2015 Appalachian Trail
Walk to Remember

What makes me want to try this, in part, is a complicated lifelong relationship with the energizing power and reward of sheer physical effort and challenge and the immense personal satisfaction I get from achieving a difficult goal. My love of mountains began when I attended a Girl Guide mountaineering camp in Alberta when I was 15.

I'll be 58 a month and a day after we depart Springer Mountain in Georgia and begin the long walk north. What an amazing adventure this will be. I am so motivated by the challenge of the trail, the time and the unknown. I will miss my children, grandchildren, husband, family and friends so very much. But knowing that they are there supporting and encouraging me will help during the dark and desolate times. Also, I am so happy that my pain and effort will be beneficial to the Alzheimer Society in the great work that they do as well as contributing to much-needed support of research into a cure. This will motivate me when it is really tough to walk another mile.

I have three daughters (see them below) all of whom are well on their way to building lives and memories of their own. It is  with pride and joy that I watch my children flourish. My eldest daughter, after studying years to become an epidemiologist, decided she needed to follow her heart into medicine. She came to be studying on the tiny idyllic island of Saba. Only one mountain in the middle!

We knew it would be cold but hadn't anticipated that it would be that cold on the east coast of Newfoundland in May. Our summer sleeping bags and thermo rest with a hole just didn't cut it. We stuck it out a few nights in deserted campgrounds (we figured it out!) but the less than comfortable nights did not detract from the magnificence of the East Coast Trail.

I was lying in bed on new years day morning looking out at the snow and ice wondering where I could go...Patagonia was a word and concept I had imagined for many years. It was summer there so Barry and I packed up our backpacks and headed off on an amazing adventure which took us along the western archipelago of Chile on a ferry boat and to the famous Mountains of Patagonia.

We went on this adventure to Alaska with some friends who assured us that we would love the cruise of the inside passage of the north west coast of Canada. We did love the views but were hugely challenged by 'cruise life'. Luckily it was possible to get off the boat regularly and walk through some of the most spectacular scenery on earth.
For three hours I stalked a big horned sheep up the side of this valley. Thinking my stealth pursuit would go unnoticed. Every time I peeked out from between a rock that I had struggled to get to, there he was, calmly looking at me. He did lay down at one point to watch me and I got some spectacular photos of him.

Fly to Bangkok from Hong Kong and take the overnight train to Laos. Sounded like a great adventure. Thing is when we travel we usually plan only a couple of days in a hotel or max 3 star hotel and then pretty much wing it. We took minibuses, rode on inner tubes down the MeKong River and spent several days hiking up to some remote hill villages. It rained, was muddy, the beds were infested with lice, but it was amazing.

In 2010 our great hiking friends from Dubai invited us on a remarkable journey along the Lebanese Mountain Trail from the Syrian border to the Bakkah Valley outside of Beirut. The Trail was in its infancy and some of the days were challenging. But the experience was extraordinary and sadly, today it would not be possible for fear of personal safety. We are so grateful for having had the opportunity.

A long weekend in Taiwan hosted by our local Sohmen Stroller in Taipei was a great time for all. Taiwan has fantastic hiking trails of which we sampled only a few. Always, we count on at least one of our group getting lost, this time was no exception. As evening fell a group of us headed back up into the hills to see what had become of the 'lostlings'. Luckily they were not too far away.

The water of the volcanic crater really looks like this caused by it's very high mineral content. Luckily the Sohmen Strollers could pop over to the Philippines for another extended weekend and walk this short but astounding climb up to the crater. On June 15, 1991, the second largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century took place on the island of Luzon, just 90 km northwest of Manila. 800 people were killed and 100,000 became homeless following the Mount Pinatubo eruption. Millions of tons of sulfur dioxide were discharged into the atmosphere, resulting in a decrease in the temperature worldwide over the next few years.

2002, 03, & 04 I organized a team of Canadian women to participate in the challenging 100km Trailwalker on the Laclehose Trail in Hong Kong. This is the biggest single fund raiser in the city. It's generally easy to get donations because people say 'better you than me'. You have a maximum of 48hr to complete the event which is supposed to be noncompetitive, yeah right!  In 2004, the ladies in the photo completed the event in 24 hours and 23 minutes. It is very tough through the mountains of the New Territories from east to west. It is surreal to be walking in your 18th hour of the event with a headlamp, on a mountain trail at 3 am. Incredible team!

My first journey to Nepal was a dream come true in 1998. My ambition leaving high school was to climb Mont Everest. Not sure where that came from but my love of mountains was intact and it took me nearly 3 decades to get to Nepal. We walked the very steep and relentless trail for several days and camped at a safe altitude. Three a.m. rise and a 3 hour climb to the Annapurna Base Camp rewarded us with an indescribably beautiful and breath taking sunrise. I was in love. The Himalaya and the Nepalese people were incredible and I was going back.

On our second trip to the Adirondacks in 1994, my girls and I submitted Mt Marcey with no snow, just a cold wind blowing at the top. I remember being so grateful that there was someone there to take this photo of us. What troopers.