blissful hiker ❤︎ inspiring you to hike your own hike

Art of the State (Parks): Winter at Lake Maria

Send us Fan Mail “It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” —Charles Dick

Art of the State (Parks): Fall at Blue Mounds

Send us Fan Mail "Fall is audacious, even if it marks an ending, a last celebration as everything prepares for the long winter, and the Sioux quartzite escarpment that m

Art of the State (Parks): Summer at Grand Portage

Send us Fan Mail “Portage” means carrying a boat and its cargo between navigable waters. Thick forests once made overland travel in Minnesota and lands north slow and pu

Art of the State (Parks): Spring at Lake Itasca

Send us Fan Mail “In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” —Margaret Atwood Part one in the series highlights a night of near-solitude at Lake

Aliveness

Send us Fan Mail “The goal of life … is not happiness, peace, or fulfillment, but aliveness.” —Hubert Dreyfuss 1. Sometimes curiosity about what’s around the next corne

Mindset in Motion

Send us Fan Mail "You can think your way into a new way of acting, or act your way into a new way of thinking." Sometimes we can’t wait for the right mindset to show up

Embrace the Suck

Send us Fan Mail The trail—like life—may not always be what we want it to be, but it offers us the opportunity to choose how we respond to whatever it doles out. In the

Open to Awe

Send us Fan Mail Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between is a great mindset when planning a major thru-hike – or any major li

Freak Show

Send us Fan Mail I didn’t expect much when someone asked to closely examine my deformed fingers—but the moment ended up teaching me about what truly matters – and what d

Let the Day Unfold

Send us Fan Mail Let the Day Unfold! Let its gentle voice guide you toward unexpected surprises and open your heart to the lessons it holds. The lowly New Zealand sandf

Life is Wide

Send us Fan Mail Blissful's Great-grandma Emma used to say, "Life may be short, but it’s also wide." It’s a shift in perspective – from focusing on limitations to

Never Quit on a Bad Day

Send us Fan Mail When everything goes sideways and you’re having a bad day, repeat the mantra to not quit today but instead give yourself the self-love, the break, the r

Be Where Your Feet Are

Send us Fan Mail Walking through woodland ephemerals in early spring reminds us to embrace impermanence and stay present in the here and now.  We have a saying in the h

The Trail Will Provide

Send us Fan Mail Hiking has a way of making us more resilient, not so much manifested as strength and persistence, but in developing trust and embracing the unknown. We

TEDx excerpts: “How do you find your bliss? Take the long trail!”

Send us Fan Mail On October 10, Blissful gave her first TEDx talk, “How do you find your bliss? Take the long trail!” Blissful shares the loss of her flute career due t

blissful TEDx speaker

Send us Fan Mail WATCH TEDx On October 10, Blissful gave her first TEDx talk about Resilience as part of TEDX AmoskeagMillyard in Manchester, New Hampshire.   What is

The Grace of a Good Teacher

Send us Fan Mail Taking a class this weekend, Blissful learns about the key skills of a good teacher.    This was especially important when she needed to face down an ir

Life is Too Short to Waste on Speed

Send us Fan Mail On the Teton Crest Trail in Wyoming, Blissful decides to go for an "SKT" (Slowest Known Time) and surprises abound. 1. John Muir (and Henry David Thor

Hiking While Old

Send us Fan Mail On the Pyrenean Haute Route, an oafish American hiker questioned Blissful's ability to manage a route of this difficulty.  “Even YOU?” he asked, h

Don't Dream. Do.

Send us Fan Mail Have you been wanting to do something a little wild and out-of-your-comfort-zone but were afraid to take the first step?  When it comes to dreams, don&