On the Appalachian Trial

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As reported last March in Night & Day, Denverite and soft-hearted artist Nira Duvan left on a six-month foot journey down the Appalachian Trail, partly out of the spirit of adventure, partly to raise money for The Other Side Arts, an arts collective that keeps gallery/studio/community spaces running on a shoestring in Aurora and the Central Platte Valley.

Okay, back then we all probably thought she was a little bit nuts to take on such an unbusinesslike quest in the 21st century, but by God if she didn't make it work. Duvan (who now goes by the moniker of "42," a reference she explains in her online trail journal) completed the 2,000-mile trek in September and is back in town, resting her feet, paying bills, looking for work, taking hot showers every day and, somehow, continuing to collect pledges for TOSA.

Of her journey, she reports in an e-mail that it was "more amazing, ridiculous, difficult, frustrating, exciting, inspiring, tedious, gorgeous, exhausting, eye-opening, etc., than I ever could have ever imagined." We don't doubt it for a minute. If you'd like to read all the deets, go to www.trailjournals.com/nira. And to make a donation for TOSA in her name, go to www.theothersidearts.com or mail a check with Duvan's name on it to "TOSA" at 1644 Platte Street, Denver, Coloardo, 80202. -- Susan Froyd

Nira Duvan at her first state-border crossing.