Hello, thanks for joining me! I’m Sarah, but on the road I’m Podcast. I got my trail name on my 2023 hike on the Appalachian Trail because, you guessed it, I was listening to a lot of podcasts. It’s a great conversation starter and remains indicative of my hiking style, so I think I’ll always be on the Podcast on the trail. Welcome!
I started backpacking in college to kill time during spring break. You see, I was a young freshman, living out of state, and had no plans. My college offered a guided backpacking trip to Alabama during the week my dorm would be closed, and my parents encouraged me to «give it a try.» Reader, I was wearing a cotton sweatshirt, ate exclusively Cliff Bars (the ones with the consistency of a brick), and felt panicked the entire time. Somehow, I would spend every fall and spring break from then on signing up for these backpacking trips. I made amazing friends and found myself more confident with each trip.
Am I… qualified?
Since I started backpacking during spring break travel in 2017, I have hiked the Yellowstone countryside, The Grand Tetons, Utah, and many other beautiful places in the U.S. I have hiked the Wind River High Route and the Appalachian Trail. I spend every year planning to spend as much time as possible on a trail. Despite all this, I still feel like a beginner sometimes and I’m sure my next adventure will be no different.
Why AZT? I commit to the bit
I completed my 6 month hike on the AT in September 2023 and later learned that 2023 was the wettest year on record for the trail. As I descended Katahdin, my tram was making plans, half-jokingly, for a PCT 2025 hike. I was silently thinking, «I’ll never hike wet and cold again. I’m going to the Arizona Trail.» My knowledge of the weather in Arizona was limited to «it’s the desert, right?» I have since learned that it does indeed rain, and even snow, in some parts of the AZT, so my intentions in choosing this trail were incredibly misguided. However, I had already committed to the idea while walking down Katahdin. A deal is a deal, and here I am.
The Thru-Hiker to Colorado Resident Pipeline
It took me some time, three years to be exact, to be able to reorganize my life again around a hike, and I spent those three years essentially doing nothing to prepare. I got a job as a preschool teacher. I moved to Colorado. I got a dog and gave him a name related to AT. I got into trail running. All the usual moves for a former hiker. Not once did I research logistics, travel, equipment, etc. for AZT. I started doing that a couple of months ago. This is the way of a pampered AT hiker who lives by the words «The Trail Provides.» Over the next two weeks I’ll be sharing more about gear and preparation, but you won’t understand any of that now, because all I have to share boils down to, «Yeah, I’ve definitely put some things together!»
Bumblebee and Podcast: There’s nothing we can’t do
I’m doing this one with my good friend, Bumblebee. We met up just outside the Smokies on the AT and hiked essentially the rest of the trail together. If you ever meet her, ask her about the time she almost accidentally killed me on Wind River High Route. We have a similar hiking style, that is: chaotic and unpredictable. We weren’t necessarily the fastest hikers on the AT, but that was mostly because we took long, frequent breaks to talk about a romantic audiobook or something equally important. When it came time to organize a big day here and there, we were able to make it happen. But this time we have to work hard because we only have a six-week leave from work. The AZT has around 800 miles on it, so it’s definitely doable with the right attitude. This tour will be a lesson in balancing efficiency and fantasy. We’ll still wear our silly clothes, eat our silly snacks, brew some silly beer, but we’ll put in some big miles while we do it. This is the art of hiking and it is the tone we are intentionally setting for the next six weeks. I have my KT Tape, my entrepreneurial attitude, and my podcasts ready to go. Let’s do this.
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