Episode #295 - Rebecca Brackbill (Savage)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 4 November 2021
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When I went out to hike the AT in 2014, I met a breed of woman I'd hardly known existed. These were strong-willed, fiercely independent young women, many of who were vastly more impressive than a lot of the men I met out there. It has been a theme of the trail for this past decade. Women are hitting the AT, and other trails, with little or no backpacking experience and proving to be more than equal to the task.
Rebecca Brackbill turned out to be one of those women this year. She turned up in 2020 with few overnights under her belt, yet, as you listen to her, you'll hear a steely determination to succeed, even though she considered quitting while in Shenandoah, of all places!
Rebecca developed a habit of getting her picture taken doing a backbend at various spots on the trail, including one in front of the Katahdin sign, one on Mt Washington's cog railway, and even one on the top of Odie's bus!
If you'd like to connect with Rebecca or follow her adventures, check her out on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/brackbill421/
With no Katie to catch up with this week, I brought back a friend of the show, JC Van Etten, or Catmando, to tell us about his observations on forming a tramily on the PCT after his epic experience with his tramily on the AT.
Winton Porter's Passin' Though brings real life drama to Mountain Crossings, with a mystery boot.
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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, joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:34.0 | Hey guys, it's me again, and you are listening to Mighty Blue on the Ampletian Trail, |
| 0:38.1 | the ultimate mid-life crisis. As luck would have it, I am Mighty Blue, and this is episode |
| 0:43.0 | 295 of our show, as we steam into our sixth year as a podcast. We've been on a bit of a role |
| 0:49.6 | recently with a bunch of women hikers, and we've got another one today, and next week. Our guest is Rebecca Brackbill or Savage and Rebecca recently completed her own through Hight Dream. |
| 0:59.6 | Unfortunately, a conversation is a little bit marred by a cat, a dog, a dog walker and a fridge. |
| 1:07.7 | Nevertheless, we soldiered on bravely and got to the end. |
| 1:10.1 | Rebecca will be on soon. |
| 1:11.8 | With no Katie to fill the middle part of the show, I've got a conversation I had a couple of |
| 1:15.5 | weeks back with the previous guest, J.C. Van Etton or Catmando. He's been hiking our |
| 1:20.5 | storm since he completed his ride of the 80 in 2019 and he wanted to share a few thoughts |
| 1:25.6 | about the differences between the AT and the PTT, |
| 1:28.6 | particularly with regard to the formation of Tramilies or Tramil Families. |
| 1:32.4 | J.C. will be on after Rebecca. |
| 1:34.6 | And then a real-life drama in Winton Porter's passing through. |
| 1:38.5 | When a dog shows up at Mountain Crossings with a boot in his jaws, |
| 1:42.7 | it's what's in the boot that sets off a chain of events. |
| 1:46.2 | But first is Rebecca. And I'm afraid that we cut her chat a little short because she kept |
| 1:50.9 | getting interrupted by a whole menagerie of animals and humans, as well as a fridge. |
| 1:55.2 | Here's Rebecca Brackbill or Savage. |
| 2:00.6 | This week's guest is another newly minted Appalachian Trail Through Hiker. She is Rebecca |
... |
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