Life works if funny ways sometimes. People you haven't seen in the longest time can suddenly come back into your life and change it dramatically. People you've never met before can become your good friends instantly. People who you assumed were completely different from you turn out to be reflections of yourself. Life is magic that way.

An old classmate of mine from high school came back into my life via Facebook. (Honestly, how did we keep track of one another before Facebook? I don't even remember!) It was around reunion time when suddenly you become friends with people you haven't' seen in 20 years. My first thought after reconnecting with Kristen and seeing her Facebook wall was: "Yoga? Surfing? Living in Costa Rica? Somehow I think she is living the life I'm supposed to live!" Then, a short while later, my thought was "Wow. She is on to something amazing."

Kristen had gone down to Haiti as a volunteer medical worker and through a chance meeting with a Haitian man, ended up starting a non-profit organization to help orphaned children in Haiti.  I followed along from the very first kick start fund raiser, to the establishment of an orphanage, growing the family, and eventually the start of the SEVA trips: a combination of volunteering, connecting with the kids, and experiencing Haiti's beautiful side. The SEVA trips struck a chord in me.
They were like --- trail magic on steroids! 

So when the 2014 dates were posted on the Devoted to Children website, it seemed that the opportunity to take trail magic to a whole new level was dropped neatly into my lap. I'd go to Haiti, do a little good here and there, speed a little magic, and then come home to my nice cozy life.

But life works in funny ways sometimes. The way you THINK something is going to unfold is never the way it actually does. Sometimes the net effect doesn't go the way you had planned; you think you are going to spread a little magic and do a little good but instead the goodness and the magic come to you. Some experiences (like going on a 2000 mile hike or going to the poorest country in the world) change you forever. 

One of the most wonderful things about last year's thru-hike was the concept of trail magic. Trail magic refers to "an unexpected act of kindness that lifts a hiker's spirits and inspires awe and gratitude." (ATC website) It is founded in a tradition of charity onto others, hikers who most often are complete strangers and oftentimes will never even know who performed the act of trail magic! 
I encountered trail magic in the form of cold drinks and snacks left in coolers alongside the trail, in rides to and from the trail (sometimes from people who were traveling in the opposite direction and turned around), and in the surprise of a waiter telling us that our dinner has been taken care of.

On July 4th, we were invited to somebody's family cookout, and then thanked for helping them to eat all the food they had brought. "We always bring way too much food. It's so nice to have some hungry hikers around so it doesn't go to waste"

Trail magic positively changed my way of thinking. It was suddenly crystal clear that the world wasn't a dangerous place as we are programmed to think, but a beautiful place. People weren't out to get you, people were eager to help you!
 Just a week into hiking, I remember thinking "I can't WAIT to do trail magic next year!" 

That become my big goal for 2014: do trail magic all year!

In the spring, I took a travel position in Roanoke, VA in order to be close to the AT. I was able to leave boxes full of the AT hiker's best friend, Little Debbie.

I passed along my "town dress" to one lucky hiker. (laundered, folded, and tucked into a quart sized zip lock bag with a lavender scented drier sheet)  Let's face it, I was never going to wear the trail dress again. And the dress wanted to go down the trail again!

I gave away my sleeping shirt. (also laundered, folded, and tucked into a zip lock with a lavender scented drier sheet) I may just have saved a hiker a trip to the emergency room by giving them an alternative to sleeping in the clothes they just hiked in all day, thereby causing infected chafing over the entirety of their torso.

I gave rides to hikers to and from the trail, bought somebody lunch, let a hiker with a dead cell phone borrow mine to call his friend in the area.
When my travel assignment ended, I moved north so I could continue the fun in Vermont and New Hampshire. 
I learned that the only thing nicer than being called "hiker trash" was being called "trail angel."




I started thinking that as much fun as it was to provide trail magic to hikers, there really were others who were more in need of trail magic. People who were hungry not because they had just hiked 18 miles and had 4 more to go, but because they had no food. People who were living outside not because they thought it would be fun to camp for 6 months, but because they didn't have an inside to live in. People who needed an act of kindness to lift their spirits even more thank hikers.

In September I was going to an event in Newark and I decided it was the perfect time to take trail magic to a whole new level. I packed a little duffel bag I had with socks, a Tshirt and fleece I hadn't worn in a while, and some basic toiletries. Dropped a little trail magic there.

Got a big smile in return.

And then, this fall I had the opportunity to participate in the biggest act of trail magic yet….