Meeting Myself In The Mountains

Five years ago, shell-shocked by a pandemic divorce, I took up backpacking. Turns out that despite my inexperience and decidedly “indoorsy” disposition, plodding along trails was a surprisingly effective way to process my sadness and trauma. Hiking was my introduction to the healing power of nature. And at the end of every trek, I was a better version of myself than the one who began it.

Fast forward to last summer, when, no longer steeped in grief and feeling more like my old self, I joined a two-week hiking trip through the Austrian Alps and Italian Dolomites with the non-profit Road Scholar.

But I had doubts.

Would I find this hike, distracted by the company of 18 other (presumably chatty) trekkers, just as transformative? Would I still find magic in the mountains? Read my latest story for Travel + Leisure to find out.