Walking from Mexico to Canada
Levin woman on a long trek raising money for charity
An adventurous Levin woman is about to hike from one side of the United States to the other to raise money for charity. Debbie Knuvers, 33, will pack five pairs of comfortable sneakers and head to a start point at Campo, California, on the border between the United States and Mexico, near San Diego.
“I hope to get 500 miles out of each pair,” she said.
She will hike through deserts and mountains and forest plains on her way north along the west coast through the states of Oregon and Washington, eventually arriving at the Canadian border having covered approximately 4265km.
The journey, called the Pacific Crest Trail, was expected to take her three months.
Knuvers will have a personal locator beacon (PLB) and follow a track used by other walkers with the same goal, although many are just doing stages of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Few, like Knuver’s, are attempting the entire trek.
She planned to detour for supplies
and to wash when needed, and along the way take advantage of the support made available by “trail angels”. “Every now and then you’ll walk off track for a shower or to restock on food. The trail angels along the way are just good people, that have maybe done it before themselves,” she said. Knuvers was confident about her level of fitness having just completed a long summer stint working as a hiking guide in both the Milford and Routeburn Tracks in the South Island.
But she was under no illusion of the task ahead, given the potential for snow, forest fire, desert, and dangerous wildlife.
Knuvers hopes to not encounter any potentially deadly wildlife, like bears or rattlesnakes.
The advice was to put anything that smelt like food in a sealed container so as not to attract hungry bears.
“I think it’s going to be a massive challenge,” she said.
Knuvers was no stranger to combining fundraising for charity with her quest for adventure.
In 2019, she and Taygen Hughes drove a Toyota Yaris from London to Mongolia in three months to raise money for charity.
“I want to challenge myself and if I can do this epic thing and raise money for these charities at the same time, that’s pretty cool,” she said.
Her desire to raise money came after the hospice support her family and three sisters received when their father Rob Knuvers died six years ago through illness.
The money raised was in appreciation of that support.
“They rely on donations to keep going and not many people think of end of life care,” she said.
The charity of her choice was Arohanui Hospice, while this time she was also raising money for Will To Live, a charity supporting the mental health of rural people.
Anyone was welcome to support Knuvers to raise money for chairty by visiting https://givealittle.co.nz/ fundraiser/debbies-shortwalk