Education Vietnam Project #48683

Emily hikes to change lives through KOTO

by KOTO International Limited

Emily hikes to change lives through KOTO

Project Report | Oct 18, 2022
Emily has successfully finished her charity hike

By Trang Nguyen | Sponsorship Manager

Emily has successfully finished her thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. On the 6th September she touched the Canadian border after walking nearly all the 2,663 miles on this challenging long distance hike. Due to wild fires and trail closures Emily could not safely walk about 200 miles of trail and unfortunately the final 50 miles of trail closed at the last moment. Nonetheless Emily persevered with finding an alternate route to get to the border which included ascending one more peak and completing the last 6 miles by boat to Ross Lake Provincial park.

Completing the trail from Mexico to Canada in 5 months and 9 days was not an easy accomplishment. She faced extreme weather such as snow storms and heat waves, then thunder and lighting storms which lead to dangerous wild fires. She walked through dry and hot desert landscapes which had challenges of water scarcity. She walked through strong winds in an area with extensive wind farms. She experienced the challenges and joys of hiking in snow and ascending mountain passes of upto 14,000 feet every day. There were multiple encounters with wildlife including rattle snakes, lizards, bears, marmots, skunks and other small critters. She walked through the plagues of mosquitos and other biting insects in Oregon and faced long days of walking from 6am until dark.

Sleeping in a tent and carrying all her food supplies in her backpack proved to be a simple way of living but the heavy weight of her pack caused many blisters on her feet and she hiked through 5 pairs of trainers!

Since Emily has completed this hiking journey and is back in the UK, she decided to undertake a short and challenging hike of the 100 miles on the South Downs Way in September. She completed this trail in 3 days and felt this was a wonderful end to the project and also an attempt to cover the mileage that she could not complete on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Emily is hoping to reach her fundraising target soon as the £5,000 goal is close!
Thank you so much for the donations and support given for KOTO and Emily's hike, she is looking forward to meeting KOTO students when she re-locates to live in Vietnam in 2023.

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