Episode #389 - Stephen Cole (Sweat Bucket)

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

Steve Adams

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2023

⏱️ 101 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Steve Cole joins us on the show today. He was a guest on the podcast about two years ago, telling us about his first big hike; Le Tour du Mont Blanc. Since then, he's hardly stopped hiking. Today, we talk about his Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 2021, as well as some of his other adventures.

Steve shared his Facebook details, where he posted most of his thru-hike pictures. You can find it at https://www.facebook.com/stephen.cole.3388

And for those of you who consistently fail to score the JMT Golden Ticket, Steve has a workaround that may help you with that. You should also check the shoe he set fire to (below)!!

All four of our remaining Mighty Blue Class of 2023 join me on the show today. You can hear the excitement building in two of them–Mary and Mark–as they are now into Maine and just a few weeks out from Katahdin, while the other two–Jessica and Joanne–are just as determined and working on their flips.

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.

I often ask listeners for ideas on who to interview, and I'm sure several of you say, "I could do that. I've got an awesome story to tell." You're the person we need to hear from. If you'd like to be interviewed on the podcast, just register as a guest on the link below, and I'll be in touch.

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.

You can also support our shows by visiting our online "Merch" store. Check it out at https://hrntradingpost.com/ , or click on the store button on our network website at https://www.hikingradionetwork.com.

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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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
0:25.5	every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine.
0:33.5	Hey guys, it's good to be back with you all, and I'm recording this on Wednesday afternoon, just south and about seven or eight miles inland from Tampa, where we clearly dodged a bullet last like with Hurricane Edalia. The night was a bit breezy, we didn't lose power, and the garden got a good soak in, which it needed. Plenty of people had a tough time though, so I hope that any of you who may have been in the path of italia fared as well as I did.
0:56.8	You're listening to Mighty Blue on the Applesant Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, and this is episode number 389.
1:03.3	Our guest today is Steve Cole, who we heard from a couple of years ago when he was just starting out on his hiking career.
1:09.7	He was talking to us about his tour du Montblanc,
1:11.7	and he hasn't stopped biking since. Specifically, he did an 80-through hike in 2021, and we're
1:17.7	going to be talking with him mainly about that today. Steve will be on in a moment. And in our
1:22.6	Mighty Blue Class of 20203, we catch up with all four of our remaining team members. Jessica Lang Wright, who we couldn't speak with for last week's show, is back for an extended chat. Then we have Mary Marks, Giant Flagg and Mark Carpenter. It's going to be another long show, as it will likely be over the next couple of weeks, with two of our team finishing in mid-September. As a result of these catch-ups, I'm putting off a reading
1:44.8	from Then the Hell Came by George Stefanos until next week. So let's get to it. Here's Steve Cole,
1:51.1	or Sweat Bucket. Today's guest is somebody who I've been email him with for a while, and I
1:59.4	always intended for him to come back on the show. This is Stephen Cole or Sweat Bucket. Hey Stephen, thanks for coming on the podcast.
2:06.2	Thanks for having me, Steve. And I said then about coming back on the show. You were on to talk
2:11.6	about the Tour de Montblanc in April 2020 just when COVID was hitting us. And since then, well, you've had quite of your
2:19.2	adventures, haven't you? Let's step back to before you went to the, even before you went to the
2:24.0	TMB. Have you been a hiker most of your life? I have not. I didn't do any hiking until
2:30.4	2018, really. That was the first time I did any hiking. I've done, well, I've done, I played tennis, I played golf, and I used to run.
2:38.8	I did some marathons and things.
2:40.8	And my knees started to give me problems.
2:43.0	So my doctor told me that I should probably give up the road running.
2:48.2	And so I was looking for my next challenge.
	...

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