The Mary Badass

I think it’s universal that most, if not all people, want to be recognized in some manner. Sometimes, especially in abusive situations, people try to be invisible. But in my experience, even these people crave safe recognition. Reflecting on this got me thinking how every person matters in some way. It also reminded me that…

Since I had gotten to Yellow Banks Camp, I knew I could make it to the end of the PNT on that fourth day on the beach. I had a few headlands with tidal restrictions to get around, but I had plenty of time to make them even though the walking continued to be slow,…

While hiking the coast of Washington, I had an experience that has changed me in profound ways. I spent a night camped at what is known as the Chilean Memorial. It is where the eighteen people who died when the schooner W. J. Pirrie wrecked in November of 1920 were originally buried. I don’t usually…

After leaving the kindness of Kindabird (Rosie) and SOS (Steven), I felt refreshed and ready for my final stretch on the Pacific Northwest Trail. I had what I assumed would be a four but possibly five day walk up the coast to Cape Alava, where the trail officially ends. This is the western-most point in…

Ever since I started the Pacific Northwest Trail last year, it seems part of me has been thinking ahead to when the trail might feel easier. Glacier National Park, where I the began the trail, and the area just west of that was difficult last year because there was still quite a bit of snow.…

The first thing I want to say is plenty of people do what I did without being scared. But the six hikers I encountered the day I went from Moose Lake to Dose Meadows all told me they had been terrified. None of them, including the group of four men, had been able to do…

In my last post, I mentioned my trepidation of what I would find in the Olympic mountains. I’m now writing with hindsight and can tell you that some of that trepidation was well placed. Yet I have succeeded and I’m writing this 10 days later after making it out the other side. After leaving the…

As I reach the milestone of having backpacked over 21,000 miles, I reflect how each trail I’ve done has had its own beauty and its own difficulties. The first time I did the Appalachian Trail I was in 40 days of rain in the state of Virginia alone. The second time I did it in…

I’m sitting in my tent in a state park campground on the western side of the ferry which I had to take to complete the Pacific Northwest Trail. Crows are landing on my tent. Squirrels are trying to get into my food and I feel my inner “little girl” feeling inadequate and wanting to cry.…

The older I get and the more people I meet around the country, the more I recognize most all have had significant difficulties in life and for the most part all fall outside of some societal fantasy of happy and normal. This has me wondering what normal is anyway. As always, the first place I…