Episode #262 - Rue Mckenrick

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

Steve Adams

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2021

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Self-described "Complete Nature Boy," Rue McKenrick is today's guest. He takes us on a journey around the American Perimeter Trail. It was Rue's vision that spawned the idea and he is the one who is driving it forward. He is soon to return to the trail after an absence of six months. When he left it for a break–in October 2020–he had been out on the trail for over a year.

Rue's hiking resume is extensive, including the Triple Crown and the John Muir Trail. But it is the APT that occupies his thought these days, as he works to realize his ambition. He's been shot at and had about 20 interactions with Law Enforcement while blazing this trail, so the difficulty of the mission should not be underestimated.

If you'd like to learn more about the trail and about Rue, you can follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ruemckenrick/ and on the trail's website, at https://americanperimetertrailproject.weebly.com/

Katie Westling is learning a few harsh realities on the trail, though she was expecting them! Her honeymoon period is over and the real work of a thru-hike is now in front of her. Remember, you can follow her on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEDoHA8w7RgCgs8MxuiIxA/videos

With Summer coming, I'm taking a break from the main part of the podcast (apart from a monthly show plus my weekly interviews with Katie) and Ryan Hopkins will be taking my place as the presenter. Here, Ryan chats about his plans for the show and demonstrates how he is a ready-made temporary replacement for me. Don't forget, I'll be back in October full time. In the interim, you can reach out to Ryan at ryanh620@gmail.com or, of course, I'll always be happy to hear from any of you at steve@hikingradionetwork.com

Larry Luxenburg's "Walking the Appalachian Trail" discusses some of the traditions and silliness of the trail from 25 years ago.

If you like what we're doing on the Hiking Radio Network, and want to see our shows continue, please consider supporting us with either a one-off or monthly donation. You'll find the donate button on each Hiking Radio Network page at https://www.hikingradionetwork.com

Any support is gratefully received.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we talk the walk with shows by hikers
0:05.3	about hikers for everybody. Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis,
0:24.1	joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine.
0:34.2	Welcome back to the show.
0:35.8	I don't know whether you came here deliberately or not, but you're home with me, Mighty Blue. And this is my podcast, all about backpacking hikers and trails. This is Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate mid-life crisis. And today our main guest is one of those massive hiking overachievers. We've got somebody who clearly didn't think he'd done enough
0:54.8	by hiking the AT, the PCT, the CDT, the John Muir Trail,
0:59.2	and several other long hikes.
1:00.6	Nope.
1:01.4	Rue McKenrich wasn't satisfied with that resume.
1:04.0	He decided that he was going to build his own trail, as you do.
1:07.9	And not any old trail.
1:09.3	This is the American perimeter trail, and when Roo's done,
1:12.4	he expects it to be, about 12,000 miles long. As you can imagine, this is a true life goal and
1:19.7	Rue is giving his all and sometimes maybe a little too much in his pursuit of his dream.
1:24.2	Rue will be along shortly. Then we catch up with Katie Wessling or Phoenix.
1:29.6	Katie had, it must be said, something of a comfy start to her 80th through hike, but this
1:34.1	week she's actually set up and taken down her tent in the rain. It's probably been a little bit sobering,
1:40.5	but as I said to her, welcome to the Abilatian Trail. Katie will be along after Root.
1:45.7	Now, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical over the summer.
1:50.0	The show's going nowhere though, and I'll still be on the show every week and doing one of my
1:54.2	normal shows once a month. The big change is that I've handed the podcast over to Ryan Hopkins,
1:59.6	J.R. And Ryan has some great plans for
	...

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