Episode #337 - Ryan Leighton (Ken Burns)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2022
⏱️ 82 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ryan Leighton is our guest this week and, though not a thru-hiker, he has probably impacted more people with regard to long-distance hiking than many of our guests on the show. He produced a documentary movie–Walking Home–that followed the hike of a father and son duo, along with two other characters who intermittently entered the story.
But Ryan has always been a thrill seeker, and he shares his fascinating story of climbing Katahdin in the winter, a negotiating Knife's Edge with a reluctant friend, and spending time working on a nineteenth century whaling ship. You'll really enjoy meeting him.
As we said on the show, the documentary is free and available on YouTube, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4TWPbBlf70. It is so good and I hope that, if you haven't seen it, you give it a look.
Our Mighty Blue Class of 2022 has been drastically reduced over the summer, and we lost another member this week. Dom Tammaro sustained a hike-ending injury that made him reluctantly quit his journey for the time being. He intends to get back on the trail next year.
Our free-wheeling young member of the group, Dan Whitesides, or Trumpet, and his dog, FrankE, have had a fairly drama-free time–until this week, that is. Hear what's happened to Dan.
If you'd like to find out more about "Then The Hail Came," check out George's website at https://georgesteffanos.webador.com/. You can also find George's book on Amazon at this link. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6.
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. If you prefer NOT to use PayPal, you can now support us via check by mailing it to Mighty Blue Publishing, PO Box 6161, Sun City Center, FL 35751. Any support is gratefully received.
If you'd like to take advantage of my book offer (all three of my printed hiking books–with a personal message and signed by me–for $31, including postage to the United States) send a check payable to Mighty Blue Publishing at the address just above.
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. |
| 0:33.7 | Hi guys and welcome back to the podcast. This is episode number 337 of the show and you are listening to Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail. I prepared and posted this episode eight days before you're hearing it as I'm hopefully in the middle of my TSX challenge in the Cierras. And as it happens today, the release date of the show, which is 31st of |
| 0:57.2 | August, we're scheduled to be summiting Whitney. How exciting, eh? I'm still up against a clock as I |
| 1:04.4 | prepare this show and I don't know why I keep doing this. Less than 12 hours before I actually leave for the airport. |
| 1:12.6 | I'm writing this at 5pm on the Wednesday evening, |
| 1:16.0 | still to pack for my trip. |
| 1:18.1 | I've always been this way, so don't shout of me. |
| 1:21.0 | It'll work out. |
| 1:23.1 | Today we've got a kind of different main guest. |
| 1:26.4 | His name is Ryan Layton, and when I tell you his trial name is Ken Burns. |
| 1:30.6 | That should be a bit of a clue. |
| 1:32.4 | He's got a great story. |
| 1:33.7 | So I'm not going to preempt him telling it. |
| 1:36.1 | You'll just have to hang around and hear him. |
| 1:38.9 | After Ryan, we've got what I'm calling Don Tomorrow's exit interview. |
| 1:43.4 | Dom is one of our class of 2022 and I'm |
| 1:45.9 | afraid his hike is done for this year. He graciously agreed to come on and tell us what happened. |
| 1:52.5 | Still on the trail and still smiling through Dan White Sides or trumpet and his dog Frankie are now |
| 1:58.5 | heading south. Even the ever laughing trumpet has had a setback this week, |
| 2:03.1 | so he's going to tell you all about that. |
| 2:05.5 | Then, as promised, the humongous chapter six concludes, |
... |
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