Femininity in the Wilderness: A Collection of Stories from Women on the Appalachian Trail
Darcy (right) and Caroline (left) on day 1
About Us
Caroline and Darcy first met at swim practice. Darcy, then a freshman, and Caroline, a new sophomore, spent the next three years training together and racing against each other in the pool. In between sets, during team dinners, and on the bus rides to far-off meets, they grew to know each other and soon became best friends.
Darcy, who will be a senior next year, has always loved hiking and the outdoors, an interest she attributes to Wavus, an all-girls summer program in Maine that she has attended for seven years. Campers work their way up from day hikes to trips that last several weeks, Darcy's longest trip to date is a 22 day backpacking trip on Maine's AT.
Caroline fosters a similar interest in the outdoors, enjoying really any activity where she can be active and explore. She hiked some while in middle school, but she can't wait to return to the Great Outdoors.
About Our Project
Femininity in the Wilderness seeks to record and share the stories of women hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Caroline and Darcy hope to diminish the stigma that 'women aren't found on the trail,' or that 'outdoor exploration is an activity only done by men' by chronicling their own journeys, and collecting the stories from the brave and wonderful women they meet along the way.
All the gear (i.e tent, backpacks, stove, water filters, etc.) purchased to make this trip possible was donated to Kieve-Wavus Education, a wilderness exploration based nonprofit, at the culmination of the project.
Collected Statistics
*charts based on data collected throughout the project
A Brief History of The Appalachian Trail
Running more than 2,100 miles along America's eastern seaboard, the AT is the crowning glory of all long hikes. (The actual length of the trail remains disputed to this day. The U.S. National Park Service places the length of the trail at 2,155 miles, conflicting with the Appalachian Trail Conference, who believes the length to be exactly 2,146.7 miles. In 1993, three hikers rolled a measuring tape from Springer Mountain, the southernmost point of the trail, all the way to Maine's Mount Katahdin; they came up with a length of 2,164.9 miles. One thing we can say for sure, the trail is certainly long.) As a matter of fact, it treks from Georgia to Maine, crossing through 14 states, and running across countless mountain tops. Hikers walk through the Blue Ridge Mountains, The Smokies, and The Whites just to name a few.
The history of the trail is long and complicated, one I could never encompass in a mere paragraph. (If you are interested in a more in-depth history than what follows, or just looking for a good book, I strongly suggest you read A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson.) The idea of the trail began in 1921 with Benton MacKaye, an employee of the U.S. Labor Department. He had been given the assignment to 'come up with an idea to improve workplace morale' and his solution was a trail. Not just any hiking trail though, MacKaye envisioned a multistate footpath complete with hostels and inns, study centers and farms, a retreat from the everyday hectic nature of life. His idea, while serving as the basis for the modern-day trail, was never realized. However, in 1930 lawyer and avid hiker Myron Avery saw the potential in MacKaye's idea. It was Avery who oversaw the actual building of the trail. He mapped it out, secured volunteer crews, acted as superintendent for hundreds of miles of construction, walking every inch of the trail before his death. The AT, the longest footpath in the world, was completed on August 14, 1937 and to this day is run, supported, and maintained almost entirely by volunteers.
