I’m Kelly. Jack of many trades, master of none.

I've been a swimwear designer, museum intern, architecture school dropout, professional baker, kitchen manager, receptionist, and most recently, the director of an art gallery on the Upper East Side.

Before all that, though, I was into endurance bike touring trips — I cycled 6000+ miles over the U.S. and Europe, finishing out with a cross-country trip from Georgia to California and emerging with quads of steel (and a numb knee because I dropped my bike on it, but that’s neither here nor there). Apparently, these multiple summers of 4AM wakeups, grueling workouts, and a diet of cold poptarts and peanut butter left a good taste in my mouth.

So recently, I found myself missing the excitement and freedom of that kind of extrasocietal living—the kind most people don’t have the chance (or desire) to pursue.

The kind that takes you to the place that’s far removed from the rat race and petty, selfish aspects of life, where all goals, desires, fears, weaknesses, and insecurities are stripped bare, and you’re given the chance—alongside whatever community you surround yourself with, and earning the support they extend—to examine these mental attachments, and find out which no longer serve you.

I tried out the JMT in 2018 and immediately wanted more. Over the course of past year, I ditched my Manhattan lease, donated half the clothes in my closet, funded my retirement account, left my job, and purchased my weight in Coconut Cream Pie Larabars and dried fruit.

Leaving the safety of four walls, a good job, secure income, family and friends, and the love of my life (a 9 year old Husky-Shepherd mix named Butter) for five months will be tough—there’s no way around it.

The greatest challenge won’t be dodging all the monkey wrenches that the trail throws at me.

It will be learning to accept them and move forward—with faith.