How Lo Phong La Kiatoukaysy Found Home on the Trail

Lo Phong La Kiatoukaysy’s love for the outdoors started with his parents. Born to Hmong refugees in Thailand, Kiatoukaysy--one of Outside’s 2021 Outsiders of the Year--grew up in Kansas, taking summer vacations to Colorado. To his family, he says, the Rocky Mountains felt like home. At 19, he thru-hiked his first long trail, hitchhiking his way to Yosemite and tackling the John Muir Trail with a small pack, a tarp, and his childhood sleeping bag. However, it wasn’t until after 9/11--which he witnessed up close while working a marketing job in Manhattan--that he decided to dedicate himself completely to the trail.

Today, Kiatoukaysy--trail name “Lil’ Buddha”--is a double Triple Crowner, with more than 45,000 miles under his belt. In the next few years, he hopes to finish his third Triple Crown. He finds a kind of peace on the trail and in the connections he makes on it, he says.

“I’ve always kind of explained my place in the world as a floater,” Lil’ Buddha explains in a profile from Outside TV. “When you are a refugee, or when you are essentially a community who is transient, you are kind of like a rootless tree.”

Not content to just make miles, Kiatoukaysy has turned his attention to making a difference. On his latest hike of the Continental Divide Trail, he worked to raise money for the Shared Liberation Network, a group of more than 40 nonprofits that works to fight racism. Learn more about Lil’ Buddha in his own words on Outside TV, and watch the trailer below.