Welcome to Pink Trail!

Let’s blaze a Pink Trail!

Pink is the color of breast cancer awareness. Approximately 270,000 women were diagnosed with the disease in the US in 2005. I was one of them.

It was a real wake-up call that made me realize it’s time to pursue my dreams. So I’m working on something I’ve wanted to do for about 30 years: Walk the Appalachian Trail—all 2,175 miles.

I set off in March 2006, from Georgia, and attempted to walk to Maine, in one fell swoop. But I was so slow, that I couldn’t possibly finish the whole thing in a year. Or maybe I was taking too many pictures, painting too many watercolors or talking to too may chipmunks.

By October the the other hikers were finished. By November I was talking to myself for days at a time. So I came home, turned my watercolors into cards, plumped up again, got plenty of sleep and now the good weather is back. I’ll start tackling the sections I missed in May. I did manage to walk 1,500 miles, some in each of the 14 states.

What a trip! Click on the states listed at the right to see pictures. Click here to read more about the trip.

To help finance my trek, I raised funds and donated half to the Breast Cancer Resource Center YWCA, Princeton. BCRC is a community based, non-profit program that provides information and support to women and families affected by breast cancer and works to increase breast cancer awareness in the community. Its free programs and services include support groups, a guest speaker series, a wig and prosthesis bank, a lending library and a wellness program offering classes in yoga, art therapy and meditation.

On the trail and in town, I talked to women from Georgia to Maine about breast cancer and encouraged them to get screened and do self exams.