MST hikers came together in September to hike over 7180 miles in celebration of the trail’s 44th birthday! 157 people climbed the leaderboard on the MST Guide to participate in our 44th birthday celebration, with 96 completing the 44 Mile Challenge by hiking 44 (and more) miles on the MST during September.
Two folks, Hali Grantham and Daniel Graham, are thru-hiking and sat atop the pack each with 447.08 miles hiked in September! Gieske Miles rounded out the top three with 160.9 miles hiked.
REI sponsored prizes for six 44 Mile Challenge completers. Today, using a fun number randomizer, we picked those six winners. They are:
- Daniel Graham
- Alonda Herron
- Paula Rollins
- Gary Bowman
- MartCrad
- Carole Anderson
Congrats to these folks, and to the top five mileage hikers, who will receive a prize pack from the Friends! The top five are:
- Hali Grantham 447.08
- Daniel Graham 447.08
- Gieske Miles 160.9
- Iwona Birk 151. 06
- Sabre Thompson 145. 59
For a total list, check the leaderboard on the MST Guide, the app used to track the miles. Lots of people connected on the MST and it was super fun to watch those interactions on our Friends Facebook Group.
And we raised an additional $4535 in donations by those who gave the MST a birthday gift in support of our work to build, maintain, protect and promote the MST!
Thanks and congratulations to everyone who participated. One hiker even asked us to plan another challenge for October so they would keep on moving! We’d recommend the 40 Hike Challenge – hiking all 40 hikes in our Great Day Hikes guide by March of 2023.
Photo credit: courtesy of Bill Blake – taken in celebration of completing the 44 Mile Challenge in Segment 8
