The early, ignorant days of my hiking career.
Before June 2024, most of the information I received about hiking and backpacking came from YouTube, Instagram, and the odd book here and there. That June, during a failed attempt to climb a section of the AT in Pennsylvania, I met someone who told me about the Backpacker Radio podcast. On the third day of that trip, I encountered a trail angel just south of Blue Mountain Ski Resort. As I sat there chatting with the trail angel and his son, a lone hiker, John (can’t remember trail name), in his 30s, left the trail heading north. We talked for a while and I learned that he was working as a trail runner for the ATC on that section of the trail. We were then joined by other Nobo hikers and my attention was drawn to them. In the background, I heard John mention that he was from Wilmington, Delaware, my hometown and current place of residence. Delaware is such a small place that the most common question I get asked when I meet a fellow Delawarean is, «What high school did you attend?» So I threw out that question and John informed me that he had graduated from the high school where I began my teaching career. I asked him his year of graduation. He told me and I told him that I would have been working at the school while he was there. He studied my face intently and proclaimed, «Mr. Langrehr, you were my ninth grade English teacher.» I couldn’t believe the coincidence.
Of course we had to catch up as it had been over 20 years and when we were done catching up I started asking him for information about the trail and that’s when I found out about The Trek website and backpacking radio.
I get hooked on the BPR podcast
The next day on the way home I listened to the first episode and was immediately hooked. My original intention was to listen to the episodes in order from first to last. The good thing about the first few days was that I could listen non-stop because there were so many episodes available. When I got to about 100 episodes, I changed my strategy. I also started listening to newer podcasts. Every time I did something meaningless around the house or drove somewhere, I listened to the podcast. I don’t remember when I learned to be a road correspondent, but I made it a point to apply whenever I finally got the chance to do the road. Then last September, as I began making final plans for the spring hike, I applied and was accepted.
FANBOY alert
The website and podcast are really wonderful. Always full of good information delivered in a very entertaining way, the module has not lost my interest yet. I still can’t get enough of hearing Chauncey and Zach banter. Warning: This is a total geeky fanboy admission. One of my emails was even read on air in December. It made my month. Yes, I am an unapologetic fan of the BPR podcast.
I mention this because my motivation for sharing my journey is a sort of revenge for all the content I’ve consumed from The Trek website and BPR and all the other Youtubers and Instagram posters over the past few years. See also: dfsd. Thank you very much to all of you.
I will leave for my hike tomorrow and begin the trip the next day. The anticipation has almost killed me. I really want to start hiking.
Happy trails
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