Challenge seeker is ‘happy’ on the trail and off

Brenda Kerr and I spent three hours lingering over our bowls of hot soup at Paddy Murphy’s Pub. I heard about multiple chapters of a peripatetic life — marriage at age 19 in central Maine, biomedical engineering in Ohio, a massage practice in Vermont, and more than 4,000 miles of trail hiking along both U.S. coasts. When we parted I was inspired and intrigued, yet still full of questions. What drives her? What is her path? Where is she going? There is no category for this bright and free-spirited woman.
Brenda claims she is an underachiever, but I would beg to differ. Intelligence and the drive to learn shine forth in all of her stories. The fact that her two sisters who grew up with her in Oakland followed a more traditional path — school, job, marriage, children — makes her feel like the odd woman out. She and her sisters are very close, but, “They don’t think I’m normal,” said Brenda, smiling. “Certainly when their children were young, I was the outcast.”
Nevertheless, she is not lacking in confidence.
“I truly believe that I can do anything I want to do,” she told me. That is an inspiring statement coming from someone about to turn 50, and I believe her.
Brenda graduated from Messalonskee High School, earned an associate degree in medical technology in Bangor and began working in a hospital lab. From there, a circuitous route of searching for fulfillment both in love and in employment led her to the University of Maine, University of South Alabama, Paris, and back to Maine. In the end, she earned a degree in mechanical engineering, which led to a biomedical design job in Ohio.
“I loved that job,” she told me with spirit. Her reasons for loving the job are telling: “I was being challenged at last. I was learning something all the time.”
Brenda became interested in hiking in her early 30s. The interest blossomed into a passion. Soon she was set on the idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail. When her Ohio company was bought out and closed, her opportunity came. She had job offers, but Brenda was ready for a new challenge.
The AT called her, and it changed her life.
Up to that time, Brenda told me, “it was always about me being there for someone else.” It was the first time she had ever been alone. “I got to know myself in a completely different way.”
“This is the most amazing, moving community … You become friends fast and forever.”
Every “thru-hiker” on the Appalachian Trail gets a nickname along the way that becomes their identity forever. It is telling that Brenda’s moniker, given to her by a fellow hiker, was “Happy.” In spite of trials and tears, Brenda never doubted for a second that she would complete the 2,000-mile trail from Georgia to Maine. “There was no place I’d rather be.”
On Sept. 12, 2001, Brenda completed her six-month journey at the top of Mount Katahdin. She and her group of finishers left camp before dawn, and she remembers seeing some of them ahead of her on a ridge, their headlamps like a string of jewels. They summited as the sun rose into view.
After that experience, going back into an office felt impossible. Brenda moved to Vermont where she completed certification in Hellerwork — a type of massage. It was not as far from her expertise as you might think. “It was like re-engineering bodies,” she said.
The call of the trail was strong, however, and Brenda was restless, as many AT finishers are. First, some of them met for a few weeks to hike the Smoky Mountains. Then, six years ago, she decided to join an AT friend hiking the Pacific Crest Trail — a 2,600-mile trail that spans the West Coast from Mexico to Canada.
That friend has been her life’s companion ever since. Brenda and Reid live simply and forge a path of their own making. Sixteen months ago they moved back to Maine. They spent a year at Brenda’s family camp north of the West Forks, along the shore of Indian Pond, without electricity or plumbing.
“It was kind of like being on the trail,” Brenda said.
So what’s next? Brenda and Reid were planning another AT trip, until an unexpected job prospect recently dropped into Brenda’s lap. The bioengineering company that she worked for in Ohio, in its new offices in New York, called to see if she might work for them.
Will it be the Appalachian Trail, biomedical design, or something entirely different? Whatever path she chooses, Brenda appears to have discovered what it takes to be “Happy” on life’s trail:
Every day you face a challenge. Every day you learn something new.
Want to be part of next week’s column? Robin Wood would love to hear what the Super Bowl means to Mainers.  Has your family adopted Super Bowl traditions? Special recipes? Extreme fan practices? Does the football part matter? Whom will you root for with the Patriots gone? Contact Robin with your stories at robin.everyday@gmail.com, or at one of her blogs: ayearofgettingup.blogspot.com or thesunriseblogger.blogspot.com.