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Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joined Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine.

Hi, and welcome back to Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis.

And I'm not doing this deliberately, but this last three days, and I think I left you at the Nantahela outdoor center,

has been started with an absolute disaster and finished absolutely great um it's been a

complete it feels like a complete week since i last spoke to you but um i think it's been a learning

experience for me one that i needed probably to remind me of the importance of making sure I look after

my gear. But let's go back to that first morning when the disaster happened within the

first mile. And this is day number 17. Day 17, Nantahela Outdoor Centre, mile 136.7 to Sassafras Gap Shelter, mile 143.8.

I got up in the morning at the Nantaylor Outdoor Centre. Actually, I was at the log cabins up the road,

that's right. And I needed some new gear

and I wanted to buy a new fleece and things like that and some gas and a few food items. And I assume

because because hikers are around, people are hiking in and out of that area the whole time,

that most of the shops would be open at a reasonable time. Well, the restaurant wasn't open for

breakfast, although there was another place we could get breakfast, which was a kind of store.

But the outdoor centre itself didn't open until 10 o'clock, so I had to basically kick my

hills for a while while I waited for it to open. I was kind of dreading the climb uphill.

I remember that hike out of the NOC pretty well.

After the fierceness of the downhill, the day before,

getting out of the place is just as fierce on the way up.

So my day was delayed.

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