Join me while I travel and hike in areas both near and far to my home in eastern Massachusetts. In 2007, I hiked over 600 miles of the Appalachian Trail, spent the summer in the Adirondacks and then traveled throughout Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia from October to April. In 2008, I hiked 400 miles of the Appalachian Trail, paddled 100 miles of the Shenandoah River, and left in November for a 9.5 month trip to Central and South America, Antarctica including the Falklands and South Georgia Island, and Easter Island.

I use this list to send periodic journal entries. When possible, I upload these entries to my web site where you can read about most of my travels from 1997 through 2006 including my China/Nepal trip and my 2,165 mile Appalachian Trail thruhike. All of these trip reports and other hiking related information at can be found on my site at http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor. I've been too busy to update the site since 2006 so all subsequent entries must be read here in my Yahoo group. I returned to the US at the end of August 2009 and will spend some time updating my web site to include my journals from the last few years, pictures, and travel advice.

I will continue to send trip reports on short and long forays to this group.

See you on the trail,

Mara

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