blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike

Send us Fan Mail Blissful begins her cancer journey looking back at her life as a woman.  Blissful spends the days before a bilateral mastectomy gathering together a team of supportive women who have been through the procedure. She also walks, hikes, bikes, swims, kayaks all in an effort to calm herself – or running away from panic .  In looking forward to being flat-chested and "ultra-light&...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful wraps up her hike of the Appalachian Trail in Maine to head home for cancer treatment.  The two days between Monson and Caratunk are rain-free and magical with a winter wren, hermit thrush, northern parula plus warty frogs and a curious snake.  It's two big mountains with views including Moxie Bald and Pleasant Pond with glorious views of humpy green forested peaks l...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful makes it out of the 100 Mile Wilderness and receives a call from her doctor calling her home to have a bilateral mastectomy. It's wet and muddy but mostly road out to Monson , Maine, the first town in ten days. She has to go home, but not immediately, and can head back on trail for at least a few more days .  And it's perfect timing in sunny weather at last and...

Send us Fan Mail The trail is hard in rain, mud and cold, but Blissful gets the boost she needs from hiker and creature.   It's mountainous now in the 100-mile Wilderness , revealing only misty views of distant lakes enveloped in thick forest.  The "Sibs", two thru-hikers also from Minnesota, plus "Shoes," a barefoot hiker, meet her and offer encouragement. As does Fourth...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful crosses a high, exposed peak in fog and rain then discovers she needs to go further than she thought.    Hiking south on the Appalachian Trail , it's the first high mountains since Katahdin, but the weather is manageable.   And there are small surprises like twisted and stunted "krumholz" trees, wildly fluorescent fungus and wildflowers heavily laden with d...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful creates an audio narrative as an Artist-in-Residence at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Upper Peninsula, Michigan.   During her artistic residency, she immersed herself in the vividly sonorous landscape , collecting sound as she hiked.  Birds, falls and the wind spoke to her about spring’s message – a message of renewal and rebirth. It's  such a fleeting...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful makes her first dangerous  ford over a swollen and dangerous river in flood from the non-stop rain.    For a SOBO  – or southbounder – on the Appalachian Trail , it's often wise to pay for delivery of a cache of food to break up the 10-day hike of the 100 Mile Wilderness.  Right after the cache, the trail gets harder, steeply uphill into real mountains, plus river fo...

Send us Fan Mail When seeing two Pileated Woodpecker parents up close, Blissful learns that she is only passing through and to savor the moment while it lasts.  It's an easy enough day on the Appalachian Trail (AT) though rainy without any views. Blissful stops at a lovely campground on the banks of Lower Jo-Mary Lake surrounded by pink Lady Slippers, as delicate as crepe.  These first days w...

Send us Fan Mail In constant rain and cold, Blissful learns the power in facing her negative feelings and using them to spur her to action rather than resignation.  The trail has yet to get hard on the Appalachian Trail (AT) but the rain is drenching. Blissful can't stop in the cold and swarms of mosquitos even to eat, and is full of frustration but fellow hiker Ingrid catches up and gives he...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful is ill-prepared for the constant damp, but discovering an inner fierceness to solve her problems and keep moving ahead.  The summer of 2023 on the Appalachian Trail (AT) is the wettest in memory. But this one day in Northern Maine is thankfully dry with big wind off Rainbow Lake where Blissful is able to dry out her gear.  It's all easy trail lined with wildflowers f...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful leaves Baxter State Park to enter the 100-mile Wilderness, learning that "everything changes" including the weather. Blissful is waiting a pathology report from breast surgery, unsure if she will get the all-clear or have to manage a cancer diagnosis. Her surgeon encourages just to start hiking while she waits and here she is.  Lured into the lovely idyllic summ...

Send us Fan Mail 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 a...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful shares insights about setting flexible goals . "Summit Fever" is one of the consequences of setting one single big goal and can cause us to fail every day, sometimes with tragic consequences.  Rather than goals, setting systems can work in our favor because they are bite-sized goals more easily achieved. Systems allow us to succeed more often. And, allow us to c...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful Hiker is honored to have been named an "Artist in Residence" by the Friends of the Porkies and will live in a remote cabin this spring to create audio narrative essays in Upper Peninsula Michigan in the Porcupine Mountains.   In this episode, she revisits her fall backpack trip when she fell in love with the "Porkies."   Awakening to a spectacular sunr...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful Hiker is honored to have been named an "Artist in Residence" by the Friends of the Porkies and will live in a remote cabin this spring to create audio narrative essays in Upper Peninsula Michigan in the Porcupine Mountains.   In this episode, she revisits her fall backpack trip when she fell in love with the "Porkies."  In this episode:  Blissful visit...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Blissful Hiker completes the list of ten lessons from the trail that are helping her now. In this episode: 7) :38 Everything changes   “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” 8) 1:50 You will never pass this way again  " Sooner or later, we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all....

Send us Fan Mail This week, Blissful Hiker shares some lessons from the trail that are helping her now. In this episode: :38 Let the day unfold   “I think that’s what I love about my life. There’s no maniacal master plan. It’s just unfolding before me.” 3:02 Trail Angels exist " That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.&quot...

Send us Fan Mail   This week, Blissful Hiker shares some lessons from the trail that are helping her now. In this episode: 1:30 Take Risks “The most hopeful thing you are doing is taking these months to repair your body for the next hikes.” 3:42 Stay in the Present Moment Experience fully what each day brings, the surprises and tiny victories.  6:12 Practice Patience "Life is already too shor...

Send us Fan Mail One year ago Blissful Hiker set her feet on the Arizona Trail and planned to return to walk the final 100 miles, but an injury interrupted the trip.   In this episode: This time of year is called "Lent" and is all about waiting and preparing, as well as contemplating the brevity of our lives. An injury is like that, a close up look at vulnerability. Learning to manage th...

Send us Fan Mail Regret can actually act as the motivating fuel to push us towards our goals. Phrases like "no regrets!" are helpful in keeping us focussed on the future and not on mistakes from the past. And yet, looking with openness at what we regret from the past can help us build up the courage  we need in our present to take risks.  And then we are better able to choose what matter...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful Hiker shares the reasons she hikes alone , to get grounded, to engage more deeply with the world around me and to do so at my own pace. Being alone in nature has been practiced by all civilizations to build self-reliance and connect with the spirit. As Emily Dickinson said, "The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."  But that...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful answers burning backpacking questions in the first round of " Ask Me Anything. "  In this episode: 1:26 – How do you secure your bag when checking it at the airport? 3:06 – Do you pack hiking poles on international trips or buy when you get there? 6:20 – How do you choose when to use rubber tips on your trekking poles? 8:36 – How do you take care of contact lens...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful meets the Southern Terminus of the AZT just as a windstorm picks up on the Utah/Arizona border. In this episode: After a night in the "cowpie" field – flat and squishy – Blissful sleeps well under moon shadows.  It's easy walking towards Vermillion Cliffs where she meets a couple of hikers who give her sage advice about making intentional decisions and look...

Send us Fan Mail Blissful has one of the most extraordinary experiences of her hiking life – walking into and out of the Grand Canyon . In this episode: With a snowstorm coming and temperatures dropping into the teens, Blissful decides to catch a ride and skip ahead . It's just more ponderosa pine forest and straight to the national park permit office. It's down hill, but steep and hard...

Send us Fan Mail It's a long, undulating and dusty trail through more ponderosa pine where Blissful finally gets her first glimpse of the Grand Canyon .  In this episode: Blissful wakes up 100% free of bug bites and happily puts all that awfulness behind her. It's up and down, but she sings as she walks recalling all the steps it took to keep moving ahead on trail . Horses , fellow backp...