A brown girl’s dream to hike the world
If you told me I would be hiking, summiting 14ers, and enjoying the view of some alpine lakes 10–15 years ago, I would laugh at you because that concept was never in my heart or mind. I am a brown girl, born and brought up in a brown Asian family where all the parents want their child to be either a doctor or an Engineer. I have never seen anyone concerned about health or doing any exercise. Living a healthy life including exercise, a balanced diet, mind-body balance, yoga, meditation, etc- these things were never considered an important part of life. So, you can imagine how my life was! I was a bookish girl, chasing my parents’ dream and never thought of anything outside the box. I became an Engineer and came to the USA for higher studies with my husband.
If my life was a movie, there could be a lot of things happening right after I came to the USA. But my life was eventless. Like every other international graduate student, I was doing coursework, research, and visiting some places whenever we had a break. Inside I was okay, but not happy, not content. My life was OK, but something was missing. To make it worse, one day my advisor notified me he was moving to Massachusetts, and he wanted to bring the team with him. I did not know what to say at that point. Fast forward, I moved to Boston, my husband was still in Louisiana. Maintaining two households in two different states while being a graduate student was not quite easy. We both were miserable and frustrated. Boston, an expensive city, and me being short on budget was the worst combination ever. I used to stare at my wall and think about when things would change!
One day, I was scrolling through Instagram, and suddenly an image appeared. I stared for quite a few minutes at the image and saw the location: Arizona. I always thought Arizona was full of deserts, big giant cacti, and dust like we used to see in some Western movies. Where in Arizona is this? This turquoise blue waterfall? I was curious, I was amazed. The next few days I tried to gather as much information as possible. It’s a 10-mile hike (one way) within the desert named ‘Havasupai Falls’ and it requires a permit. 10 miles! I have never hiked 1 mile, let alone 10 miles before! But there was something about Havasupai that was keeping me drawn to it. Everywhere I go, I used to see that one place. It was like I was daydreaming about this place.
When I told my husband I wanted to do the Havasupai hike, he laughed hard. He did not believe my words. Then again, why would he believe me? I have never done any exercise, no hiking experience, and now I want to hike 20 miles RT. But something inside me triggered me to go for it. I started walking. The first day I walked less than a mile and I was exhausted. But I did not give up. I continued to walk and bit by bit I felt I was improving. We secured the permit, and hiked Havasupai- that’s another story to tell. I will save that for another post. But the whole experience changed me completely. I felt happy, and content and that was the beginning of my hiking journey. I never looked back and never stopped hiking. I found that there is a lot to see, explore, and do in this world. Hiking was the missing puzzle that completed me.
So, yes, I am that brown girl, who loves to hike, and who dreams of hiking around the world.