Graduate Student published in Confluence for hiking research
(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — NOVEMBER 19, 2024) Karen Viola has always been drawn to maps and the idea of following pathways through land, envisioning a living story with twists and turns along the way. Viola explores her interests and the roots of land ownership and conservation along the Appalachian Trail in her essay “Not a Walk in the Park,” published in the fall edition of Confluence by the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs (AGLSP).
“I am very honored to have my essay published in ‘Confluence,’” Viola said. “I hope that my writing inspires reflection and sparks conversation. I hope readers might take away what I have gained through my research both on and off the trail: a sense of reverence for the land on which we all live, work, and play.”
Viola is enrolled in the master of arts in liberal studies program and designed her degree with Diane Gal, professor in the School for Graduate Studies, focusing on art as a tool for ecoliteracy.
“This particular essay presented an opportunity to weave a real-time hiking journey into my studies and to have my research deepen with the meaning of my time on the trial,” Viola said. “Ultimately, this provided me with a more authentic, personal framing for the essay. On a larger scale, this is what I appreciate about Empire State University’s MALS program, that is allows students to integrate their life and work experiences with academic research which I believe is an immeasurable benefit to students as well as their wider communities.”
The essay is part of Viola’s individualized study on outdoor conservation through a course called “Outdoor Recreation and Conservation: past, present, and future.” In this class, she researched land ownership from pre-to-post colonial times, the origins of trail blazing, conservation, regional planning, recreation, education, wilderness preserves, and national and state parks along the Appalachian Trail.
“Surveying these topics was foundational for taking a deeper dive with this essay into our long-overdue reckoning with the fact that all our parks and trails twist and turn through violently stolen lands,” Viola said. “The essay also delves into the ethical principle of ‘leave no trace’ and its efficacy for pro-environmental behaviors, that there is more to be done to call out the hidden, externalized costs of the consumer-driven outdoor recreation industry.”
Viola’s interest in exploring paths and hiking began when she started exploring different hiking paths while raising her family in Westchester, New York with wooded parks and preserves nearby.
“I’ve always loved maps and been drawn to the idea of following trails and pathways through the land, like walking through a living story with all its twists and turns,” Viola said. “The more joy and health benefits hiking and backpacking brought to me, the more I cared about protecting biodiversity and the more aware I grew of the lack of human diversity on the trail, not to mention the problematic explosion of expensive high-tech gear which I enjoy as much as any other hiker.”
Viola has logged over 900 miles on the Appalachian Trail, beginning her journey in 2009; and through her journey she witnessed a lack of diversity and lack of access to different trails but that, as time went on, said she is slowly seeing improvements.
“I have hiked solo, with a friend, with a group, and each way offers its own lessons,” Viola said. “Women and people of color on the trail are not as scarce as in the past, but I only ever see white faces up in the high huts of the aptly named White Mountains of New Hampshire, and I am one of them. Trail access to all is a work in progress.”