blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike
Long-distance backpacker Alison "Blissful Hiker" Young has walked over 13,000 miles on six continents including New Zealand's Te Araroa, Europe's Pyrenean Haute Route, Africa's Drakensberg Traverse and the Pacific Crest Trail in the United States.
In a series of personal essays coupled with found sound, this podcast explores her journey of self-discovery as a middle-aged titanium-reinforced cancer thriver, sharing the sometimes unglamorous but vital truth about empowerment, inspiring others to blaze their own trails in this journey we call life.
blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike
Appalachian Trail: Mount Katahdin
Blissful decides to put her feet on the Appalachian Trail, beginning from the north on Mount Katahdin in Maine.
- Those in the know will laugh when the Appalachian Trail (AT) is described as a "footpath" as it's more a rock climbing challenge.
- And it's tough to get to the start, 100 miles from any airport, then a 4,000-foot climb in five miles up to the summit and Mile 0.
- The weather calls for unseasonably hot weather, over 90 degrees, so it's a very early start.
- Planning two nights of camping at Katahdin Stream Campground, Blissful walks steeply up to spectacular views before hitting boulders requiring crawling, pressing, pulling and squeezing with only a few iron ladders to help.
- The tableland is easy walking, but exposed and hot with no wind and swarms of flies.
- At the top, Blissful meets a cohort of thru-hikers and carefully returns right before a loud thunder clap.
MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
