Ryan “KidzMeal” Gallagher was born and raised in The Woodlands, Texas where he fell in love with the outdoors while achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts of America). Seeking to make a career out of studying the natural world, Ryan attended the University of Texas at Austin and earned a bachelor's degree in Geography in 2018 with the plan to work in water conservation. While there, Ryan also helped found the Longhorn Outdoors Club to find others to camp with and create an avenue for future students to connect with the outdoors. After college, Ryan struggled to find meaningful environmental work that would pay the bills, so he pursued work as a GIS Analyst and took advantage of every opportunity away from the office to explore the vast landscapes of Central and West Texas. Despite these short trips, he still felt a nagging urge to get outside and reconnect with the outdoors community. So in March of 2023, he sold half of his belongings, moved into storage, and thru-hiked the 2,198 mile Appalachian Trail. While on the trail, he fell in love with the thru-hiking dirtbag lifestyle and (more importantly) his sweetheart Anna Tallmadge (aka “The Instigator”). Ryan met Anna at mile 344 on the porch of Uncle Johnny’s where he didn’t give her a hard cider because he “didn’t know her” and they have been hiking together ever since. After the Appalachian Trail, Ryan and Anna moved in together, along with Ryan’s grumpy 40-something-year-old Three-Toed Box Turtle (Boxy) to an apartment in Seattle, Washington so that they could have unparalleled access to the Pacific Northwest’s incredible public lands. Despite spending the last year climbing volcanoes, exploring islands, and hiking through old-growth forests, both Ryan and Anna have felt the persistent urge to return to thru-hiking. So on March 22, 2025, they will arrive in Campo, California to begin the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail!