You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we talk the walk with shows by hikers,

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.

Hi everybody, thanks for coming back to the podcast.

I'm into my third week on the Appalachian Trail now

and I think I've become, I don't know, more and more accustomed

to what it's like to be out here for an extended period of time.

Each day I seem to gain an extra confidence and my legs feel stronger.

I'm going out mountains with more ease.

Now, I wouldn't say it was easy and I certainly stop along the way all the time.

But now that I've adapted this way of getting to the top mountains, I don't worry about them anymore.

You know, I know this trail goes down, I know it goes level, and I know it goes up down I know it goes level and now it goes up and when it goes up in front of me

I just work work towards making it work and it and it seems to be working so far

this is going to be a shorter show than Norn as there are only three days to to report upon, and one of which was a zero day. Nevertheless, I've had adventures, probably more adventures at this stage, in fact, than I did in my previous through hikes. I thought about why that might be, and in some ways it could be the podcast. Quite a few people seem to know who I am at least, and those I've met seem to have heard of me from others. And I'm not saying that, I promise you, in a beragodosha sort of way, more than I'm embracing my role as a podcaster and finding that community that I've been looking for. And people, when I, you know, ask them to be on the podcast, are only too willing to share their story. So I'm grateful for that. But we're going to get the show started by going back a few days, in fact to Sunday and hear about day number 14. But before we do, let's hear from our sponsor Polar Steps. If you're heading out on a long hike this year, which I am, I've got something I think you're going to love. It's called Polar Steps. It's a travel tracking app that's going to become a favourite with hikers. You set your start date, let it run quietly in the background, and it maps your entire journey automatically, all on your own beautiful spinning 3D globe. And don't worry, the tracking feature uses about 4% of your battery on a single charge, so it's not going to kill your phone when you're out there. You can add photos and short journal entries as you go, so your map shows you where you were, and your words remind you of what that day actually felt like. There's a light social layer too. Family and friends can follow along, or you can keep it completely private. as every hiker says, hike your own hike.

And when you're done, you can relive the whole thing in the app, or turn it into a stunning coffee table book with your root, stats, photos and stories. And did I tell you that it's

entirely free to download and use? The only time you'd be paying anything is if you decide

to turn your trip into a book. That's polar steps.

Track it now, treasure it forever.

Day 14. Zero day at Chica and Sunsets. This was my first zero day I'd had and the weather

was going to be lousy.

It seemed like a good time to take a zero, so I did just that.

Cheekka and Sunsets invited me to stay in their place, so I took them up on it.

...