Before she went missing, Susan Clements was hiking with her daughter on one of the most popular trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, less than a mile from Clingmans Dome.

When Nancy East’s search and rescue team joined the effort to find her, she learned Susan was a mother to three children who adored her. What Nancy didn’t know then was how much the search for Susan would impact and influence her own life’s path afterward.

Two years later, Nancy and her good friend, Chris Ford, set out to improve the speed record of hiking all 801 miles of trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park while raising funds for hiker safety and preparedness.

While chasing the record, the duo faced tropical storm rains, swollen, unbridged creek crossings, injuries, night hiking, and wildlife encounters. Their arduous journey also became intertwined in one of the most rare human-bear tragedies in the park’s history. Maintaining a positive mental attitude was their superpower through it all.

The enormous feat of endurance was one of the most grueling endeavors that Nancy, a mother and everyday athlete, had ever faced. However, the hardest things she had endured were in her past. The strength she gained from those experiences was now moving her forward, one difficult step at a time.

Chasing the Smokies Moon is a story of grief, hope, empowerment, and love, and the thread that binds them all.