Episode #518 - Emily Manzon (Tic Tac)

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

Steve Adams

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Emily Manzon, or Tic Tac, is our guest this week. Emily was looking for an epic way to celebrate her 40th birthday this year, so the Appalachian Trail certainly checked that box.

Along the way, Emily gained a respect for the trail and the impact it had upon her, using mantras to reflect her attitude along the way.

Missing 200 miles partway through, she could have been content as a 2,000-miler, yet returned to the trail for a more solitary experience as she filled in those miles, heading south.

Also this week, I welcomed Dan Durston from Durston Gear to help me with my tent choice for next year's hike. Dan answered all my questions, and I settled on this little beauty below. I'm so looking forward to using the X-Dome 2 next March.

In my accountability blog, I share a bit of bad news on the physical prep front, while explaining why I chose the X-Dome 2 as my tent for 2026.

I used my hike last year on the South West Coast Path in the UK 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.

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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.
0:33.4	Hey guys, welcome back to the show. This is episode number 518 in the podcast, and've got other really good show for you today. First up we're going to meet Emily Manzone or Tick-Tac, who was looking for something epic to celebrate turning 40. She decided that the Appalachian Trail would fit the bill. So at the end of March, she set out from Springer. The health issue forced her off trail along the way, but she returned a few weeks later, some 200 miles further up the trail and continued all the way to Catalan. That made her a 2,000-mile, but she returned to the trail after a week back home and had a more solitary experience heading south to finish at, of all places, the wonderful Woods Hole Hostel. Emily wheel along in a moment to tell you more about it.
1:11.7	After Emily, I was privileged to have Dan Durston at the other end of the microphone
1:14.8	as he helped me make up my mind on the Durston tents I've been looking at.
1:18.7	Dan was very patient, telling me all I needed to know about his tents,
1:22.9	and he gave me the information I've been hoping for as he led me towards my choice.
1:26.9	In my accountability blog after we hear from Dan, I'll tell you the choice I've made and have now ordered. I could not be more pleased. Thanks to all of you have continued to reach out with encouragement over my upcoming hike. It seems you like the accountability blog, which is handy because I'm enjoying doing it and learning myself plenty of stuff I didn't know. All that is to come, though, and we'll start out by meeting Emily Manzone or Tick-Tac.
1:48.9	Here she is.
1:53.1	We have Emily Manzone on the show today, or Tick-Tac.
1:57.7	Hey, Emily, thanks for coming on the podcast.
1:59.5	Oh, thank you for having me.
2:01.1	Now, the reason you can probably hear the smile on our voices. I've tried the
2:04.7	introduction about five times. I've got her last name wrong a couple of times. I've got
2:09.1	the trail name wrong, but I think we've got it right now. So let's start with,
2:13.8	why are you tick-tac? The short story is that I am adamant about checking for ticks, and I do it every night,
2:22.9	and sometimes I enlist the help of friends.
2:25.8	Oh, that sounds very fun.
2:29.4	You know, an ounce of prevention.
2:31.7	There you go.
2:32.2	Did you find any?
2:33.6	No, actually, I never had any attached on me on the trail. What did you go. Did you find any? No.
	...

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