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.

Hi everyone, thanks again for coming back to Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate

midlife crisis. Once again, my name is Ryan Hopkins or JR on the trail. I'm filling in again

for Steve or Mighty Blue. Don't worry, though. Steve will be on later in the show when he catches up

with Phoenix, who is on the trail right now. Our guest today, Zach Hoops or Relish, just really fantastic guy.

I was really excited to get to chat with him.

I think he has great insights on the world of long distance backpacking.

I want to say up front, though, I know that his hiking experience leans a little more towards the

West Coast, which is not always what we go for on the show. But I do think it's very relatable.

And the asterisk that I want to put next to it as well is that Zach is from Virginia and he'll

share a little bit of this. But he kind of honed his craft and kind of fell in love with backpacking on the AT in Virginia.

One of the stories that we chatted about was, you know, getting up before class when he was a student at Virginia Tech and going out to different parts of the Triple Crown to get those done before coming back to class.

So while Zach will primarily talk about some of his West Coast hikes and his PCT hike,

I do know at his core, the Appalachian Trail is important to him and a trail that he thinks very fondly of.

So that's our guest today.

And without any further ado, we will get on with it.

So here is Zach.

All right, we're on with Zach Hoops or Relish.

How are you doing today, Zach?

I'm doing great, Ryan.

Stoke to talk to you.

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