Off Trail

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Canary!

Today we are able to catch up and chat with Christopher Blackwell, or Canary, less than a week before he begins his attempt at a Supported Fastest Known Time for the Calendar Year Triple Crown. This means hiking the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail well within a calendar year. He hopes to break the previous record set by Swami at 236 days, and set the new record around 220 days.

We chat about his mental and physical prep work to tackle such a endeavor. The prep work that began years ago that has been leading to this moment. We talk about his planned Appalachian Trail 2020 thru hike, and how the pandemic changed his plans. Instead of being deterred we chat about how refreshing it is to see and hear how he continued to pursue his passion and hikes in the outdoors. Transitioning to climbing mountains in the Smokies and in the Southern Appalachians, he continued to pursue his happiness.

We dive deep into the mental preparation that it takes as you learn from life. From previous hikes, from daily life, from childhood, continually learning how to harness the mentality and strength inside and how it transitions to the trail.

We chat about his partner, Bell, who will be supporting him along his hike. We chat about the benefits and perceived difficulties that can arise when planning something this intense with another. We learn that both him and his partner have two individual goals that have combined into a together goal, and how this leads to cohesiveness and happiness.  

We chat about his inspirations, we chat about his proposed route, we chat about the Adirondacks Winter Route, we chat about suffering, we chat about harnessing strength, acceptance, and peace. 

Disclaimer: This will be published when he is a month or two into his hike, so to a future and to a past Canary, keep getting after it! 

Truly a wonderful chat with Canary, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"[I want] to look back to that kid and be the vision that would lead me forward during my darkest nights"

"I am going into this because I know it is going to change me"

"Every time someone does a huge thing, it raises everyone up to the possibilities"

To learn more about Canary and get involved check out the link below:

Instagram: @chrisvaughnblackwell

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, GingerBallz!

Today we sit down and chat with GingerBallz, a man that was inducted into the hiking community back in 2018 with his first thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail, and has been completely consumed ever since. 

We chat about his progression towards the Triple Crown, we chat about his learning curve on the AT, and how he met a friend named Scrapbook one of his first days out there. Both looking at each other with the thought of "how are they going to survive this?" and both not only succeeding but exceling together and individually along the way. 

We chat a lot, quite a lot, if we see a lot one more time, will you understand how much we talk about dog mushing. We talk about it a lot! Another activity/lifestyle/job/community that he has begun to pursue. We chat about the parallels between dog mushing and hiking, we chat about the parallels of how he is choosing to live his life on and off trail, and we learn that as the trail is to hikers, dogs are to mushers. The love, connection, and sometimes reverence for the very essence of what allows us to pursue these lifestyles. 

We chat about how he learned about the Appalachian Trail, about how when he pursues an activity whether that is biking, marathons, triathlons, hiking, or dog mushing he consumes himself fully within it. 

We chat about where sunscreen needs to be applied to dogs while on a glacier, we chat about sacrifices needed to live a life of adventure, we chat about falling multiple times a day on the Long Trail, we chat about freedom in letting go of rigidity and letting the moment take you where it will. 

Truly a wonderful chat with GingerBallz, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"I woke up at one point and said I a, going to walk from Georgia to Maine"

"The relationships to the dogs are everything"

"I am going with the flow and learning to appreciate that"

To learn more about GingerBallz and get involved check out the link below:

Instagram: @hiking_ginger_b

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Phil Perry!

Today we have a very special episode for you all. We focus around a subject that is heavily prevalent in the outdoors, but that is difficult for some to talk about. We wanted to have this guest on due to him being very open and honest about this piece of the outdoor community. Today we talk about sobriety. 

We sit down with Phil Perry, a very vocal advocate for sobriety, to learn about his journey in and through sobriety, and how the outdoors and hiking has been a place of peace for him. 

We chat about the stigma that can come attached to alcoholism or substance abuse, and how it can lead to guilt and shame that is self-created. Yet, when shared with others whether that be friends and family, others within the outdoor community, others within the sober community, however you wish to define it, when it is shared there is power within.

We chat about how Phil reclaimed his love and passion for the outdoors, and has now found a love within hiking that is consuming. From the planning aspect, to the prep, to the hiking, every part of it he sees as a piece to fuel his fire of happiness. 

We chat his inspirations come from the everyday, the "every person". Whether that be in the sober community or hiking community the person that is out there doing 1 mile, 2 miles, 5 miles, 10 miles, as long as they are out there seeking happiness, those people are the ones that continue to inspire him the most. 

We chat about his sobriety and how his platform on Social Media came about from originally a friend suggesting to share it with others to create another "check and balance." Then how it propelled into many people sharing in togetherness in sobriety, in the power of being together, and how it now helps his goal to spread the message that "you are never alone" to anyone that he can.

There is too much to unpack in a description for this episode, so instead we will end it how Phil ended it.

"You should never suffer in silence, reach out.... we are here." 

Truly a wonderful chat with Phil Perry, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

Disclaimer: We by no means hold any expertise in the field of sobriety, and this was our first experience in trying to share a story of this magnitude with others, so please forgive us if we did not ask the "correct" questions, or used terms that were not correct in this community. We only hoped to continue to learn, and this was a part of it. 

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"If it resonates with one person I have done my job"

"It starts you thinking, what else am I capable of?"

"If I can be more vocal and it can help out one more person, it is something I have to do"

To learn more about Phil Perry and get involved check out the link below:

Instagram: @ Phil__Perry

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Slider!

Today we sit down and chat with Slider. We chat quite a lot about her hiking, more specifically her hiking with a plastic trombone. We hyper focus on the why behind carrying an instrument that one does not commonly associate with hiking trails. We hear some of the stories from the trail and how she used this instrument both physically to add music to her hikes, and how she used it metaphorically to connect her to her music life.

We chat about her passion for music on and off trail. We chat about her previous "zero interest" in section hikes and how amazing it is that the same activity that instead is longer and further such as a thru-hike is a world of difference. We chat about her progression from not one to necessarily "like" setting goals, to how thru-hiking taught her goal setting was something she appreciated.

We chat about her in-between times between hikes, and how she managed the Off Trail time and stay connected to the community that she loved. We chat about her opportunity this year as she once again transitions back out east for the season to pursue a job within the outdoors that she is passionate about. 

We chat about the differences between East and West coast hiking and how both are beautiful, but very different. We chat about the Continental Divide Trail in 2021 and managing the hazards and logistics along the way.

We wag our sass finger at Dine N Dash, a previous guest, as Slider and him were a part of a trail family together, and we just now learned about it! 

We chat about the plastic trombone, and the fact that it has now gone on 2 out of the 3 Big Trails, and how it's destiny is now to continue onwards to finish up all 3. 

Truly a wonderful chat with Slider, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"I hike and play the trombone"

"Escape from the monotony of what we call a normal life"

"You can get along with anyone out there, that is the type of community it is"

To learn more about Slider and get involved check out the link below:

Instagram: @tromboneandhike

TikTok: @tromboneandhike

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Dylan "Pickle" Tonkin!

Today we sit down and chat with "Pickle" the owner and founder of Town Shirt Company. A backpacking and more specifically a apparel company that creates wonderfully unique designs for hiking shirts that encompass the very trails with which they were inspired from. PCT and AT designs that showcase the scenes that elicit remembrance and emotion in the hiker. 

We chat about Pickle's inspiration to start a company and it stemming from finding a way to stay involved and connected in the community that he stated "makes me the best version of myself." We chat about his desire and his implementation of interweaving many other people within the outdoor and specifically hiking community into his business. Creating a trail family, off the trail. 

We chat about the learning process behind creating an apparel business, and how the intricacies once the journey begins are more than anticipated. We chat about his goal of giving back to the very trail associations that inspire his creations. 

We chat about Pickle not eating one package of ramen on his entire PCT hike, we double check to make sure he is not a Penguins fan before continuing the show, and we chat about the story behind his trail name.

We dive deeper into the connection behind a "common Dropbox" of food out on his PCT thru-hike. The connection between him and his now wife, that made the food resupply boxes much more than just a common Dropbox. 

We dive deeper into Town Shirt and learn about its journey thus far, we learn about its involvement within the hiking community, and we learn that its goal is to continue to give back and grow inside of and with the hiking community. 

Truly a wonderful chat with Pickle from Town Shirt, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"I am a talker and a walker"

"Town Shirt, this is my thru-hike"

"Overcoming the internal Dylan, to become Pickle"

To learn more about Town Shirt and get involved check out the link below:

Website: TownShirt.co

Instagram: @TownShirt.co

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Bopit!

Today we sit down to chat with Bopit as she takes time from her current Florida Trail Thru Hike, well second Florida Trail Thru Hike to catch up with us. Please excuse the audio as we are recording while she was at a corner store called JR's (for those of you who have hiked you know it, for those of you who haven't well picture chickens, pigs, and the friendliest people you ever met, and you will know it!).

We share many stories of miles shared, and dive deeper into her hiking progression and background. 

In the year of 2021, her and her partner Punisher, hiked from Key West to Katahdin, and then went straight over to the Continental Divide Trail and completed a thru-hike Southbound. Even though, the premise of the show is not one to focus on miles, we talk heavily about this subject this episode, not as much the physical aspect, but the mentality behind the miles.

She has crushed miles, doing over 7,000 in 2021, and the reason we quantify it with a number here, is because of her change this year of 2022. She now is purposely re-hiking a trail she has hiked to slow down, be in the moment, and change the mentality of miles. We dive deep into the reasons why, and the feelings that arise when changing a hiking style. 

We chat as chickens interrupt us, we chat about her off trail life, we chat about her progression to more on trail life, we chat about crushing miles, we chat about consciously choosing to relax into the miles and journey, we chat way too much about alligators, we chat about Bradwell Bay, and we share and swap stories and just have a great time being wonderfully lost within hiker chat. 

Truly a wonderful chat with Bopit, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"See what there is to see, do what there is to do."

"This makes me happy and the best version of myself."

"Wow, you sound like my mom right now!"

To learn more about Bopit and get involved check out the link below:

Instagram: @Bopit_Adventures

YouTube: Bopit Adventures

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Chief Shoeless!

Today we dive deep into the world of barefoot hiking and barefoot living. We chat with Chief Shoeless and if you haven't caught the hint from his name, he is one of the few people that chose to hike long distance trails barefoot. Not only that but live his daily life barefoot. We get hyperfocused on this subject, because well, quite simply it is fascinating!

We learn about what it means to wear shoes for less than 1% of daily life. Whether that is going to the bank, going to the gym, going shopping Chief Shoeless remains... shoeless. Of course being respectful to businesses and shops where they still would prefer shoes, he has learned to navigate his way around this life without any. Not only navigate through life but enjoy it because of the fact he is shoeless.

We walk through the progression of his entry into this world. We talk about the freedom and closeness being barefoot can provide to the Earth as well as himself. 

We chat about how it connects him deeper into every moment. Feeling the connection with the ground that starts at his feet, and from this connection being present and aware throughout his entire body and mind.

We chat about marathons, we chat about meeting his wife in the middle of the Indian Ocean, we chat about walking barefoot through swamps, we chat about mental health, we chat about many of the emotions and feelings of living a life barefoot! 

Truly a wonderful chat with Chief Shoeless, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"It's priceless to me to be able to pass on to them what I have learned"

"Let me see the world in the navy, when I retire I can see the country"

To learn more about Chief Shoeless and get involved check out the link below:

Instagram & Facebook: @Chief_Shoeless

To support mental health:

Website: Hikeformentalhealth.org

To support hikers that support the Florida Trail: 

Website: FloridaHikes.com

Website: FTthruhike.org

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Mike Crowley!

Today we dive deep into the journey not once, but twice across America. Mike Crowley first walked the width of America from San Diego to Delaware. Walking out his front door he created the route that would connect him into the American Discovery Trail and bring him to the Atlantic Ocean. We chat the mentality behind such a long endeavor, and the thoughts and feelings around this being his first multi-month long hike. 

We chat about the calling he heard to seek adventure, and how it took him a few years until the call became too loud to ignore. 

We chat about the feelings of walking alone through massive open landscapes, the journey across America, and then the moment, where he stands complete at the Atlantic Ocean and all he hears is silence. 

We chat about his planning for his next trek across America, this time the length, from Isle Royale in Upper Michigan, down to the southern most point in Key West, Florida. We chat about "chance" encounters and how the trail has incredible ways of connecting people. 

We chat family, pack weights increasing not decreasing, lack of water, knocking on farm house doors, contemplating life, and much more!

Truly a wonderful chat with Mike Crowley, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us.

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"Being the bubble that is carried by the wind is comfort to me"

"Being in your skin, your thoughts, the quiet, the fear melts away"

"Don't think about what is ahead, don't think about what is behind, just be in the moment."

To learn more about Mike Crowley and get involved check out the link below:

Website: ILikeMike

YouTube: ILikeMike

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Mac from Halfway Anywhere!

Today we begin the show by getting completely enthralled and enveloped in river stories. What do you do when a rapid becomes a Class 9 (we also learn that the Grand Canyon has a special rating scale of 1-10), what do you do if your boat flips in rapids, when are you supposed to wear what the cool kids call a PFD? 

We talk with Mac about his most recent Grand Canyon rafting trip. As his "adventure roots" come from backpacking we learn how he is beginning to branch out into bike packing, rafting, and adventuring in his own unique way. 

We dive deep into the responsibilities along with the freedom of combining your work and your play. We learn about his progression into working and running his website, Halfway Anywhere, full-time and how it is a constant game of catch up. When you work for yourself, the task is never done, because you are always creating more tasks. We learn about how the feeling of having enough work for multiple employees can be a blessing, but also a curse, when the work is a creation of your own tone, voice and feelings. It cannot be work that is spread out, instead all the responsibility once again singularly lands in your very own lap. We dive deep into the mentality of work and play. 

We learn about the sacrifices needed to live a life of adventure. Every life has sacrifice, no matter what it is, and we learn what Mac has had to let go of to grow. 

We chat scuba diving, Australia and Tasmania, trail feelings, overseas adventures, using a whiteboard for Pictionary, and much more!

Truly a wonderful chat with Mac from Halfway Anywhere, thanks again for sharing some of your story with us. 

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"A smile will get you a really long way in a lot of places"

Today I walked ten miles, swam in a lake, and ate a bunch of M & Ms... today was the best day ever!"

"It's easy until it's not."

To learn more about the Mac from Halfway Anywhere and get involved check out the link below:

Website: HalfwayAnywhere

Instragram: @HalfwayAnywhere

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!

We have the privilege of speaking with the one and only, Henry Shires!

Henry Shires is the owner and founder of TarpTent. 

TarpTent is a company that has been in the backpacking world before the ultralight craze, before the backpacking craze, before apps, it began. Born from his 1999 PCT Thru Hike the legend began. Henry sewed together a tent for himself to use on his hike, and once he finished people began to ask him to make the tent for them. 

This began the journey of Tarptent. As he stated it was never planned but picked up momentum on its own, and then steamrolled forward into becoming his life. He said the turning point was in 2003 or 2004 when Backpacker picked up the story, and at that point he had a decision to make. Continue to pursue his career in Physics or take the leap fully into owning and running a backpacking company. He chose the later, and we unpack the feelings of the why behind such a choice. On one hand there was security and on the other the giant unknown lay ahead, and he jumped right into the unknown! 

We chat about the challenges of hiking back in 1999, the growth of the outdoor industry, the loss of the PCT kick-off and the role social media now plays in his world. We chat tents, more tents, and many tent philosophies and jargons that would make a lot of sense for gear aficionados but had our mind boggling with the intricacies.

We chat about the term "Cottage Gear" and what this entails. The definition of Cottage Gear is defined without being defined. There seems to be a communal agreement on what a Cottage Gear company is, but no standard definition. We curiously pick Henry's brain to see what his thoughts are on this subject. When does a company get to big to be a Cottage Gear company? Can it get too big, if part of the definition is the values of a company, and if the values stay the same, why does the size matter? Is it units sold, production partners, morals, what defines it? There is so much grey area here that we didn't possibly hope to answer the question, but wanted to satiate our curiosity with a company that has been, is and continues to be born from this term. 

We chat passion and love for the outdoors, we chat about his wife and business partner Cynthia, we chat about growth personally and professionally, we chat about what makes a life in the outdoors uniquely TarpTent.

We also chat about drones! 

FAVORTIE QUOTES:

"My being is there because my creation is there"

"I don't know where this is going to go... today is the day I am just going to do it."

To learn more about the Mac from Halfway Anywhere and get involved check out the link below:

Website: TarpTent

Instagram, Facebook, YouTube: @TarpTent

To learn more about who we are click the link below:

Website: https://www.elevenskys.com/

Don't forget to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts if you are enjoying the show! All weirdness not only welcome but appreciated!