Episode Overview: Doc welcomes back Jared "Fisherman" Lampal for his first official on-trail check-in. Standing right on the border looking into Colorado, Jared has checked the massive milestone of New Mexico off his list. In this raw look at life on the Divide, Jared breaks down how his structured mindset translates to the unpredictable backcountry, the reality of desert water management, and what it’s like to shift from a desk job to full-time trail life.

Key Discussion Points:

The New Mexico Milestone: Jared reflects on spending over a month completing his first state section, contrasting the massive scale of the CDT against the AT.

The "Corridor" Philosophy: Embracing advice from a veteran Triple Crowner, Jared explains his route approach—treating the CDT as a continuous corridor from Mexico to Canada while taking scenic dirt alternates rather than sticking strictly to a red line on a road.

Trail Highlights: A look at the standout beauty of the river-crossing canyon of the Gila alternate and the wind-worn sandstone mesas between Grants and Cuba.

The Crowded CDT: Why Jared was surprised by how social the bubble is this season, including a heavy trail town gathering in Chama.

Horrendous Water Realities: A deep dive into the brutal water logistics of New Mexico, from relying heavily on 20-mile cache carries and cow troughs to a sketchy, desperate camp session beside a murky, cow-poop-ringed pond.

Looking Ahead to Colorado: Transitioning from the high desert directly into peak country and high-altitude climbs.

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Ben Cox has never really hiked alone.

He carries a permanent tramily with him — his grandfather, who died when Ben was 15 and left him a specific rifle and a saddle because Ben was his cowboy grandchild. The girl in West Texas who passed that same summer. The others who came after.

At 26, after a relationship ended and a work situation resolved itself, Ben bought a plane ticket to San Diego and hiked 2,650 miles north on the Pacific Crest Trail. He didn’t know a single soul when he started. He went anyway.

This is the story of what he was carrying, what the trail asked of him, and what he found on a Tuesday in Ocean City, Maryland when it was all over.

In this episode:

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio:

Website:  hikertrashradio.com

Instagram:  instagram.com/hikertrashradio

Apply to be a Dark Miles guest:  hikertrashradio.com/dark-miles

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Farther — The Book

Farther chronicles Heather's 2018 calendar year Triple Crown. It is written entirely from memory — no trail journal, no notes — eight years after the hike. Heather says she doesn't work from outlines; she writes the way she hikes: the structure comes from the journey itself. The emotional core of the book is the tension between accomplishment and self-doubt — the experience of having done a great deal and still not knowing if you can do the next thing — and the way that walking, repeated across years and phases of a life, becomes both a constant and a mirror.

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The Barkley: A Love Story continues. In Episode Two, we go to Frozen Head State Park.

This episode is anchored by audio captured live at the 2025 Barkley Marathons: the conch blow, Laz's pre-race speech, the reading of the names of those no longer with us, taps, and the lighting of the cigarette. You hear the race begin. Then you hear what happens to the people who go out into those woods.

We hear from runners who trained for years and came up short. From crew members who waited at the gate for 16 hours with no information. From a Swedish war photographer who recovered from PTSD by running trails at night and found himself crying at the Barkley finish line in 2024. And at the end, a name. 99 seconds to spare. More on her in Episode Three.

Part two of three.

Guests Featured

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Triple Crowner and creator of the Great Colorado Route Donovan "Iceman" Rice joins Doc in the studio to talk about his love letter to Colorado, the 1,700-mile route through the heart of the Colorado outdoors. Settle in and buckle up as Iceman discusses frozen tents, seasonal gigs, overcoming addiction, only known times, mutual enablers, cold soaking, 400k feet of elevation gain, the gnarly & sporty GCR, and a hitch story you have to hear to believe. Epic. (This is Part II. Be sure to listen to Part I.)

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Triple Crowner and creator of the Great Colorado Route Donovan "Iceman" Rice joins Doc in the studio to talk about his love letter to Colorado, the 1,700-mile route through the heart of the Colorado outdoors. Settle in and buckle up as Iceman discusses frozen tents, seasonal gigs, overcoming addiction, only known times, mutual enablers, cold soaking, 400k feet of elevation gain, the gnarly & sporty GCR, and a hitch story you have to hear to believe. Epic. (This is Part I. Be sure to listen to Part II.)

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If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available 24/7. Call or text 988.

Cara Benson spent years in active addiction before the Adirondack Mountains gave her something she’d been looking for in all the wrong places. She got sober. She hiked. She found a man named John who left rebus messages on the kitchen counter — hand-drawn symbols instead of words, rays of sunshine about the most pedestrian things.

Then John died by suicide. And the mountains that had carried her through addiction had to carry her through something else entirely.

This episode is about what she found on the other side of both.

In this episode:

Connect with Cara Benson:

Book — An Arms Full of Birds:  carabenson.com

Instagram:  instagram.com/carabensonwriter

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio:

Website:  hikertrashradio.com

Instagram:  instagram.com/hikertrashradio

Apply to be a Dark Miles guest:  hikertrashradio.com/dark-miles

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Donovan “Iceman” Rice is a Colorado native, Triple Crowner, and the designer of the Great Colorado Route. He earned the name Iceman on the PCT in 2020 after freezing his tent to the ground. Twice. Once on Mount San Jacinto in the Southern California desert. Once at the base of Forester Pass. The second incident required a borrowed ice ax and boiling water poured directly onto frozen ground at 3 a.m.

After completing the PCT, the CDT, and the Eastern Continental Trail (2025), Iceman turned his attention to designing an original loop through Colorado: 1,700 miles, approximately 400,000 feet of vertical gain, scramble-heavy, and entirely his own creation. He starts in mid-May 2026.

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The Barkley Marathons has only been finished 26 times in 40 years. This is the first episode of a three-part audio documentary series from Hiker Trash Radio — The Barkley: A Love Story.

In Episode One, we go to the beginning. Who is Gary "Laz" Cantrell, the man who built the most obsessively followed race in endurance sport? We hear from Laz himself on how the Barkley was born, why it was designed the way it is, and what he sees when he looks at the people who come to run it. We also hear from Jared Beasley, the only authorized biographer of Laz, interviewed live at the 2025 Barkley Marathons after three years of reporting.

This is not a recap. This is a love story. Part one of three.

Guests Featured

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If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available 24/7. Call or text 988.

Steven Wright’s wife Sandy told him on her deathbed to hike the Appalachian Trail. She had six days left to say it.

He didn’t go right away. First came 18 months of grief that got worse instead of better, a breakdown, an escape from a hospital in a nightgown, and a moment in his truck on a highway where he shut his eyes and turned the wheel. A thunderstorm stopped him. A phone call brought him back.

When a counselor finally asked what made him happy, he said hiking. She said go. He heard Sandy’s voice saying it.

He hiked 2,200 miles with five broken bones, through three hurricanes, with the wanting-to-die still following him into the wilderness. And somewhere on a mountain in December, in 14 inches of snow, a dead ash tree fell on the stump where he had just been standing, and he realized he wanted to live.

In this episode:

Connect with Steven Wright:

Book — The Weight I Carried:  theweighticarried.com

Email:  [email protected]

Instagram:  instagram.com/stevencwright

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio:

Website:  hikertrashradio.com

Instagram:  instagram.com/hikertrashradio

Apply to be a Dark Miles guest:  hikertrashradio.com/dark-miles

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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