MSU employee will walk 3,100 miles for at-risk kids

Only a handful of people hike the continental divide each year, let alone attempt to do it in their 60s.

Ken Dawson will start hiking in New Mexico this spring after he retires from his job in Infrastructure Planning and Facilities at Michigan State University.

By his 65th birthday in September, he hopes to have crossed 3,100 miles through deserts and over mountain ranges, navigating some of America's wildest terrain and ending up in Glacier National Park in Montana before the onset of winter.

Dawson's journey is about more than physical fitness, or accomplishing the dream of crossing one of the most spectacular trails on this continent. He hopes to raise $25,000 for Big City Mountaineers, an organization that gives underprivileged urban youth a chance to take wilderness trips with adult mentors.

Big City Mountaineers works with youth agencies to identify at-risk youth who could use a life change, said Jeff Weidman, the non-profit's executive director. The organization then arranges and pays for the teens to go on a weeklong wilderness expedition with one-on-one adult mentoring along the way.

"A typical (Big City Mountaineers) kid from a guardian-led or single-parent home, they've probably never been out of their county or neighborhood," Weidman said. "When they go on a Big City Mountaineers trip, it's a one-to-one ratio. And all of a sudden, they're with a bunch of adults who really care about them."

With gear and food, Dawson said the entire trip will cost him around $10,000, all of which is coming out of his own pocket. He said 100 percent of the money he raises will go directly to Big City Mountaineers.

With four months to go until he leaves, Dawson has already raised close to $11,000 of his goal. He said he's had donations from people from all over the country, and people he previously didn't know have offered to help, producing a YouTube video for him or creating a Facebook page to promote his efforts.

As Dawson traverses the country, he'll have a satellite phone and tracking system that will allow people to follow his progress in real time. He'll be able to send updates via the satellite phone, which his daughter-in-law will compile and publish on his blog.

"It went away from it being my trip, my adventure, to more of an us," Dawson said. "I have so many people that have supported me."

Dawson's wife is his logistics manager, arranging food and gear drop-offs throughout the route, and even plans on joining him on the hike for a few weeks. Dawson's son, Lance, who lives in Colorado, and his daughter, Natalie, who lives in Montana, will also join him for sections along the way.

The Dawson family are no strangers to wilderness hiking. Every year since Lance was 10 years old and Natalie started her first year of college at Central Michigan University, the family has taken a week-long backpacking trip each summer. Ken Dawson said those experiences have enriched and changed their lives.

"If there was a church, it's walking through a forest or on top of a mountain for me," Dawson said. "You become more focused on what's important in life."

To donate

Visit Ken Dawson's fundraising page at support.bigcitymountaineers.org/goto/kendawson.