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Two amateur hikers from our University are daring to take on a gruelling walk across the diverse landscape of the United States, documenting the extraordinary environments that they travel through.

Aiming to tackle the 3,100 mile , student Joel Strickland and graduate Joe Boot will travel through five states, twenty-five national forests and three national parks in their journey from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. A trip that would normally take six months, they aim to complete it in five months at an average of 20 miles a day.

They hope to raise £5000 for the Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Widening Participation programme, inspiring young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to raise their educational aspirations, and MQ, who help fund ground-breaking mental health research. They set out from the UK on 28 March, starting their journey on 1 April.

Only about two hundred people a year attempt to hike the entire trail, most of them USA citizens, and this once-in-a-lifetime trip will see them travel through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. They will be recording their travels on their , , and with photographs on their , capturing whatever interesting events occur on their journey and offering a uniquely British perspective on current events in the USA.

Joel and Joe have set up JustGiving pages for those who wish to support their efforts: