From the 13 page of the thread on
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I'd like to start this by saying I am/have always been horrible with names whether that is with the towns or the people I met completing my thru hike this year. I summited Katahdin on August 16th.. That being said I definitely knew who Ninja was I'm not exactly sure what the "wild card" thing is but after seeing her pictures everywhere I know for a fact that this is the same girl I met.
I think the first time I met this chick was at the Hikers Welcome Hostel, because as we were on the way back from buying food from the convenience store the chick sitting next to me recognized Ninja, who was getting a hitch in the back of a pick up truck. The girl sitting next to me decided to scream at the top of her lungs out the window to get Ninjas attention even though we were literally pulling into the hostel in the next 60 seconds.. I guess it couldn't wait. As we pulled in Ninja and this German? girl hopped out of the bed of the truck and began giving a long story about this crazy hitch they just got in order to go to a festival. The hikers welcome hostel owner even said to the truck driver "you are bringing me yellow blazers?!" jokingly but obviously serious too. The three just laughed and walked out back where some beer drinking began. Shortly after, the German girl she was with decided she would go to another event and would hitch to the next show with the same people she came with.. Ninja obviously had basically ran out of cash at this point and decided it was best to work for stay at the Hikers Welcome and not go to another show.
Now this is great do your own thing "hike your own hike" blah blah I get it. It was when I heard of her talking about some charity that she set up that really caught my attention. From the little bit of conversation I had or others had with her, I gathered that she was doing a thru hike supported by the money she gets from the military and the charity she had set up, all other money she had was gone. And at the end of her hike the leftover cash given to her would be given towards her charity. Now this all sounds good unless you were in the military and realize medical disability for most is next to nothing and with out a steady paycheck obviously she would have to pull from the charity she set up. After watching her buy beer that night and smoke some cigarettes out back you could say it rubbed me the wrong way.
I then slack packed for 2 days I think I was passing some type of stomach flu and didn't want to get too far behind everyone else (plus I love slack packing). Ninja decided she would work for stay another day and head out the day after. This really really rubbed me the wrong way as I came back to the hostel to find her once again smoking a cig while I just went through the pouring rain and was miserable.
The next time I saw her was getting another hitch into the hostel where the awesome owner is in a wheel chair (sorry bad with names) arriving maybe 10 minutes after me. She got out of the car with two ladies who had section hiked the year before and actually stayed in that hostel previously and wanted to say hi to the owner. Before leaving, the ladies who gave her a ride asked again about her website and wanted to know if there was anything else they could do for her. She just told them she appreciated the ride and thanked them for listening to her story and that they should check out her website. I remember I had slack packed into that hostel and didn't see a single hiker that day but some how she was only 10 minutes behind me with a full pack... When the ladies left she even told us that she saw those ladies doing trail magic, told them her story and where she was going and the ladies agreed to take her to the hostel at the end of the day. She began justifying why it was alright she didn't finish the entire section until the road. Yes it was probably only a couple of miles that day... but im pretty sure that happened quite frequently.
We had a big storm rolling in the next day and only me and a section hiker decided to go that morning, every one else agreed it would be another zero.. even her:O the hostel owner kept saying it would be dangerous but I figured I could get even a couple miles in and feel better then taking another slow day. Anyways I think you get the point. I saw her with a couple of buddies a week later I think? Sitting at a shelter joking and guess what? smoking lol. This is when the jokes really started between me and the guys I was hiking with as I wasn't sure why she was called ninja but thought it had to do with her randomly popping up in places way ahead of everyone.
When the guys I was with who knew her for a while asked her about how she always somehow got ahead she would rush the subject and say "she was night hiking" This never added up If you knew me on the trail I always woke up at 6 and would not stop until 7-8? And with the amount of rain we had up north, hiking at night was flat out dangerous and completely outweighed hiking in the heat, that she was claiming to be avoiding. Once again she some how ended up 2 days ahead of me and I just laughed when I read her name in the trail journals. In the end apparently she finished 2 weeks ahead of me not a chance in the world.
I wouldn't say I am the fastest hiker in America (well apparently because its... her) but I could easily count on my hands the people who passed me during the entire AT experience. I know them because it was always my mission to try and keep up with their pace. Somehow Ninja was the only person on the trail that magically found herself far ahead of me multiple times without ever passing me or having me pass her.
I probably sound a little salty and I guess its because I know how hard it was for me to get up every single day to finish in the conditions we had but I did it. Even managing to do 24 miles average through the 100 mile.
The story just does not add up and if it wasn't for her taking all this money for a charity... I wouldn't be here typing a book to you all. Bottom line is I along with a ton of my thru hiking buddies knew her and no one can recall a single time they even saw her put in a full days work. Somehow she managed to take months and months to go north bound but turned around and finished in 45 days unsupported... no no no. The truth will be coming out pretty soon as you detectives have already pieced most of this together.
Trail name is Oriole btw