By Madison Naves | WeINSPIRE Journalist 

BIRMINGHAM, Al. -- The morning dew settles in the Green Mountains of Vermont. There is a silent calmness wafting in the rich air. It is fall. Crunchy leaves sprinkle the forest floor outside of Hayley Proccaci’s tent. They create a trail of dazzling oranges with hues of yellow amongst the blanket of green. She wakes up with a twinge of exhaustion from hiking the day before. She is alone. She braces herself for another day before remembering the words another hiker said to her days ago, “You are never alone.”

Hayley Procacci is a thru-hiker. The Appalachian Trail Conservatory defines Thru-hiking as a term to describe hikers traveling end-to-end long-distance trails within twelve months. Hayley has hiked all 273 miles of The Long Trail (LT). LT is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States. It runs the entire length of Vermont, including through The Green Mountains. Procacci decided to embark on this trail after encountering losses throughout the pandemic. She worried about facing the course alone but found inside it, wisdom, community, and strength were waiting for her. 

In 2018 Procacci moved from Alabama to Manhattan, New York. She began working as an assistant director for the off-Broadway play, A Sign of the Times. It was Proccaci’s goal to one day become a theatre director for a Broadway show. She worked tirelessly in the bustling city that is infamous for never sleeping. 

“What was a passion became a career all of a sudden, and then I didn't have hobbies,” Proccaci said. 

Unfortunately, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, New York went into lockdown. This lockdown left Proccaci, along with millions of others, without work. 

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) reported in April of 2020 that unemployment rates surged to over 14%. A percentage that high had not been seen since the CRS began collecting data in 1948. Unfortunately, this high percentage does not represent the millions of other Americans who go uncounted; or do not directly qualify for unemployment benefits despite being without a job or resources. 

Procacci decided to face this major setback by moving back to Alabama, withstanding the pandemic alongside her family. 

“When COVID hit, I lost all identity, ” Procacci said. “All of a sudden, my career and my hobbies were gone.”

Even as businesses and entertainment venues began to reopen, risks remained high, and opportunities were slim. Procacci noticed the only thing still available to be a part of was the great outdoors. 

“I had a major loss of identity,” Procacci began. “When people asked me to tell them about myself, all I could ever say was what I loved to do, my career. I worked like crazy. I wasn’t present.”

She chose to take up hiking. She realized the outdoors were her roots. She recalled her early years growing up in Florida as the daughter of a surfer. She researched trails in the U.S. and settled on the Vermont LT. 

The hardest part Procacci recalled was the mental challenges she faced while on the LT.  Even after sustaining an ankle injury alone on the trail, Procacci still worried about overthinking and losing hiking partners she had obtained. She faced 40-degree weather, three-day downpours, and sang to ward off bears. Her anti-bear singing earned her the trail name ‘High-Ho’ amongst fellow hikers. To keep her mind clear from overthinking, she journaled her accounts on the trail and looked forward to receiving letters from friends and family at camps sprinkled along the route.

The connections she made on the LT lived on beyond the hike. Her most notable one was a 60-year-old fellow hiker called ‘Lone Dog.’ They bonded over the similarities between them. Both hikers had lived in New York, Lone Dog happened to be from Alabama, and had a daughter Procacci’s age. Connections like these happened over campfires the hikers called ‘hiker-TV.’  They zoned into dancing campfires while learning about the lives of others. The connections proved to be her lifeline as she hiked. She lost items like hats and clotheslines that hikers would pick up and return to her when they found each other on the trail.

“The trail gives back, ” Procacci shared. “When you put in good energy, the trail gives back.”

This proved to be true when after finding herself alone again on the trail, Procacci stopped at a roadside pub to eat. By chance, after spending days apart, there in the pub sat Lone Dog. He bought her a meal and a hotel room for all of the hikers to bond and relax in.

“You had to embrace the uncertainty,” Procacci said. “You never knew what you'd see or who’d you meet.”

Life continues to be uncertain amidst the pandemic, but lessons of wisdom Procacci learned to survive the trail still reigns true in everyday life. No amount of planning can overturn the wills of nature. As life proceeds, hiking through challenges with as much perseverance as Proccaci is a must. Remembering that no one is alone in the uncertainty is the connection that can hopefully restore community in everyone's lives. Proccaci intends to continue thru-hiking on The Arizona National Scenic Trail this year. You can follow her 800-mile journey on her social media accounts @hayley.hikes.