Remain Fluid because Flexible is too Rigid, My Appalachian Trail 2020 Motto

The March Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Kim Selvage entitled “Remain Fluid because Flexible is too Rigid, My Appalachian Trail 2020 Motto”, on Tuesday evening, March 23.

On February 26, 2020, Kim Selvage set off to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) starting in Georgia with every intent of completing the trail by July with the epic climb of Mount Katahdin in Maine. A few weeks into her hike, she quickly realized this was not going to be a normal year to be on the trail. Thru-hikers were canceling their hike while hostels, restaurants, outfitters, shelters, privies and trail towns were shutting down. She started early to beat the crowds, but with everyone “sheltering in place”, a new kind of hiker emerged that flooded the trail… pandemic day hikers were hitting the trail near every trailhead road crossing. Thankfully, her early start date allowed her to make it through the Great Smoky Mountains before they, along with other parts of the AT, were closed. She adopted the philosophy to remain fluid because flexible would be too rigid. She barely made it out of the Cherokee National Forest before it too was shut down.

On March 30th, only 34 days into her thru hike, she made the difficult decision to pause her hike. She headed back to Las Vegas, NV to wait out the pandemic storm. In June, everything was starting to reopen, so she quit her job (again) and returned to the trail where she left off approximately 80 days earlier. Everything was now green, overgrown, and not as crowded. With a 20-pound pack, love and support from her family and friends, and the ability to be fluid with her decisions, Kim finished her adventure after 153 days on the trail. She looks forward to sharing the highlights of her experience with the Los Alamos Mountaineers Club and the Los Alamos community where she attributes her love for hiking was born!

Mountaineers’ meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of every month. When held in person, they take place in the planetarium of the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC), 2600 Canyon Rd, Los Alamos, NM 87544. Recent meetings have been held electronically starting at 7:00 PM; registration details can be found at https://peecnature.org/events/details/?id=36718.

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEQ9RhII6_c