Hiking for the soul

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, June 22. Thank you so much for joining us today for The World and Everything in It.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next: Spiritual encouragement from nature.

WORLD correspondent Jenny Rough heads to the great outdoors with people who take time to look closely at the world God has made.

AUDIO: [TRAIL CHATTER]

JENNY ROUGH, REPORTER: Three hundred forty-five point four miles left to go. Those fractions are important if you’re hiking. The distance sounds like a long way on foot. But for the Strawbridges, it’s not that much. The family of six has already hiked thousands and thousands of miles together.

If you’ve been following this podcast for awhile, you may remember meeting the Strawbridge family last summer on the Continental Divide Trail in Pie Town, New Mexico. Vince and Monica are the parents. Their four kids: Aiden, June, Henry, and Georgie. Right now, ranging in age from 19 to 14.

AIDEN STRAWBRIDGE: We are doing the Triple Crown as a family because I think our number one thing is that we wanted to be together.

That’s Aiden, the oldest daughter. Triple Crown refers to America’s main cross-country trails. The family has committed to hiking all three. They completed the Pacific Crest Trail out West in 2018. The Continental Divide Trail last year. And now they are on the Appalachian Trail, a footpath along the Eastern United States.

They started March 1st at Springer Mountain, North Georgia. By early June, they are in New Hampshire. After a town stop for showers and laundry, they cram their packs and trekking poles into shuttles to be driven back to the place they left off: Crawford Notch.

On the ride to the trailhead, they recap this year’s trip. Hiking has not only brought them closer as a family. It’s allowed them time to enjoy sunrises, trees, rivers, and starry nights. Here’s Monica:

MONICA STRAWBRIDGE: There is some kind of wisdom that God reveals through nature. It is the power of his creativity and the diversity of his creativity. There are principles I think you get from being outside so much.

Heavy mist can serve as a reminder to trust God when life seems unclear. The mist will lift and the sun will shine again. A fresh blanket of snowfall can bring to mind the purity that God requires of his people, and the gift of it He has freely given through Christ.

Monica is drawn to the wildflowers. Aiden likes nature’s patterns. Georgie is all about natural light as the official photographer. She’s captures everything from old rock walls to baby porcupine sightings. Instead of simply reading about lilies in the Psalms or the briars in Isaiah, hiking allows the family to experience the natural world firsthand. Here’s Aiden.

AIDEN: You understand it and you hear it, and you can see the decay and the new life that’s coming out of the decay.

As he hikes up a steep incline in the White Mountains, Vince points out another reason nature provides a rich spiritual experience: no distractions.

VINCE STRAWBRIDGE: The walking has something to do with it. With helping you think more clearly, more slowly, more carefully.

But more than anything:

VINCE: The sense of dependency that you have as it relates to things that are outside your control. They are genuinely always outside of our control, it’s just harder not to acknowledge them here.

Vince says his family’s approach is a little crazy and shouldn’t dissuade others.

VINCE: There are a lot of different ways to do it.

Day hikes. Half-day hikes. Weekend hikes. A gap year. Or tackle a long trail over many years, one state at a time. In West Virginia, the Appalachian Trail is only four miles.

The Strawbridge’s decision to spend months and months on trail—not once, but three times—was a hard one. It was Vince’s idea, so he was game. But Monica?

MONICA STRAWBRIDGE: Oh, I was not for it at all. No, no. We were totally on opposite sides. And I mean, we just had different visions completely for what we thought our family should be doing. The kids have to get through school and…

Vince’s uncle had a suggestion.

VINCE: Why don’t the two of you get some couples that you trust around you? Just say we’re kind of inept here and we can’t make a decision on this. Would you help us? Five couples that we sort of gathered in a room and had an extended conversation about whether or not we would try for a Triple Crown.

And?

MONICA STRAWBRIDGE: Vince is persuasive.

Still, lots of logistics to sort out. Meals, resupply packages, and how to handle an untraditional education.

MONICA: The school part of it is still the most, I get the most fearful about that. I really think, honestly, though, in my heart, I think everything’s—they’re fine. They’re going to be great.

Turns out, homeschooling on the trail can happen, it just looks different. Here’s Monica and Georgie:

MONICA: I listened to Jayber Crow in the Smokies in the rain, and it was perfect because it’s a low, low-toned book.

GEORGIE: And he goes into all of his deep thoughts.

Henry has decided to continue his unique approach to education in future years. He’s come up with his own school curriculum.

HENRY: I like knowing about how all the economical stuff works and how stocks and all that stuff works. I really like history.

All three trails have had scary moments. Last year, a blizzard. This year, the day Georgie got lost.

GEORGIE: I stopped to put on my rain jacket because the bugs were killing me. I thought we were going to the top of the mountain to the shelter up there. I kept hiking and kept hiking and didn’t actually ever think I was lost until I got to the top and it was getting really dark.

Thankfully, everyone was reunited.

June, the second oldest, says the nice thing about hiking this year is that they are closer to their home in Florida. Friends and family can meet up for surprise visits.

JUNE STRAWBRIDGE: More friends and family have actually come out to see us. Grandpa will come out. He’ll drive up from Florida. He can’t do too much because he’s had a hip and knee replacement.

A truth about hiking and life: One small step might not seem like much. But it’s the small steps over and over that lead to the accomplishment. Yesterday, the Strawbridges took their final step on their Triple Crown journey. At 10:22 a.m., they reached the northern terminus at Mt. Katahdin in Maine.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jenny Rough on the Appalachian Trail.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.