Brisbane-born adventurer embarks on next leg of epic 30,000km trek

Some may call it destiny but for one Brisbane-born woman trekking the length of the Americas, being the first woman to achieve the feat is not all that profound.

Brisbane-born adventurer Lucy Barnard is set to continue along a 30,000-kilometre path trodden by only a handful of men, and it all started on a boring bus ride in Argentina.

“You start to wonder if you could walk faster,” the Australian Geographic Society’s 2024 Adventurer of the Year said.

Lucy Barnard has encountered everything from freezing snowstorms to scorching sandstorms during her epic trip.

After researching others who have trekked the path, she discovered no woman had done so.

“It just got on my nerves, so I decided to give it a go ... truly, I didn’t think it could be that hard,” she said.

Since setting off in 2017 from Ushuaia, on the southern tip of Argentina, Barnard has trekked through 12 countries in south and central America on her way to the tip of Alaska.

Lucy Barnard and her dog Wombat are walking from South America to Alaska.

She has encountered lush, green pastures, kayaked through electric-blue glaciers alongside penguins and elephant seals, scaled mountainous terrain, and hiked through ancient trails.

All this while encountering everything from freezing snowstorms in Argentina to scorching sandstorms in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Lucy Barnard with Wombat, who’s on safety-management duties.

But trekking through two continents can get lonely, so after making it past Patagonia, she enlisted a blue heeler named Wombat to share her journey.

“He’s definitely the Batman, and I’m Robin,” Barnard said.

Her canine companion has been transformative for the adventurer, easing the stress of managing personal safety while forcing her to make better decisions because she has another entity to think about.

“He is actually built for it,” Barnard said of Wombat. “He’s not even classified as doing enough kilometres for the breed.”

Lucy’s trek is proving a doddle for Wombat.

After a two-year hiatus through the COVID pandemic, Barnard continued her trek, passing into Mexico and seeing the true nature of cartel activity.

“We passed an area that was so dangerous, there was a 10pm curfew,” she said.

Police escorted her through dangerous areas, using their cars to block street dogs from attacking, and followed her through one precinct where a territory war was raging, with a cartel boss executed the week she passed through.

She managed to cross into the United States, trekking all the way to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, facing new threats from bears and mountain lions, before her visa ran out.

While people marvel at Barnard’s mission, she hasn’t stopped to think about her legacy, except to say her true calling is telling the stories of the marginalised groups she’s encountered.

“Even in the most dangerous places, people live and thrive with love and respect for each other, and ultimately, we’re all the hero of our own stories,” she said.

The adventurer, who has returned to Australia briefly while she waits for the US to renew her visa, is expected to resume her journey this month.

With 10,000 kilometres left, she hopes to reach her goal in the next 18 months to two years.

AAP