#18 | Andrew Downs on the Future of the Appalachian Trail, Thru-Hiker Entitlement, and Trail Maintenance
Backpacker Radio
Zach Davis
4.7 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2018
⏱️ 102 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What's in store for the future of the Appalachian Trail? This is one of the primary topics in today's episode of Backpacker Radio, as the Cinnamon Connection are joined by Andrew Downs, the Central and Southwest Virginia Regional Director at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. We also talk about the unintended negative consequences of trail magic, thru-hiker entitlement, Leave No Trace, bear canister regulations on the Appalachian Trail, how people can most effectively give back to the AT, and embarrassing chaffing and poop stories.
Subjects discussed include:
- The man who fatally fell off McAfee Knob
- A woman who got mauled by a bear in the Greyson Highlands
- How to manage chafing and ass hair (don't light it on fire)
- The pros and cons of more people hitting the trail
- Thru-hiker entitlement
- Trail angels and responsible trail magic
- Giving back with trail maintenance work
- What the ATC is and what it does
- Local clubs that maintain the trails
- Ridgerunners on the AT
- The biggest challenges the AT faces today
- Potential for bear canisters on AT
- ‘Hardcore’ and connecting current hikers to trail work
- Bob Peoples: the Chuck Norris of the AT
- The spending report for the ATC
- Golden Rules of Thru-Hikers
- The Thru-Hiker's Code of Conduct
- Mt Shasta first official PCT town article
Send your question for Andrew to [email protected]
Have any praise, questions, praise, comments, praise or praise for Backpacker Radio? Reach out to [email protected].
Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes (and please leave us a review)! Find us on Stitcher and Google Play.
A super big thank you to our Chuck Norris Award winner(s) from Patreon: Sawyer Products
A big thank you to our Cinnamon Connection Champions from Patreon: Gregory Gardner, Kate Hurley, Clint "DuctTape" Sherbet, and Peter Leven.
Follow Andrew Downs, Backpacker Radio, The Trek, Chaunce, and Badger on Instagram.
Follow The Trek and Chaunce on YouTube.
Follow The Trek on Facebook, Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | In today's episode of Backpacker Radio, we chat with Andrew Downs of the |
| 0:06.1 | ATC. Have a fun, informative conversation. Talk about Trail Magic, talk about |
| 0:11.4 | trail maintenance, a lot of important issues, but before we get into that interview, |
| 0:15.0 | I want to give a shout out to today's sponsor, |
| 0:18.0 | which is Sawyer products. |
| 0:20.0 | Sawyer is the manufacturer of a slew of important through hiker products, the one that most of hikers are probably familiar with is the Sawyer Squeeze. |
| 0:28.8 | The Sawyer Squeeze filter has a lifetime warranty and the Sawyer Mini is rated up to a hundred thousand gallons. |
| 0:35.0 | And as a 0.1 micron absolute rating so their filters remove 99.99999999999999999999 |
| 0:40.9 | 9. |
| 0:41.0 | Maybe not that many 9s but a lot of bacteria and equal as many nines, Protozoa insists. |
| 0:47.0 | All of their filters are tested three times before leaving their facility to ensure that they are operational, |
| 0:52.0 | a claim that no other domestic water filtration company |
| 0:54.3 | could make. |
| 0:55.6 | And according to the Trek 2016 AT through Hiker survey, the Sawyer Squeeze was used by almost |
| 1:01.0 | two-thirds of hikers. |
| 1:03.4 | You can find the Sawyer's squeeze at your local outfitter, |
| 1:05.8 | REI, or online at sooyer. |
| 1:08.7 | Okay, that's it. |
| 1:09.7 | Let's jump into the show. Welcome to Backpacker Radio presented by the trek. This is episode number 18. |
| 1:32.0 | We have a cool 18 theme. |
| 1:34.0 | Careful now. |
| 1:35.0 | You're a legal adult now, backpack or radio. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Zach Davis, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Zach Davis and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.