(bird chirping) (soft music) >>Traversing the 100 mile stretch through Shenandoah, hiker Mary Wilson continues her months long journey alongside her guide dog, Thor.

If she succeeds, she'll become the first blind woman to complete the Appalachian Trail.

>>I definitely appreciate nature in a new way since becoming blind.

I'm so much more in tune to the smells and the sounds and just the way the Earth feels beneath my feet.

I love to hear the wind through the trees, the birds chirping, the woodpeckers animals scurrying through the forest floor.

(soft music continues) We are a team of two, but when we're hiking, we're hiking as one and he's an extension of myself.

When I'm hiking, I can't even tell you where my hand stops and the harness handle begins.

I'm getting so much feedback about the terrain all through that harness handle.

Good boy, Laura.

As a blind person, it's very hard to keep a straight line of travel and to know where the path is.

>>Go forward.

>>He keeps me on track going the direction I wanna go.

(light taps) I started this journey for several reasons.

I wanted other blind and disabled folks to know that the outdoors is for them too.

Just because you have a disability, your life doesn't end.

You're just doing it in a different way than you might have before.

(birds chirping) I think nature is healing because it's where we're honestly meant to be.

It's just magical.

The more I experience it, the more I realize I really, really need it.

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