[Note: Dower completed her epic hike mere days before the destruction unleashed by Hurricane Helene forced the closure of large sections of the Appalachian Trail.]. The first time Tara Dower set out to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, in 2017 shortly after graduating from East Carolina University, she made it eighty miles before quitting. She returned in 2019 with her husband and completed the 2,197-mile thru-hike in a fairly typical five months and ten days, during which a fondness for sugary snacks earned her the trail name “Candy Mama.”