Episode #448 - Sarah Zettler (Cricket)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 29 August 2024
⏱️ 91 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sarah Zettler is our guest today. Sarah is a teacher, and has had to fit her six-year section hike of the Appalachian Trail into her summer vacation as a teacher. She even incorporates the trail into her school lesson plans to further engage her students.

She felt called to do this hike and, once it was in her heart, she worked out a plan to get it done.

A dramatic fall on one of the river crossings in the north led to a rescue by the Emergency Rescue team from Androscoggin. These selfless people reassured and cared for Sarah and deserve our praise anytime we get the chance. Nice one, team.

Our Mighty Blue Class of 2024 is represented today by Sloggy, Lemonade, and Professor Milkshake, each with their own adventures happening and about to happen. Such is the nature of the AT.
Our new book reading, Happy Hiking, by my friend, Emily Leonard is–of course–written from a woman's POV and a woman's voice. I hope you enjoy listening to my reading of it. If you'd like to buy the book, you can find it on Amazon at Happy Hiking: Falling in love on the Appalachian Trail, or on Emily's website, at Happy Hiking.
I used my recent hike in the UK on the South West Coast Path to help raise money for my absolute favorite charity, Parenting Matters, on whose board I've been privileged to serve for over a decade. You can learn more about the hike and the organization–and donate–by visiting Hike with Steve - Empowering Parents, One Step at a Time | Parenting Matters %. I hope you want to support this critical mission.
Don't forget. Our entire series of videos from our Woods Hole Weekend in 2022 is now FREE and available at my YouTube page at Woods Hole Weekend - Trailer. There, you'll find all sorts of tips and tricks that our guests took away from the weekend that helped them with their own hikes this year. Check it out.
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. Come on the show!
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 Hiking Radio Network.
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. |
| 0:33.3 | Hey guys, this is me again. This is episode number 448 of the Mighty Blue podcast, and I'm |
| 0:38.8 | Mighty Blue or Steve Adams. As I mentioned on our last week's show, I'm going to be out on |
| 0:43.6 | the Appalachian Trail this week, and by the time you listen to this, I'm hoping to be somewhere |
| 0:48.0 | near Blood Mountain. I plan on hammocking this week, so I'll let you know how it went when we |
| 0:52.9 | meet up again next week. |
| 0:57.0 | Today, though, we've got Sarah Zettler on the show. |
| 1:02.2 | Sarah set herself the task of try to section hike the Appalachian Trail during the summer vacation as a teacher. |
| 1:10.5 | Those of you who've heard me before on the subject will know that I have a huge amount of respect for people who hit the trail with no trail legs and bash out 500 miles |
| 1:12.4 | before having to stop, go back to their real lives and do it all over again the following year. |
| 1:17.7 | I don't think I'm built for that, so I admire people who are. Sarah learned a lot along the way, |
| 1:23.2 | faced a bit of adversity yet finished it off at Katahdin this year. We're going to be hearing from Sarah in a moment. After Sarah we catch up with the other three members of our Mighty Blue Class of 23, the ones we didn't hear from last week. That would be a sloggy, lemonade and Professor Milkchick, with the two men fairly close to finishing while lemonade is hoofing it southward with plans of her own. |
| 1:48.7 | Then, in Emily Leonard's happy hiking, I've got the second half of her smokers experience, |
| 1:52.5 | something that's always a special early part of the AT through hike, |
| 1:56.2 | where I got a great feeling of accomplishment as I emerged from the northern section near Standing Bear Hostel. Great memories for me. |
| 2:00.0 | So let's get going and meet Sarah Zettler or Cricket. |
| 2:06.0 | We've got a lady on the show today who finished up her Appalachian Trail multi-year hike a few weeks ago. |
| 2:12.2 | This is Sarah Zetler or Cricket. Hey Sarah, thanks for agreeing to come on the podcast. |
| 2:16.6 | Hi, thank you for having me. |
| 2:18.0 | I'm thrilled to be here. And when did you actually finish? I finished on August 3rd. |
| 2:24.7 | I summoned Katadden on August 3rd and got down the Abel Trail and that was the big finish. |
... |
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