“Perhaps the profession of doing good is full, but one should be kind at least to himself, Take a course of good water and air and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own.” John Muir
Hello! I’m Brazen-Trails! I wanted to start this website to help encourage and guide aspiring backpackers to the outdoors, especially those brave enough to venture alone!
I come from a childhood with zero camping/hiking background. My first true hiking happened when I was studying abroad in Chile. Being raised in Kansas, I thought hiking was synomous with walking, but climbing the Andes definitely changed my mind about that. More importanlty, I began learning about the peace you can find in the wilderness and started visiting more National Parks back in the United States. After a year, I would confidently be able to call myself a hiker.
My next step was to call myself a backpacker. However, I was completly intimidated to start backpacking and had zero idea about where to begin. Hiking and then returning back to my warm house seemed worlds away from actually staying out on the trail! My first backpacking experience, or what I now look back upon and call “backpacking-lite” was the Camino de Santiago. For those who do not know, it is a 500 mile pilgrimage across Spain arriving in Santiago de Compostela. I spent a month living out of my backpack and hiking the mystical trail. This was the trail that taught me resilience as a hiker and as a person. It also taught me that solitude, nature, and cafe con leches are healing to the body and mind. This is where I realized the beautiful outcomes that can come from allowing your body to walk and listen and be.
Many of my hiking adventures call to me. The trails pick me and I follow. The Camino de Santiago chose me and I followed. Soon after, the Applachian Trail began to call. However, I felt overwhelmed to answer the call of the Applachian Trail. That meant tents, food supplies, extreme weather and ruggedness beyond anything I had ever experienced. I hope to be able to share these learned skills, as they allowed me to adventure to places that have pushed me so far out of my comfort zone that I had no choice to be changed entirely. The experiences that these skills have provided have allowed myself to find peace and joy, which all humans deserve to experience. Happy Trails.
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