05/28/2026
“I don’t know how or what it will look like, but I promise you I will create something from these six months spent on the Appalachian Trail. It will be built from the simplest fact: storytelling inspired me to take on the most unsimple trek of this 2,200-mile trail.”
This was the promise I made to Mother Nature on the final day of my 2015 AT thru-hike. And in a lot of ways, I failed to stay true to it.
I started listening to others who told me I was doing it all wrong. They told me a storytelling organization would never be understood. They said I needed to build something specific to a single cause, tailored to a precise demographic. It needed to be measurable, neat, and predictable, not vague. Lacking any experience in the non-profit world, I listened. Some of what they said made sense on paper. But in the process of listening to them, my own voice was drowned out.
Deep down, I have always believed that storytelling, and the countless ways we share it, is our ultimate tool for reaching those who are stuck in the quiet. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods and Andy Laub’s As It Happens documentary didn’t just inspire me; they saved my life.
Hike the Good Hike will fight to produce and share the untold stories from the wild that need to be heard. I’m returning to my promise. It’s my job now to find the people who already understand the gravity of a good story, and to guide the ones who just need to see its impact.
I’ll leave you with this: Is there a book that changed the course of your life?
