You've probably heard about the Lycian Trail in Turkey over the past couple of years. In the States, there's the Appalachian Trail, which is more than 5 times longer. I managed to hike a small section of it. You can't find time for the entire route, but even the demo version is really great.

The trail became famous in the 1950s thanks to a woman from Ohio. Emma Gatewood had a difficult life: a large family, regular beatings from her husband, sometimes nearly to death. On top of everything, her husband was found guilty of killing another man but wasn't imprisoned because they had 9 minor children. What humane justice existed in 1924 in the USA. Emma often went into the forest to find peace and quiet. Only by 1941 did she manage to get a divorce. Quite an extraordinary thing for those times. But her love for hiking never went away.

In 1949, Emma came across an article in National Geographic about the Appalachian Trail. It was written as if anyone could easily and simply walk all 3,500 kilometers without any special training. So the woman set off, but after a few days she got lost, broke her glasses, and ran out of food. Park rangers accidentally found her and convinced her to go back home. But her children never found out about the failed hike.

A year later, at age 67, she told her now-adult children that she was going for a walk. It didn't occur to anyone to ask how long she'd be gone. The walk lasted 146 days! From the beginning of May through the end of September. For the entire trail, she took only a shower curtain in case of rain and a backpack with a change of clothes. Local media immediately picked up the story and ran with it. Riding this wave of popularity, the woman started organizing an annual 6-mile hike in one of Ohio's parks. By the last one in 1973, 2,500 people showed up.

Emma completed the entire route two more times. At age 71 (!) and at 76 (!!). I'd love to be able to casually hike three and a half thousand kilometers at 70+.