Author/Guide Susan Reynolds

     

Susan is a wife, mother of four grown children, walker, hiker, author, artist, adventurer, and guide. She's walked a marathon,  several half marathons, and participated in international multi-day walking events in the U.K., Belgium, and France. The inspiration for her first book, The First Marathon: the Legend of Pheidippides, came to her on the flight home after her marathon. Her second book, Walking Outside the Box, is Susan's story of her walking into fitness. It includes many of her shorter walking adventures, and also her first lengthy hike which happened to be on Scotland's West Highland Way in 2006.

 

           

                  Susan in the Arctic of Lapland, Sweden

The latter was 93 miles long and from it grew a passion to walk even greater distances. In 2007  Susan  walked over 100 miles on the Transardennaise in the Ardennes of Belgium. That was her training walk for a nearly 200 mile solo-backpacking trek  in the Arctic Circle of Lapland, Sweden. In April, 2008 she adventured  closer to home: slightly more than 300 miles from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Santa Fe through the historically infamous Jornada del Muerto, up back county dirt roads, and eventually onto the paved Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway.

                   Scotland                            a class in Mountainair, NM                   a windy day in the Jornada

Susan loves to walk and would enjoy the opportunity to introduce you to hiking in the Gila. Susan is a certified Wilderness First Responder through the Wilderness Medical Institute of NOLS, and also CPR-certified. She believes the Gila is a wonderful place to hike, but Susan is careful to enter respectfully. A hike with Susan is both entertaining and educational as she's happy to share about her adventures while imparting knowledge for safety in the wilds. Susan guides under a permit granted by the USDA Forest Service.

Some links to stories about Susan's walking adventures:

http://www.walkerfriendly.com/adventures_afoot.htm

http://www.walkerfriendly.com/events.htm

In addition to her writing and walking, Susan is the race director of the Ghost Town 38.5 - an ultra-marathon for walkers and runners. Participants travel from all over the United States and Canada to run 38.5 miles from Susan's home, into the Gila, and back to return to the finish at Susan's place. The event will celebrate its 5th running in 2010 and continues to receive international acclaim in the ultra-marathon world.

                                              Susan's self-portrait: "In the Jornada facing the Upham Hills"

 

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The Gila Hiking Center is brought to you by Here to There, LLC which organizes and sponsors walks, treks, and runs of varying distances in beautiful places.