Episode #453 - Paula Martin (Windeagle)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 3 October 2024
⏱️ 102 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We have a very different show this week, with Paula Martin, or Windeagle, sharing her dramatic survival from a bad accident that may well have killed her.
Several years later, Paula had recovered and decided that an Appalachian Trail thru-hike was something she could achieve. She ultimately summited Katahdin two years later, but her story is one of grit and resilience.
She also shares a story about how a bear got a little bit close and personal with her tent. See the picture below.
After Paula, our show is all about Hurricane Helene, and the devastation it wrought on our beloved trail community.
We have representatives from the Appalachian Trail Community (ATC), the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association (ALDHA), as well as reflections from Lady Di in Damascus, and my friend Jester, whose podcast recently gave us ways to help.
I urge you all to check out these ways of providing support, while comstantly checking the ATC and ALDHA websites on volunteers opportunities that will eventually arise.
The links are
Mountain Harbour B&B & Hiker Hostel
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA 2022 DISASTER RELIEF | United Way of Southwest Virginia
https://www.operation-airdrop.com/hurricane-helene
Items are shipped from Amazon to:
Compleat KiDZ - Disaster Relief
54 Myrtle St
Belmont, NC 28012
Then sent on trucks to Asheville, NC and Boone, NC
https://www.amazon.com/regist.../gl/guest-view/363FY6B9CC7ZC
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
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we taught the walk with shows by hikers |
| 0:05.3 | about hikers for everybody. Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joined Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:33.5 | Hey guys, thanks for joining me again on the podcast. |
| 0:36.2 | And unless you've been living under a rock |
| 0:38.2 | for the past week, you'll understand why this is going to be a very different show from normal. |
| 0:42.9 | With the events of Hurricane Helene and the suffering of many in our family of trail towns this |
| 0:47.3 | past week, I've decided to rearrange the show to accommodate necessary information and |
| 0:52.1 | intelligence around the trail. I will start off with my main guest because we are a show about hiking, |
| 0:57.1 | but after that we'll be entirely concentrating on Helene, |
| 1:00.7 | with some excellent guests to give you some great information. |
| 1:04.5 | First up, we'll be hearing a remarkable story of recovery and resilience from Paula Martin, |
| 1:09.1 | who survived a shocking accident that could easily |
| 1:11.3 | have killed her, then decided that an AT through hike made a lot of sense, so she went for it. |
| 1:16.5 | How she fared, you're going to find out soon. From then on, it's all going to be about Helene. |
| 1:21.3 | First I'll be speaking with Franklin Tate, Associate Regional Director South for the Appleschon Trail |
| 1:26.1 | Conservancy, whose remit is the area |
| 1:28.5 | affected. Then, after the ATC, I spoke with my friend Christopher Marshburn, who is Director at |
| 1:34.5 | Large for Alder, the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association. As many of you know, ADC's remit is the |
| 1:41.0 | trail itself, while Alder is the vehicle for hikers. After these two, I catch up |
| 1:46.4 | just a couple of weeks after we spoke about her selling her B&B in Damascus with Lady Die, |
| 1:51.3 | and how Damascus is faring in the aftermath of Helene. Finally, my fellow podcaster and dear friend |
| 1:57.3 | Julie Jester Gayhart has been doing some work on this within her own podcast and I wanted her to give you another perspective and an opportunity to help should you want to. So let's get started and meet Paula Martin or Wind Eagle. Our guest today is Paula Martin who wrote to me recently and shared some of a story with me. |
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