Taogoi stands for The Art Of Getting Over It and Allie Donaldson has taken the pen name to new heights! Having had no experience backpacking before starting a journey on the Pacific Crest Trail, her goal was to heal after experiencing a great deal of personal traumas. Walking had always been a coping mechanism in suburbia; a way to escape everything that didn’t seem to make sense to her growing up. Craving adventure, she had been completely inspired when she had seen the movie Wild in theatres, “There are trails connecting amazing places still??” Allie wondered. A spark had been ignited and it never went out.
When her grandmother passed away in Sept 2018, jobs became harder to keep and depression took hold. Taogoi had stopped talking to her family in 2017, seeing them at the funeral confirmed her decision that she would take a leap into the unknown and begin the 2,652 miles journey from Mexico to Canada. Feeling twisted and warped out of sorts, she walked at the pace of her racing mind, stopping when it finally slowed enough for sleep or when her body could no longer keep up.
Taogoi met quite a few people who helped her along her hike, whether they hiked for a hundred miles together or only shared a few hours together, there was always a positive takeaway. The generosity of everyone has encouraged the best to grow within her as she hiked into the strong, compassionate poet she is today.