Caroline Lewis- Outside Reading ( Exit Interview: I Was a Black, Female Thru-Hiker on the Appalachian Trail by Sarah Lascow)

The Appalachin trail is a diverse place for many, it is not particularly racially diverse or diverse by gender. In the 2005 study mentioned at the beginning of the paper, 18% of women were thru hikers on the Appalachian Trail. This percentage has been approved, but not exponentially.  Only about a quarter of thru-hikers are women, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and though there’s little information about the racial breakdown of thru-hikers, it’s safe to say that the vast majority of them are white. Last year, Rahawa Haile, a writer now based in Oakland, California became one of the very few black women to attempt to hike the entire trail. Not only did Haile hike the trail, she also left a book written by a Black author behind at each trail shelter. Halie decided that she wanted to do the thru hike because she is still young and lively. Haile remarks, “I realized I was the most unencumbered I would be in my entire life. I didn’t have kids or a mortgage. No car payments. I was in decent health. I thought, you either hike the AT at this age. I was 31 when I started my thru-hike—or you wait until you’re 60. You’re not going to get another opportunity. I would meet older people who’d say I wish I had your back, I wish I had your knees. I thought, I still have my back, I still have my knees.” This thought process is what inspires many hikers to start while they are young and less susceptible to injury. For Haile, leaving books behind was not only a source of inspiration to other hikers but also encouragement to herself. I was hoping that by carrying these books and taking them to these incredible vistas, fellow people of color might say, “If those books can go there, so can I.” Being a black person and especially a Black woman thru hiker in the South came with a lot of challenges. Most hikers on the trial are nice and accepting, but the people who live in town are quite the opposite. Many stores had Confederate flag merchandise and Haile even remarked that other Black hikers told her that it may be harder to hitchhike as a person of color because some people in the South will be less likely to pick you up. With bothe Haile’s challenges and strengths, she hiked the whole trail and left her mark. Diversity in a racial and gender sense is important on the Appalachian Trail because it is (like most things) a white male dominated activity and experience. With more women and women of color on the hiking trail, more diversity is likely to occur by inspiring other women to do the same.