by Sugar. I #hikeOctober because I can! In 1997 I was in a bad car accident and was told I would never walk again… it brought on a lot of depression and the fact that I was raised in a very abusive and dysfunctional household made it even worse. Until I hiked the John Muir trail in ’07, I didn’t have much confidence in myself as a person much of it from my upbringing. I found that hiking sometimes alone for many hours not only helped me spiritually but with my self confidence as well. It gave me much time to reflect on my life and where I was going and what I wanted to make of myself.

by Keely Carney. When I was 22, I found myself in rehab. Years of daily blackout drinking and a crippling case of alcoholism will do that. But I wasn’t just in rehab because I struggled with alcoholism. I was in rehab because I struggled with life. Like most people battling mental illness, my story was complex. I’d dealt with depression. I’d dabbled in eating disorders. I’d spent the majority of my life feeling deeply uncomfortable in my skin and in this world. So there I was. While most of my classmates were preparing to graduate college, I was livin’ it up in rehab. At this particular rehab, livin’ it up included going on weekly hikes. Even though it was January. In Connecticut. And snowing. Nothing like forcing someone who’s already uncomfortable all the time to get more uncomfortable… And it was. My first hike was deeply uncomfortable.

by Kerry “Cyndi Loppers” Stewart. I #hikeOctober because fear can be crippling. I was afraid of one thing or another my entire childhood. I was afraid of more than one thing or another most of my adult life. I am scared of crossing the street without a crosswalk, making unprotected left turns while driving, being alone, peanut shells, anything that flies, crowded rooms, physical contact with strangers, heights, clowns, thunder, strange dogs, germs … The list goes on. I am not completely agoraphobic but I choose to rarely leave my home unless it’s to go to work or to the grocery store.

by Leo Walker. Today would be my mom’s birthday. As kids growing up, it was obvious to us that there was something different about her. I tell people she had schizophrenia although strictly speaking I never heard that diagnosis said. In fact, I never heard any specific explanation for her unusual and at times frightening behavior. My dad was a very private person and felt things like that were best not talked about, even within the family.

by Vera Hurst aka “Missing Kink”. I have always been an outdoor, rugged kind of girl. Spending hours in the yard looking at bugs, walking barefoot in the yard, playing baseball and catching tadpoles were the things that took up my time as a child. Through Girl Scouting, I learned to camp, make fire and live. It felt like home being in a tent in the wilderness. But, I grew up, went to college, met someone, got married, had kids. Life showed up with its stressors and hormonal issues and anger. It was normal to feel upset when you had all this happening at the same time, right? Back then doctors dismissed these things as woman’s problems and I was just told to deal with it.

by Ray Coffield / Beep. I #hikeOctober because HIKE for Mental Health came into my life 2 years ago in 2015. It was like getting a real purpose to my obsession (goal, bucket list, or whatever you want to call it) with hiking. Knowing that the accomplishment of my enjoyment can help others makes it even better. I think the Appalachian Trail became a goal when my fourth grad teach talked about being out on a trail, for 6 months, living in a tent, and hiking for miles and miles.

by Ally Lang. I #hikeOctober because the outdoors is my happy place. I discovered in my early 20’s that staying in one place was, at once; uncomfortable , yet what most of society expected – settling down. Add to that a multi-focal mental illness diagnosis and it spelled disaster. From and even earlier age, I’ve always felt more calm outdoors. Nature has that healing quality that seems to be neglected as technology moves us indoors. It slows me. I thinking of hiking as a medicine. Forget to take it and my system is thrown into a dysfunctional state.

by Matthew “Odie” Norman. I #hikeOctober because I want to help overcome the stigma of mental illness and hiking helps me deal with my own battles of anxiety and depression. My first overnight backpacking trip was also the first night on my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2013. To be honest, I was running away from a life I could no longer manage. I had self-medicated and self-internalized to deal with what I saw as a failing life. The stigma of mental disorder is very real and as a result I would hide my suffering from the world to “fit in.”

I’m Casey Chon, and I #hikeOctober to raise awareness of diversity and of the outdoors. In third grade, I read a book called Halfway to the Sky. My nine-year-old self became obsessed with the Appalachian Trail and hiking. However, growing up in the suburbs of New York City, I was nowhere near the Appalachian Trail, and you can’t really go hardcore hiking in the suburbs. I played a lot of sports, but never went camping and did “real” outdoors-y things.

by Hotrock. I grew up in a broken household, my father had problems with alcohol and left our family when I was 12. I lost that father figure to look up to, and many of life lessons that only a father and son share. I had to make a lot of decisions on my own, unfortunately most were not the right ones. I job hopped for many years. In 2001 my father died, and I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. I brought him with me — his ashes were in my pack the whole way.