I was living a comfy-but-unfulfilling life in 2015 when I met my first thru-hikers, my heralds, my calls to action. They said it was "never too late," and even though I didn't think I was too close to death's door, I saw they had a point. So nine months later I quit my job, put my furniture in my parents' basement, and started my NOBO thru-hike, which, when a stress fracture grounded me 675 miles later, turned into a LASH.But the trail taught me what I needed to know about myself, which is that although I will never like lashing rainstorms on mountainsides, I can survive them.This fact gave me the courage to start a freelance life, one that is breathtakingly more authentic than the one I had before.If you're on the fence, leap.If you want to read more of my writing, check out www.mathinacalliope.comHugs, Notebook. Twitter: @mathinacalliope IG: mathinacalliope
Posts
Review: Right On Trek Backpacking Food Delivery
What we fuel ourselves with on the trail is as personal and important as anything else we carry, if not more so, given how infinite the approaches
Start Here: How Shenandoah National Park Is a Backpacker’s Nursery
Basically, it’s a classroom for Backpacking 101.
Consider the Timber
Shenandoah National Park, September 8–16, 2019 Dispatch 2: Megaflora It can be hard for anyone to see the forest for the trees, but in the
Tourists and Citizens on the AT
Shenandoah National Park, September 8–16, 2019 Dispatch 1: Backpacking Is Not Thru-hiking The two-and-a-half months I spent on my LASH three years
Just Taking a Vacation
Going out for a section three years after an aborted thru-hike attempt
There Are No Solutions, Only Trade-Offs
To be effective, you have to say no to good opportunities.
How to Be an Internet Hiker: Free Tips for Pajama Blazers
Step 1: Have some backpacking experience. That one time, when you were 12? And went with your scout group? That oughta do it. No need to actually
I Love(d) Not Camping
We arrive at our decisions to thru-hike in all sorts of ways. Some of us get there in a more roundabout manner than others.When I decided in 2015
Four Ugly Truths and Four Beautiful Realities About the Suck
The suck is an inescapable aspect of long-distance backpacking; no one eludes it. It is savage and unrelenting. It also, if you manage not to flee
Sharing Thru-Hiking’s Power with a Nonhiking Audience
Sometimes it takes a long time to make meaning from dramatic events in our lives. I got off the trail fifteen months ago with a broken foot, not