Episode #10 - Gary Sizer (Green Giant)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2016
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gary Sizer is a former US Marine who hiked the AT in 2014. We never met on the trail, but we are now Facebook friends. Gary wrote a book about his experiences and while that is going really well, his current claim to fame is an amazing picture posted on Reddit that shows the devastating effects that the AT can have on a hiker's body. 
Gary is a good sport for allowing this to be shown here, though, as it has been seen more than 3,000,000 times, it might be regarded as a trifle late to keep it under wraps!! There are a bunch of ways to contact Gary and share his story. His books (Kindle, paperback and audiobook) can be found on Amazon. He's accessible on Twitter and Facebook, as well as at his website, wheresthenextshelter If you'd like to follow me, I'm also on Twitter and Facebook and you can find all the podcasts, plus videos and photographs, at my website mightyblueontheat
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joined Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:25.9 | Hi, welcome back to the show. This is something of a mini landmark for the podcast |
| 0:31.0 | as this is episode number 10. While it's not precisely a moment of broadcasting history, it's certainly something I'm |
| 0:39.0 | pleased about. I've stuck with it and hopefully you've stuck with me. You all seem to have enjoyed |
| 0:44.4 | the variety of guests I've had on. For me, they've confirmed my belief that everybody |
| 0:48.9 | comes at this from a different perspective and we all do this hike in our own way. Today I have Gary Seiser as a guest. |
| 0:56.4 | Gary posted a before and after photograph of himself and Facebook that quickly went viral and |
| 1:02.1 | today the photo has been seen by more than 3 million people. I've added the photo to the show |
| 1:08.5 | notes and it can be seen at my website with the podcast |
| 1:11.4 | at mighty blue on the at.com. That's mighty blue on the att.com. It's one of those things that |
| 1:19.8 | once you've seen it, you can't unsee it. Gary went on to write a book about his experiences |
| 1:25.6 | and not just in his underpents, and it's going |
| 1:28.6 | really, really well. There'll be plenty of links in the show notes to find out more about him |
| 1:33.4 | and his book. I really enjoyed speaking with him. I'm often asked why I hiked alone, which, |
| 1:39.7 | for the vast majority of my hike, I did. It's a very personal decision and I can certainly see both sides of |
| 1:45.8 | the argument as to whether or not to travel with a bunch of people. First, it should be recorded |
| 1:51.3 | that you never really need to be alone on the AT. If you start your northbound journey at any time |
| 1:57.7 | from, say, March to April, you'll be guaranteed tons of people around you. |
| 2:02.9 | Many of the shelters will be full, though people are really good about letting other hikers in |
| 2:07.7 | until the places burst into capacity. Believe me, the shelter may say that the capacity is |
| 2:12.7 | six people, but I often saw 10 to 15 in such a space. They fit you in. |
| 2:18.7 | Alternatively, of course, you can tent or sling your hammock between a couple of nearby trees |
... |
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