MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — There's an old saying: the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. That's true for a family from Virginia hiking the Appalachian Trail.
For them, it's 32 steps, all moving together.
"Yes, they are all biological and all from one past marriage," said mom Nicole Bettis. So there's 15. The oldest is 25. The youngest is 4."
The family's trail name is 32 Feet Up, deriving from 16 people with 32 feet in all.
The single mother and her 15 children have been on the trail for more than five months.
The family started in Georgia in early March, and they expect to complete the journey in October when they make it to Maine.
"'It's been a really cool way to just kind of regroup together as a family," Nicole said.
"I just love hiking. I'm happy we're hiking the A.T.," said Grisham Bettis.
But not all the kids are excited to be out here.
We asked Garrett Bettis if he learned anything about himself on the trail.
"That I rather be home," he replies.
Hiking along the Appalachian Trail has been Nicole's dream since she was 12 years old. And now, being able to do it with her kids has fulfilled that dream and become an adventure of a lifetime.
"It has brought everyone so much closer. We do have our days. We have our days, but otherwise, we do good. We've had, I think, two really rough days where it was just cold. It was rainy. But you just get over it. The next day is a new day, and you start over, and you keep going."
The trip along the trail wasn't just to fulfill a dream of hers. It was a step as Bettis likes to put it in the right direction, helping her and her children reconnect during a tough time.
"I'm going through a divorce, and so we've seen a lot of rough life, and it was just a way to kind of get away and escape and regroup as a family."
Despite the worn-out shoes and sore feet, Bettis says each step along the trail is bringing them closer than they were before.
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