Episode #535 - Days 10-13 Appalachian Trail 2026
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nearly two weeks in and I feel I'm hiking stronger than ever. These past four days were testing but I think I came through most of the tests.
the feeling of community out here, in these early stages, has been something I was hoping for, yet those hopes have been exceeded every day.
Along the way, I've met and spoken with loads of fellow hikers, hostel owners, day hikers and so on. Each encounter has provided me with something new to think of and memories to cherish.
This week, I was lucky enough to catch a few words with Husband and wife duo, Stan and Jolene, or Stanimal and Dolly, as well as Mike, or Hang 'em.
I'm using Polarsteps to record my AT thru-hike this year. If you'd like to follow my progress between episodes, as well as photos of my journey, please go to https://www.polarsteps.com/mightyblue and click on the follow button.
I used my hike in 2024 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, |
| 0:06.6 | about hikers, for everybody. Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, |
| 0:24.8 | joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:35.3 | Hey, welcome back to the Mighty Blue podcast. I already feel as if I've been here quite a while. |
| 0:43.1 | There's something about the quiet, somewhat repetitive nature of being in camp that soothes my soul and really makes me slow down. |
| 0:51.8 | And to be fair, I'm not the fastest person, the best of times. |
| 0:55.3 | But there's something about being in camp and with my tent set up already, with my chair, |
| 1:01.7 | still the most important item in my pack, in decent weather as well. That really helps. |
| 1:08.5 | But it's just a wonderful time to be, |
| 1:13.0 | just a wonderful time to be, |
| 1:14.3 | to be out on trail right now. |
| 1:16.5 | When I left you last time, |
| 1:17.6 | I was heading for three days in the woods |
| 1:19.5 | to reach Rock Gap from Dix Creek Gap, |
| 1:23.3 | and I was going to then get a ride into Franklin, |
| 1:26.8 | where I planned for Sunday a rest day, |
| 1:30.3 | a zero day. I felt at the time, you know, just before I went out there, that it was probably |
| 1:36.6 | quite a pivotal few days because rain was expected on most of those days. We hadn't had any |
| 1:42.7 | exposure to rain at all. And that does tend to lull you |
| 1:46.0 | into a full sense of security. Now, you think this is going to be the way it is forever, but we knew |
| 1:52.0 | rain was going to be there. And in these three or four days, absolutely it was going to be there. |
| 1:57.4 | I mean, I knew I could cope with rain, because I've done it before, obviously, but the weather |
... |
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