Portrait 38: Tempting

“All the challenges and triumphs and shades in between, coexisting deep in my gut. That’s what the trail is to me.” - Tempting, a hiker

Thru hiking challenges you in ways that you've never known, and in ways you could never imagine. Even if you're comfortable in the wilderness, the sheer enormity of a thru hike and the daily dedication required to move forward and climb another mountain is nearly incomprehensible until you've done it for 100 days in a row. Even then, the magnitude hasn't fully set in.

"When I think of the Whites, I think of breathtaking views - and I also think of the fear. The feeling that I was somehow entirely unprepared despite the miles I'd walked to get there."

And yet, she cruised right through the notoriously difficult WMNF. One of my favorite things about thru hiking is looking ahead, uttering an involuntary "nope," then doing it anyway. You just refuse to quit until it's done, because that's the only way you know how to do life.

"The trail means holding all that, choosing to carry it every day. I think I'll always carry it."