TrailCast - Podcasting on foot

trailcast-25-Mar-29-2006.mp3 (21 MB)

After three attempts and seven consecutive thru-hikes, Scott Williamson completed a Yo-Yo hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in November of 2004. Covering 5,300 miles in 197 days Scott averaged close to 40 miles a day, often battling waist-deep snow. Enduring the personal tragedies of losing his mother and friend, Kenny Gould, with whom he had originally planned this record hike, Scott pressed on through each attempt. Surviving a gunshot wound to his face by an attacker, while he was working at a store to help fund his hikes, only solidified his choice of a long distance hiker’s lifestyle and strengthened his resolve to pull of his Yo-Yo hike.

Scott has also hiked the Continental Divide trail and later completed his Triple Crown by hiking the Appalachian Trail in a huge way. He started with the Florida Trail, hiked the 450 miles of road separating it from Springer Mountain, then continued past Katahdin into Canada until he was stopped because of passport issues in Canada. And if once wasn’t enough, Scott will be attempting another Yo-Yo of the PCT this season..!

Scott is hoping to find sponsorship for this season’s hike. Any interested company or individual may contact him at duckface100@yahoo.com.

trailcast-24-Mar-22-2006.mp3 (17 MB)

Scott "Squatch" Herriott produced two documentaries about thru-hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail entitled, "Walk" and "Still Walking." In these films, Squatch follows the progress of these hikers– many of whom are notable repeat offenders such as Yogi and Billy Goat. His chronicle of these hikes is intimate and sincere and often hilarious as they share their good, bad and odd moments. Maintaining a professional and light-hearted approach, Squatch even manages to find time to discuss another passionate interest– Big Foot..!

trailcast-23-Mar-14-2006.mp3 (11.5 MB)

When Mathew "Leif" Olsen completed his Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 1998, he formed the initial idea for creating a website where other hikers could post their trail journals and photos. After his hike, he returned to Charlotte, NC to finish his last semester of school and began working on www.trailjournals.com. When his friend, Rick "ZipDrive" Ashley thru-hiked the AT in 1999 he kept the first online journal on the site. After "ZipDrive" completed his hike he became involved in the development of the site. A full-time hobby for ZipDrive and Leif, this free service serves up close to 119,000 journal entries and 130,000 trail photos, spanning over 1,360,606 miles of hiking detailed in over 4000 journal accounts– an amazing wealth of information written by those doing the hiking.

trailcast-22-Mar-07-2006.mp3 (14.3 MB)

In 2003, Amy Racina fell from a steep hillside during a solo hike in California’s Kings Canyon National Park.

“With no warning, a hillside gave way beneath me, and I plummeted 60 feet into a granite boulder. I was amazed to find myself alive when I hit the ground. My nose was smashed. A tooth had snapped off. Multiple scrapes and bruises covered my body. A bone stuck through the skin below my right knee, flesh shredded around it. My legs were useless. I could not move either one so much as an inch.”

25 miles from the nearest trail-head and not expected for another 6 days, Amy began crawling through and up the deep ravine in which she fell hoping to make herself visible should a hiker happen by in the seldom-hiked the Tehipite Valley backcountry. On the third day of dragging herself along the ravine a passing hiker and his companions heard her faint cries for help. 24 hours later she was located by rescue helicopters and airlifted to a hospital. She discovered later that had her rescue come just hours later, she would have been dead. Amy has recently published a book about her ordeal, Angels in the Wilderness.

trailcast-21-Feb-28-2006.mp3 (15 MB)

Ken and Marcia Powers began serious long distance hiking after retirement. Since 1999 they have hiked over 13,000 miles, thru-hiking the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and Appalachian Trails and recently became the first people to thru-hike the American Discovery Trail– a 6,800 mile long trail crossing the Belly of the US. Averaging 20 miles a day, Ken and Marcia faced interesting resupply and navigation challenges along a route not used to accomodating thru-hikers and had encounter with quicksand..!