Turn Your Troubles into Blessings
January 25, 2026
I’m glad that this day is not the completion day of my Appalachian Trail thru hike! I’m living in Ohio now, and it’s a full 24 hours into a record-breaking snow event! I’m living solo now, a development of the journey that unfolded since that completion day in 2008. Although I’ve been thinking about my journey since that day all day, I haven’t sat down to write it, and haven’t really wanted to. Remembering feels adequate. However, I’ll write a list of events.
November 29, 2025
While spending time mostly in my room, keeping my face down during recovery from retina surgery, I have been dreaming of an ideal community! Feeling bold and brave and playful, I’m sharing it in its rough and rudimentary form! Feel free to play along and share your comments!
This is an imagining of the Forgiveness walks Center for Walking, Aging Consciously, And Leaving No Trace.
The ForgivenessWalks Center is a dwelling for a group of people who thrive by walking in Nature to live and work there, supporting each other in conscious aging, dying, and body composting, We also support people in creating fulfilling walks, particularly of the Appalachian Trail. It could be also be the Benton MacKaye Trail – one of those Appalachian Mountain trails.
August 6, 2025
I have a S.T.O.R.Y. (A Sustained Tale of Repressed Yearning)
Hmm. I suppose the anniversary of Hiroshima Day is appropriate for posing this question. Can “using the tools” of Radical Forgiveness shift the apparent stalemate in a situation where someone is blaming me for something I said?
Two years ago, I muttered a judgemental comment within earshot of another person, triggering her desire to “not hang out with people who say mean things about me”.
Yesterday, she reminded me of that event, saying that the way to resolve this is for me to make amends and change my behavior. What’s my part in this situation? Can I raise the vibration for both of us by using the tools myself??
August 2, 2025
It appears to me that my original reason for relocating to Ohio after my 9-year stint at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park ended in May, 2023 has also now ended. My life seems to have distinct chapters that have clear beginnings and endings! Now, I have the privilege this time to pretty much choose whatever I want to do! I can say more about all that later!
For this post, I want to elaborate on how I’m using my own Five Essentials for Crafting a Radiantly Fulfilling Walk for planning my own walk of the Buckeye Trail, a 1400+ mile loop around Ohio! Here’s a brief look!
July 23, 2025
In response to a Facebook question about how the average hiker walks the Appalachian Trail, here is my response:
Most important is knowing why you are walking! The trail is a blank canvas on which you express your unique fulfillment! It supports YOUR average day, YOUR pack weight, YOUR number of times going home.
How about getting to know the trail and yourselves?
I have loved my relationship with the AT starting at age 50 and find very little in common with most hikers I’ve met, especially with their focus on mileage, speed, food, and hatred of mountains. I’m happy to talk this through with you. I’ve worked as a ridgerunner for 7 seasons and have talked with thousands of hikers in Virginia.
Are you yearning to walk the Appalachian Trail?
You wonder how.
You wonder if you can do it.
You know there’s a lot to prepare, but don’t know where to start.
Everyone you know says that’s a crazy thing to do!
You want someone who’s done it to help you navigate the journey.
Hi. I’m Regina Reiter and I know exactly what you’re thinking! I was in your shoes before completing my thru hike in January, 2008. I’m a long distance hiker, Nature interpreter, Radical Forgiveness Coach, and entrepreneur with a passion for helping women over 50 walk the Appalachian Trail as a pilgrimage.
Responding to a hiker who called for a ride home after her gear got wet. Wondering if she made the right choice.
Here’s her story:
I started a section hike this past weekend (not my first)and had to bail early. I’m curious as to what others would have done in the same circumstances especially if the option to get out hadn’t been there.
Basically on the second day of hiking in torrential downpours, after setting up camp for the night I found my pack had leaked. My sleeping bag was soaked and I had no dry clothes to change into. (Lesson learned even with a dyneema pack use a pack liner). I was soaked from hiking in it all day and now that things had slowed i was starting to get very cold. There was nothing dry to even attempt a fire. I messaged my husband to come get me via inReach, packed up the campsite and hiked the two miles to the nearest road crossing where i broke out the emergency blanket, cuddled with a Nalgene bottle of boiling water to stay warm, and made myself visible with my headlamp, while I waited the four hours for him to come to the rescue. I’m thinking through the “what ifs”. Had I been further from home I would have done the same and hitched to a hotel or something. What about not being so close to a road crossing? I’m disappointed that I bailed and feel like I gave up too easily but this was sort of the last straw in a list of little things that gave me the feeling I needed to get off trail.
August 30,2024
“Strangers are friends I haven’t met yet.”
This is one of my mottos that gets affirmed every day. Today, it was in admiring the beauty of an adult sitting with a child, honoring her importance next to the park pond where I was walking.
It took a photo of them, walked around the pond, and shared it with him. He graciously accepted it and we talked, blending our adult conversation seamlessly with his granddaughter’s.
I left them with my motto, “Maybe we can be park friends! Strangers are friends I haven’t met yet!”
August 26,2024
Do I stay in bed scrolling through the stories “the algorithm” chose for me? Maybe going for a walk in my neighborhood park would be better. It is. It’s always better!
On my first step off the street into the woods, I breathe and sigh, “Yes! I’m here! Oh yes, this is my place to be!” Colors, sounds, myriad relationships in balance flood my senses.
Reaching the mowed grass paths, I shed my shoes, greeting with a silent gesture of thanks the woman who enticed me to walk barefoot by her own practice. I rejoice in gratitude for this space. Somehow it has been mowed without me having to hear the machines!
August 24,2024
As I walked contentedly in my neighborhood park this morning, the question arose, “How long do I want to stay out on a trail before going ‘home’?”
As I walked, I posted a reflection on FB, recorded a video of one question, and recorded a voice memo of another self-reflection. Walking in Nature is my happy place for exploring questions and reaching out to others. It’s also my happy place for my general overall happiness!
Would I stay out on a trail with no permanent place to return to? Do I simply want a modern dwelling next to a trail for daily walks? Are trails and parks separate worlds from a house? Would RV or van living suffice?