I'm Molly.
As a kid, every morning I'd wake up and watch NatGeo, Discovery and
Animal Planet before being peeled off of the sofa to head to school. I loved The Crocodile Hunter, Bear Grylls and any and all of the animal documentaries that came on the television. Seeing how astoundingly beautiful nature was captivated me more than anything else; looking back I know these shows shaped my undying love for the outdoors.
No one in my immediate family, is an outdoorsy person in the way that I am. My dad comes closest as he's an outdoorsman more in the way of a hunter. Being outside training the dogs and working them for field trials, fishing and working on our property in southern Alabama.
As we grew up, my sister, cousin and I would go off into the property behind my grandparents house riding four wheelers along the trail, playing in the river and woods. Back in my neighborhood I was off biking around the neighborhood or wondering the woods near our house with the neighbors; exploring the trails as much as possible. I remember sitting in a closet with my best friend (who happens to be my cousin) and sharing with her while we colored way past our bedtime that I wanted to someday be a National Geographic Photographer.
As I grew up, I continued to love the outdoors, but had less time for it and became distant to it. The pile of things on my plate stacked up and even though I’d go on occasional hikes, I wasn’t spending as much time as I would have liked outside. After high school, I was swallowed whole by the stresses of college, my failing relationship and all that life weighs on you and I quit doing what I loved and hadn’t paid attention to what my soul needed for so long. Then Covid hit and the world shut down.
The first couple of months was spent inside or walking the dogs around the neighborhood. The walks became longer and slowly shifted into hikes. When I was among the trees and away from the hustle and bustle of the city I could escape from everything else that was going on and just fully immerse myself into nature. In September my high school mountain biking teammate moved back to Birmingham, and following her lead, I dove back into mountain biking. I immediately fell back in love after my bike had been sitting in my parent’s garage for 5 years. I quickly added miles to each ride and started going 2-3 times a week. In February of 2021 I fully committed to the sport and bought my first full suspension bike. My passion for the outdoors quickly came back to me and grew.
In May of 2021, I met Carl ‘Professor’ Stanfield - an AT and PCT thru hiker. He inspired me to take hiking and camping to the next level, and while I had carried my gear down a trail to camp before, I hadn’t fully backpacked. He shared with me the plans that he’s currently working on, which is spending all of 2022 backpacking, finishing his Triple Crown and aiming to hike the most miles in a calendar year. After having an incredible evening with him endlessly talking about backpacking, I dove straight in. I went on my first solo backpacking trip (that was incredibly poorly planned) and fell deeply and utterly in love. I had finally graduated college and ended up breaking up with my boyfriend of 6 years and felt I had all the time in the world to spend outside. I spent the second half of last year buying and upgrading my gear to create my dream backpacking setup, and up until now, I’ve been able to thru hike the Art Loeb Trail, Teton Crest Trail and backpacked in Yosemite where I almost climbed the cables on Half Dome and summited Clouds Rest with my best friends.
In August, I packed up all of my belongings and moved from Alabama to Utah. As cliche as it is to say, the mountains were calling and I had to go. This year has been absolutely incredible; I’ve been able to travel to Mammoth Cave NP, North Carolina, Costa Rica, Yosemite NP, Grand Tetons NP, Yellowstone NP, Arches NP, and Moab and I have trips planned out to be able to add to this list. Just last night I sat on the sofa crying at all I’ve been able to do in these last two years and be grateful that I’m finally living the dream that little me would be so proud of, and it’s only just begun.
Welcome to that granola girly, and I’ll talk to you soon!
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