Blazing a unique trail and breaking down barriers

STACEE ASH

Stacee Ash of Charlotte is the first Black woman from North Carolina to hike the Appalachian Trail start to finish.

Stacee Ash wants to break down stereotypes a step at a time.

Ash, the first Black woman in North Carolina to complete the Appalachian Trail, wants more people like her to get back to nature and experience the benefits it has to offer for physical and mental health.

“I think that (hiking) gets people out of their comfort zone,” Ash said. “It gets them embracing nature. They may have lost a spouse; they may have an addiction or have mental health issues. When they are on the trail, they are evolving and what I often see is that they become new people.”

The Appalachian Trail spans 2,196 miles and runs from Georgia to Maine. Each year, thousands of people try to thru-hike, or complete the entire trail, which data from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy show that only one in four hikers accomplish in five to seven months.

What makes Ash’s story unique is that she wasn’t a hiker before attempting the trail.

“My first hike was in 2019,” Ash said. “About 10 to 15 years ago, my brother-in-law got me into kayaking, and then it evolved into scuba diving. So, my first passion was the water. I am a certified scuba diver. Someone asked me since I lived in North Carolina if I had been to see some of the beautiful waterfalls. My passion was water, but I didn’t know how I felt about going deep into the woods to find a waterfall. So, I decided to take my first hike.”

Ash noticed there were not a lot of hikers that looked like her, which she says can be for many reasons, including a traumatic experience she encountered.

“The first day I had done a lot of miles in one day in Tennessee (and) I saw there was a shelter at the top of the mountain,” Ash said. “As I was hiking someone said, ‘Hey, there is a thunderstorm coming.’ So, I get to the shelter and there are only maybe 10 or 12 people in the shelter. So, I go to the bathroom and I see an empty space for me to stay, and as I am about to take my (back) pack off, one guy scoots over a bit and another one turns around and takes his pack, throws it in that empty spot I was going to get and says, ‘There is no room here for you, you need to leave.’ He starts yelling at me. The whole time, everyone else in the shelter is silent. I picked up my pack and left and just kept thinking that I wanted to go home.”

Instances like that are one reason why Ash thinks could be why Black people choose not to do activities like hiking. Once Ash got cell phone service, she was able to contact with a nearby trail hostel. The lady she contacted was furious with how Ash was treated.

“I shared what had happened and when I got done showering and using the bathroom, people came up to me telling me how sorry they were because of what had happened to me back at the shelter,” she said. “I still told myself that I was just going to go home. Someone told me, ‘Dragonfly [Ash’s hiking name], if you go home, the other person would have won.’ So, the best way I could show someone that is ugly to me that they didn’t get to me is to stay on trail. So, all of these hikers in Tennessee took down my name and number. So, the beautiful part is, yeah someone on trail was really mean, but there is still so much good.”

Despite that instance of racism and even breaking her wrist, Ash persevered and finished the trail. The first thing she wanted to do was tell a friend who encouraged her to hike about her accomplishment.

“About two steps into the REI store, people shouted, ‘Dragonfly,’” Ash said. “I was like, ‘You guys have been watching me?’ Everyone said, ‘Yes! We’ve seen more Blacks, Hispanics and Asians coming in here because they were watching you Dragonfly.’ I told the lady there I wanted to tell Mike.

“She told me he wasn’t there, but he had been watching me every day. They wanted me to do (hiking) classes because what I had done had apparently inspired so many other people. So, every month I do a free class on backpacking and prepping for the Appalachian Trail.”

Ash, who is in her 50s, advises people to get outside as often as possible.

“Life is meant for living,” she said. “The Appalachian Trail may not be for you, but getting outdoors, in nature and connecting with nature is so important. I feel the more people that build a connection with nature, the more stewards we will have in keeping the environment clean. Nature is beautiful and I would encourage everyone to find a local trail or join a group to take the baby steps on building a relationship with nature.”

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