This weekend, my interview with history-making thru-hiker Emily Ford is airing on Philadelphia’s WPPM, 106.5 FM. The interview can also be heard online at phillycam.org/listen or via the Tune In app. Emily Ford is the celebrated solo thru-hiker who made history a couple of months back on March 6, 2021 when she became the first woman, and only the second person, ever to complete a winter thru-hike of the 1200-mile Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin.
The Memorial Day Weekend Special premiered yesterday, Saturday, May 29 at 12PM EST, and airs again today, Sunday, May 30 at 12PM EST. An encore airing is set for Wednesday, June 2.
It was such an honor to speak with this courageous trailblazer! In addition to being the first woman to thru-hike the Ice Age Trail in winter, Ford is also the first African American and first LGBTQ person ever to achieve this distinction. She set out on December 28, 2020, and hiked in the dead of winter, amid an unprecedented pandemic and a roiling social justice movement. She did so, in part, to make a statement about racial justice and inclusion in America.
In the interview, Ford discusses her motivation for the hike, her mission to make a statement on social justice and access to nature for all, her methods of preparation and surviving in sub-zero temperatures, and a host of other topics.
For me, Emily Ford is a modern Matthew Henson, reminding us that there are so many paths that we can yet forge.
It’s fitting that this interview is airing at the close of May, 2021, as we pause in remembrance of the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the 100th anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the 156th anniversary of the earliest known commemoration of Memorial Day, pioneered by African Americans in post-Civil War Charleston S.C. in 1865. As we move forward in a difficult time of reckoning for our nation, as we celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of Emily Ford and others lighting the way, may we never forget the lessons of our past.
Please check out the interview! Here’s How:
When:
- Saturday May 29 at 12PM
- Sunday May 30 at 12PM
Encore:
- Wednesday, June 2 at 11AM.
Listen on:
- 106.5 FM, WPPM (Philadelphia)
- Tune In App (Search WPPM)
- Phillycam.org/listen (Everywhere)
Image Credit: Emily Ford for @EmilyOnTrail via Instagram.
Follow Emily Ford @EmilyOnTrail
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Tara Lake 