1. How long have you been hiking? How did you get interested in hiking?I’ve always enjoyed Hiking. I can remember going on family trips up in Yosemite when I was a kid, then going on hikes and camping trips with my friends in High School. I have to admit when I entered into grown up land, and became a mother, I did let my love for hiking and nature go to the way side. Never let it go, just didn’t make it a priority. After many years of not hiking, and living for 5 years in the flat lands of Florida, I moved up here to the beautiful state of Georgia, just a 3 miles from Kennesaw Mountain. After spending several months driving by it, I finally stopped and started walking around it. It took me about a month of just hiking the lower trails to get the courage to climb to the top. I finally put on my Vans, carried 1 bottle of water and my two son, and quickly found out how rocky and hard Little Kennesaw mountain was. I thought I was going to die, but I did it. I learned that if I had gone the other way, it would have been easier. But I went home that night, knowing I wanted to do it again, but my boys told me under no circumstances was I going to be able to get them to go again, so I knew I had to find someone to go climb that mountain with me…….
2. Describe your first hiking experience with the Trail Dames.
3. Do you have a trail name? Would you like to tell everyone how you earned it?Blossom. As I stated I started in June with the Trail Dames, and the first few hikes I did were just a few miles. They were tough for me and I struggled. In December I did my first AT Series Hike, Jarrard Gap to Neels Gap, up and over and down Blood Mountain. It took me all day, but I did it! Anna was saying that I had grown so fast, going from barely be able to do a 2 mile hike to doing Blood Mountain in such a short time, she said I Blossomed!, and that was when my Trail Name was born… in the parking lot of Mountain Crossings. Thats a good place to find your trail name.
4. When did you join Trail Dames? How did you discover the group?
5. Outside of TD, what occupies your time?
Work mostly. I do Payroll and A/R for the Creative Loafing Family. But on the weekends, if I’m not hiking, I’m catching up on the many many tv shows I like to watch. I like a lot of Action and SciFi types of shows, but I steer very far away from Chick Flick type of shows.
6. What trail is your favorite? Why?
I don’t really feel like I have hiked enough to really have a favorite yet. The one I have done the most is Kennesaw Mountain. I’ve conquered it 4 times now. But is it my favorite? Maybe. It is the one that inspired me to start hiking again, and led me to Trail Dames. But there is so much beauty in all the trails and I have some many more to explore.
7. Why is spending time out there in nature important to you?
I love getting away from all the hustle and bustle of the city. I love to to just stop on a trail to look and listen. You don’t hear the buzz of computers, the rumbling of engines, or music, it’s just peaceful and tranquil. That is something you can’t get at home. And it’s always so beautiful no matter what the season.
8. What single piece of advice would you give to beginning hikers?Yes, you can. Don’t ever think you can’t do it. When you are climbing a mountain, and you start wondering how much further do I have to go, stop turn around and look at how far you came, and then you realize, it doesn’t matter how much further you have got to go, because you already made it this far, and it can’t be much further now……then turn right back around and keep on going.