Ultimate Hiking

On October 13, 2012, Kara Kirchherr and I will join eleven other hikers from the St Louis region to hike thirty miles in one day. This is part of the Ultimate Hike fundraising program run by CureSearch, a non-profit organization which donates almost 90% of each dollar raised to fund pediatric cancer research and educational materials for families of children with cancer.

We began training in July, when the weather was formidable. One of our first hikes was on the Chubb Trail in West Tyson County Park.

http://www.gorctrails.com/trails/mchubb.asp

We arrived at the trailhead to be greeted by a downpour. After waiting for the storm to pass, we headed off along the trail, slipping and sliding our way towards the Meramec River. Along the way, we found our footing and started to get to know the other Ultimate Hikers. Many of us had only hiked in small groups before, so learning how to pace yourself for walking in a group of ten or more was challenging. Since that day, we have become better hikers and better friends, and continue to push on to reach our goal of thirty miles in one day.

Each of the hikers has an interesting story to tell, and is committed to making a difference in the fight to end childhood cancer by challenging herself to an all day endurance test. This blog will chronicle some of those stories as we continue to train and fundraise. The main characters in this story, however, are the children who develop cancer. Today, thanks to past research, many of these children have a good chance of surviving. But losing one child to cancer is one too many. We must continue to look for ways to prevent, treat and cure childhood cancer, and donating thorugh CureSearch is one way to help that effort.

To sponsor us, please visit our fundraising pages. There, you can donate securely online with a credit card or download a donation form to pay by check or cash:

Lisa Kuehne: http://www.ultimatehike.org/stlouis/lisakuehne

Kara Kirchherr: http://www.ultimatehike.org/stlouis/karakirchherr