Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis

Jessica Mills has become something of a YouTube sensation, with her Appalachian Trail videos securing a base of support during her 2015 thru-hike. However, that support has grown exponentially this year, as she took on, and beat, the Pacific Crest Trail, battling the snow in the Sierras, then smoke from fires the rest of the way. Her breezy delivery, thoughtful commentary, great pictures (including some taken from a drone, and sheer bravado in the face of difficult conditions, have made her PCT vidoes required viewing for aspiring and veteran hikers alike. Jessica discusses this year's hike with Steve and answers the inevitable question, "Did you prefer the AT or the PCT?" Jessica is very active on social media, under the name of Homemade Wanderlust, and she can be contacted through the following sites. Website: www.homemadewanderlust.com Facebook: homemadewanderlust Instagram: @homemadewanderlust YouTube: homemadewanderlust Patreon: homemadewanderlust Twitter: @homemadeWL You can also find Jessica's book about her 2015 Appalachian Trail thru-hike on Amazon Lynne Savino gives us another Doc Spot, with her spotlight focused on heat related illness. Steve remains utterly clueless in these pieces and thanks Lynne for her diligence in bringing this important information to hikers. If a hiker learns the thing that can save his or her life then Lynne's work will be rewarded. Please check out our sister podcast, Returning to Katahdin: An Appalachian Trail Dream, featuring a detailed look at Bruce Matson's attempt to hike the AT in 2018. If you want to find out more about Bruce and his hike, go to his website, ReturningToKatahdin.com. Also, don't forget to try out our title sponsor's website, Trailtopia.com, when planning your next trip into the woods.

A thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail isn't everybody's idea of the best way to spend time in the woods. Judy Mikesell became interested in the trail through her son's thru-hike several years ago. She knew that she didn't want to thru-hike but she certainly wanted to visit the various parts of the trail. Her novel approach has enabled her to build her own version of hiking the AT without ever needing to go without a shower or needing to use a privy. To try to get as full an AT experience as possible, Judy also took part in the Half-Gallon Challenge at Pine Furnace Grove. From the look of the picture above, it didn't look like it went too well. Judy is very much into the outdoors, setting herself a similar biking challenge to the one she has her sights set on for the AT, as well as snowshoeing in the winter. Doc Spot sees Lynne giving us (or at least me) entirely new information about lightning and what to do should you get caught in a storm. Also, click on this link for further information from the NOAA. Don't forget to check out our other podcast, Returning to Katahdin: An Appalachian Trail Dream, where we follow Bruce Matson as he prepares, then executes his 44-year dream of thru-hiking the AT. At the same time, Bruce is also raising funds for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. You can learn more about Bruce and his mission by visiting his website, ReturningtoKatahdin.com. While you're online, why not check out the website of our title sponsor, Trailtopia. You'll find all sorts of goodies there. We thank them so much for supporting our shows.

I'm back with my class of 2014 again. This week, we have another of those powerful, independent women, Stacey Bucklin, or Stylez. Stacey had wanted to do the trail for quite some time and, when the time was right, she walked away from a job and went on her adventure. She rightly notes in our interview that interrupting your career path isn't necessarily a bad thing. Stacey is truly passionate about the trail and hiking and the outdoors in general. She even shares her current home with four snakes! While it is incomplete, Stacey kept an excellent blog for the first 1,000 miles with plenty of pictures and a real feeling of what it is like on the trail. She can also be reached on Instagram and Twitter. Just click on any of the links. Lynne Savino gives us a really interesting Doc Spot, following her hypothermia section last week with how to avoid, or what to do if you get, frostbite. If you'd like her recent first aid kit, just drop me an email. Thanks to our title sponsor, Trailtopia, who are also sponsoring our other podcast, Returning to Katahdin: An Appalachian Trail Dream. You can find the show on iTunes (I'll work out how to put a direct link here one day) or by clicking this link to the show.

The Appalachian Trail is a test for hikers at any stage in life and many people hike their own hikes vicariously through their family members. One of our listeners, Rick Schroeder, sent me an email to thank me for our podcast. While doing so, he mentioned that his son, Silas, had just completed a thru-hike if the trail in September. I was immediately interested in talking with Silas, as his Dad shared some of the changes in Silas that had taken place during his recent adventure. I was not disappointed. He proved to be an articulate, intelligent guest, with a strong sense of family, both trail and parental. Silas would love to catch up with any friends he met on the trail and shared his email, [email protected], for people to contact him directly. Additionally, he's got a bunch of pics from his hike on Instagram under @silas_schro. He has a blog and a YouTube page with just a couple of videos, so click the links as appropriate. Doctor Lynne gave us some really valuable information about hypothermia, nearly all of which was entirely new to me. Several people have asked for a copy of Lynne's First Aid List from a few weeks ago. Just email me, at [email protected] if you'd like a copy. We also gave you a teaser to our new show, Returning to Katahdin: An Appalachian Trail Dream, in which Bruce Matson will be attempting a thru-hike of the AT next year and we'll be following him all the way. Look out for the new show on the morning of Monday, November 6. It will be on iTunes, YouTube and everywhere that you listen to your podcasts. If you'd like to learn more, check out Bruce's website, returningtokatahdin.com. We're also SO grateful to our new title sponsor, Trailtopia. Check out their site, at Trailtopia.com. Their confidence and investment in our show will not only help me to produce more and better content, but will give you, our hiking listeners, a wonderful array of delicious food to help you on your way. Both Bruce's show and Mighty Blue on he Appalachian Trail will be giving away a couple of meals, courtesy of Trailtopia, every episode. These giveaways will be starting this week, with Returning to Katahdin.

From the Class of 2012, this week's guest is Jeffrey "Loner" Gray. Jeffrey gave himself the name Loner, yet he soon discovered the extraordinary friendships that we all find on the Appalachian Trail. He originally came to the trail through the simple act of walking to waterfalls. With more waterfalls to visit, the walks became longer and longer, leading him ultimately to his thru-hike in 2012. He was an early pioneer of YouTube videos to record his adventures, having had a channel previously devoted to skateboarding videos. You can follow him on YouTube and Facebook. His Youtube followers would often ask him questions about all aspects of the trail, and Jeffrey would reply with long detailed emails. Eventually, somebody suggested that he should write a book about his journey and the many hiking tips that he shared. He published the book earlier this year and it is full of tips and tricks, as well as recording his journey. The book is available on the Amazon Store as wells as from his book website, Painted Blazes. I'm also introducing Bruce Matson to our audience this week. Bruce and I are putting together a brand new podcast, Returning to Katahdin: An Appalachian Trail Dream, which will be available from November 6. In this sneak preview, Bruce tells us about one of his motivations for his 2018 thru-hike attempt. Don't forget to watch out for this new and exciting show; you can find it wherever you find the Mighty Blue podcast. Doctor Lynne Savino reminds us of the importance of treating various wounds that one might suffer when hiking. Her common sense guidance differentiates between wounds of a certain type, so there should be something for every eventuality. I'm coming to the end of my own book in the podcast, so I've re-worked the video of New Hampshire and Maine, adding new music and changing how certain pictures appear. I added this to my Facebook page recently but wanted to share it here as well. Lastly, don't forget that you can get both my books as a $20 package, with only $5 for shipping, by clicking on this link. If you'd like me to sign them and leave you a message, please let me know when you order. Several listeners have bought the books as gifts for Christmas, for which I'm grateful (as I hope will be the recipients)!

You probably read about the couple who decided to attempt a thru-hike this summer with their 12-month old daughter, Ellie. I was skeptical myself when I read what they were attempting to do. Having found it tough enough to take care of myself on the trail, the thought of carrying an infant for nearly 2200 miles filled me with dread. Yet Derrick and Bekah Quirin were experienced hikers and really prepared for the trip. Ellie was clearly just along for the ride, but they had an adventure that will live with them all forever. Ellie loved to collapse her parents' poles and would often wander around camp with them, much to the amusement of one and all. You can read about their adventure on their blog, Ellie on the AT, which is being updated now that they are home, They also have an Instagram account, where Ellie is the undoubted star. Lynne Savino, in Doc Spot, features the joys of W.A.D. You'll have to listen to find out what that means! I've added destinations to my podcast this week, meaning that there should be more places to find it. You can now get it on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and YouTube. Soon, it will be up on iHeart Radio and Tunein.com. If I can ever work out how to add an iTunes subscribe button to my site then I'll be a happy man.

I met Beans in my first couple of days on the trail. We shared a particularly funny evening in a bar in North Carolina and I found him to be a very funny, free-spirited kind of guy. He joined quite a large group of hikers who stayed together for several hundred miles. I would often turn up at a shelter in those early weeks to find them all having a lot of fun as a trail family. As these things do, the family split up over time and I ran into Beans once more, somewhere in Virginia. I last saw him in Port Clinton, where I noticed that he was distinctly quieter and more thoughtful. He still made me laugh, but his growing introspection was apparent. In our conversation, he was quietly intense as he considered everything carefully. I even had to edit quite a few of the pauses, from both of us, in order to maintain the flow. Despite that, it was great to catch up with one of my trail friends as he works through what the trail meant to him. You can read Beans' blog at northboundatthruhike and connect with him on Instagram under the name of j.bird1. In this week's Doc Spot, Lynne Savino gives us some great advice on the type of things we should consider for our first aid kit on the trail. The third interview this week is with Rawmin Ehyai, from Gregory. I took the Gregory Baltoro 65 backpack on my trip and, as I have with other pieces of equipment that I took with me, I wanted to know more about my pack.

Having lived for several years in Costa Rica, Greg and Jen Seymour were searching for an adventure. They chose a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2017 and prepared meticulously so that they would arrive at Springer Mountain in good shape for their journey. Recording their daily progress through YouTube, they grew their audience with their charming–and often hilarious–interactions as they made their way up the trail. By the time they got to Katahdin, they had lost nearly 100lbs in weight between them and gained an appreciation of their capabilities under duress. Jen even felt sufficiently pumped to refer to herself as a "badass." This is a story of how a couple can spend nearly six months in immediate proximity to one another yet retain their spirit, their companionship, and their love. If you'd like to follow Greg and Jen's adventures, visit any of these links on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook. As they mentioned on the show, they are also both authors, Click on their names to be taken to their respective Amazon author pages. Greg Jen Lynne Savino was a guest on the show several episodes back. It turned out that, along with being an avid hiker, Lynne is also a doctor. Consequently, we've put together "Doc Spot." Each week, Lynne will tell us about medical issues that can arise when out hiking. This week, she gives us advice on steps you should consider before you even set foot on the trail. Great news this week. We're following the preparations and the hike of a member of the Class of 2018. His name is Bruce Matson and, along with fulfilling a long-held dream, Bruce is making this hike about so much more than himself. I really wanted to make this a deep dive into Bruce's hike, so we're starting a new podcast precisely for this purpose. Returning to Katahdin: An Appalachian Trail Dream will be making its debut on Monday, November 6. I hope that you take the time out to listen to Bruce and his story.

When Jeff Alt set out to fulfil a long-held dream and hike the Appalachian Trail in 1998, he could have had no idea that his walk would eventually become the catalyst for a wonderful fund-raising effort that continues to this day. He raises money for Sunshine Homes, a facility that has been home to his brother Aaron for much of his life. Not only did he raise an enormous amount of money for this worthy cause, he became a writer and acclaimed speaker on the back of that singular decision to step onto the Appalachian Trail. He even appeared as a speaker in a Tedx talk. Click on the link to hear his story. He also offers National Park lectures that are free to attend. Click on this link to see an upcoming event in Shenandoah National Park. As you can see below, Jeff also has a very interesting wedding photo!! You can learn a lot about Jeff's myriad interests and adventures by going to his website and, if you have youngsters interested in hiking, check out the official site for his "The Adventures of Bubba Jones" book series. Of course, he is also on Facebook. With the amount of books that Jeff has written, it seems sensible just to link you to his Amazon author page, where you can check out his books, including A Walk For Sunshine. The lovely Kelly Anderson, who we met back in episode #40, spoke with me to let me know how her thru-hike ended. She is always enthusiastic and entertaining to talk with and this was no exception. Lastly, please come and visit (then like) my Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail Facebook page. I intend to do a lot more with this page in the future, so stay tuned.