2025 Virtual Hike-a-thon

Hi friends,

If you know me, you've heard me talk about the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT). 

Way back when I worked at MIT between 2015-2018, I heard about this incredible new long-distance trail project spanning the Caucasus through Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan - and as anyone who was there will attest, I wouldn't shut up about it. I was a fresh-faced development economics nerd who had studied Russian, gotten interested in post-Soviet economics, visited Georgia's amazing mountains, led hiking trips in New Hampshire, and ruthlessly obsessed over what the impact of tourism was on the places I liked to visit. The TCT took all these niche interests and smashed them together. Obviously, I had to go.

Baby Meagan in Georgia, 2013.I went. It was summer 2018, and I quit my stable job, and I left for Georgia to go swing a pulaski and move dirt and ask people nosy questions about tourism. What I found blew me away: in remote villages in Svaneti, Georgia, people weren't just happy that trail tourism was another source of income. They were happy because after decades of steady depopulation in the mountain villages, of young people leaving for the cities to drive taxis and scrape by, people were starting to move back.

And of course, the mountains were steep and spectacular, and hospitality in the Caucasus is unmatched, and the trail conditions were like nothing I'd ever seen. It kicked my ass. It broke me open. I loved it.

Backpacking across Svaneti, Georgia in 2018. You know the rest of this story: I moved to Georgia. I led trail crews. I got more involved in TCT and running the organization that makes the whole trail possible. I steered it through Covid, then a war, then a bigger war. I thru-hiked across Armenia to test the new route, then worked for months on brand-new resources to make it easier for others to hike across the country. I bought a used 4x4 and slept in the back and drove around Georgia mapping out Soviet jeep tracks and cow trails and historical footpaths - what eventually became large sections of the Georgia thru-hiking route. I wrote grants and tried to learn Georgian (badly) and bashed my head against budgets and peeled thorns from my sleeves. We built an international team of staff and volunteers across 3 countries - with a level of collaboration nearly unheard of in this volatile region - then built an unprecedented exchange program bringing together young people around conservation and trail building. 

With an incredible effort from local team members, volunteers, and fellow hikers, we expanded the trail from a few hundred kilometers to over 1,750km. Now, dozens of thru-hikers and thousands of section hikers enjoy it each year. And it's still growing.

The TCT will stretch 3,000km when complete, connecting hundreds of communities and 25 protected areas. We've already opened over 1,750km to hikers!After over 6 years in Georgia - and now as Executive Director of the TCTA - leading this project has been the great work and privilege of my life so far. I wouldn't trade these years for anything.

But like a lot of good projects, we have had a ROUGH year in 2025. We'd built up a fantastic large-scale partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, which supported our local conservation corps program as well as most of our local staff time. But when the U.S. suddenly froze all foreign aid in January, we abruptly lost 70% of our budget. We had to cancel most of our local volunteer & training programs, cut our entire team to half-time, and pivot - yet again - to figuring out how to continue our most essential work on the trail, so that we can ensure hikers have up-to-date information to safely navigate the trail, we can continue supporting the communities along the way, and we can continue to address critical infrastructure needs like washed-out bridges, landslides, and overgrown trails.

We will be stubbornly continuing to build this new section of trail in 2025.That's why this year, I'm running a personal campaign to support the TCT - because right now, there is enough terrible news, and the world needs good people and good projects to keep on stubbornly making a positive difference, rather than folding to the tides of apathy and despair that current events seem designed to encourage.

We're running a Virtual Hike-a-Thon throughout the month of May, with an overall goal of raising $15,000 to support the most critical operations needs on the trail. 

So throughout May, I'm going to be sharing my hikes on the future Transcaucasian Trail, as I work to map out new sections in Georgia and put more of these areas on the map for future hikers - so that more people might discover the magic of the Caucasus beyond the grim headlines. 

I'm personally aiming to raise $1,000 for core work on the trail, and I hope you'll join me to support one of (in my obviously biased opinion) the coolest, most creative, and most stubborn projects in the world at a very critical time. 

So that whenever you visit - the trail will be waiting for you!

Usually with Mela (a former trail dog who followed me on the TCT!) leading the way.Thanks so much for your support, and I hope to see you on the TCT. 💚