Crystal Gail Welcome pictured with her backpacking gear ahead of the BRT and KEK hike, alongside DeOhGee. Photo: Crystal Gail Welcome

By Laura Durenberger-Grunow - Boreal Community Media - November 12, 2025

Crystal Gail Welcome, a Grand Marais resident, disabled long-distance backpacker, and advocate for accessibility and diversity in the outdoors, has successfully completed the 65-mile Border Route Trail (BRT) and the 39-mile Kekekabic Trail (KEK) this past summer in Northern Minnesota. The thru-hikes, which took place in August 2025, served as a fundraiser for Can Do Canines, an organization that provides assistance dogs to people with disabilities, and aimed to promote wellness for individuals facing similar health challenges.

Welcome, who lives with an implanted neuromodulation system and a rare glucose condition known as reactive hypoglycemia, has nearly 8,000 miles of trails under her boots, and only began long-distance hiking in 2016. Often, she has been the first person with her specific health challenges to complete certain trails. Her list of accomplishments is significant: she is the first person with a neuromodulator to summit Mt. Whitney, and the first with her implant to thru-hike the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT), the John Muir Trail, the Arizona Trail, the Tahoe Rim Trail, and the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim Trail. Additionally, in 2023, she became the first known BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) individual to thru-hike the 1,100-mile Florida Trail. Her recent BRT and KEK hikes added another "first": she is the first known person with her implant and the first known BIPOC individual to complete the BRT journey. The trail was originally created in the 11970s by the Minnesota Rovers Outing Club, with assistance from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. In 2019, Congress designated the trail as part of the larger North Country National Scenic Trail.

DeOhGee

DeOhGee

Welcome credits her trained alert dog, DeOhGee, from Can Do Canines, with significantly improving her quality of life and enabling her continued independence on the trail. After her reactive hypoglycemia (which causes her glucose to drop to dangerous lows after eating) worsened while hiking in Arizona in 2021, she applied for a medical assistance dog. 

"As a backpacker, I'm constantly eating and constantly battling low glucose episodes," she said. 

Welcome was teamed up with DeOhGee in the winter of 2023. She stated that DeOhGee has "detected lows countless times," which has led her to realize she "can't imagine life without his assistance." Her decision to hike the BRT and raise money for the organization was a direct tribute to Can Do Canines and to their role in helping her regain her independence. 

While the BRT was a solo human endeavor, as DeOhGee was on a planned rest and training period, Welcome shared how much she realized her reliance on him for "day-to-day living" while hiking alone.

Taking Up Space

Welcome is intentional about her presence on the trail, advocating for BIPOC and other marginalized communities. As the first known BIPOC individual to complete the BRT and Florida Trail, she hopes her accomplishments will help people see themselves outdoors. She said, "I do these hikes so that people see themselves outdoors, Black, Indigenous, female, disabled, lesbian," adding, "I take up space so that people know there's a place for us." 

Welcome also highlighted the need to recognize our humanity, particularly "the people of the global majority, BIPOC," and to reconnect with nature, noting that this connection is necessary for planetary health. She also shared how she has learned to navigate the painful moments she refers to as "hiking while Black moments" (challenges and barriers faced on the trail) by focusing on the overwhelming good she encounters and allowing nature to help her "reframe the bad moments."

"There are a lot of hate-filled people in the world, but there's so much good," she said, adding, "Before each negative moment, there was good before and after. I've learned to give more space to the good."

Nature

Welcome’s own journey into long-distance hiking began with an unexpected moment of connection with a tree after a health challenge. She recalled how the tree, which she saw as "rough around the edges, observant," represented "life" and steadiness. "If that tree could withstand life... and endure, then so could I and I always will," a connection that inspired her to decide to become a hiker that day. 

"You don't need fancy gear. You don't need to go too far or spend too much. I would start by touching grass or hugging a tree," she said. 

Beyond her own trials, Welcome’s personal connection to nature and history is deep; she carries the spirit of Harriet Tubman, a brain surgery survivor, like Welcome, who also used her relationship with nature for liberation, as a constant source of inspiration.

Giving Back and Looking Ahead

Welcome’s goal to support Can Do Canines through her most recent hikes has been successful, with many people learning about the organization and reaching out with their own health journeys to find "commonality in Nature." The fundraiser remains ongoing until the end of the year. Looking forward, Welcome is focused on recovering from a recent surgery and working on a memoir. 

To learn more about Crystal Gail Welcome, click here.

This article has been updated to include a brief history of the Border Route Trail.