Hiker Trash Radio

About the Guest

Dr. Caroline Himbert, trail name Earthcake, is a German expat and cancer researcher on the faculty at the University of Utah's cancer center in Salt Lake City, following a postdoc at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research focuses on cancer survivorship, mainly colorectal and prostate cancer, and how exercise can improve survival and quality of life. She moved to the United States in October 2015 and thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail in 2016, followed by the Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. She then moved into ultrarunning, finishing her first 100-miler, the Wasatch 100, in 29 hours and 45 minutes for a top-ten finish and a sub-30 buckle. On the John Muir Trail, she set the unsupported women's FKT in August 2025 in 4 days, 4 hours, and 58 minutes, edging a record that had stood since 2016 by eight minutes. In July 2026 she came back and lowered it to 3 days, 16 hours, and 36 minutes, running northbound from Whitney Portal to Yosemite Valley. She is coached by Joe "Stringbean" McConaughy, and she got her trail name from mispronouncing "earthquake" on the PCT. She is on Instagram at @im_earthcake.

What Happens in This Episode

Twelve Miles From the Finish

A Planner Who Trusts Her Legs

How "Earthcake" Happened

From Thru-Hiker to Wasatch 100

Rachel and Kevin

Taking It Back at Donahue Pass

A Bear, a Burrito, and a Grudge

Doing It Alone, and What Comes Next

Links & Resources

• Earthcake on Instagram (@im_earthcake)
• Caroline Himbert's 2026 JMT FKT page (3 days, 16 hours, 36 minutes)
• GearJunkie: "John Muir Trail FKT: Ultrarunner Fights Hallucinations to Beat Record by 8 Minutes" (2025)
• GearJunkie: "Shattered Record: The Queen of the John Muir Trail Does It Again" (2026)
• Moab 240 Endurance Run (Destination Trail)
• iRunFar: Joe "Stringbean" McConaughy sets the men's supported JMT FKT
• The Third Man Factor by John Geiger — the book on survival-mode hallucinations Caroline recommends.

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: hikertrashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

The full interview with Earthcake follows in two parts on the Hiker Trash Radio feed. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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The Cottage — Episode 5: "Work Hard. Stay Curious."

The series finale of The Cottage asks the question behind all the others: why do these people do what they do? Allgood on waiting for his life to require a walk of that magnitude. GVP on creating margin and slipping into soft focus. Bus on never giving up the walks that changed his life. And the realization that ties the whole series together: the cottage industry exists because people who carry less learned to do more, and they found the answers they needed on trail.

Featured Voices

Whitney LaRuffa (Allgood) — Gossamer Gear. AT '96, CDT '16.

Glenn Van Peski (G Squared) — Founder, Gossamer Gear. Author, "Take Less, Do More."

Dan Durston (Lorax) — Founder, Durston Gear.

Luke Piersall (Bus) — Founder, Trail Goods Company.

The Full Series Cast

Glenn Van Peski (Gossamer Gear) | Whitney LaRuffa (Gossamer Gear/FarOut/Six Moon Designs) | Lloyd Vogel (Garage Grown Gear) | Dan Durston (Durston Gear) | Cameron Abila (Leave Outdoor Co) | Brice Sokolowski (Vaucluse) | Sarah Berkeley (Symbiosis Gear) | Luke Piersall (Trail Goods Company) | Tom Liggett (Alpenglow Gear) | Elliot Dick (Different Dimension Designs)

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

Email: hikertashradio@gmail.com

Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | TikTok

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About the Guest

Bianca "Bee" Corrado is a high school Spanish teacher, outdoor educator, and content creator from San Diego, California (currently relocating to New York). Under the handle @beeswildlife, she has built a community of over 100,000 followers by teaching beginners how to get into the backcountry safely and confidently: camp kitchen guides, gear reviews, Leave No Trace education, and trail safety for solo women. She documented her PCT thru-hike in real time across Instagram, YouTube, and Substack. Her first backpacking trip was with the Sierra Club at Stony Brook University in 2016; her first thru-hike was the John Muir Trail in 2019 with her younger brother. She was sleeping on her balcony on a sleeping pad when this interview was recorded because her bed felt too soft after 140-plus days on trail. Her almost-trail-name was Crack Sniffer. She accepted Bee instead.

What's Covered in Part 2

Family Reaction — They Knew She Was Stubborn

Imposter Syndrome — Across Every Area

The JMT Conclusion and Its Contradiction

Why Beginners — Because She Was One

Teaching and Creating — Both Stem From Creativity

What Bee Wants Solo Women to Know About Safety

Dirty Pot Water — The LNT Case

Follower Growth — PCT as the Catalyst

What's Next — Camino, Spanish, and the Classroom

Hiking Hacks — Three for the Price of One

Off the Beaten Path — Further by Heather Anderson

Pay It Forward — NPCA

Crack Sniffer — Why She Declined

Links & Resources

• Bee on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Substack: https://www.instagram.com/beeswildlife
• Topo Athletic UltraVenture — Bee's trail shoe of choice for the PCT. Five pairs. Zero Achilles problems.
• Six Moon Designs Trekker — The trekking-pole tent Bee switched to on day 5 of the PCT and used for the remainder of the hike.
• Further by Heather Anderson — Bee's Off the Beaten Path recommendation. Heather's Triple Crown FKT story. Highly recommended.
• National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA): https://www.npca.org

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guest

Bianca "Bee" Corrado is a high school Spanish teacher, outdoor educator, and content creator from San Diego, California (currently relocating to New York). Under the handle @beeswildlife, she has built a community of over 100,000 followers by teaching beginners how to get into the backcountry safely and confidently — camp kitchen guides, gear reviews, Leave No Trace education, and trail safety for solo women. She documented her PCT thru-hike in real time across Instagram, YouTube, and Substack. Her first backpacking trip was with the Sierra Club at Stony Brook University in 2016; her first thru-hike was the John Muir Trail in 2019 with her younger brother. She was sleeping on her balcony on a sleeping pad when this interview was recorded because her bed felt too soft after 140-plus days on trail. Her almost-trail-name was Crack Sniffer. She accepted Bee instead.

What's Covered in Part 1

Trail Name — Bee

Trailblazer's Toolkit — Topo Athletic UltraVenture

The Hiking Poll — Score: 41

Culture Surprise — The Skipping

Creating From the Trail

The Sierra — Connecting Familiar Places

The One Crying Moment

The Hardest Stretch — Oregon Border Expectations

The Midway Marker

Origin Story — Sierra Club, Stony Brook, and a 65-Degree Bag

Links & Resources

• Bee on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Substack: https://www.instagram.com/beeswildlife
• Topo Athletic UltraVenture — Bee's trail shoe of choice for the PCT. Five pairs. Zero Achilles problems.
• Six Moon Designs Trekker — The trekking-pole tent Bee switched to on day 5 of the PCT and used for the remainder of the hike.
• Further by Heather Anderson — Bee's Off the Beaten Path recommendation. Heather's Triple Crown FKT story. Highly recommended.
• National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA): https://www.npca.org

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Part 2 drops in 10 minutes. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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Zach Lawyer grew up battling his inner demons. His brother was born with spina bifida, and Zach grew up carrying the guilt of a healthy body in a house where one wasn’t guaranteed. He started looking for an outlet early. Skateboarding found him before the drugs did. But it was hard to battle the self-sabotage.

He stole an iPod at 13. A neighbor traded him a quarter pound of weed for it. That was the launch of a dealing career that lasted over a decade, eventually eating the dealer. By his mid-twenties, Zach was using an eighth of cocaine before two in the afternoon, tapering with Xanax, finishing with fentanyl knockoffs. He couldn’t hold a job, couldn’t hold a relationship, could barely look at himself in the mirror. He had become the customer he used to sell to.

The arrest came four days after a confrontation he describes carefully, in his own language: he took something that wasn’t his, had a confrontation with some people, and woke up under a pool floaty in his parents’ backyard to six squad cars and dogs barking in the cul-de-sac. Jail was a race war playing out in real time. He was a long-haired fish in a bucket of water. Before he got to housing, he was face-down on a dirty cell floor - hands cuffed, wrists bleeding, choking on bile - and every rock bottom he’d ever hit flashed through him at once. He made one promise to himself: never again. Never again will I act out of impulse.

He came out and found yoga. Not looking for it. A girlfriend dragged him to a class at Temecula Yoga Collective. He walked in with a lot of darkness around him, a dry wick of a candle, and saw nothing but lit candles. He came out of that first class feeling high as a kite. Turns out that’s your prana. Your life force. A teacher named Danny White showed him what it could look like to live inside a practice rather than outside it.

When COVID killed his plans to teach, he took the practice to the Pacific Crest Trail. Then the Hayduke. Then the Oregon Desert Trail — 800 miles of no markers, no trail, drought year seven. Fifty-two miles without water. A mountain lion in a creek bed at night, headlamp dead, pink taser that barely lit up. Baby rattlesnakes no bigger than his index finger materializing from the camouflage of the desert floor. He stood through all of it. Nothing of the old him was there.

The old him would have panicked.

Zach is writing a book: two years of drafts, one computer crash, months of writer’s block. He wants one person to take something from it. That’s been the goal this entire ride.

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About the Guest

Bianca "Bee" Corrado is a high school Spanish teacher, outdoor educator, and content creator from San Diego, California (currently relocating to New York). Under the handle @beeswildlife, she has built a community of over 100,000 followers by teaching beginners how to get into the backcountry safely and confidently: camp kitchen guides, gear reviews, Leave No Trace education, and trail safety for solo women. She documented her PCT thru-hike in real time across Instagram, YouTube, and Substack. Her first backpacking trip was with the Sierra Club at Stony Brook University in 2016; her first thru-hike was the John Muir Trail in 2019 with her younger brother. She took to sleeping on her balcony on a sleeping pad because her bed felt too soft after 140-plus days on trail. Her almost-trail-name was Crack Sniffer. She accepted Bee instead.

Episode Highlights

Trail Name — Bee (Not Crack Sniffer)

The Imposter Who Finished

Creating on Trail — The Double Zero System

The One Crying Moment

The NorCal Blues — and What Oregon Actually Looks Like

What the Trail Taught Her

Crack Sniffer — The Jeffrey Pine Story

Links & Resources

• Bee on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Substack: https://www.instagram.com/beeswildlife
• Topo Athletic UltraVenture — Bee's trail shoe of choice for the PCT. Five pairs. Zero Achilles problems.
• Six Moon Designs Trekker — The trekking-pole tent Bee switched to on day 5 of the PCT and used for the remainder of the hike.
• Further by Heather Anderson — Bee's Off the Beaten Path recommendation. Heather's Triple Crown FKT story. Highly recommended.
• National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA): https://www.npca.org

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

The full interview with Bee drops Wednesday in two parts. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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The Cottage — Episode 4: "From Basement to Warehouse"

The makers from Episodes 1 through 3 don't exist in isolation: they're part of an ecosystem held together by a retailer in St. Paul, a connector who knows everyone, and the community events where cottage brands meet the hikers they serve. In this fourth episode of The Cottage, we zoom out to see how the pieces fit together. Lloyd Vogel and his warehouse full of 160 brands. Allgood's decades of relationships across the industry. Double D as the consumer who's becoming the next maker. And a philosophy — "there is no ideal base weight" — that ties the whole movement together.

Featured Voices

Lloyd Vogel — CEO and Co-Founder, Garage Grown Gear. St. Paul, MN.

Whitney LaRuffa (Allgood) — Currently with Gossamer Gear. Former Chief Revenue Officer, FarOut. Former VP, Six Moon Designs. Former President, ALDHA-West.

Elliot Dick (Double D) — AT 2023 thru-hiker. Founder, Different Dimension Designs. Somerset, KY.

Links & Resources

Garage Grown Gear — garagegrowngear.com

FarOut — faroutguides.com

Different Dimension Designs — @differentdimensiondesigns on Instagram

Hilltop Packs — hilltoppacks.com

Light Phone — thelightphone.com

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

Email: hikertashradio@gmail.com

Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | TikTok

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About the Guest

Joe Hardin is a self-taught mechanical design engineer, ultra-endurance runner, race director, woodworker, and podcaster from Lebanon, Indiana. Seven years sober, he discovered running after getting a gym membership for his first sobriety birthday and found a flyer for a local turkey trot on the door. A Billy Yang video introduced him to trail running, and a friend's suggestion — "maybe you're just not cut out for 100 milers, maybe you should sign up for something longer" — led him to the Vol State 500K. He recently completed that race: 314 miles across Tennessee in July, self-supported, with no crew and no aid stations. He is the founder of Odd Duck Running, which hosts inclusive community races in Boone County, Indiana, and RTB Awards, which makes handcrafted wooden finisher and podium awards for trail races across the country. His podcast is Beyond the Finish Line on the Everyday Athlete Podcast Network. His Instagram handle is @TrailTortoise.

What's Covered in Part 2

Growing Up and Getting Sober

The Recovery and the Turkey Trot

From Turkey Trot to Vol State — Very Quickly

What the Vol State Taught Him About His Limit

Run Commuting — 27 Miles a Week Just Getting To and From Work

What Tennessee Taught Him About People

Odd Duck Running — A Starting Line for Everyone

RTB Awards — Handcrafted Race Awards

Hiking Hack — Bring a Toothbrush

Off the Beaten Path — Ultramarathon Man and Dirty Jar

Pay It Forward — Race to the Finish

To Anyone Listening

Joe's direct message from the transcript: 'I know there's somebody out there that might be going through something like this, and they feel like they're lost and they're alone. You are not, I promise you. I felt the same way, and it is never too late to rewrite your story.' If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, SAMHSA's National Helpline is free, confidential, and available 24/7: 1-800-662-4357.

Links & Resources

• Odd Duck Running — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddduckrunning
• RTB Awards — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rtbawards
• Beyond the Finish Line — Everyday Athlete Podcast Network: https://www.runtrivmag.com
• Vol State 500K — Sign up at UltraSignup. Registration fills quickly.
• Ultramarathon Man — Dean Karnazes. Joe's Off the Beaten Path recommendation.
• Dirty Jar — YouTube. Trail running channel Joe discovered through HTR. Highly recommended.
• Race to the Finish — Joey Metzger's foundation for immigrant visibility in trail running: https://www.racetothefinish.org
• Shake the Frost — Tyler Childers. Joe's go-to song when everything is falling apart.

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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About the Guest

Joe Hardin is a self-taught mechanical design engineer, ultra-endurance runner, race director, woodworker, and podcaster from Lebanon, Indiana. Seven years sober, he discovered running after getting a gym membership for his first sobriety birthday and found a flyer for a local turkey trot on the door. A Billy Yang video introduced him to trail running, and a friend's suggestion — "maybe you're just not cut out for 100 milers, maybe you should sign up for something longer" — led him to the Vol State 500K. He recently completed that race: 314 miles across Tennessee in July, self-supported, with no crew and no aid stations. He is the founder of Odd Duck Running, which hosts inclusive community races in Boone County, Indiana, and RTB Awards, which makes handcrafted wooden finisher and podium awards for trail races across the country. His podcast is Beyond the Finish Line on the Everyday Athlete Podcast Network. His Instagram handle is @TrailTortoise.

What's Covered in Part 1

Trail Name — Trail Tortoise (Self-Appointed)

Trailblazer's Toolkit — Zip Run Commute Pack

The Hiking Poll — Score: 47 (Later Adjusted to 53)

The Vol State — Race Mechanics

Going Nocturnal

The Bench of Despair

The Rock — Cheese Grater Road and Three One More Mile Signs

How Joe Got Here — Maybe Not Cut Out for 100 Milers

Links & Resources

• Odd Duck Running — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddduckrunning
• RTB Awards — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rtbawards
• Beyond the Finish Line — Everyday Athlete Podcast Network: https://www.runtrivmag.com
• Vol State 500K — Sign up at UltraSignup. Registration fills quickly.
• Ultramarathon Man — Dean Karnazes. Joe's Off the Beaten Path recommendation.
• Dirty Jar — YouTube. Trail running channel Joe discovered through HTR. Highly recommended.
• Race to the Finish — Joey Metzger's foundation for immigrant visibility in trail running: https://www.racetothefinish.org
• Shake the Frost — Tyler Childers. Joe's go-to song when everything is falling apart.

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Part 2 drops in 10 minutes. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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About the Guest

Donovan "Iceman" Rice is a Colorado hiker and route maker who designed the Great Colorado Route, a roughly 2,000-mile loop that links all 11 of Colorado's national forests, 29 wilderness areas, 13 fourteeners, 47 thirteeners, and three national parks. He began at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on May 13 and finished 140 days later as the first person to thru-hike the route, posting a video about it every single day. He previously appeared on Hiker Trash Radio in April, days before his start, and Doc booked this follow-up on the spot at the end of that conversation. He is on Instagram at The Iceman Hiketh.

Episode Highlights

How Wildly Off Was He?

The Audit: Promise Kept or Promise Broken?

Marmots, Mount Garfield, and the Daily Vlog

Five Stories From the Loop

The Red Pen

A Letter to the Next Hiker

Two Close Calls and the Weight of the Route

Links & Resources

• Great Colorado Route — route information, Leave No Trace and permit resources, and photos.
• Instagram and Facebook: search Great Colorado Route for the route, and The Iceman Hiketh on Instagram for everything else.
• CalTopo — the mapping tool Iceman switched to after his tracker smoothed his elevation and track.

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: hikertrashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guest

Joe Hardin is a self-taught mechanical design engineer, ultra-endurance runner, race director, woodworker, and podcaster from Lebanon, Indiana. Seven years sober, he discovered running after getting a gym membership for his first sobriety birthday and found a flyer for a local turkey trot on the door. A Billy Yang video introduced him to trail running, and a friend's suggestion — "maybe you're just not cut out for 100 milers, maybe you should sign up for something longer" — led him to the Vol State 500K. He recently completed that race: 314 miles across Tennessee in July, self-supported, with no crew and no aid stations. He is the founder of Odd Duck Running, which hosts inclusive community races in Boone County, Indiana, and RTB Awards, which makes handcrafted wooden finisher and podium awards for trail races across the country. His podcast is Beyond the Finish Line on the Everyday Athlete Podcast Network. His Instagram handle is @TrailTortoise.

Episode Highlights

The Vol State 500K — What It Is

Going Nocturnal — Church Porches and VFW Walls

The Bench of Despair

The One More Mile Signs

The Rock — You Just Ran Across All That

The Origin Story — From Oxygen Tank to Vol State

It Is Never Too Late to Rewrite Your Story

Links & Resources

• Odd Duck Running — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddduckrunning
• RTB Awards — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rtbawards
• Beyond the Finish Line — Everyday Athlete Podcast Network: https://www.runtrivmag.com
• Vol State 500K — Sign up at UltraSignup. Registration fills quickly.
• Ultramarathon Man — Dean Karnazes. Joe's Off the Beaten Path recommendation.
• Dirty Jar — YouTube. Trail running channel Joe discovered through HTR. Highly recommended.
• Race to the Finish — Joey Metzger's foundation for immigrant visibility in trail running: https://www.racetothefinish.org
• Shake the Frost — Tyler Childers. Joe's go-to song when everything is falling apart.

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

The full interview with Joe drops Wednesday in two parts. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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The Cottage — Episode 3: "The Whiteboard and the Sewing Machine"

Behind every piece of cottage gear is a design process that looks nothing like what happens at a major outdoor brand. In this third episode of The Cottage, we go inside the process: Dan Durston thinking about tent geometry for hours on the PCT, Chef and his grandmother launching a fleece company from his living room, Gadget naming products after alpenglow puns while hiking solo, Mellow mailing pack prototypes back and forth to Vietnam, and Brice filling a whiteboard with ventilation frame sketches inspired by bridge engineering. None of them had formal design training. All of them had thousands of miles of discomfort to work from.

Featured Voices

Dan Durston (Lorax) — Founder, Durston Gear. Designer of the X-Mid tent.

Cameron Abila (Chef) — Founder, Leave Outdoor Co. Placerville, CA.

Tom Liggett (Gadget) — Founder, Alpenglow Gear.

Sarah Berkeley (Mellow) — Owner and Founder, Symbiosis Gear. Leadville, CO.

Brice Sokolowski — President, Vaucluse Backpack Ventilation Gear.

Links & Resources

Durston Gear — durstongear.com

Leave Outdoor Co — leveoutdoorco.com

Alpin Glow Gear — alpenglowgear.com

Symbiosis Gear — symbiosisgear.com

Voclu's Backpack Ventilation Gear — vauclusegear.com

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

Email: hikertashradio@gmail.com

Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | TikTok

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About the Guest

Cam "Swami" Honan is an Australian long-distance hiker, writer, and founder of The Hiking Life (thehikinglife.com). Backpacker Magazine has called him the most traveled hiker on earth — 75,000+ miles across 68 countries. He completed the legendary 12 Long Walks: 12 consecutive thru-hikes, 14,000+ miles, 29 states, 4 Canadian provinces, 18 months, 2011–2012. Along the way he completed one of the fastest Triple Crowns on record (~236 days — PCT northbound, CDT southbound from Montana, AT southbound from Katahdin) — as a byproduct, not a goal. He is the author of the Wanderlust book series (6 volumes and counting) and Hiking and Backpacking for Dummies. His trail name, Swami, was given to him on his first PCT hike in 2007 by a woman from Glasgow who found his trail yoga amusing. Hiking Poll score: 7 out of 100.

What's Covered in Part 2

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

The Hiking Life — What's On It

The Wanderlust Series

Hiking and Backpacking for Dummies

Ultralight Philosophy — Your Own Best Teacher

How Long-Distance Hiking Has Changed

The Poodle Dog Bush — Ridgecrest

Mark — Seeing the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Off the Beaten Path — The Living Mountain

Pay It Forward — The Three Trail Organizations

Links & Resources

• The Hiking Life: https://www.thehikinglife.com
• Cam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehikinglife
• Wanderlust book series — Available wherever books are sold. Six volumes: USA, Himalaya, Nordics, Mediterranean, The Hidden Tracks, and more. A seventh — world's best day hikes — is due early next year.
• Hiking and Backpacking for Dummies — Available wherever books are sold.
• The Living Mountain — Nan Shepherd. Cam's Off the Beaten Path recommendation. An ode to the Cairngorms of Scotland; about 100 pages. Written during WWII, published in the mid-1970s. Nan Shepherd appears on the Scottish £5 note.
• Continental Divide Trail Coalition: https://www.continentaldividetrail.org
• Appalachian Trail Conservancy: https://www.appalachiantrail.org
• Pacific Crest Trail Association: https://www.pcta.org

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guest

Cam "Swami" Honan is an Australian long-distance hiker, writer, and founder of The Hiking Life (thehikinglife.com). Backpacker Magazine has called him the most traveled hiker on earth: 75,000+ miles across 68 countries. He completed the legendary 12 Long Walks: 12 consecutive thru-hikes, 14,000+ miles, 29 states, 4 Canadian provinces, 18 months, 2011–2012. Along the way he completed one of the fastest Triple Crowns on record (~236 days: PCT northbound, CDT southbound from Montana, AT southbound from Katahdin) as a byproduct, not a goal. He is the author of the Wanderlust book series (six volumes and counting) and Hiking and Backpacking for Dummies. His trail name, Swami, was given to him on his first PCT hike in 2007 by a woman from Glasgow who found his trail yoga amusing. Hiking Poll score: 7 out of 100.

What's Covered in Part 1

Trail Name — Swami

Trailblazer's Toolkit — Head Net (and Katabatic Quilts)

The Hiking Poll — Score: 7

The 12 Long Walks — Planning and Execution

The Calendar Triple Crown

The Eggnog

The Rabid Dog — Siwa, Egypt, 1995–96

Trail Characters — Insane Dwayne and Tea Bag

Links & Resources

• The Hiking Life: https://www.thehikinglife.com
• Cam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehikinglife
• Wanderlust book series — Available wherever books are sold. Six volumes: USA, Himalaya, Nordics, Mediterranean, The Hidden Tracks, and more. A seventh — world's best day hikes — is due early next year.
• Hiking and Backpacking for Dummies — Available wherever books are sold.
• The Living Mountain — Nan Shepherd. Cam's Off the Beaten Path recommendation. An ode to the Cairngorms of Scotland; about 100 pages. Written during WWII, published in the mid-1970s. Nan Shepherd appears on the Scottish £5 note.
• Continental Divide Trail Coalition: https://www.continentaldividetrail.org
• Appalachian Trail Conservancy: https://www.appalachiantrail.org
• Pacific Crest Trail Association: https://www.pcta.org

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Part 2 drops in 10 minutes. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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The Barkley: A Love Story concludes. This is the episode the series has been building toward.

We hear from the finishers: the 26 people in 40 years who have completed five loops in 60 hours. Jared Campbell, four-time finisher, on what the race selects for in a person. John Kelly, who grew up across the road from Frozen Head State Park and calls the Barkley his home course. Ihor Verys, who didn't like running six years before he finished first. John Fegyveresi, who applied from Antarctica and held the slowest known time for over a decade.

And then . . . Jasmine Paris. In her own words. The veterinarian and mother of two who wore patched shoes and a borrowed bag, who touched the yellow gate with 99 seconds to spare, and became the first woman in Barkley history to finish.

Part three of three. The payoff.

Guests Featured

• Jasmine Paris — first female finisher of the Barkley Marathons
• Jared Campbell — four-time Barkley finisher
• John Kelly — four-time Barkley finisher
• Aurelien Sanchez — 2023 Barkley finisher, first non-American finisher since 1995
• Ihor Verys ("Eeyore") — 2024 Barkley first-place finisher
• John Fegyveresi ("Lakewood") — 2012 Barkley finisher, former slowest known time holder
• Finn Melanson — Single Track Podcast, eyewitness to Jasmine's 2024 finish
• Jacob Zocherman — photographer of the iconic Jasmine Paris finish image

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The Barkley: A Love Story continues. In Episode Two, we go to Frozen Head State Park.

This episode is anchored by audio captured live at the 2025 Barkley Marathons: the conch blow, Laz's pre-race speech, the reading of the names of those no longer with us, taps, and the lighting of the cigarette. You hear the race begin. Then you hear what happens to the people who go out into those woods.

We hear from runners who trained for years and came up short. From crew members who waited at the gate for 16 hours with no information. From a Swedish war photographer who recovered from PTSD by running trails at night and found himself crying at the Barkley finish line in 2024. And at the end, a name. 99 seconds to spare. More on her in Episode Three.

Part two of three.

Guests Featured

• Finn Melanson — Single Track Podcast, 2024 Barkley media
• Jacob Zocherman — Swedish war photographer and photojournalist, 2024 Barkley
• Damian Hall — British ultra runner, 3× Barkley competitor
• Multiple 2025 Barkley runners and crew members including Kelly Halpin, Richard Shannon (first Zambian to run the Barkley), Ben Wernick, Chris Fisher, Dena Carr, Tomo Ihara, and more
• Jamil Coury — race director and Barkley competitor
• Mike Wardian — marathoner, Barkley competitor
• John Kelly — four-time Barkley finisher

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The Barkley Marathons has only been finished 26 times in 40 years. This is the first episode of a three-part audio documentary series from Hiker Trash Radio — The Barkley: A Love Story.

In Episode One, we go to the beginning. Who is Gary "Laz" Cantrell, the man who built the most obsessively followed race in endurance sport? We hear from Laz himself on how the Barkley was born, why it was designed the way it is, and what he sees when he looks at the people who come to run it. We also hear from Jared Beasley, the only authorized biographer of Laz, interviewed live at the 2025 Barkley Marathons after three years of reporting.

This is not a recap. This is a love story. Part one of three.

Guests Featured

• Lazarus Lake (Gary Cantrell) — creator of the Barkley Marathons and Backyard Ultra
• Jared Beasley — journalist and author of The Endurance Artist: Lazarus Lake, the Barkley, and a Race With No End (Simon & Schuster)

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About the Guest

Cam "Swami" Honan is an Australian long-distance hiker, writer, and founder of The Hiking Life (thehikinglife.com). Backpacker Magazine has called him the most traveled hiker on earth: 75,000+ miles across 68 countries. He completed the legendary 12 Long Walks: 12 consecutive thru-hikes, 14,000+ miles, 29 states, 4 Canadian provinces, 18 months, 2011–2012. Along the way he completed one of the fastest Triple Crowns on record (~236 days — PCT northbound, CDT southbound from Montana, AT southbound from Katahdin) as a byproduct, not a goal. He is the author of the Wanderlust book series (6 volumes and counting) and Hiking and Backpacking for Dummies. His trail name, Swami, was given to him on his first PCT hike in 2007 by a woman from Glasgow who found his trail yoga amusing. Hiking Poll score: 7 out of 100.

Episode Highlights

Trail Name — Swami

The Calendar Triple Crown — A Byproduct

The Eggnog

The Rabid Dog — Siwa, Egypt, 1995–96

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Mark — The Swiss Tom Bombadil

Links & Resources

• The Hiking Life: https://www.thehikinglife.com
• Cam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehikinglife
• Wanderlust book series — Available wherever books are sold. Six volumes: USA, Himalaya, Nordics, Mediterranean, The Hidden Tracks, and more. A seventh — world's best day hikes — is due early next year.
• Hiking and Backpacking for Dummies — Available wherever books are sold.
• The Living Mountain — Nan Shepherd. Cam's Off the Beaten Path recommendation. An ode to the Cairngorms of Scotland; about 100 pages. Written during WWII, published in the mid-1970s. Nan Shepherd appears on the Scottish £5 note.
• Continental Divide Trail Coalition: https://www.continentaldividetrail.org
• Appalachian Trail Conservancy: https://www.appalachiantrail.org
• Pacific Crest Trail Association: https://www.pcta.org

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

The full interview with Cam drops Wednesday in two parts. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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The Cottage — Episode 2: "Quit Your Day Job"

Four people walked away from careers that paid their bills to chase something that kept them awake at three in the morning. A commodity broker who was dying at his desk. A photographer who got fired on the day he expected a promotion. An IT consultant who could see thirty years of misery ahead. An art professor whose first thru-hike was a disaster — and who couldn't stop thinking about it afterward. In this second episode of The Cottage, we hear the stories behind the leap, and what it costs to bet everything on a sewing machine, a whiteboard, and a freeze dryer.

Featured Voices

Whitney LaRuffa (Allgood) — Former commodity broker. Former VP, Six Moon Designs. Now Chief Revenue Officer, FarOut.

Luke Piersall (Bus) — Photographer, filmmaker, South America guide. Founder, Trail Goods Company.

Brice Sokolowski — Former IT consultant. President, Voclu's Backpack Ventilation Gear.

Sarah Berkeley (Mellow) — Former art professor. Owner and Founder, Symbiosis Gear.

Links & Resources

Trail Goods Company — trailgoods.co

Vaucluse Backpack Ventilation Gear — voclusegear.com

Symbiosis Gear — symbiosisgear.com

Six Moon Designs — sixmoondesigns.com

FarOut — faroutguides.com

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

Email: hikertashradio@gmail.com

Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | TikTok

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About the Guest

Andrea "Watergirl" Zelinski is a writer, former political reporter, and two-trail thru-hiker based in North Carolina. She covered the Texas State Legislature for the Houston Chronicle and Austin-based outlets before hiking the Appalachian Trail during the COVID pandemic in 2020. The AT led her to abandon political journalism, pivot to travel writing as senior cruise editor for Travel Weekly — a job that took her on 36 trips across five continents in three years, including Antarctica — and then to leave that job too, in 2025, to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. She is currently working on a memoir about the experience. Trail name: Watergirl. Named by a man called Medicine Man in Georgia after she embarrassed herself at a water source. They have been friends ever since.

What's Covered in Part 2

Why She Was Primed — The Professional Side

Why She Was Primed — The Personal Side

The Cruise Editor — 36 Trips, Five Continents

Why She Left the Dream Job

Journaling on Trail

The Book — Don't Rush Me

Coming Home to January 6th

Tramily Versus Solo

Hiking Hacks — Turmeric and Psyllium Husk

Off the Beaten Path — The Name of the Stars

Pay It Forward — Local Trail Maintenance

CDT Plans

Links & Resources

• Watergirl on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adventuresofwatergirl
• The Name of the Stars: A Life in the Wilds — Pete Fromm. Watergirl's Off the Beaten Path recommendation — a memoir about nature, fatherhood, and what happens as we age.
• Blaze Physio —: https://www.blazephysio.com
• Appalachian Trail Conservancy — www.appalachiantrail.org — Pay It Forward: volunteer for local trail maintenance.
• Pacific Crest Trail Association: https://www.pcta.org

Connect with Hiker Trash Radio

• Email: mailto:hikertashradio@gmail.com
• Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference.

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