Connecticut woman 'walking with purpose' across US

If you were out and about last weekend on U.S. 70 from Roswell to Clovis, you may have passed a young backpacker on the side of the road, moving east with quick steps like a woman on a mission.

We like to call it "walking with purpose."

Because, in every sense of the word, she is.

Hannah Bacon blew through our area like a tumbleweed, and along the way completed "days 79 and 80, and miles 1149-1187" of a trek that she hopes will take her completely across the United States - on foot - by June.

Bacon, who started this journey in California almost on a whim, was covering ground in her fourth set of footwear when I caught up with her on Curry Road E for a short portion of her journey Sunday afternoon.

The 28-year-old hails from New Milford, Connecticut. She was working for an environmental non-profit in New York City last year when the pandemic hit. Bacon lost her job but not the passion she has had for the environment much of her life.

Unemployed, she flew to California in October to visit friends, and was reading David Wallace-Wells' book, "The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming."

Having a little extra contemplation time on hand - as well as being in a state that has been ravaged by wildfires - got Bacon to considering things like the carbon emissions from the flight she had taken to the west coast.

"I decided to walk home," she said.

As we walked together on a blustery afternoon, Bacon told me she doesn't like to spend too much time thinking about something or she can talk herself out of it.

Instead, within a matter of weeks, she had decided to not only walk from coast to coast, but she'd do it for a cause: To raise awareness about climate change and raise money to help battle it.

Bacon set off from the beach next to the Pacific Ocean at San Clemente, California, in early November. She's following a path that will take her about 3,000 miles - around 6 million steps by most calculators - to the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach, Virginia.

From there, it could be a five-hour drive for her parents to come and pick her up. She's not sure yet whether she'll accept that ride or simply hoof it on the rest of the way to Connecticut.

Bacon walks around 25 miles most days. She has learned the value of taking off days to rest her blistered feet, as well as to not miss opportunities that keep surfacing thanks to new friends she's encountering at almost every stop.

She spent last Friday night at a ranch near Kenna, Saturday night on a couch in Portales, Sunday night in Texico with the "friend of the son of some people I met in Tularosa," she said. "New Mexico has been very friendly to me."

She plots her journey on a GPS tracker, which also allows her family to follow her from afar. It's powered by a flexible solar panel that rides on top of her backpack.

Her backpack is also emblazoned - on the days when it's not too windy - with a laminated sign that reads "miles for climate .org," the online site where she records her adventures and keeps track of the money she's raised (almost $15,000 already) for Sunrise Movement, a youth-led organization focused on "renewable energy, green jobs, and environmental justice," she said.

While Bacon has traveled extensively and is also an experienced hiker and backpacker, she said doing a journey of this length on foot has been eye-opening.

"You get to know a place so intimately when you're walking," she said. "I knew it was going to be hard. In some ways, it is harder than I expected, and in some ways, it is more incredible than I expected."

Bacon said the trek has been filled with "high highs and low lows ... such a range of emotions and experiences, often the same day."

"I'm so grateful for having the time to do this, for all the people I've met, for being physically capable of making this journey," she said.

After our visit Sunday afternoon, refreshed by a bottle of orange juice, Hannah Bacon buckled her backpack in place, picked up her hiking poles, and set off with brisk steps and no looking back, on to the next destination.

She left me - and I suspect I'm not alone - with a renewed sense of hope for our country, our planet, our future.

If you'd like to learn more about this remarkable young woman or follow her journey, visit https://milesforclimate.org/.

Betty Williamson will be walking in spirit with Hannah Bacon. Reach her at: [email protected]