Along the way, Hughes plans to spend time in local villages and bear witness to their way of life, promoting education, opportunities for women and other social issues.


"I really want to inspire others to pursue their own audacious goals," she said, twirling in her fingers a small silver pendant of a woman hiking.


"Our world is only as big as the information that we allow to come into it," Hughes continued, "so I believe being able to share what's going on to the opposite side of the world, and that they're not so different than us, we're going to make it a lot further."


Hughes traces her wandering spirit to her parents, Nazarene missionaries who spent time in Chile, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic during her childhood. Along with spreading the gospel, they instilled in her a passion for the outdoors. Hughes remembers her father going on hikes in the mountains, and she would hide in the back of the family car, popping out when he was far enough that there was no other recourse but to take her along.

What does her father think of her latest endeavor?


"There's a lot of fear," admitted Kendall Hughes, a chaplain at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas.


"Even with financial backing, there's stuff you can run into — river crossings alone are dangerous. I don't know how you can fully prepare."


Hughes understands the risks. She knows winters in the Andes are brutal, summers in the tropics insufferable. The mountains are beautiful but deadly, wildlife always a wildcard.


She fears other people most. Many countries in South and Central America are dangerous, even more so for a woman traveling by bicycle or foot.


Hughes has tried to mitigate the risk by taking wilderness survival courses, where she has learned everything from how to forage for food to how to build shelters. She knows a bit of taekwondo. And she'll have a traveling companion in South America, Lauren Reed, an experienced hiker in her own right whom she met on the Pacific Crest Trail.


"I'm sure things will come up," said Reed, who has also completed the Continental Divide Trail and Appalachian Trail — the so-called Triple Crown of hiking. "Things will happen as they happen, and if there's something dangerous, my hope is we'll figure it out."


Hughes has spent several years planning the trip, saving much of the estimated $12,000 she will need annually working multiple jobs. A few sponsors, such as Hyperlite Mountain Gear, have provided assistance. But most of her support has come through grassroots fundraising.


The plan is to follow the mountains through Argentina, Chile and Peru, then continue north through Ecuador and Colombia. Reed intends to drop off at that point, and Hughes will continue on bicycle through Central America and Mexico, before heading through the U.S. to Canada.