S4 Episode #15 | Interview With Your Former Self
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! This is the final episode of season 4: an interview with your former self. Traditionally, this episode is formatted such that we pan back and forth between the present and the past as the Correspondents ask and answer questions they posed to themselves prior to leaving for their journeys; however, as I started to dig into putting this episode together, I was struck by the stark difference in tone between these two chronologically distant clips. So I made a unilateral, editorial decision to mostly change the formatting of this episode in order...
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S4 Episode #14 | The Finish
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! We’ve finally come to it: the finish. Send us your questions about anything and everything : In today's episode we hear from: Harking from the South Coast of the UK, Abbey, aged 26, is swapping the rolling hills of the South Downs for the mountains of the Pacific Crest. A thru-hike of the JMT last year confirmed what she thought to be true – hiking from Mexico to Canada was her destiny for 2023. Loves good food and wine, Taylor Swift, American hospitality, and mountain vistas. Hates steep downhill slopes, her own unfortunate susceptibility to...
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S4 Episode #13 | Last Week On Trail
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! I am your host moron and this is episode 13 all about the last week on trail. There are a lot of complex, possibly mutually exclusive and contradicting feelings that can arise on the last week of trail. You’ve found a groove, have your gear and resupply system fine tuned and have all of the intellectual, emotional and physical momentum you could need to reach your destination. But then, there you are at the sign or monument signifying your journey’s conclusion. While the contents of each day on trail are usually unknown at the outset and are...
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S4 Episode #12 | Lessons Learned
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! You’ll certainly find a noticeable theme throughout these clips - especially with those who are completing their first long trail, that it’s difficult to sum up in words what’s been learned. The duration of time a thru hike requires is definitely enough to cause a thorough change within a person - it’s so all-encompassing and transforming that it’s hard to nail down exactly who and what you were before embarking on your journey. It requires re-acclimation to the life you left in order to reorient who you’ve become. On that note,...
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S4 Episode #11 | The Mental Game
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! This is Episode 11 which is all about the mental game required to attempt a thru-hike. Denial is not just a river in Africa and it’s the stories we tell ourselves that frame our experience as heavenly or hellish. Now some relevant quotes: Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” Sapiens author, Yuval Noah Harari, "Homo sapiens is a storytelling animal that thinks in stories rather than in numbers or graphs, and believes that the universe itself works like a story, replete with heroes and villains, conflicts and...
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S4 Episode #10 | Wild Card 3
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! I am your host moron and this is the last installment of the wildcard episodes for this season of the show. No real need for introductions here as we all know the drill by now. So, settle in and prepare to hear a little of this, a little of that, and a whole lot in between. Let’s get into it. In today's episode we hear from: Abby Evans (she/they) has a hankering to shave their head and hike the AT and now they will get to do both! They will be fulfilling their vagabond-dirtbag-poet dreams and aspire to one day become a creative writing...
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S4 Episode #9 | Trail Diet
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! Though many of us eat more so out of pleasure, schedule, routine or the like, a hiker’s relationship to food evolves during the course of a thru-hike and it’s an interesting change to take note of. Wherever you fall in the dietary spectrum it’s somewhat unlikely that you will have the same relationship with food pre and post trail. Food is important and it becomes a vital part of your hiking strategy out of necessity, which is obvious on its face: you need to eat, but when your white hot furnace of a metabolism is glowing for 8, 10, or 12 hours...
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S4 Episode #8 | The Physical Adjustment
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! Today we're talking about the physical adjustment our correspondents have endured on trail. When it comes to staying on trail, you have to listen to your body. You ignore its cries and protests at your peril. If there’s one piece of advice I can give with respect to acclimating to the physical demands of thru hiking, it’s to tend to things THE MOMENT they arise. If you feel a small itch on the back of your heel, pull over and investigate. If your cookset is digging into your back, take your pack off and reorient it, and so on. With the...
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S4 Episode #7 | Wildcard 2
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! Today we’re looking at another wildcard edition of the show. In case you don’t know, wildcard episodes give our correspondents free reign to talk about whatever they’d like. So strap in for some wholesome rambling regarding this, that, and the other! Let's get into it. In today's episode we hear from: Harking from the South Coast of the UK, Abbey, aged 26, is swapping the rolling hills of the South Downs for the mountains of the Pacific Crest. A thru-hike of the JMT last year confirmed what she thought to be true – hiking from...
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S4 Episode #6 | The Social Experience
Trail Correspondents
Welcome back to Trail Correspondents! This is episode 6: the social experience. This episode isn't just about the "tramily" most hikers will invariably and organically find themselves a part of - it’s about the trail angels, the people who give you rides to town, the clerks at the grocery stores, the attendants at gas stations and so on. When you’re on trail, you’re on a mission and its gravity is palpable. People see you with your pack and assign you a special special status. It feels like being an important member of a close knit community. Life on trail is edifying, nourishing,...
info_outlineWelcome back to Trail Correspondents!
Today we're talking about the physical adjustment our correspondents have endured on trail.
When it comes to staying on trail, you have to listen to your body. You ignore its cries and protests at your peril. If there’s one piece of advice I can give with respect to acclimating to the physical demands of thru hiking, it’s to tend to things THE MOMENT they arise. If you feel a small itch on the back of your heel, pull over and investigate. If your cookset is digging into your back, take your pack off and reorient it, and so on.
With the attrition rate of any thru hike being what it is, anything you can do to stop problems before they arise will incrementally increase your odds of arriving at your intended terminus.
In today's episode we hear from:
Abbey Turnbull
Harking from the South Coast of the UK, Abbey, aged 26, is swapping the rolling hills of the South Downs for the mountains of the Pacific Crest. A thru-hike of the JMT last year confirmed what she thought to be true – hiking from Mexico to Canada was her destiny for 2023. Loves good food and wine, Taylor Swift, American hospitality, and mountain vistas. Hates steep downhill slopes, her own unfortunate susceptibility to altitude sickness, and oatmeal.
Abbigale (Abby) Evans
Abby Evans (she/they) has a hankering to shave their head and hike the AT and now they will get to do both! They will be fulfilling their vagabond-dirtbag-poet dreams and aspire to one day become a creative writing professor. They’ll be listening to seventies folk music and reflecting on their life as they wander through all the states they grew up in: they were born in Maryland, grew up in New Jersey and went to college at Virginia Tech. Abby is excited for this Bildungsroman and hopes to celebrate their 23rd birthday (August 24) near Maine.
Aly Pagano
Aly is local to the southern Appalachians in western North Carolina. She has spent her life hiking, trail running, fishing, foraging, and farming; she aspires to increase her own knowledge and awareness of traditional Appalachian folk medicine, music, and skills as in an effort to live harmoniously with the mountains around her. With a degree in Ecology, Aly focuses on seasonal changes, flora, and fauna while hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Iris Hartshorn
A queer Alaskan, Iris, aka Panther, strives to build adventure into their life. The last years have been filled with world travel, skiing, packrafting, hiking, backpacking, vanlife, and epic trips across Alaska. This year’s highlight is to walk from Mexico to Canada. Or, at least, just to keep walking somewhere.
David Firari
David “Good Soup” is excited to be sharing their northbound Appalachian Trail with you! This is their first ever backpacking trip and they hope all the reading and shakedown hikes they did pay off. In addition to being a novice backpacker, Good Soup is also managing a schedule of recurring medical treatments back home in Wisconsin in order to make this trip happen.
Derek Witteman
Derek is a 37 years young Northern California native, presently thriving in San Antonio, Texas. In no particular order he is a physician, veteran, hiker, nerd, and jokester. In his free time he enjoys taking selfies with wildlife, and thinking of spirit animals the represent his current mood.
Eddie Arriola
Eddie is a travel PTA, physical therapist assistant, who’s been dreaming of the PCT for four years. In his spare time he enjoys photography, karaoke, and has other eclectic hobbies. He’s originally from southern Arizona, Tucson, and is excited to get back to his primary partner and dogs after the trail.
Elke Pabst
Elke comes from Germany and wants to thruhike the AT with her dog Tilli. It is her first stay in the USA und doesn t hiking before. She has 3 nearly grown up sons and a husband who take care of everything while she is hiking with her 9 year old dog Tilli.
Jake is currently on the AT attempting his first thru-hike. A proud Wisconsin resident, he enjoys beer, the outdoors, and the Green Bay Packers. On trail, Jake is known as “Radioface” and is obsessed with cosmic brownies. Follow Jake on his own, daily podcast at whereisjakeat.com.
Mary is a boring woman who likes to make various things, especially her hiking gear. She also has problems completing a thru hike. She did half the PCT in 2017 and a month on the CDT in 2022.
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