96 Miles
End-to-end across the Scottish Highlands, from the outskirts of Glasgow to the shadow of Britain’s highest peak
14 Days
An immersive fortnight of hiking, filming, storytelling, and cultural discovery through historic landscapes and villages
One Purpose
To uncover the living connections between Appalachian heritage and the Scottish traditions that gave birth to it
What if two mountain cultures—separated by an ocean—aren’t so different after all?
The Kindred Trails Project is a storytelling and documentary experience following two women as they hike Scotland’s West Highland Way—while drawing powerful parallels between the mountain communities of the American Southeast and the Scottish Highlands. This is not a travelogue. It is a deep, immersive exploration of heritage, resilience, faith, and the shared spirit that defines mountain people everywhere.
Two Worlds, One Story
The Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee — rolling mist, ancient hollows, Scots-Irish roots
The Scottish Highlands — rugged peaks, loch-side villages, a living Celtic heritage
The West Highland Way: A Trail Worth Knowing
For those unfamiliar with Scotland’s most celebrated long-distance footpath, the West Highland Way offers a brief introduction to the landscape where the Kindred Trails story will be told. The trail begins in Milngavie, a quiet suburb on the northern edge of Glasgow, and stretches 96 miles north through some of Scotland’s most breathtaking terrain before concluding in Fort William, in the shadow of Ben Nevis — the highest peak in the British Isles.
What the Trail Passes Through
- The eastern shore of Loch Lomond — the largest freshwater loch in Scotland, immortalized in song and story
- The vast, haunting expanse of Rannoch Moor — one of the largest wild areas remaining in Europe
- The dramatic glacial valley of Glen Coe — site of one of Scotland’s most storied historical events
- The final approach to Fort William and Ben Nevis — a triumphant conclusion to a journey of immense physical and emotional weight
Why It Mirrors the Appalachian Experience
For Smoky Mountain hikers, the West Highland Way feels both foreign and deeply familiar. The mist, the ridge lines, the small trail-side villages, the community of walkers from around the world — all of it echoes the spirit of the Appalachian Trail while adding layers of ancient Celtic history that make the experience uniquely, powerfully Scottish. It is, in the most literal sense, the other side of the same mountain story.
A Shared DNA
The cultural and historical parallels between Appalachia and the Scottish Highlands are not coincidental — they are genealogical. Understanding this connection is the intellectual and emotional foundation of the entire Kindred Trails Project.
From the fiddle tunes played at both a Highland ceilidh and an Appalachian front-porch gathering, to the quilting traditions passed down through mountain families on both sides of the Atlantic — the evidence of shared culture is everywhere, once you know to look for it. The Kindred Trails Project makes that heritage visible, emotional, and accessible to modern audiences who may be discovering it for the very first time.
Global Expansion: Your Guide to Scotland
This initiative is the launchpad for something much larger than a single hike. Your Guide to Scotland will be a fully realized digital media platform — a sibling to Your Guide to the Smokies — dedicated to international cultural storytelling with a focus on Scotland’s landscapes, heritage, and living traditions. It represents a meaningful, long-term expansion of the Kellum Creek media footprint into global territory.
Platform Launch Goals
International audience growth targeting heritage travelers, Scots diaspora, and adventure seekers
Cultural storytelling crossover — content that speaks to both Smoky Mountain fans and Scottish Highland enthusiasts
Collaboration with Scottish creators and local cultural voices to ensure authentic, community-rooted storytelling
A sustainable, evergreen content library that grows long after the 2027 hike concludes
What Connects These Worlds?
Shared heritage — Scots-Irish roots that run deep through Appalachian culture, music, and tradition
Faith and resilience — mountain communities on both continents built around endurance, community, and belief
Storytelling as survival — oral traditions, ballads, and craft that preserved identity across generations
The universal meaning of “home” — the way a mountain landscape becomes part of who you are
Meet your Storytellers
Every great story needs great storytellers. The Kindred Trails Project is carried by two women who bring both the professional expertise and the personal passion to do this journey justice — and to bring every sponsor, partner, and audience member along for the ride.
Ashley Davis, MBA
Ashley is the founder and CEO of Kellum Creek Business Solutions and the creative force behind Your Guide to the Smokies, where storytelling and strategy meet to build meaningful audience connection. With a strong business background and a deep-rooted love for Appalachian culture, she brings both vision and authenticity to every project she leads.
A published author and professional speaker, Ashley has cultivated an engaged social media following that serves as a powerful platform for storytelling and outreach. Her ability to transform lived experience into compelling, relatable content is the foundation of The Kindred Trails Project—and the reason it resonates.
Through this initiative, Ashley combines strategic insight with genuine heart, creating space for stories that connect people across landscapes, cultures, and shared experiences.
Abbey Turpin
Abbey Turpin is the co-creator and creative voice behind The Kindred Trails Project, blending storytelling, performance, and digital strategy into a compelling, audience-driven journey. As part of a nationally recognized social media team, she brings an established platform and proven engagement to the project, ensuring immediate reach and lasting impact.
With a background in theatre and performance arts, Abbey is an exceptional vocalist and natural storyteller, known for her ability to connect deeply with audiences both on and off camera. Her work is further grounded in service initiatives that reflect a commitment to community, authenticity, and purpose.
As Kindred Trails follows a transatlantic journey through Scotland’s West Highland Way, Abbey helps shape a narrative rooted in heritage, resilience, and connection —offering sponsors meaningful integration into a story that resonates far beyond the trail.
Our Ideal Partners
The Kindred Trails Project is not simply seeking sponsors — it is seeking the right partners. Brands and organizations who share the values that animate this project from the inside out. People who believe that stories are worth telling well. Companies that understand outdoor culture, heritage, and community not as marketing categories, but as things they genuinely love.
Adventure
Brands that celebrate physical challenge, bold experiences, and the call of the outdoors
Community
Organizations rooted in local culture, regional pride, and a genuine investment in their people
Heritage
Businesses that honor where things come from — and believe that history makes a brand richer, not older
Storytelling
Partners who see content not as a cost center but as the most authentic form of connection available
Outdoor Lifestyle
Brands whose customers live and breathe the same landscapes, trails, and open skies that make this project possible
Local, regional, and national brands are all welcome at this table. What matters is not the size of the brand — it is the alignment of the values.
Content Longevity
This Project Doesn’t End when the Hike Ends.
One of the most powerful aspects of a content-driven sponsorship — as opposed to event advertising — is that the content keeps working. A logo on a race banner is seen once. A video on YouTube is discovered again and again, shared across communities, embedded in blog posts, and surfaced by search engines for years. The Kindred Trails Project is being built from the ground up as an evergreen content ecosystem, meaning every sponsor’s investment compounds in value over time.
Long-form documentary episodes and trail vlogs that live permanently on YouTube, continuing to accumulate views, subscribers, and brand impressions for years after the hike concludes.
Short-form Reels, TikToks, and story content created during the hike — shareable, emotionally resonant moments that introduce new audiences to the project and its partners.
KindredTrailsProject.com will host a full archive of trail dispatches, photography, sponsor features, and cultural essays — searchable, shareable, and permanently accessible.
The full documentary product — a cinematic, long-form piece suitable for festival submission, streaming placement, and educational or cultural programming — carries your brand into entirely new contexts.
Product Sponsorships
Some of the most authentic and compelling moments in the Kindred Trails story won’t be scripted — they’ll simply be lived. A pair of boots that carries a hiker across a misty Highland pass. A warm wool sock that makes the difference
between a great day on the trail and a miserable one. A nutrition bar pulled from a pack at the top of a breathtaking climb. These are real moments — and the brands behind the products that make them possible deserve to be seen.
If your brand should be featured, please reach out and let us know how we can take you on the trail with us!
Contact us
We would love for you to be a part of the story. Reach out today to hit the trail with us in 2027!
The Kindred Trails Project Is Grateful for the Support of:
