sleep while Phil and Matetich assumed driving duties in the front seat.
It was time to rest up for the next hike.
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Attempting to break the record
When Brown began his attempt at beating the 50-high-point world record, he had two records to beat: 21 days and 41 days.
Guinness World Records recognizes David Ashley as the current record holder, as O’Brady’s record criteria differs from Ashley’s.
As it stands, there’s still some work to do to get Brown’s attempt verified. He has to submit the proof he gathered along the way, including signatures from residents of all 50 states.
But according to Newby, as well as Brown’s page documenting the attempt, Brown beat Brady’s record by over 19 hours and Ashley’s by roughly 10 days. Brown cleared both record holders in their respective criteria.
“Went into this wanting to break both records and just kind of set the record straight and just be like anyone can do this,” Newby said. “You don’t have to be an elite to do (it). His main focus was just to show people that if you put your mind to something that you want, anybody can go live their dreams.”
Brown began the attempt in early June on Denali in Alaska, the highest peak in North America. He wanted to knock out Alaska and Hawaii first.
That trip up Denali to kick things off was not without drama, though. Ryan Larsen was Brown’s hiking partner for part of the trek, but he departed before reaching the summit due to a medical emergency.
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Brown completed Hawaii next without Larsen. However, heading to the lower 48 states with some tough climbs on the horizon, Brown needed some help along the way.
Mountains and cornfields
Newby and Brown sat atop Washington’s Mount Rainier and watched the distant fireworks explode, reflecting on the previous month.
It was July 4, and Brown’s month-long attempt to break the record was finally finished.
“We just kind of sat up there for an hour and talked,” Newby said. “It was pretty awesome to be living free and driving all over the U.S. … We were kind of sad that it was over. We were like, ‘Well, guess we’ve got to go back to work now.’ At the same time, we were pretty relieved to be done. It was pretty exhausting.”
Brown and Newby had just spent the previous month zigzagging across the United States, all the while hiking and sleeping in a minivan. The expedition culminated in the finish at Rainier.
However, missing from that bittersweet final moment — fittingly accompanied by the Fourth of July fireworks — were two individuals key to the world record attempt: Phil and Matetich.
Phil’s duty during the journey was primarily in the front seat as a passenger or a driver, jetting the hikers from location to location and swapping out for the occasional rest. Newby and Matetich also hopped into front-seat duty throughout the trip.
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“Pretty much all the time, there would be two people in the front and they would have to do whatever it took to keep each other awake, basically just talking about random stuff, anything that you can conjure up in your mind,” Newby said. “It really didn’t end up being too bad, (we) never really had to drive a stretch more than eight hours. …We were basically always driving or someone was always climbing a peak.”
Alongside Newby, Matetich helped pace Brown’s hikes in some of the most difficult climbs out west. In those taxing western hikes, Matetich and Newby took turns accompanying Brown as his pacer.
Wyoming, Idaho and Montana were a particularly trying trio of states. Each peak is separated by a relatively short drive. Each summit presented a host of different challenges from lengthy trails to portions requiring more technical rock climbing abilities.
Newby called it the hardest stretch of breaking the world record.
He hiked with Brown to the aforementioned Gannett Peak in Wyoming, while Matetich stepped in for the other two expeditions.
Granite Peak in Montana was especially brutal, featuring highly technical climbs near the end to reach the peak.
“That was the hardest peak for him, mentally, just because he was very tired at the top and it was midnight when he was trying to climb the rock,” Newby said. “It was very cold, and he was climbing with crampons on and he had a big jacket and a backpack. … We were pretty nervous about that one, but he was able to get it done.”
Matetich’s trip with the group came to an end when he was dropped off in Minnesota. Thanks to the relative ease of the remaining peaks, Newby was prepared to pace the rest of the hikes.
Newby ended up hiking 41 of the 50 peaks with Brown — though “hike” might be a bit of a strong word for those treks in the country’s more vertically challenged states.
“A lot of those flat states, you can basically drive right up to the high point and touch it out of the window in your car,” Newby said. “It's kind of a weird feeling. I think the Kansas one was in the middle of a cornfield. You just drive up and (it’s) completely flat everywhere, and you’re like, ‘I guess this is it.’ Take a picture, get back in the car and drive to the next one.”
On paper, the natural endpoint to the world record attempt was Maine. However, thanks to some avalanche danger at Mount Rainier earlier in the month, Brown and his crew had decided to skip the peak and save it for last.
So with 49 peaks under their belt, the group hopped on a flight and headed to Washington and wrapped it up. And on America’s birthday, Brown and Newby reached the summit of their journey.
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