Trail Stories - Don't Rush Me with Andrea "Watergirl" Zelinski

Andrea Zelinski was a political reporter in Austin, covering the Texas State Legislature, when the wheels started coming off. She had covered a church shooting in Sutherland Springs and a hot air balloon crash identified by dental records and years of legislation written by people she was learning not to trust, and she had also gone through a divorce after 13 years together and lost the blueprint she thought her life was supposed to follow. She had a big old blank canvas and was too afraid to put paint on it. Then a friend in Vermont said the AT was nearby, and they went for a day hike, and on the way back they ran into three women hiking northbound who said they were going Georgia to Maine, and one of them stopped and looked Andrea straight in the eye and said: you should absolutely do it. It was the best decision I ever made. By the time she got back to the parking lot, Andrea knew she was going to hike the Appalachian Trail. In short order, she had figured out when, how to save money, what to tell her boss, and that she would be fine if they said no. She hiked the AT in 2020 during the pandemic. She finished January 5th, 2021. The next day was January 6th. She has since been a senior cruise editor for Travel Weekly and visited five continents, and then hiked the PCT in 2025. She is writing a book. She does not think we should rush our dreams. The full interview with Watergirl drops Wednesday in two parts on the Hiker Trash Radio feed.