Marine honors father’s memory with 2,000-mile hike through the Pacific Crest Trail

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Learning to cope with the loss of a loved one can be hard to overcome. For a Rapid City-born marine the journey she took to come to terms with her father’s death while honoring his name.

For Alyeea Malik, an unplanned backpacking trip quickly came to fruition after losing who she considered her best friend and hiking partner, her father.

“We hiked the Flume Trail, and it was a really bonding time for us,” expressed US Marine Corps. Pfc. Aleeya Malik. “He was so excited he wanted to hike again the next summer.”

With three months until she was headed to boot camp, that summer never came.

“I just said to my recruiters, ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore; I don’t think I can do it mentally,’” explained Malik. “I decided instead of going straight to boot camp, I was going to go and hike.”

Starting a journey spanning more than 2,000 miles.

“The Pacific Crest Trail runs from Mexico to Canada on the West Coast,” explained Malik.

Emotionally healing and finding herself in the five months she was on the trail, sharing experiences with the people she met along the way, her trail family.

“The thing is, you’re walking alone all day, but we’d see each other at the streams, we’d see each other taking a break, you’d eat lunch together, you camp together, and you have a fire, and like everybody is enjoying life, you get a ukulele once in a while,” explained Malik.

Learning to cope with grief.

“When people experience grief, it uproots like a lot, and you can get really consumed in it, get really angry, and go internal about it all. But I wanted to let my family know I’m okay; I just needed space and time to think,” expressed Malik.

And when she returned to South Dakota, her future brothers-in-arms noticed a difference.

“I could just see on her face she was happier; she was a lot more independent, aware of what she was doing, and knew that this is what she wanted to do after that,” said US Marine Corps. Staff Sgt. Stephen Williams.

For Malik, this journey meant more because she brought the memory of her father with her.

“There’s so much that you can do to honor that person, and I think the biggest way to do that is to live your life,” expressed Malik.

In two weeks, Malik will be headed to Camp Pendleton for Marine combat training. Then she will head to Twentynine Palms, Calif., to continue her training in her occupation specialty in communications, where she will learn how to operate radios in the field.

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