You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we talk the walk with shows by hikers about hikers for everybody.

Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis,

joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine.

Welcome back and thanks so much for coming back to Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail,

the ultimate mid-lier crisis.

It's been a fairly solitary week for Trigger and me.

Cushy is now a day ahead and Trigger and I've been putting in some real miles.

In fact, we've done 80 miles in the past four days, which for us is a heck

of a lot. We think we're going to catch Cushion and maybe even dodge a dog, but for the time being,

it's just the two of us. We're both quiet hikers and we spend the days hiking around 100 yards

apart. Good to know that somebody nearby has your back, let me tell you. And it's one of the

things I've really gained out of hiking with trigger. You know, we've helped each other

silently, but we've helped each other on the way. I'm sure he'd say the same, actually.

Now, before we tell you about those 80 miles, let's hear from our sponsor, Sawyer.

When I hit the trail in 2014, I soon discovered that I come with the wrong water filter. Everybody else had a Sawyer squeeze. Eventually, I bought a squeeze and I loved it. I'm going again this year, and the top of my list of things to buy was the new micro-squeeze filter by Sawyer. Like all Sawyer stuff, it just works. You can filter up to 100,000 gallons

and their full-sized squeeze filter comes with a lifetime warranty.

Last year, believe it or not,

more than 4 million people got clean water through a Soya water filter.

But if you think that Sawyer is just about water filters,

you could not be more wrong.

Nope, they supply everything to protect you,

both in the backcountry and the

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