Trails are connectors. They guide us from one place to another, but the path is rarely linear.

And the movement is less about the destination and more about the connections we make along the way,

with the land, with each other, and with ourselves. The Appalachian Trail winds

2,190 miles up the eastern spine of the United States. Though connected in 1937, the trail, the people who walk it, the animals who call it home, and the landscape it follows are ever evolving.

Where we walk is a special six-part series made in collaboration with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy

with support from REI that explores the women who help make the trail what it is today.

And those who will help shape its future. I'm Gail Strob, host of She Explorers and your guide through episode 4 of where we walk, in which we hear from two women

who share longing and a love for the Appalachian Trail.

I'm overwhelmed with what this trail has given me and so grateful for it.

I think every day about trying to get back and doing it again,

but also making sure that it's there so that other people can go back and have this experience

and hopefully be able to find some piece of wisdom from their own experiences that's going to improve their life and improve the world that we all share together.

That was Brittany who fulfilled her goal through hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2019, despite facing the devastating loss of her husband a few years prior. Next we'll hear a few words from

Laura. I personally think that the AT is the most beautiful trail out there. You know, you just

need to go up there in the springtime with all of the moss and all of the little creeks. I don't know it's just

full of life and teeming with greenness.

Laura dreams of hiking the trail, but forces outside of her control have kept her from doing it this year.

To through hike the Appalachian Trail is to walk all 2,193 miles of the trail in one season.

It's a big investment.

Typically a hiker has to pause or quit their job

in order to spend up to seven months on trail.

The most popular route is a northbound hike,

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