Four years out of college, Alyssa Lukridge (@goldi_luks) was living according to her plan. She had a rewarding career as an oncology nurse, had a great apartment in the city and a wide circle of friends. And yet…the Moorestown native was restless. What exactly was missing? She couldn’t say. And although Lukridge had never so much as taken a serious hike, she set out to backpack the entirety of the Appalachian Trail. Two weeks into her adventure, the world was on lockdown. She turned back just 111 miles into the 2,190-mile trail. Having quit her job at a time when nurses were in high demand, Lukridge realized she could go anywhere with her skills, so she decided to find a job where she could do the most good. She spent 2 months working in a New York City hospital slammed with Covid patients, then she decided on a whim to take a 6-month nursing job in Seattle to ride out the rest of the pandemic. It was almost a year later, she returned to the trail with both a renewed appreciation f...