MILLINOCKET, Maine — Sara Nicols' goal was to make it to the top of Mount Katahdin. Earlier this month, the Portland woman did it, but she said getting there wasn't easy.
"I was afraid. I was afraid of hiking. I didn't realize I could still do it," Nicols said.
Nicols said she became legally blind in 2014 after noticing her vision was blurry at the beach.
"I have a little bit of peripheral vision. I like to explain it as being able to see out of the corner of my eye. I thought life was kind of over when I became visually impaired, but the truth is that it's not," she said.
So she decided to put her hiking shoes back on. She said in nearly 11 hours, she accomplished what she wanted to.
"Visual impairment doesn't have to limit me. I can do anything, within reason," Nicols said.
Nicols said she wants others with disabilities to realize the same.
"They don't have to be limited by their visual impairment or whatever they are facing," she said.
She hopes to hike with her 5-year-old son and plans on hiking all 67 New England mountains that are more than 4,000 feet in elevation.