3 friends, 104 miles, and a tradition of taking the scenic route

At 4:30 a.m., with headlamps and backpacks strapped on, Amelia Heymach, Eden Fisher, and Addie Kelsey stepped out of Currier House and began walking — southwest through Watertown and Newton, bound for the Connecticut border. With just two weeks until Commencement, the three seniors had one last goal to cross off their College bucket list: a 47-mile walk to commemorate their undergraduate journey.

For Heymach, Fisher, and Kelsey, who became friends on the first day of freshman year, long walks have become a tradition to mark the end of each academic year: As sophomores, they walked to New Hampshire; as juniors to Rhode Island. These ultra-walks might seem extreme, but this trio says they are a way to spend time together while testing their endurance, trust, and commitment.

“People do big walks at transition points in their lives, and it’s not by accident,” Heymach said. “It’s a great opportunity to reflect and center yourself and to think about your goals for the future and reflect on the past. There’s something about those walks that’s so conducive to that sort of thinking, to put away your devices, to be outside, to connect with the lands around you.”

None of them are strangers to trekking. Heymach, a statistics concentrator with a secondary in global health and health policy, hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain with her mom during a gap year. Fisher, a joint concentrator in integrative biology and math with a secondary in studies of women, gender, and sexuality, is a lifelong runner with four marathons and an ultramarathon under her belt. Kelsey, a psychology concentrator with secondary in integrative biology, took many walks with her family growing up.

The plans for their 25-mile walk to New Hampshire formed spontaneously after a late-night study session during final exam week of their sophomore fall. They had heard of some students who had walked to the state line, and wanted to see if they could do it, too.

“We went home to sleep, and then the next morning woke up super early and started,” Kelsey said. “There was no preparation.”

Their route, suggested by Google Maps, took them through Lexington, Burlington, and Billerica, sometimes through residential neighborhoods, other times through industrial areas, often with no sidewalks. The December sun was setting as they walked through Lowell, and then crossed the border into Pelham, New Hampshire, with a time of just under 10 hours.

“We got there, and it was dark. We had headlamps.” Heymach recalled. “Cars were going fast. We were on the side of the curb just running to the finish.”

For the return trip they called an Uber.

“It’s so funny Ubering back in like 40 minutes after you spent the entire day from before the sun has risen to sunset, walking,” Kelsey said. “You’re just seeing everything you passed flash by.”

Junior year they walked 32 miles to Rhode Island, heading south through Massachusetts towns including Dedham, Norwood, Walpole, and Wrentham. They crossed the border into Cumberland, Rhode Island, after 12 hours.

To pass the time while walking, the three sing songs and read aloud to each other from books they find in Little Free Libraries. They pack snacks and usually stop to buy pastries and sandwiches along the way.

“It’s a great opportunity to reflect and center yourself and to think about your goals for the future and reflect on the past.”

Amelia Heymach

All three agreed that at the end of a semester of rigorous academics and extracurriculars, something as simple as a long walk is a welcome change.

“I love the speed of a walk,” Heymach said. “Things can feel super fast-paced for many months at a time here. It’s saying, ‘No, we’re going to go our 2.5 miles-per-hour pace for as long as we want to.’”

Fisher agreed. “It allows you to slow down and enjoy things in a different way. I’ve been learning to appreciate a different pace.”

Last month, with Commencement on the horizon, the friends decided it was time to attempt Connecticut. On May 16 they headed southwest through Wellesley, Holliston, Milford, Mendon, and Douglas. To keep momentum, they developed mind games to stay mentally fresh. One rule? They weren’t allowed to ask how much farther they had to go.

“With walking there’s the physical aspect to it — you feel like your legs may be falling off toward the end — but a lot of it is mental,” Heymach said. “You have to tell yourself you’re not walking with a destination, you’re walking indefinitely.”

The final miles took them along the Southern New England Trunkline Trail through Douglas State Forest after dark, where they heard peeping frogs and spotted a beaver. They crossed the border into Thompson, Connecticut, around 10 p.m.

Next year they will be in three different countries, with Heymach doing community health work in Ecuador, Kelsey studying psychology at the University of Cambridge in England, and Fisher at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

“I have faith in the friendships that I have, and trust that we’ll be there to support each other regardless of where we are,” Heymach said. “I’m excited to do hikes with them in the future.”

They already have a few in mind: Kelsey has her eye on the Camino de Santiago, Heymach on the Lone Star Hiking Trail in Texas, and Fisher on the North-South Trail in Rhode Island. Heymach and Fisher are also interested in the Long Trail in Vermont.

Plus, there are a few more nearby states they haven’t reached by foot.

“We haven’t gone to New York yet. Or Maine,” Kelsey added. “But New York is far, so we’ll have to split it into a couple of days next time.”