Our intrepid guest this episode is 13-year-old Georgia Clews who is halfway through her long trail hike adventure with her mom, Charlotte Clews. If Georgia (known by her trail name, Marmot), gets all the way to the Utah border under her own steam, she will likely be the youngest person to hike the Arizona Trail. At the same time, Marmot is taking distance schooling to extremes as she logs into her lessons every time she can get cell service. Wow!

Some of you may be asking, what kind of parent would drag their tween from Maine to Arizona and make her endure cactus spines, big hairy spiders, and snow storms? Well Charlotte (known on the trial as Dread Pirate) is the perfect person to be accompanying her daughter on a thru-hike of epic proportion. 

Dread Pirate has completed thru-hikes on all the major continent-spanning trails in the US:

• The Appalachian Trail
• The Pacific Crest Trail
• And the Continental Divide trail where she and her husband (Marmot’s dad) got engaged.

Charlotte has had more than her fair share of adventures and epics and can handle almost any trail emergency. Charlotte is also a trained and educated naturalist, a wilderness first responder, and a licensed Maine guide. 

The real reason she’s perfect for this adventure, though, is that she believes in the power, autonomy, creativity and character of kids. She doesn’t see her role as a parent as one who hovers over a child, preventing or cleaning up mistakes… She knows they deserve every chance to fail, excel, learn, and experience life.

For the show notes, including links to other relevant episodes, AND a curated reading list, go to: https://www.here-together.us/pod/how-to-walk-into-adulthood

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