Episode #96 - Kim Shaffer (Echo)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2018
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There are many reasons to want to hike the Appalachian Trail. Few have the history of the trail literally in their blood in the way that Kim Shaffer does. The family have all been hikers and Kim harboured the desire for a thru-hike years ago. The fact that her Great Uncle was the first EVER thru-hiker of the AT, added to that desire.
She started her Flip-Flop (or OBO) at Penn Mar Park to avoid the dreadful flooding around Harpers Ferry and is now in Massachusetts. Along the way, she has learned plenty about her famous relative and much about herself as well.
Kim tells me that she promises to update her blog more regularly, but you can find that here. https://kimhikesthru.com/, though she does post more often on Instagram at Kimhikesthru
A friend of the show, JASH, shared one of his stories from the trail and we had Chapter Seven of The Year We Seized The Day, by Elizabeth Best and Colin Bowles.
We hope that you take the opportunity to support our sponsor, Trailtopia, when you consider your next backpacking trip. Go to https://www.trailtopia.com/ to check out their wide variety of meals.
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, |
| 0:05.4 | 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 | Hi and welcome back to Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, sponsored by our great friends at Trialopia Adventure Food. |
| 0:42.7 | This is a slightly different show today because I don't have a... |
| 0:46.1 | If I hit it again... |
| 0:48.4 | ...segment. Instead, I've got a hiking story from a listener. |
| 0:52.2 | You may record it a few weeks ago. I asked for your stories, |
| 0:55.1 | either in your own voice or for me to read. To be honest, I was a touch underwhelmed by the amount |
| 0:59.9 | of stories I received. Yet I did get one, I'll be reading that one today. Our main guest, however, |
| 1:06.1 | is Kim Schaefer, or Echo. Kim is a delightful young woman currently on the trail doing a flip-flop or, |
| 1:12.4 | as I like to say, an oboe. Yet she has another purpose while she's out there. We're going to |
| 1:17.4 | find out what that purpose is in a minute. I've also got Chapter 7 of our book, The Year We Seize |
| 1:23.0 | the Day, by Elizabeth Best and Colin Bowles. And a few issues putting that together, and at the time of writing this commentary, the whole thing isn't edited yet. I must say, though, that my lovely niece, Laura, worked really hard to help me catch up with this, and I think we're back on track now. We even have a quick word of warning from Dr. Lynn and an email that she sent me about ticks, those nasty little devils. But before all of that, what about a few words from these guys? |
| 1:47.5 | Do you remember those times on the trail when you really needed to treat yourself? |
| 1:51.8 | You know, those days when you fall in the mud or the rain starts running down your neck, |
| 1:56.5 | the rocks are driving you crazy, or even when you're just fed up. |
| 2:00.8 | You need a boost. When that happens, |
| 2:03.0 | stop hiking. Take off your pack and treat yourself to one of Trautopia's scrumptious desserts. |
| 2:09.5 | Why not go for Rocky Road pudding, a rich chocolate pudding loaded with mini marshmallows and toasted |
| 2:14.9 | slivered almonds. By the time you get that into your system, |
| 2:18.1 | you're going to be warm, |
| 2:19.4 | toasty and satisfied. |
... |
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