Magic in the Mountains

In December of 2021 I wrote a blog post introducing Magic in the Mountains. Several months prior to this, I had completed my thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. Each night of my 2193.1 mile journey I spent time in my tent journaling about the day’s events. It was this journal that would go on to become my blog. I published all 169 days of journal entries complete with photos from each day on trail. Once these posts were live, I started writing about other trail related topics. 

My blog was alive and well for the majority of 2022. During this time I moved with my then boyfriend, Cade, to Gatlinburg, TN to begin working as backpacking guides in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cade and I met during our individual thru hikes of the AT in 2021. We fell in love while hiking to Maine and decided to continue our trail romance in the real world. 

After the AT we both moved back to our respective homes and returned to our traditional jobs. The long distance and working desk jobs quickly began to wear on us, so we decided to take our relationship to the next level and dive head first into a new lifestyle. We both took jobs with the guiding company A Walk in the Woods and were once again immersed in life on trail. This job allowed us to spend time outdoors sharing our favorite places with park visitors. It was a busy time, but I still managed to write and even began publishing online articles for The Trek.

At some point during this season, I let life get in the way of my blog. I continued writing occasionally for The Trek, but I stopped posting personal blogs. It’s easy to blame this lapse on being busy, but in reality I no longer prioritized writing. Cade and I got engaged in the fall of 2022 and began planning a wedding for the summer of 2023. We also decided to embark on another thru hike, this time tackling the 800 mile long Arizona Trail in the spring of 2023. Between planning for a multi-month thru hike and a wedding, I didn’t want to add another thing onto my plate. My blog was essentially dead from the spring of 2023 onwards.

Now, in the early fall of 2024, I am dusting off the cobwebs of my blog. In truth I put this task off for so long because I feared the enormous undertaking of restarting my blog. So much has happened since I began writing about the AT in 2021. I hiked the Arizona Trail, got married, honeymooned in Scotland, hiked the West Highland Way, quit my job, became a yoga teacher, and so much more. How would I be able to bring my readers up to speed on all my adventures? I was intimidated and didn’t know where to start. 

Who would want to read my musings anyway? I didn’t feel an urgency to write again, and I didn’t think it really mattered. No one was missing Magic in the Mountains. 

This was until I worked up the courage to reread some of my original blog posts. I remembered the passion that I had and was reenergized to share the experiences I’ve been blessed to have. Simply put, I have done a lot of cool shit and I want to tell people about it. This doesn’t come from a place of bragging, but rather wanting to encourage people that if I can do this, then so can you.

I have a plethora of backcountry experience and I want to share it with others to provide inspiration but also expertise. It is my hope that readers can learn from my mistakes and take away nuggets of wisdom and encouragement. This same mindset led me to working as a backpacking guide for the past three years, and now that that chapter of my life is drawing to a close I sought out other avenues to share my experiences. 

Magic in the Mountains is a place for me to retell my trail stories, share gear opinions, list trip itineraries, and generally ramble about what’s going on in my life. I don’t know where this blog will take me, but it is my hope that as a reader you will be able to learn something new and laugh along the way. I hope that this blog will provide a resource for future hikers and offer encouragement to those hiking from home. 

Join me in redefining Magic in the Mountains.