Episode #126 - Dawanna Blue (Sally Forth)

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

Steve Adams

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2019

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dawanna Blue is a self-confessed high-maintenance hiker. She is a member of the Class of 2018 and her hike was five years in the making. Having arrived at the trail, she soon discovered that she preferred a hotel or a hostel to her tent or a shelter.

Despite this aversion to one of the main parts of a thru-hike, Dawanna shaped her walk to make it the best experience for her. She embraced slackpacking and found all the other elements of the hike to be a joy, with new friends to be found throughout her journey. The picture above shows her with previous Mighty Blue guest, Chrissy Funk.

Dawanna had many moments of doubt, often leaving the trail, always to return when the Appalachian Trail called her back. A flip-flopper, she shared the finish of Katahdin with others, aware that she still had about 900 miles to go. Feeling broken by the effort to get to Katahdin, she was revitalized when she returned to Shenandoah to head south, finishing her hike with her son at Springer.

You can see more pictures from her journey on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/wyld_blue_wander/

Don't forget to help Steve prepare for his second Appalachian Trail thru-hike by suggesting gear that he may like. Email him at steve@mightyblueontheat.com or go to https://mightyblueontheat.com/contact/ to leave a voice message for him.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we talk guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine.
0:33.1	Hi guys, I'm back again. I'm still in Spain and still thinking about hiking.
0:38.8	This is Marty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate mid-life crisis, and we have moved on to episode number 126.
0:46.2	This week we have Diwana Blue or Sally Forth. You're going to hear a slightly embarrassing confession from me early in that one regarding her name.
0:55.5	Duana has a great approach to hiking the AT and really tailored her journey to suit herself. There are many ways to do
1:00.3	every hike. This is hers. Duana will be on in a moment. I haven't done much more preparation
1:06.6	for the hike, though I've been building a few comments from some of you and I've been looking
1:10.7	at the various options available. So this week in the middle section, I've been building a few comments from some of you, and I've been looking at the various options available. So this week, in the middle section, I've asked myself
1:14.8	the questions. I asked all the other members of the Mighty Blue Class of 2019. Got a little bit more
1:20.4	serious than I'd expected, but well, that's what I'm thinking. One thing I wanted to say after
1:26.2	last week's show, I mentioned that I've been thinking
1:29.3	about Z-Pax for a tent and I said how expensive it is. Well, it is a lot in comparison to other
1:34.4	tents, but when you think about it, it's only about 100 bucks a month for a six-month hike.
1:39.8	You'll still have the tent where your through hike is over. So I suppose that these things are
1:44.0	all relative.
1:44.8	And in comparison to some other tents,
1:46.6	the Z-Pax looks pricey.
1:48.1	But when you look at it in those terms,
1:49.7	it isn't pared at all.
1:51.7	By the way, in case you're wondering,
1:53.4	this isn't because they're about the sponsor me for my hike.
1:56.2	But if you're listening to Z-Pax, call me.
	...

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