Interview with Ted "Cave Dog" Keizer
Cave Dog takes a break from the Hike 50 Challenge to chat with MZ...
By MountainZone.com
October 13, 2005

Ted "Cave Dog" Keizer Photo courtesy of Cave Dog

Home: Lives in Portland, Oregon

Raised In: Coos Bay, Oregon

Music: Classic Rock

Food: On the trail, mashed potatoes wrapped in a tortilla. If you add milk, you have to eat it within a reasonable about of time or it will go sour. In this sport, I have to eat while I am competing. Wrapping everything in a tortilla makes it easy to eat and hike at the same time, no need for utensils, no waste.

Recent Achievement: Helped get a bill through the Oregon State legislature for an airport terminal in my hometown.

Favorite Author: John Steinbeck. His descriptive powers are amazing. Also, he has an unusual, but tangible and amusing outlook on life.

Biggest Fear: I don't live life by fears.

Next Goal: A very long nap…

About Ted Keizer: Ted “Cave Dog” Keizer is currently attempting to set a record, hiking 50 kilometers in each of the 50 states in less than 100 days. His next hike will take place on Friday, October 14th in North Dakota, following the Maah Daah Hey Trail and he will be South Dakota, hiking the Badlands, on Saturday. Cave Dog is a seasoned record breaker. He holds a number of speed-climb records including climbing all of Colorado's “fourteeners” in 10 days, 20 hours and 26 minutes. MountainZone caught up with Cave Dog earlier in the challenge; he is now nearly half way done.

MZ: How did you learn about Bob Marshall's attempt to hike all 50 states?

TK: Each time I try to challenge a record, I research those that came before me. It is important to know the heritage of the record and the philosophy by which that record evolved over the years. I first heard about Bob Marshall when I was doing research for the Adirondack 46 High Peaks record. He, with his brother George and their friend Herb Clark, set the first speed record for climbing the Adirondack High Peaks in 1918. I would not be surprised if that was the first record of its kind in the world. He was a really interesting character, an American original, living life by his own terms. He had an enormous amount of energy and he directed it towards the preservation of our wildlands and for social justice for the underrepresented.

I felt I had a connection with him; he was someone who has had a real impact and we have both held the Adirondacks High Peaks Record…As he was rising up the ladder in the U.S. Forest Service, he was becoming a Washington, D.C. bureaucrat. However, his passion for the outdoors made him insist that his contract have the unusual stipulation that the Forest Service was required to send him around the country to assess various National Forests. As he reached new areas, he had a life long goal to do a 30-plus-mile hike in all 48 States. He was close too, in the low 40s, when he died at the untimely age of 38. That was in 1939. His project has remained unfinished since that time. What better way to honor a person that we all have a great debt of gratitude to, than to do what we both love—long day hikes?

MZ: How does your plan differ from his?

TK: There are a few differences. Rather than hiking 30 miles, I'm hiking 50 kilometers, which is the difference of about 1.1 miles. Fifty kilometers seems a little more round. “50 km in 50 States.” However, since 50 km is more than 30 miles, I will still fit within his requirements. His was a lifelong goal; I'm doing it all in one effort, in less than 100 days. There are more States in the Union now. Also, I'm doing it as a tribute to him, out of respect.

MZ: Why 100 days?

TK: When I partnered with Duofold—they're reaching their 100th anniversary this year—we thought we would tie it into the anniversary. I have had this in the back of my mind since 2001, though.

MZ: What types of problems do you expect to encounter?

TK: When you are on the edge for such a long period of time, there are always unforeseen circumstances that come up. You have to be resourceful, do whatever it takes to keep the show on the trail. For example, when we were doing my Hawaii hike on the Kalalau Trail on the island of Kauai, we came across a hiker that had broken a leg. We did what we could, but a rescue helicopter was already on its way. Had the situation been dire, we would have had to use our support system to rescue the downed hiker, before continuing on with our record attempt. You never know what might come up. I have been nearly chased off the trail during challenges by mountain goats and moose and even had one ornery porcupine that did not want to allow me past. One time we had a support crewmember chased by a black bear for an hour before we could get people to her backcountry location to chase the bear off. We had one challenge where we blew four flat tires and another one where a tree, three feet in diameter, fell across the access road to a trailhead. We have had all phone services go down in the entire town where our base camp resided. We have had our main support vehicle breakdown and towed away before our eyes.

You prepare extensively for all kinds of contingencies, but there is no way that you can be prepared for everything that comes up in such extreme, long, and varied events. That is why you have to have a top notch support crew. This is a team sport. Everyone may be focused on me because I am the one on the trail; however, the team breaks the record together. It would not be possible otherwise.

MZ: What kind of shoes are you wearing?

TK: I wear running shoes, regular road running shoes. In Utah, the first 16 miles will be in a river, so I will likely wear sandals. In the end, I will be in the snow, so I might need crampons.

MZ: Of the gear in your backpack, besides food and water, what do you feel is the most critical?

TK: My headlamp, without a doubt. I've been stuck on top of a 14,000-foot peak in the dark. I was doing night climbs of Harvard and Columbia. When I reached the top of Columbia, at about 11:00 PM, my headlamp batteries went dead. I searched for my extra batteries before realizing that I had not exchanged the contents of one of my backpack pockets when I switched out backpacks just before the climbs. There was no moon, no distant city lights, not even any stars to guide my way. There was a cliff on the east side of the ridge I had to climb down. I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees trying not to fall into the dark abyss. Eventually I discovered that when the batteries were not used for a time, they regained a small amount of their strength. I would turn on my light and run like a madman before the headlamp gave out and I ran into a tree. Then I waited. Each time I used the headlamp, I would get a little less time to run down the trail. By the end, I was only getting a few seconds of light each time. That was a long cold night…With that experience, I make doubly sure that I bring a spare headlamp and batteries.

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