Angela maxwell
She Walks The Earth
Over 6.5 years, across 4 continents, over 20,000 miles, 14 countries, and a handful of islands, Angela discovered her innate courage, strength, and conviction. She traversed desolate deserts, snow-capped mountains, and bustling ancient cities....alone. Twelve pairs of shoes and too many cups of noodles consumed to count, she walked nearly the circumference of the earth.
A novice adventurer when she began, Angela faced the incredible odds of surviving the outback in Western Australia, dengue fever in Vietnam, a physical attack in Mongolia, and the sheer challenges of being a solo woman sleeping in a tent wherever she could lay her head for the night.
Angela’s goal was never about the pace of her travels, but rather the faces she met along the way.
“I wanted to truly feel and experience the world, not just be an observer,” says Angela. “I wanted to sink in, to learn and understand the ‘them’ as I learned more about the ‘me’.”
That’s why wherever she went and whoever’s path she crossed she tried to be of service, as well as give back to local organizations working to empower the lives of women. She saved up her own money and lived on $5 or less a day.
“I wanted to contribute to social change in a positive way.” she says.
She later partnered with Her Future Coalition, giving all donations to help raise $20,000 to raise awareness and funds for their efforts to educate, shelter and nourish at-risk girls.
Beginning on May 2nd of 2014, Angela made her way West around the globe, walking through Western Australia, New Zealand, parts of Southeast Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia, Turkey and into Europe, Britain, and the US. She finished her walk in December of 2020 at the very place she started; her friend’s home in Bend, Oregon.
To be able to do such a journey, Angela sold everything she had, put her survival gear in a cart on wheels, and lived on $5 or less a day. Something she still adheres to today.
Angela’s goal was never about the pace of her travels, but rather the faces she met along the way and the natural beauty of wide open landscapes.
“I wanted to truly feel and experience the world, not just be an observer,” says Angela, “and to contribute to the places I walked through.”
Although she set goals for where to start and end within a given country, she would take breaks from time to time to have once-in-a-lifetime experiences. She helped renovate a sheep farmhouse in Sardinia and learned how to mush sled dogs in Alaska. She assisted on a cattle ranch in Australia and did interior design for a floating hotel in Thailand. And when Karl invited her to join a camel expedition in Mongolia in 2017, she didn’t hesitate.
Together, Karl and Angela created a team of five other adventurers (and ten camels) and embarked on Steppes to the West. Although short-lived, this is when they realized how well they worked together in some of the most dangerous and extreme conditions. Now, Angela is thrilled to walk with Karl through countries she has yet to walk and some that although she has already crossed, is excited to return to and see from a different perspective; as part of a team.
She has been featured in Lonely Planet, Outside, and BBC Travel among other publications. She also gave a Tedx talk called Courage is a Verb on how she handled the most challenging moment of her life.
With a dedication to giving back on her expeditions, Angela offers talks in places she is walking through and continues to support efforts to raise awareness for at-risk girls and women.
You can see more about Angela on her personal website: www.SheWalksTheEarth.com
