Morehart, 48, has been teaching in the Reynoldsburg school district for 27 years and said she has loved to hike since she was 5 years old. Traversing the Pacific Crest Trail, which zigzags from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington, will be her longest hike so far.

Her trail name comes from her hobby of raising Monarch butterflies and sharing them with her students, who began calling her the "Monarch Lady."

"So the children have basically given me my trail name for this hike which is 'Monarch Lady,'" she said. "I think that is real fitting because in the spring the monarchs fly from Mexico to Canada, and like the monarch, I will be traveling from Mexico to Canada."

She said her decision to make the trip came as part of an independent study course she is taking through Fresno Pacific University.

"I wanted to find a way to encourage the children to exercise more, and I'm very concerned about the obesity problem that seems to continue to rise in our country," Morehart said. "So I wanted to get them interested in exercising and feeling good about themselves and taking care of themselves and hoping that will help them do better in school."

Morehart will start her trek April 19 at the Mexican border near Campo, Calif.

From there, she will follow the Pacific Crest Trail to its northern terminus, eight miles inside Canada at Manning Provincial Park.

The trail reaches heights of 13,180 feet along the Sierra Nevada mountain range and descends to 140 feet above sea level at the Columbia River gorge.

Morehart said she has visited and hiked all 50 states and all seven continents. She said she has spent a lot of time hiking in the West on trails in places such as Mount Rainier, Crater Lake in Oregon and Yosemite National Park.

In 2000, she hiked 2,167 miles along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine with her sister, Beth Rice, a trip that took them more than four months.

"On that hike, a stray eight-month-old border collie followed me from about southern Virginia all the way to Maine and when we finished, I adopted her," Morehart said. "I named her Shadow."

Born in Lancaster, Ohio, Morehart grew up in Willoughby, a suburb of Cleveland. She earned her education degree from Capital University in 1982.

She said she liked Columbus so much that after graduating, she decided to settle here and pursue a career in teaching. She received a master's degree in education in 1994 from the University of Dayton and since has taken various courses through Fresno Pacific University leading up to her current independent study course.

Since her hike will start before the end of the school year, the Reynoldsburg Board of Education has granted her a leave of absence.

As a part of her independent study, she is tying the five-month long hike into a course for her students back at Herbert Mills. She plans to transmit data to them frequently and will post information on a special Web site at www. myteacherpages.com/webpages/CMorehart/.

Morehart said she has been training for the Pacific Crest Trail hike for the past year, hiking between 30 and 36 miles per week.

She said she will carry everything she will need with her in her backpack.

"I've built up my endurance with my backpack on, weighing about 37 pounds, and on the trail I'll be carrying about 35 to 50 pounds, depending on where I am," she said. "In the desert, I'll be carrying at least 5 liters of water at all times. In the mountains, or High Sierra, I won't be needing to carry as much water because I'll have more water sources available.

"However, I'll need to carry a 'bear canister,' which is 2 pounds, 9 ounces, which holds anything that has a scent, which is required by the national parks out there," she said.

Other pieces of equipment include a one-person tent, a small stove, weighing only 3.7 ounces, a spoon, a pocket knife and some food.

"I will also be carrying a satellite phone, and that is what I am using to communicate with the students," Morehart said. "I will be calling the school at certain times and they will broadcast me throughout the building and let them know how I'm doing and also use it to send data the students and children can use."

Morehart said she will venture into some of the trail towns along the route to replenish her food supply and other essentials.

She said she will also be taking what she calls "zero" days -- days on which she will not hike any miles.

"I only have three zero days planned right now, but I should be averaging about 20 miles per day, and some days I'll be doing 25 to 30 per day depending on the terrain," she said. "My leave is through Sept. 11, but I'm hoping to be back in school before then."

Morehart said she launched a project at Herbert Mills called "Look Who's Walking Now," a walking exercise where students are divided up into three teams that walk every Wednesday on the grounds behind the school, logging their miles each time.

"They're trying to walk the same amount of miles I am walking through the course of the year," she said.