Update and Statistics

“Keep walking. Life is a journey.“

June 28, 2021

I will be taking a few weeks away from hiking the Appalachian Trail so I can vacation with my family.

This is my wonderful family— including my new son-in-law! (This picture is proof that I occasionally wear something other than a blue t-shirt and tan shorts!)

So far in 2021 I have hiked 474.1 miles on the Appalachian Trail, which is 21.6% of the entire 2193.1 mile trail.

The breakdown of my mileage by state is as follows:

• Tennessee: 114.4 miles from the VA/TN border to Indian Grave Gap
•   Virginia: 315.0 total
  •           3.4 miles from the VA/TN border to Damascus
  •           311.6 from the parking lot at McAfee Knob (Roanoke) to the VA/WV border
•      West Virginia: 4.0 miles from the VA/WV border to the WV/MD border
•      Maryland: 40.6 miles from the WV/MD border to the MD/PA border
•      Pennsylvania: 0.1 miles from the MD/PA border to Pen Mar Road (All right, I need to do more miles in PA. 0.1 miles is just lame!)

I have been on trail for 32 days, so I have averaged 14.8 miles per day.

While on trail I have had a blast and I have been scared out of my mind. I have enjoyed the trail community and I have been lonelier than I have ever been. I have met all kinds of people and I have learned all kinds of new skills. My time on trail has definitely been an adventure!

Whenever I have gotten really scared or times have gotten tough, I remember — “If you can’t do it brave, do it afraid.” (And long-distance hiking has done great things for my prayer life!)

As a section hiker, I have used my car to get from one part of the trail to another, so my car has done significantly more miles shuttling me to the trail than my hiking shoes have done on-trail!

And my amazing and wonderful husband has put in many miles behind the wheel — picking me up, dropping me off, and rescuing me. My section-hiking adventures would not have been possible without his full support, and I am deeply grateful to him!

And I am so very thankful to all of you who have been praying for me and supporting me with your texts, calls, and comments! It is an amazing blessing to know that people are praying for you!

I shall resume my AT adventure in mid-July. One of the perks of section hiking is that you get to choose which parts of the trail you do when. In an effort to avoid hiking in the heat, my next section will be about 1000 miles further north on the AT!

Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!