SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Jessica “Dixie” Mills, a YouTube “superstar” of the backpacking world, will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14, in Leonard Auditorium in Main Building on Wofford College’s campus. The program is free and open to the public.
Mills will speak on “Life Lessons Learned from the Triple Crown of Hiking,” referencing her recent completion of hikes of the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail.
A native of Florida, Mills grew up in Opelika, Alabama, and spent many summers with her grandparents, cultivating their backyard garden and her love of the outdoors. A graduate of Auburn University with a degree in biosystems engineering and a minor in agronomy and soils, she spent a year in Colorado before embarking on her hike of the Appalachian Trail in March 2015. “Although that journey ended in October 2015 when I summitted Mount Katahdin (the highest point in Maine), it was only the beginning of a new chapter of my life,” she writes on her website, homemadewanderlust.com. She went on to hike the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail.
“I am an advocate of being outdoors as I feel we can learn a lot about ourselves and life in general while out in nature,” she writes. “Whether it’s taking an evening stroll, catching lightning bugs or gardening, I think everyone can benefit from smelling the roses now and then.”
Mills’ talk is sponsored by the Office of Campus Life and Student Development, the Outdoors Club, the Office of International Programs and the Office of the Provost.