Maren "Wizard" Wahle

Hiker / Bartender

My name is Maren, I'm 28 years old, and I was born and raised in Germany. My parents emigrated to Michigan about 9 years ago; I made the move to join them full-time in February 2021, after finishing my Bachelor's degree in English and German philology at the University of Stuttgart.
Since I didn't quite know what to do with myself yet when I got here, I figured it would be an excellent time to go live in the woods for a while. So, in April 2021, I headed down to Georgia to start my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. I summited Mount Katahdin on October 2nd - and knew immediately that I wanted to get back out there.
I took a break from long distance trails in 2022 for several reasons, but in February 2023 I got the chance to join some friends from the AT on the Florida Trail - what was supposed to be a little 2 week section hike turned into a 740-mile-5-week adventure. Now I'm back in Michigan and making final preparations to head out for my PCT thru-hike attempt in a few weeks! (And then I guess back to Florida next January to finish up the Florida Trail...?)