This weekend, hikers across New Hampshire raised money for hiking safety initiatives and search and rescue teams.
The event was in honor of 19-year-old Emily Sotelo from Massachusetts. She was close to completing her goal of hiking all 48 of the state’s 4,000 footers when she died hiking Mount Lafayette last November.
Officials say she was unprepared for hiking in winter-like conditions.
Nearly 300 people joined Emily’s parents, Olivera Bogunovic and Jorge Sotelo, on Saturday by hiking different peaks across the state. The event has raised over $90,000 so far.
NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa spoke with Bogunovic and Sotelo before they left for their hike this weekend.
Transcript
Olivera Bogunovic: Emily was always an achiever, and Emily and I used to do a lot of things together. So we used to push ourselves out of the comfort zones. I'm kind of more of a nerdy little type, academic, never out outdoors, always dreaded outdoors. And she would always push me to do small things, even like a small hike. So I really felt that I had to honor her in a way that she would want to be honored with and what would mean to her. So the idea of doing and finishing up her hike was something that inspired me.
Jorge Sotelo: After Emily had the accident, I got a big desire to start hiking, and I still feel a lot like continue hiking. Shortly after I started talking to Olivera about my desire to hike in general, and especially the place where Emily has the accident, and then later on with Olivera came the idea of doing a hiking fundraiser for her, too.
Julia Furukawa: So this has actually inspired the both of you to do more hiking instead of staying away from that activity. Could you tell me a little bit more about that?
Olivera Bogunovic: I'm always of the mind that you cannot be scared of anything in life, and that life comes with its own challenges and you have to continue walking the walk in life. So that was, for me, a driving force. And I may not become an avid hiker, but I do plan to hike, and especially honor her, once a year with some hikes.
Julia Furukawa: Because you weren't huge hikers before. What has the preparation process been like for you?
Jorge Sotelo: Initially, I started like climbing the stairs at work to try to get ready for that. We started hiking a little bit more like a couple of times a week, starting in the spring and summer.
Olivera Bogunovic: The physical piece, you know, I always am still struggling. As I said, just even going to the gym for me is a big thing, but I knew that I have to do it. I did the hiking preparations with the help of, really I am very thankful, to Andrew Barlow from Hiking Buddies, because he would push me to do it very slow, but doing my best to put one foot in front of the other. I think the emotional process is always there. I want her to continue living through things that she liked to do, and this is one way of honoring through a foundation that we have created, because she was really a very service oriented person.
Julia Furukawa: Jorge, I'll turn this question to you. The fundraiser reached its goal of $50,000 in just a couple of months, and now over $80,000 have been raised. What has it felt like to have this outpouring of support?
Jorge Sotelo: It really was a nice feeling to have so much persons share our feeling to avoid and prevent hiking accidents. So after what happened to Emily, we are more aware of what's going on in the hiking, overall. It looked like it happens on a regular basis. Every time that happens, it's a tragedy. It reminds us that things can go wrong hiking. So anything that we can do to help to avoid that, to prevent hiking accidents, is something that we feel happy and glad that we're doing that. We believe that that will be something that Emily will be happy with that.
Julia Furukawa: And I'll turn this question to both of you. Do you have a message for younger or less experienced hikers? What do you want them to know?
Jorge Sotelo: Sometimes the hiking conditions are not appropriate, because the weather where you live is fine, but it's not the same on the mountain. And especially when you do a big planning and tight commitment, when you travel from far to do something, it's kind of hard to cancel. But you have to be ready to do that.
Olivera Bogunovic: The most important thing is when you feel that things are changing, that you will not achieve your goal or that you may achieve a goal, but something may happen, it is okay to turn back and there will be many other ways to achieve that goal. Maybe on another day, at a better day, but know when to turn back.
