Small Beauty on the Appalachian Trail
Out There
Willow Belden
4.6 • 608 Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2017
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What's it like doing something that People Like You almost never do?
This week, we introduce you to another outdoor podcast we think you'll love: She Explores. We chat with the host, Gale Straub, and share her thought-provoking interview with Rahawa Haile, a black woman who thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2016.
Rahawa is an Eritrean-American writer, and author of the essay “How Black Books Lit My Way Along the Appalachian Trail,” which was published on Buzzfeed.
As one of the few black women to thru hike in 2016, Rahawa talks about how her experience is different than the “typical” hiker. She explains that despite popular belief and best intentions, the Appalachian Trail isn’t a great equalizer.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Willow Belden and you're listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories in the outdoors. |
| 0:14.5 | Support for this episode comes from Kind, makers of healthy and delicious snacks. |
| 0:19.6 | If you'd like to try them out, they're offering a special deal for out there listeners. |
| 0:23.6 | You can get a sample box with 10 different kind bars for just $10, and that includes free shipping. |
| 0:29.6 | To take advantage of it, just go to kind snacks.com slash out. |
| 0:43.2 | So today we're going to switch things up a little bit. I want to introduce you to another podcast that I think you'll really like. It's called She Explores, and we're going to play you |
| 0:48.9 | one of their stories today. It's a piece about a black woman who sets out to hike the Appalachian |
| 0:54.0 | Trail, and it looks at what it's like trying to do something that people like you almost never do. |
| 1:01.6 | But before we get to that story, I wanted to give you a little background on She Explores. |
| 1:06.7 | It's a show about the outdoors and women, but it's really just about life. |
| 1:11.8 | That's Gail Straub. She's the host of she explores. |
| 1:15.4 | The show is about, like, women and how they're inspired by spending time outside and their relationship with the outdoors and what you create after spending time outside and that headspace that develops. |
| 1:27.4 | But it's really about women at a certain point in their lives. after spending time outside and that headspace that develops. |
| 1:32.4 | But it's really about women at a certain point in their lives and the way they're living their lives. |
| 1:33.4 | And it's really all about the people. |
| 1:37.6 | So how did She Explores come about? |
| 1:40.8 | So I started She Explores three years ago right when I was about to leave on a year long road trip with my boyfriend. |
| 1:49.0 | And I had been working at a venture capital firm and the finance department. |
| 1:54.0 | And I was planning this trip for a year with my boyfriend. |
| 1:58.0 | And I felt like I was going to have all this time finally. Like even when I was |
| 2:04.5 | working at the venture capital firm, I would use my free time to go outside and take photos. Like I would |
| 2:12.3 | go on night walks. Even though I was living in the city, it was like my way to get fresh air and to |
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