- My name is Emily Lozano and I'm 20 years old,
and I've always loved the outdoors.
Ever since I was young, my family would take me
to different Texas State Parks.
We'd tent camp and we'd get all we need out of the car.
So this spring break I decided to try something
a little bit new and go on a backpacking trip.
I'm going to do the Lone Star Hiking Trail.
It's extremely long, some 90-something miles.
We'll see how it goes.
I parked my car at the beginning of the trail
and ended up needing a ride to the end of it so that I could
hike the trail in reverse.
John was my ride.
- JOHN COLLINS: Good to meet you.
You ready to get your pack in the car?
- EMILY: Yeah, let's do it.
- JOHN: Let's do it.
- EMILY: And John is a real backpacker.
He's done the AT multiple times.
We hit it off instantly.
Because it's been raining so much, we skip Winter's Bayou
and start at Tarkington.
- There's three things to remember when you're doing
your long trail here.
First thing is physical.
You can do it.
[upbeat music]
The next part, you have to feed yourself so watch your
food supplies, your logistics.
[upbeat music]
And finally, every morning you're gonna have to get up
and get on the trail.
You gotta keep doing it day in and day out, okay?
- EMILY: He's so sweet.
Not what I expected at all.
He gives me certain tips about backpacking.
- Emily, as you see, this is the blazes for the Lone Star Trail.
That tells you to the go left as you should go rather than right
down that other road.
It definitely will keep you from getting lost.
- It's pointing you in the right direction.
- JOHN: Correct.
- Alright. - Let's move on.
- EMILY: His stories are fantastic.
- JOHN: First A.T. trip. 1995.
I'm a neophyte backpacker.
Didn't know anything.
- EMILY: He really, really cared.
He really wanted to make sure I would be okay
as soon as he left.
- JOHN: Good morning, sir.
- ALAN: Hey, good morning!
How are you doing?
- EMILY: Next is Alan.
Alan is super sweet.
I don't know where I'm going.
- ALAN: You don't know where you're going?
Oh no!
We're going to get lost!
- EMILY: And he was so pleasant,
and he talked about the organization.
- The Lone Star Trail is 98.6 miles long
and then we have about another 35 miles of other loops.
- And it's all done by volunteers?
- All done by volunteers.
We have several nonprofit organizations,
the principle one being the Lone Star Hiking Trail Club.
- So what is your part in that?
- I help coordinate trail stewards, and trail stewards
might involve adopting a mile or two miles of the hiking trail
to help maintain it.
Oh look, here's a beaver dam right here!
- EMILY: That's a beaver dam?
- ALAN: That's a beaver dam, right here.
I don't think they would like me
knocking on their doors too much.
- EMILY: So why do you do it?
- Unless volunteers maintain the trails,
trails get closed.
[dry leaves crunching]
[ambience, bird chirping]
- EMILY: We get to our campsite and he heads out
and he goes home.
I'm tired and I definitely feel it.
Cilantro, lime, and black beans.
Up next is the Magnolia Section,
which has the massive obstacle of crossing
the San Jacinto River.
Thankfully, I don't have to do it alone.
Hi, I'm Emily.
- I'm Dave.
- EMILY: Dave looks like a ranger straight from
Jurassic Park.
I've never crossed a river.
I'm so anxious.
- Okay, Emily, so there's an option for you here.
That's a way to get across without getting wet,
as long as you don't fall.
- I don't want to cross a tree that's slippery
with a pack.
- Alright.
- EMILY: Let's wade.
- DAVE: Let's go wade.
- Wow! That is freezing!
- DAVE: Okay, now come upstream, come this way.
- That is so cold!
This way?
- That's your target, head for that branch.
- EMILY: How deep is this?
Ah!
- DAVE: The deepest part is right in front of that
other stick.
That was the hard part.
- EMILY: I make it across safely.
I am so grateful that Dave was there.
Ah, it's working!
I don't think I could have done it by myself.
Honestly, it was so much more fun having him there.
- DAVE: I'm glad I'm not carrying your pack today.
Yeah, there's quite a bit more sag with your pack on there.
Look!
[laughs]
- EMILY: Dave is nice enough to give me a lift to the
next trailhead, which saves me a whole lot of walking
and I could not be happier.
And Dave brings me next to the Big Woods Section.
Thanks for leaving me water, and the tangerines,
and bringing us across the river.
- EMILY: Then he heads off.
- DAVE: Bye.
[quiet ambiance]
- I've begun to notice a blister
and I'm praying that it doesn't get worse.
[quiet ambiance]
[soft acoustic music]
On top of being alone, the day seems to stretch
a little bit longer.
I have so much time alone with my thoughts.
Every mile feels a little bit longer.
I enjoy being by myself and I enjoyed the second to
kind of daydream a little bit.
But I almost got a little bit lonely.
I am getting a little lonely.
[quiet ambiance]
Walking down the road is miserable.
I don't like the road because it is gravelly, and it's hot,
and there's no shade and I just wanted to take a break.
[soft acoustic music]
There wasn't even a good spot to break.
And it's straight and it makes it feel like it's forever.
[soft acoustic music]
So I just kept walking.
Off to my right, I see a sign, and it's clearly marked.
And as soon as I hit the shade, I plop down on a log
and gobble up a granola bar,
and it's fantastic.
Just past the trailhead is this primitive campsite.
My blister is massive.
Honestly, I want to cry a little bit.
I'm not feeling like I'm ready to do the over-half of the trail
that's still left to go.
In the mailbox is this log of all of the people who have been
here before me and all of their encouraging words.
It made me feel like a part of it.
And it gave me the strength to keep going.
[soft acoustic music]
Day five.
This is the last day before Huntsville State Park.
My legs hurt.
My thighs are burning.
My feet hurt.
I run into Candace who gives me a lift
to the next trail section.
- CANDACE: I started going out on the public hikes,
and I just kept coming back.
- EMILY: Candace explains a lot of the methods
and a lot of the procedures that they go through
when volunteering on the trail.
- It's not created by a machine,
and a user-created trail is one of the hardest
trails to maintain.
But not many people live out here and can actually
work on the trails.
It's just been turned over to volunteers.
- EMILY: What she loves is the chance to give back.
Candace is most definitely a trail angel.
She absolutely saved me.
[soft acoustic music]
My feet look terrible.
They don't look as bad as they feel but they almost
look as bad as they feel.
And I'm just so ready to see my family.
And I don't want to have to hike all of that in the morning.
It's midday, still a whole lot of sun left.
Oh goodness.
If I hike more today, it'll be less tomorrow.
Let's do that.
[zip]
[click]
I crank out another section of trail,
find a nice patch of trees...
set up my hammock,
and pass out.
Day six.
It's already good day and it hasn't even started.
I see a tiny little Honda Civic.
I know that car.
It has my dad and my sister and my little baby brother.
They drove all this way to spend the day with me.
We go to Huntsville State Park.
And they have showers at Huntsville State Park!
And my sister brought fruit salad.
And I'm not hiking.
And it's so great!
Amanda's coming with me on the next three days,
and I'm so excited.
Okay, so what'd you bring?
- Okay, I have a jacket.
- That's good, you can keep that.
- Socks.
- Ooh, nice socks.
- Pants.
- Okay, that's good.
- Then I have this.
- That's the same sleeping bag I have!
- Really?
Okay, then I have a lot of snacks, which I don't think
I need this much.
- No, I ate through a whole bag of snacks.
We build a campfire and I get to catch up with her.
And I'm so happy that I get to share this with her.
[birds chirping]
Next morning.
I'm excited.
And Amanda's excited, and that just makes me more excited.
[soft upbeat music]
I feel light.
It feels like day one all over again.
[soft upbeat music]
I'm not doing it alone anymore.
And this is someone at my experience level,
and someone my age who gets it.
[soft upbeat music]
- AMANDA: We're going to the big hot pole.
- EMILY: Actually, I want you in front of me
so that if you slip...
- AMANDA: It's not slippery.
- EMILY: Oh, it's not slippery.
I was expecting it to be worse.
The fact that Amanda was so chipper and so cheerful,
it helped me get over the fact that my foot hurt.
It helped me get over the fact that my muscles were sore
and that my back hurt.
Amanda being so positive just made it so easy
for me to say, "Okay, let's do it.
One more day."
- Hakuna - Matata
- Did we do it Amanda?
Did we do it?
- I dunno.
- EMILY: As the day is closing, Amanda's ready to be done.
I'm ready to be done.
And then we come up on Stubblefield.
And it's such a relief.
I don't have to admit to my sister
that I don't know what I'm doing.
Even though I'm pretty sure she knows
that I don't know what I'm doing.
And that's okay.
[soft acoustic music]
It feels like the end is near.
Like, you can taste it, like, you're so close.
[soft acoustic music]
It's super eerie almost, with this fog hanging.
[upbeat acoustic music]
♪ ♪
And this is one of our longest days.
We did so many miles.
I was struggling with the nine-mile days
and the 13-mile days, and then we did 15.
[upbeat acoustic music]
♪ ♪
Amanda did so good!
I have no idea how it happened.
[upbeat acoustic music]
- I really like this and I like backpacking.
I probably wouldn't be doing half as much
if I wasn't here with you.
- Without you, I was doing half the mileage we did.
- I don't know how you did it because I'm
super-duper tired right now.
- That's just wanting it.
You just did 15 miles in one day!
Fifteen miles!
So you got it, boo.
This is it.
This is the end.
I'm so sad because it's ending,
but more than anything I'm excited!
Every step and you're closer.
Walk faster!
- AMANDA: Ah, okay.
- EMILY: Every trail marker feels like a victory in itself.
Aww, Amanda we have one mile left.
That's my car.
I know that license plate number.
I know the dirt on that tire.
I know that dent!
I did that dent!
- AMANDA: Aww, I'm coming for it.
We made it!
- EMILY: We made it!
I need to take this off right now.
And then Amanda and I go to a real restaurant,
and I order real food.
No mushy bag food!
- What was your favorite part?
- My favorite part was probably Huntsville State Park.
Just taking the day off and relaxing.
It helped me enjoy the trail even more afterwards.
- And your worst part.
- My worst part was my pinky toe growing a toe!
- And what was the hardest thing of it?
- The hardest thing was probably just getting up and starting.
- What made you keep going?
- We were in the middle of the woods.
There wasn't an option!
I did it!
I finished it!
And my blister healed and my toe is fine.
I feel so accomplished.
I feel so blessed that these volunteers are out there,
because without them this trail would be closed.
It was such a great spring break,
and great in ways I wouldn't have expected it to be.
I'm so glad I went.