Tara Dower Athlete, Adventurer

Tara Dower has covered a lot of ground in her life – literally.  This young athlete is a hiking adventurer, who spends more time rucking across mountain trails than most of us would walk during our lives.  In this episode, Tara and Rob share stories of their experiences on some of the most well-known hiking spots in North Carolina and across the country.  Tara currently has the fastest known recorded time on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in North Carolina.  If you’ve never heard of it, “The Mountains-to-Sea Trail is a simple footpath stretching almost 1,200 miles across North Carolina from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains to Jockey’s Ridge on the Outer Banks” (https://mountainstoseatrail.org/the-trail/).  For a little added emphasis, this trail goes ALLLLLLL the way from the western part of the NC mountains… to the ocean… hence, “mountains to sea.”  Ok, so now you understand that it takes some serious grit to accomplish something like that - and she crushed it! Tara averaged 40.1 miles per day for 30 days and, as I’m sure you guessed, it was not easy.  Tara shares some of her own personal struggles and how she deals with challenges during her hikes.  From anxiety on the flats to breaking bread and drinking beers in lawn chairs with strangers, this young explorer has had some memorable experiences.  Just as in life, there are peaks and valleys, and we learn what we are made of when we are challenged.  A highlight from this conversation is when Tara describes the difficulty she has when returning to “society” after being on the trail for so long.  The simplistic nature of taking only what you need and utilizing what is in your environment tends to highlight the surplus of “unnecessary things” that so many of us are accustomed to in our daily lives.  Tara explains that simplification is beautiful and being in nature helps a person embrace the important things in life- friendships, experiences, love, food, and water.  We can learn a lot from this young adventurer so listen up and start planning that BIG dream that scares you right NOW!  No time to waste.  Happy exploring!!!

To view footage of Tara’s hiking experiences, make sure to visit her YouTube channel, Tara Treks.  Link below.

• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtIrzDmpYVg
• Instagram - @tara.dower
• Trail Map https://mountainstoseatrail.org/the-trail/segments/