Daniel White

Daniel White is an American long distance hiker best known for thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2017 when he
gained the moniker “The Blackalachian.” Completing the 2,189 mile trek with zero camping or hiking experience, he realized that he had really been missing out on what life has to offer. Tuning in to nature and the people he met along
the Trail gave him so much peace and confidence that he resolved to see as much of the world as he could.

The trails the Blackalachian has chosen to follow have led him into new dimensions of body, mind and spirit, allowing
him to absorb world history at the places where it happened. Seeking a closer connection to his African American heritage, in 2018 he cycled the entire 2000-mile Underground Railroad Trail from Alabama to Canada ending up at the home of the Railroad’s most celebrated ‘conductor’ Harriet Tubman in Auburn, New York. In May he completed Scotland’s Great Outdoors Challenge, a self-designed route exclusively for experienced hikers through the Scottish Highlands, over mountains and through bogs, becoming intimately acquainted with the early origins of the European
land mass. In July he will learn a history of religion hiking the Camino del Norte in Spain to Santiago de Compostela,
a route taken by pilgrims to the relics of Saint James since the 9 th century. “I never in a million years could have imagined myself in the places I’ve been,” White marvels. “And I’m just getting started.”

His story encapsulates many of the big themes of life and of American life in particular: A loving family; a youthful
mistake that landed him in prison; a sense of adventure that set him on the trail, and the redemptive feelings of
belonging to this vast creation that he found in the outdoors. His life and his message resonate powerfully to all and
especially offer promise to people in communities where disenchantment and hopelessness have set in.