The Mary Badass

I had been going at a pretty steady clip for a number of days. I did a long day out of Bonners Ferry with over 7000 feet of climbing. The following day I did the infamous lions head bushwhack after hiking 7 miles in the morning. Instead of taking a slow day following the bushwhack,…

I still had about a mile and a half of route finding to do the following morning. I made the mistake of heading in the direction I had seen Fig go the evening before rather than backtracking to where I had last seen some semblance of a path. As a result, I spent an unpleasant…

Once again, the most recent miles were hard earned. Although the downhills and uphills were not as steep as some that I’ve done, they were long. Sometimes an up or down lasted for 9 miles. The first day out of Bonners Ferry I gained over 7000 feet of elevation. I also lost 4000 feet. Much…

This Pacific Northwesttrail is kicking my butt and I have often felt like throwing in the towel. So far it is not the hardest trail I have done. The ups and downs in many places on the Appalachian Trail are much harder. The rocks on the Arizona Trail were more brutal. I was in worst…

Despite my struggles on this trail, I was doing a good job of trusting that what I needed would arrive when I needed it. So far all the hikers around me had been having good luck with hitches and meeting people who were being kind to them. I noticed that this caused a bit of…

I left Eureka feeling pretty good. I was walking well, managed to relax and calorie load in town, and was now heading out. I was confident I had figured out padding for my boots that would lessen the pain. Even though Mary offered to let me shower in the hotel room she was sharing with…

A few people have asked me how to access the podcast that was made about me by backpacker radio so I’m posting this. Here is the link. Have fun listening. Mary “Badass” Anderson an AT Winter SOBO in the 80s and Hiking the National Scenic Trails as an Older Solo Female (BPR #262)

After Glacier I spent one night in Polebridge with the crew, drying out my gear and packing my resupply. They were all taking a zero at the hostel but I felt the need to move on. I had received a very unpleasant text from someone who was angry with me, and even though I knew…

Sarah and I woke to a rainy day at Waterton Lake. Nevertheless, we were greeted by the morning light hitting the mountains surrounding the lake in a stunning way. And just as I was about to leave the lake, I looked up and saw l a magnificent rainbow. Perhaps this was foreboding of a positive…

True to the predictions when we picked up pur permits, our third day out was finally sunny. We had been counting on this as we had to cross through Stoney Indian Pass which was purported to still have a lot of snow requiring ice axes and spikes. We also knew we would have some fast…