Morgan Takes A Walk

Hi friends! My name is Morgan. Some of you have known me since I rocked a bowl cut and scraped knees, many of you are friends who I have grown to love as an adult, plenty of you have worked alongside me and a handful of you have gotten to know me through the stories of my family in Georgia. And a shout out to the strangers who are reading this! I’m writing you for a few reasons: to share a piece of my heart, to ask for love and support and to tell you a little bit about my life as prepare for one of the biggest challenges I've ever encountered.

At 29, my heart beats with curiosity, my lungs fill with questions and expel empathy and understanding. These days I have found my knees to be skinned with experience as life’s lessons collect and I climb mountains instead of playgrounds.

The Goal, The Journey

Let’s cannonball right in! This Spring, I will be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. For those of you who aren’t familiar, it is a 5 month long walk from the border of Mexico to Canada. Ahh how I would love to see your faces right now. I will depart on April 29th with a pack on my back and twinkle in my eye. To me, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for several reasons. Take a peek at the video below for a glimpse of what I will encounter on my walk.

The Pacific Crest Trail in Three Minutes

But Morgan, WHY?

Legitimate question.

1. Well, there is the journey itself, the adventure- a chance to experience the magnitude of creation, to feel insignificant yet powerful in the exact same moment. This is a shot to be able to breath deeply and take mindful, intentional steps away from the noise, pressure and stress of daily life.  As the years fly by, our time and hair grown thin. An opportunity like this rarely knocks twice.
2. The company. On my team are three women who have wildly inspired me over the last two years. I’ve come to believe that it’s important to reach for people who stretch you. Kristen, Jordan and Laurel do just that and far more. They are positive and dedicated to growth. Their values and priorities impact my thinking. We have nothing in common and everything in common. We love this life and the people around us. For five months I will be a part of a smart, incredibly driven, thoughtful and absolutely curious community.


3. The opportunity to reveal more purely the woman God created me to be. Do you ever feel like you’re on the verge of breakthrough? Over the last several years, the Lord has been peeling back my layers and showing me the gifts he planted in me: my natural abilities and talents, what I’m passionate about on this earth and my ministry. But I have yet to discern the workplace or field in which I am to use these gifts. Call my journey soul-searching or escape. Call it a late-twenties crisis or wanderlust. Call it what you’d like but to me, this hike is my chance to walk with my Father. This is my chance to better understand the depth of his love for me and the plans he had for me before we ever met. I want to walk more consistently in the light of his presence and be fascinated by him. It’s time that I toss out ideas of how God works in my life, release the analyzing and let him incite pure, honest, childlike wonder in me.

Why leave?

Countless times I have questioned whether or not my hike is selfish. Is it ok to remove myself from society, to sacrifice contact with family and friends and to put a pause on being a world changer and impact maker? Here’s what I’ve come to learn. Regardless of how we grow as individuals, our time on earth is a series of trials and tribulations, peaks and valleys, successes and sorrows. It’s our job to figure out where we thrive in the midst of these waves. I thrive in the risk. I thrive in community and with others unlike myself. I thrive when mentoring and being mentored. I thrive when I am physically and mentally challenged. I thrive when leading a life of service. I thrive in moments of introspection and mindfulness. I thrive in the presence of the Lord and it is in nature that I come to know him best. These are the places where my heart beats hardest and I know I will encounter each of them on the PCT. I now realize that this time away will enable me to grow and learn in the ways and places God intended me to. When I return and re-enter into society, I have a feeling that the condition of my heart will be radically transformed. My hope is to be better equipped to walk this earth and make a difference- to be love in action.

PCT Challenge #1

An adventure of this proportion requires some serious fuel to get off the ground. Hours of prayer, planning and saving money occupy my days spent here in Colorado. It took me far too long to recognize that there are people in my life who know my heart, believe in me, love me and want to support me. You have quite beautifully fallen into this category! I am here pouring my heart out to you because I have faith that this cause is worthy. While walking 2,650 miles through stifling desert, snow-covered mountains and bone-chilling rainstorms will take a bit of grit on my part, what’s been the most challenging is resting in peace and patience while trusting that the Lord will provide financially. This is just the first lesson I face. Ah, the heart work has already begun you see!

GoFundMe, huh?

It’s time that I jump into specifics and paint you a picture. After hours of research, blog reading, number crunching and general freaking out, I have come to learn that this experience will cost me around $7,000. This may be surprising to some of you, others it my not. This figure includes the cost of gear, plane tickets, and funds spent to resupply while on the trail. In addition to this I will also need to factor in my financial responsibilities that reoccur each month regardless of how dirty, sun burned and smelly I am.

So, I come before you on this nifty webpage to humbly ask for your support in the form of love, prayers, excitement and financial contribution, if you are so led.

Specifics: where your generosity goes

Any contribution you make will go straight to the journey. I set sail on April 29th. Here is an idea of what it takes to be a happy hippy for a few months:

$2,000 – Cost of gear
$400 –  Transportation from Denver to Santa Barbara
$5,000 – On trail spending*, ~$1,000/month
          * Includes food, town stops and typical gear
             replacement)
$300 – Transportation from Vancouver to Denver

Here is a fun formula:
$2,000: COST OF GEAR TO START
+ $300: TRANSPORTATION TO TRAIL
+ $5,000: (MO. ON TRAIL X 1000)
+ $400: TRANSPORTATION FROM TRAIL
= $7,700: ROUGH COST ESTIMATE

You’ll notice that this rough cost estimate is higher than my GoFundMe goal. My mama raised me to be a bargain shopper! I plan on finding ways to cut as many costs as possible bring that number down. If you’re interested in the exact styles of gear I’ll be purchasing and it’s been laid on your heart to fund my...socks, specifically- give me a shout! I’d love to share the finer details with you.

Other ways you can help

Please spread the word! Share my page via email or on social media OR scream it from a mountaintop.

There is power in prayer! Your love and prayers will be felt over the hills and through the woods.

Advice. Have you triumphed over a thru-hike? Are you just a wonderful human who would like to share words of advice about anything I’m encountering at this stage of life? Bring it on, I would love that.

Before I Go

The journey of faith is not rigid, it’s dynamic! While the number above seems quite rigid, each morning I have to choose to feed faith and starve doubt. I once read that we are defined not by our limitations but by the intentions the Lord has for us. Thank you for reading this, thank you for loving me. I couldn’t begin to put a price tag on the value I receive from knowing that I have friends and family like you on my side. I leave you with a grin on my face and pounding in my chest, on the edge of my seat as I wait for this life changing adventure unfold.

With shameless wonder,
Morgs

"You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”
Isaiah 55:12-13