Tucson, Arizona, USA

Mary’s true sense of wanderlust began with her first long distance hike. She was inspired to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail just to see if she could do it, and did indeed complete it in 2003. After five months of sleeping in a tent she thought she’d be ready to settle down in Tucson, Arizona with her dog, get a house, teach high school special education, and maybe even tolerate a man in her house if he was neat enough.

None of that happened. Her sense of wanderlust grew and in 2006 she proceeded to walk across Spain on the Camino de Santiago just one month before moving to the Middle East to teach. This Kentucky native managed to wander a long way from home in a short period of time. With all this trekking came a lot of camping and sleeping in places not nearly as nice as her tent.

For the past eleven years Mary has lived in Kuwait, China, and Turkey, teaching at international schools and a university, while pursuing her goal of traveling the world. Her travels have led to amazing opportunities to trek in places she never even heard of ten years ago. She’s also experienced “glamping” in Africa and camping above 15000 feet with a monster headache.

Now, after discovering Camping for Women, she hopes to share her experience, lessons learned, and love of gear with a community of like-minded people who share her enthusiasm for the outdoors. Her wanderlust began on foot and progressed to flight. She’s not stopping any time soon.