Isaiah Shields.
While working as a corporate finance analyst, Isaiah Glen Shields came up with the idea of embarking on a journey to walk across America. More than 420 days and 7,483.62 miles later, his idea has become a reality and he hasn’t looked back since.
“It was just an idea that popped in my head one day, and it kept sounding fun until I did it,” Shields said. “And then it was fun.”
The 29-year-old began his journey in Provo, Utah, in May 2021 and hiked from the westernmost point of the United States in Washington. Since then, he has traveled through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Alabama again, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
In Pennsylvania, he visited Hatfield, Lansdale, and North Wales. He plans to make his way to the easternmost point of the United States in Lubec, Maine, although he has yet to decide if he will end his journey there or what he plans to do.
“People have been very welcoming. There’s a lot of really friendly people in our country. The world, in my opinion, isn't as dangerous as sometimes we're led to believe,” Shields said. “There's been every challenge you can probably imagine… but overall, it's been an incredibly rewarding experience to see different places, different walks of life, different histories, different ecological systems — everything.”
Shields has continued to make his journey spontaneous since the beginning, straying away from planning his routes and opting for last minute decisions.
“If I see something interesting to the left, I turn left. If I see something interesting to the right, I turn right,” Shields said. “Every night, I start looking around for somewhere where I can sleep where I won't tread on anybody's toes and, hopefully, I can sleep the whole night without being woken up by members of the police or anything like that. It's all very sporadic.”
Shields pushes a cart with his gear, which includes a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, a pillow, clothes, food, water bottles, his camera gear, and batteries.
He sleeps in a tent unless he’s offered an invitation to stay with people if they come at the end of the day. During his time in the North Penn area, he was offered to stay at a Lansdale resident’s home. Paul, the resident, did his own cross country traveling prior to meeting his wife and starting a family. After reading a book by a man named Peter Jenkins who described his adventures walking across America in the 70s, he was inspired to do a version of his own.
“[Paul] saw on Facebook today someone had shared my story and felt the opportunity to pay forward the many kindnesses strangers showed him on his travels,” Shields said in a Facebook post. “When he reached out, I was just starting to think about where to sleep and he lived only a mile away.”
In Hatfield, he met with Hatfield resident Destiny and her family, who brought him to Ralph’s Corner Diner for French toast. In North Wales, he ate at Tony’s Pizza and spoke to Bill Rohrer at FOX 29.
“The North Penn area has sort of a really distinct feel about it, where it feels like it's a little bit off the beaten path, yet people are still living there,” Shields said. “A lot of times when you get to places that are a little off to the side, they're having a hard time holding on to their populations, but this one seems like people are still there and they're making a little life for themselves even if it's not near the epicenter of the area like Philadelphia. It has this charming feel to it, where it seems like everybody's making a home there and everybody's a really strong part of the community.”
Shields isn’t working or earning money during the walk. He uses the money he saved during the two years he worked post-graduation to finance his journey. Although he’s not soliciting help, he accepts donations for food and camping supplies on PayPal, Venmo, and CashApp. You can also become a paid subscriber on his Patreon.
To follow Isaiah’s journey across the United States, you can follow him on Instagram or Facebook or watch his videos on YouTube.
