See the under three minute video below the article; article is off the The Trek website. Worth hitting the link.
Yet the 76-year-old Florida native is now just 300 miles from completing the Appalachian Trail; if all goes as planned and she completes the remaining miles by her 77th birthday on March 30th, she will soon become the oldest woman to hike the AT in one year.
Better known as “Birthday Girl”on trail, Clark is easily recognized by her resplendent, bubble-gum pink hair.
“It’s actually amethyst,” she corrects me as we talk via Zoom. She’s somewhere in Massachusetts waiting out a storm. “I didn’t want to get lost, and I thought if I dyed my hair, people would remember where they saw me. But now it’s become BDG’s colors, so I keep it up.”
Clark is a retired elementary school teacher lovingly called “Pam-maw” by several children. The widow and mother of two has traveled to Australia and throughout most of the United States, but had never been backpacking until recently.
She had some hiking experience for a few months prior to the AT effort.
So on Black Friday, 2021, she wandered into Bill Jackson’s Shop for Adventure in Pinellas Park, looking for a sale to begin gearing up for her own walk in the woods.
And she returned every week for a half a year, soon connecting with a local hiker named Kathy Porupski. Porupski leads hikes with Suncoast Outdoors and became one of Clark’s biggest champions.
“That first time Kathy and I went out with all my new gear, we hiked eight flat miles. I got my tent up but didn’t blow up my mattress and didn’t eat dinner either. I slept about 14 hours that night!”
Porupski was first to point out that Clark’s thru-hike positioned her to set an Appalachian Trail record. Currently, M.J. “Nimblewill Nomad” Eberhart is the all-time oldest AT thru-hiker (he was 83 when he set the record in 2021), while Nan “Drag’n Fly” Reisinger is the oldest female thru-hiker, finishing in 2014 at the age of 74.
In contrast, Clark turned 76 the day she started the trail. To be considered a thru-hiker by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, she would have to complete all 2,200 miles of the AT within 12 months.
She suffered an injury - a broken elbow - which put her off the trail for months - but now she's back!
When things get tough, Clark says the Unity Prayer.
The Light of God surrounds me.
The Love of God enfolds me.
The Power of God protects me.
The Presence of God watches over me.
Wherever I am, God is.
“It helps focus the mind and get the job done. I say it until I feel it!”
Very cool story. Here's a little video.
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