Jamie was born in 1974 in Aberdyfi, Wales in the United Kingdom to Jacob and Rachel (nee Proctor) Davies. They lived in the city until she was five when her father, who was in the hospitality business, received an offer to work at a resort in Blackpool, England. She grew out of her Welsh accent and developed a Blackpool one, though when she returns to Wales she tends to slip back into Welsh-accented English when not speaking Welsh itself.
Her mother was both a historian and a mythologist who instilled a great sense of adventure and love of stories in her daughter - with room for collecting facts too. She also happened to hold Duel Citizenship in the UK and the United States - having actually been born in New York City before her parents returned to England (her grandmother was nervous about having her first child and wanted to be near *her* mother for it).
An interesting quirk in the family, Jamie's maternal grandmother, Rebecca (from whom she got her middle name) was actually from the United States originally. She'd first traveled to England after the Second World War to investigate what had happened to her brother, James (for whom Jamie was named). He'd fought in Italy until he'd been injured severely. They'd gotten a few letters from him as he recovered in England but then the letters had stopped and out of nowhere the US Army informed them he'd died in a car accident...but that they did not have a body to return to the family. Jamie's great-grandparents had been shattered, as had her grandmother and grand aunt, and once it was relatively safe to travel her grandmother Rebecca had gone overseas to investigate. If it had been a simple car accident why would there be no body or even ashes if they'd needed to cremate? That was how she'd met her husband, Peter, a private with the Royal Army who tried to help her in her investigations after she inspired him with her spunk and tenacity. Rebecca never did find out what had happened to her brother beyond the official story, but she did fall in love with Peter and moved to England to be with him.
Growing up, Jamie spent many holidays back in Wales where her paternal grandparents had a farm and she would roam the countryside pretending to be a character in her favorite novel series The Dark is Rising. At least once a year they would also travel to America where her maternal grandparents now spent roughly half their time and, of course, to bond with the rest of the American side of the family who had mostly stuck close to New York. Jamie's best friend was her cousin Rikki, who happened to be the same age as her, and the two girls spent as much time together as possible during visits either in America or the UK, delighting in the fact that people often thought they were sisters.
For university she attended Oxford and got what would in the US be considered a Bachelors in Earth Science and Masters in Botany. Her grandmother Rebecca then offered to cover the cost of a second degree - this time History from Cambridge.
After her second degree she had a few grant-funded short term positions in the US and the UK. Upon the completion of one in the summer of 2000 she ended up returning home to Blackpool because her mother had fallen ill. It was cancer, though doctors were optimistic they had caught it well early enough to make a difference. Jamie got a flat on the outskirts of London so she could help her mother and so her mother would be closer to the specialist doctors she needed (her father needing to remain in Blackpool for his job). Jamie also took a teaching job to cover the rent and food.
Things were going pretty good for a while too, her mother was responding to treatment and Jamie, despite not wanting any distractions, began dating another teacher Dominic Birch. Her Mother's cancer was declared to be in remission by the following fall but Jamie decided to remain in London to finish out the school year and re-evaluate what to do next since she and Dom were getting fairly serious. She thought of maybe buying a little more time without her likely travelling for a job by going for her Doctorate but she was still keeping options open.
That all came crashing down just after New Years 2002 when Dominic was killed in a car accident. Jamie was devastated and decided to take a leave of absence from her teaching position. She stayed with her parents for a bit, then her paternal grandparents in Wales, before finally ending up in America with her maternal grandparents. They owned the brownstone in Brooklyn that her grandmother had been raised in and her grandparents tag-teamed spending time and doing various things with her but also left her some time for quiet contemplation.
Avid readers, Jamie and her grandmother had just finished reading the newest of Bill Bryson's travelogues (In a Sunburned Country) and were discussing that and some of his other works when Jamie was struck by an idea. Bryson had attempted to through hike the Appalachian trail with a friend several years before and published a hilarious book about that adventure. Jamie had no illusions about completing the entire trail herself - at least not that year and especially not because it was already almost May - but she could manage a few section hikes she thought. She was in decent enough shape and hiked plenty in Wales.
After purchasing some gear and planning things out she chose do to part of Virginia north. Her grandmother drove her south to Glasgow, VA where she inserted at the James River - the name raising some melancholy for her grandmother though she was in good spirits as Jamie began her journey. The suggested itinerary estimated about 16 days to Harper's Ferry - Jamie made it in 18 - mostly due to a side trail or two diverting her interest. She met her grandmother in Harper's Ferry were she was able to clean up and rest a little - the two enjoying a few days in the historic city.
Jamie then switched it up - her grandmother dropping her off in Northern Pennsylvania on her way home so that Jamie could hike the Pennsylvania and Maryland sections south - again ending at Harpers Ferry. She was set to arrive there at the end of June and the two of them were going to spend the lead up to and the 4th in Washington DC.
This section hike went smoothly as well - despite Pennsylvania being notorious for the how rocky the trail was there Jamie found it to be smooth sailing. Which added insult to injury on the 27th of June when about a day and a half to the end of her hike she ended up spraining her ankle badly on an easy part of the trail. She had a little flip phone with her but the reception on the trail wasn't that great so she had no choice but to wait for another hiker to pass her. Strangely no one did and she spent an uncomfortable night in her sleeping bag in the open. By mid morning the following day someone did finally show up, a kind forty-something man named Barry who helped her to the nearest shelter - which still was a little over 6 miles from Harpers Ferry. Once she was settled in he gave her a decent amount of his food and water and promised to have some rangers up to get her as soon as possible. He'd had a bit of a cough and said he'd been debating heading back to Harpers Ferry for a few days to see if the cough cleared up before he continued his trek northward anyway so he didn't mind backtracking at all.
No one came that day though Jamie wasn't too worried - perhaps Barry had gotten in too late for them to safely come for her? But then - no one came the next day. Or the one after that. No one else came by on the trail either for that matter and she'd read it was popular as a day hike in addition to being a part of the greater AT. She'd also been having increasingly strange dreams that made her worry she might be coming down with something herself.
Two days of heavy rain followed and Jamie realized that the only way she was getting out of this alive was to drag herself back to civilization and hope for the best.
