Episode #74 - Jack Jones (Quadzilla)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 15 February 2018
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jack Jones flip-flopped the Appalachian Trail in 2016, sharing part of his time with two previous guests, Kelly Anderson and Edwin Thullen. He found the physicality of the trail to be relatively easy and, with his military training, he carried a very heavy pack. Here he is in Virginia, with the spectacular view from Dragon's Tooth behind him.
His journey to the trail came via adoption from China at age eight, and Jack speaks of the dislocation that caused him, yet the trail brought home to him the camaraderie with his fellow travelers. The picture below shows Jack with Kelly and their friend, Simba, on the way up Katahdin.
He learned a great deal about diet on the AT and is hoping to use that knowledge in his Arizona Trail and Continental Divide Trail hikes this year (2018).
You can see a short video of Jack's journey on YouTube and read his AT blog at his new site, CouchToTrail.com. If you sign up for his newsletter, you'll get over 100 high quality, full resolution photos of the Appalachian Trail. The photo of Jack at the bottom of these notes is of him at Mt Washington.
Update 2/19: Jack sent me a couple of other links: Instagram and Reddit. Just click on either.
Doctor Lynne returns to the show as Hiker Lynne, with a local Connecticut hike, the Charles Ives Trail her focus. She has shared a great link to a brochure and map for the trail. Just click here. Here she is with her family on the trail.
Bruce's blog is now regularly updated. You can find it at rtkchallenge.com, where you will also be able to hear our podcast and contribute to his fundraising for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. While you're online, we'd also be delighted if you'd check out Trailtopia.com and consider the wonderful food choices that they have for your next hike.
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 for hikers. |
| 0:11.0 | Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joined Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:29.8 | Hi again and welcome back to Marty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, sponsored by our friends at Trautopia. |
| 0:37.0 | We're up to episode number 74 and this week's guest is a very thoughtful guy, Jack Jones or |
| 0:42.8 | Quodzilla. |
| 0:44.2 | You may recall that name. |
| 0:45.6 | It was a hiking partner of Kelly Anderson, Sleeping Beauty, and Edmund Thillan or Bear. |
| 0:51.7 | He's got a bunch of interesting points to make about the benefits or otherwise of a |
| 0:55.6 | trail diet. He also carried a ridiculously heavy pack, but being ex-military, the physicality of that |
| 1:01.4 | didn't really bother him too much. He's got quite a few plans for this year too. Quadsilla, |
| 1:06.5 | or Quads, will be along in a moment. I've also got Dr. Lin on this week, but not as Dr. Lynn. |
| 1:12.6 | This time she's hiker Lynn and is telling us about a short trail of about 25 miles near |
| 1:17.5 | a home in Connecticut, the Charles Ives Trail. |
| 1:20.9 | But before we get to that, it's dinner time. |
| 1:24.5 | Do you remember those cold, wet evenings on the trail? When you pitched up at a shelter |
| 1:29.3 | and there was nothing you would have rather had than a beautiful, hot, home-cooked meal? Well, |
| 1:35.0 | apart from actually going home, you could try out one of the delicious meals from Trail Topia. |
| 1:40.4 | Why not dig into their spectacular jambalaya with its authentic Creole flavor? |
| 1:45.2 | Or how about their beef stew, which is loaded with beef, potatoes, carers, mushrooms, corn, green beans and green bell pepper in a fantastic beef gravy? |
| 1:54.4 | Go on, try them. Trust me, you're going to love them. |
| 1:57.9 | Trialopia, the best of home cooking away from home. |
| 2:01.3 | Just before we meet Quadzilla, I wanted to tell you something about my plans for this podcast |
... |
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