|
Meet Ellen
Wolfe
 |
"To
me, Girl Power! is building personal empowerment for
our future women!"
- Ellen Wolfe
Born:
October 13, 1952
Birthplace:
Kilmer, Wisconsin
Current
residence: Cookeville, Tennessee
Education:
Bachelor's and master's degrees in
cultural studies in education from the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville
Occupation:
College professor and freelance presenter
Hobbies:
Landscaping, running, and backpacking |
When she was about your age,
Ellen Wolfe made a decision: to hike the Appalachian Trail.
Stretching 2,160 miles through 14 States, it is one of the
toughest trails in the world. Each year, 3,000 people set
out to hike it, but less than 10 percent finish. Of that
number, less than 20 percent are women.
On July 23, 1997, after 4
months and 23 days of hiking from Georgia to Maine, Ellen
became the first woman that year to complete the trail. But
her journey started much earlier—when she was a small
child in New Hampshire. She asked her mother, "Why is
there white paint on that tree?" Ellen's mother
explained that the white stripes on trees and rocks marked
the path for hikers on the Appalachian Trail. Ellen decided
that one day she would hike it, and years later, at age 44,
she did!
Carrying everything she would
need in her backpack, Ellen set out on a cold, drizzly day
from the southern tip of the trail in Elijay, GA. She hiked
through snow, wind, rain, and some of the toughest terrain
on the east coast. But through it all, she never lost sight
of her goal—to finish the trail. Ellen also decided to
turn her hike into a fundraiser for breast cancer research.
She called it "A Hike for Healing" and raised over
$10,000 to donate to the American Cancer Society.
Ellen writes that she was
"building success one step at a time." Those steps
led her past the homes of bears in western Tennessee, wild
ponies in Virginia, porcupines in Massachusetts, and moose
in Maine to the top of Mt. Katahdin- the end of the
Appalachian Trail. Recounting her journey, Ellen writes
"it seemed like a dream. It was a dream come
true."
To look at a map of the
Appalachian Trail, visit the National
Park Service's site. |
