Tayson: Everybody welcome back to the Live Ultralight podcast. Today we have a very special episode and a guest on Traci or also known as The Reluctant Hiker on YouTube is here because she has won the satellite through hiking competition. So congratulations Traci, we're excited to have you on and hear about how that through hiking experience went. So thank you so much.
Tayson: For those of you that didn't know that competition, there are some Runners up that are still I think in the in the running but essentially I was just looking it up actually because I didn't hit this whole project up, but thousand dollars in store credit plus a new Shadow light. Right is what? Yeah, that's good.
Tayson: So hopefully that that helps you replace the gear. You might have worn out on the trail. But let's start, let's start clearing back at the beginning. Traci and tell us just a little bit about you and what made you want to go and do it through hike?
Traci: So my name is Traci and I am known as reroute on the trail and I actually got into backpacking camping all of this because my husband was actually researching hiking the PCT. And he was not going to do it until next year and he just kept researching watching videos on YouTube and all this and he started buying some gear and he said, you know, I think you should go with me and I kept going, I'm never
Traci: gonna do anything like this. And as he's researching and, you know, the guys you guys usually hold on to the remotes. So at night, if we'd sit there and watch something it would usually be a YouTube video and So eventually I just started watching with them. I gave in and then at Christmas time I said to him. All right, I'll go with you. And she said, well, you know, if you're gonna go with me, I think
Traci: we need to ditch the PCT idea, and we need to go with the 80 idea because you've never done any hiking. You've never done any camping and the ATM is set up better. This you've not done any
Traci: I had really not, I mean, we live in Oregon, so we view hike around town and things like this. And there are some hills for us to hike, but we've never done any camping or backpacking. Nothing. Like, neither of you had,
Traci: no, he sent a little bit. I would say he's, he's probably done a little bit more than I had at this point. But, yeah. Ready. Not to the extent that you need to, to go on this. Okay? as we're you know, researching everything and I actually was trained to be a teacher and when we moved to Oregon after my husband retired from the military and I found out that I couldn't teach here because I didn't have
Traci: a master's degree. And so I started once my youngest got into high school, I started working a retail job and I enjoyed it. But when covid hit, everybody started getting ready, ready angry. And so it was difficult to go to work every day and Get caught stats like on the continual basement and I just I came home from work one day and this was probably in March. So I was right around my birthday time. And I
Traci: said you know what Could I hike this year? And he goes, what? I thought we were gonna hide next to you together. I can't hide this year and I said, yeah, you know, I was thinking. I've never ever in my life done anything without you, so I was thinking, maybe I should just do this on my own and he's like, are you
Traci: serious? and in the meantime, I had been researching gear, like I said, I researched things very different from my husband and he goes and he gets all the best reviews and all the stuff and Yeah, I I kind of I go and look on YouTube and I go and try a bunch of things. I have to have something in my hand to know what it's like, you know. And so I started, I actually saw you on
Traci: a video and talking about the Shadowlight, which was coming out and as somebody who had never been on a hike, before a backpacking trip, I was concerned about spending, you know, 500 dollars on a backpack. That I didn't know if I was ever gonna use again. I didn't even know if I was gonna be able to complete this hike, you know? So I'm when I saw the price of the Shadow light, I thought, you know
Traci: this is amazing. It's the same ways. It has lots of pockets which I like it has all this stuff that is just fantastic. This is the back this is the backpack. I'm going to use you know and So, that's when I found your pack and everything. And yeah, and then,
Tayson: well, I mean, I'm in a slow you down for just one second. Okay, I'm sorry had to see me on video, that's always. Um, no. I'm, I'm just curious what changed between you going with your husband, and him kind of being the dry, the primary driver of why you're doing it to you being like, You like, what was your why? Because I mean I get like maybe you didn't want to like your work situations. Like I
Tayson: don't want to keep working at this job right now but that's not enough motivation to go on, hike, hundreds and thousands of miles. Right. So, so, um, what what sort of clicking for you to be like, man, what was your, why, you know, where did that drive come from? So
Traci: I've always been the kind of person that once I just decided something you not going to deter me at all. Like my focus is completely 100%. So actually, when my husband said, are you, you know, are you gonna do this? I said, give me a few days because I really need to make sure that I can commit to this. But what I honestly thought about was my entire life, I lived under my parents roof. And then
Traci: I went into the Navy and I was, you know, basically under somebody else's yard and then I got married and you know, you become a partner and then it became a month. And it was all very fast and I never in my life felt like I did anything that was just mine and never had anything. Where I knew that I had completed something and succeeded at something, that was difficult, right?
Traci: And so, when I as I kept thinking about it and Like I said, you know, I've always done stuff with my husband, my husband. And I have always had a partnership where, and, you know, when he's been out to see, I've done certain things when he comes back from sea, I do other things, you know, we've you know, I've had the children and then we raise them and now they were out of the house. So, yeah,
Traci: it really kind of became this thing where I thought I need to. See if I can do something on my own. I I need to know that I can do hard things,
Tayson: right, right. So, really became a journey for you and, and know that sounds really, really interesting? Yeah,
Traci: but to be fair, just to be completely 100% honest, there were times on this trail that I would not have made it through without my husband because I, you know, I did, I did need to talk to him. I did need to, you know, rely on him in that way. And so he still was there for me, but just not on a daily basis.
Tayson: Got it. Got it man. That's really interesting. And I feel like I could probably relate to your Like once you decide something, you gonna do it type them mentality, and I could totally see myself being like once I've committed to do this Trail or whatever it is like, I don't want to wait a year like I'm committed now, right? You get you get in that too. But, um, well, let's keep going along kind of the order
Tayson: of chronologically I guess, but I'd really like to Circle back to see how, you know, if you're If it turned into the type of hike that you thought it might be in that Journey for you but so you kind of get committed here. You start piecing together if you gear pieces, did you do any kind of like shake out trips or anything like that, where you're getting to know your gear or I mean what happened next? So
Traci: My husband has a tense and and he wanted to have me, see what it was like to, you know, tents in the cold. And so we took his tent to Beverly Beach, which is it was in March, I guess it was, it was really cold, but, it wasn't my tent, it wasn't, you know, so once I did decide on my tent and We just camped in the backyard and that was the only thing we did. We
Traci: did that one time. It was mostly a chance for me to see how quickly I could put my tents up. And you know what I could do with it, you know, see if he wanted to see if I could do it in the rain, but I refused It does rain a lot here but I'm you know I just didn't somehow I made it through without trying that in practice. We did have to do that on the trail. Yeah,
Tayson: you probably never had to do that on the trail, right?
Traci: And then we did do trips where we just hiked. I did a trip with my husband to Ben's already, in which is where my son was living at the time. And said, we hike I don't know, maybe like a 16 mile trip with our backpacks. They weren't full of they weren't for weights or whatever, but maybe 16 pounds in a back and just to try it out and see how we were doing, but other than that,
Traci: mostly it was just hiking around town.
Tayson: That's, that's crazy. Like that would be to me, at least that would feel like You're going in pretty unprepared like pretty unprepared and and you know that I don't know. I wish I knew these percentages of something but a lot of people start that trail and don't finish it. Right? Any of this? Yeah, vast majority started. Don't finish them. And I would I mean if I was like a betting man, I would kind of be like,
Tayson: it's Probably people like you Traci now. That's right. So, something magic. I mean, something happened here, that was just different, right? So that made you the exception, you know, because a lot of people that, like, go into him and follow other through hikers per se, like they doing trainings. And obviously, they've been backpacking for years and they've got a lot of experience and to me a lot of it is just time on your feet, you know,
Tayson: I'm being able to log 10, 12 hours a day on your feet and stuff like that. So um, Yeah. I'm very interested to hear how the first couple days ago, so well,
Traci: I will tell you and please don't ever tell my husband because I will deny this, but I happen to be a very stubborn person and
Tayson: that's important. I think it is important.
Traci: It's a good quality to have when you decide to do something like
Tayson: right, right. LTV that's for danger. So
Tayson: okay, so you've got so you've done some very minor hikes very minor, you know, getting to know your gear. So You figure out the resupply. I don't know how much you want to go into all of that. I mean is that was that like really daunting or did you was it not too bad with information
Traci: with that? I will tell you that the Only Rule that I had when I went out was that I was not going to come off Trail before seven days or 100 miles. I just made that rule for myself so that I didn't Give myself an excuse to get out of there. You know, I already had to force myself to learn what was hurting learn. What was You know, just what I needed to do and that was
Traci: the only way I could see, myself learning that I kind of pushed myself to I'm, you know, like food. I carried eight days of food. When I first started, and I pretty much didn't stop that. I like to carry the food because I like to eat. That's kind of important.
Traci: Yeah and but you know, even like with my boots, my boots. I found that they just weren't working for me and I, I found that out almost immediately and but I refuse to come in. And I I set Front Royal as my first stopping point. So I did a flip flop. I should probably clarify that. I did a flip flop. I started at Rockfish Gap in the shenandoah's, like the south side of the shenandoah's. And I
Traci: started there, I went up to Katahdin and then I came back to Rockfish Gap and went South from there. Once I once I once I was doing the Flop part and so when I started in the Shenandoah as it was 107 miles to from Front Royal and that's where I was. I was not getting off Trail until I got to that point.
Tayson: Yeah okay Huge. I think, honestly. Every I guess I shouldn't make big bold statements like this, but I I sometimes do that. I think the mental aspect is huge, I've experienced it at times in my life and typically what I find is that once the physical side gets hurting or in pain or whatever it is, you just start working on it mentally. There's been times I've been planning on a 4-day trip and this is mainly years
Tayson: ago when I was. I'd let myself kind of get out of shape and whatnot and, you know, I'd get two days into it. And the person I was hiking with was getting off Trail because that's what they plan to do. But I had two more days and I'm like by the end of the day, I'm like, yeah enough trouble with you, you know, I just, you know, and stuff like that, right? So yeah
Tayson: but I think it really comes. Like got mental side is just really tough. It's, and that builds upon any physical issues, that may develop such as shoes, or feet, problems, knee problems and stuff. So, so you can take off on this, 107 miles guaranteed gonna finish this aspect of it and and how does it go? How does I can take me to like they one day two.
Traci: Okay, so I will tell you that and I got dropped off. At dropped this Gap at. So to like, two in the afternoon on a day that was 86 degrees. That was the earliest I could get dropped off based on all the routes that the hostel that I was staying at, you know, they just had other things that they were doing. And so it was two, I think in the afternoon when I got dropped off and
Traci: my first day and I had planned to do 11 miles, Well, this was the first day with my pack.
Tayson: It's got eight days of heavy and know
Tayson: what the starting weight was like. Did you weigh your background?
Traci: Yes. So, my starting weight was 34 pounds this before my water. So I would say that, that was probably, I always carried two leaders of water. So that's another four pounds. I would say. Yeah, okay and yeah and so that's that's substantial.
Traci: Yeah, and You know, everybody talks about the shenandoah's. Oh, this is so easy. Oh, it's gonna be so easy because they've started in Georgia. And by the time they get to Virginia, Virginia is easy for them, but for me, it was not easy. So I will say that. You don't want to listen to everybody else because this was not easy for me but and but it was fine. It was it was fine. What happened though was
Traci: because it was the end of April. None of the Wayside the camp areas. I should say we're open yet and so where I plan to camp at first night was at a campground but when I got there, actually, I Sorry, that's a lie. What? I plan to go to the shelter there but I knew at that point where I was hiking. I wasn't going to make it to the shelter. So I plan from there, okay, I
Traci: can go to the this next campground that's coming up, I'll make it there while I got there and it was all closed up. so, I realized that I was going to have to Stealth Cam and if you see my video of me, stealth camping my first night, my face is just white. It is pure white, I am in my tent just freaking out, I had a problem with my bear bag, the first night, you know, like
Traci: I I caught it on a tree and I got it stuck. And I couldn't do anything. It's Dusk and I was in a panic like, oh my gosh, I'm just praying. I get this, you know, stick that's just long enough for me to, you know, sort of shimmy, this bag a little bit more and I finally got there, but I found semi okay, and I got in my tent and I don't think I slept away. I
Traci: just every noise was like, what is that? So,
Tayson: this is yours. This is like is this your first camping trip like like, Because I know a lot of my own friends, right? That like, are like nervous about solo camping and they've camped a lot. You know what I mean? And, and I was joked to people like, my, my wife will always watch like a horror or scary movie in. Like I don't do that because I solo backpack, you know what I mean? Like, I don't
Tayson: is that anyway anyway so that I can see that and I know a lot of people that will highly relate to what you just said, I don't know what the answer is, maybe Tylenol PM, but that's a tough one.
Traci: Yeah, I mean, also, you know, the one thing that people say about Shenandoah is, if you want to see a bear, you're gonna see him in the Shenandoah, you'll see him everywhere. So, that
Traci: is exactly. I mean, I seriously sat there thinking, should I make a video for my children, just in case I'm eating tonight? I made like my mind was all over the place. Like as soon as first like it, I was out of my tent, I packed everything up and I somehow got that and I was on my on my way and there was no way. I was not making it to the shelter that I now. So
Traci: this is Another three miles that I had to add on from the day before and then I, of course, was going to that shelter that I had planned originally to go to the second night. So, so now I've got 14 miles which was a little excessive I think for the second day. But ultimately, you know, like I said, I just, I knew what I had to do to get to the shelter and I knew that if
Traci: I was at a shelter, I would probably be around people and that made me feel a little bit more comfortable. And so then I got to the shelter, the shelter was full. It was tons of young kids that were just, you know, basically get a get their eat, their dinner sleep for a few hours and then fly out the door the next morning. So, I didn't sleep in the shelter. I slept in my tent, but it
Traci: was right by the shelter, and again, that night there was another couple there, they were called slow jam and crawl and it was their second night on trail as well. And
Traci: they set up their tent, right? Sort of by me and that night, something came in between a tent. No, I do not know what it was. It probably was a deer. I mean, I would say probably was a deer but to both of, you know, the three of us, we were sure it was a bear and I was in there going and then slow jam is like You know, we're just making any kind of noise that
Traci: we could and eventually it went away and we all slept and it was fine. But yeah. Like do you think that was a beer? I don't know. It might have been a dear. Yeah, it was probably a deal,
Tayson: right? I don't want to get too off topic here but I I would actually be more nervous about sleeping near those shelters because that's where the Bears are trained to come and look for scraps and things, right? So I'm like I'm more a piece when I'm out in the woods and I'm like, yeah, hopefully there's not a trained. A trained bear around here and whatnot. But yeah, that's I'm sure you've never had another animal walk past
Tayson: your 10 during the rest of the street, right? You get a little more used to it, right? That does make your hair stand up. I have I had to experience this last week where like something woke me up and then you hear, you know, sick break and you're kind of like It was about a half an hour and then you're back to bed. You know listening but yeah. No. Okay. So now you got two semi sleepless nights. Yeah.
Tayson: You start day two and like where you at like where are you at physically mentally.
Traci: So, I mean, I'm sore it's been really hot. So I mean I've been exhausted but there's been a lot of water sources. I mean, it's the end of April, so there's still water everywhere and I had no problem finding water mentally. I'm just I'm really excited to be out there and but I was Really hoping to meet people, you know, I met slow jam and crawl but then they ended up having to get off Trail on
Traci: their third day. So this next day they were going into whatever town was there because Sloan's shoes were too small and so she she just had to get off and and that was so fun. And but these people that I, in fact, I stay in touch with them still, but I say my best friend's from my trail, that I only saw that one
Tayson: there was a bomb that was made
Traci: but anyway, so I I went on to the next shelter that next night and I actually met some people that Uh one of the girls that I met called heater, she is going to hike the pinhoti trail coming up soon and she invited me to go with her. So that's I'm going on the trail with her. She at the time had come from Georgia. So she had Trail legs. All this whole group, they all had Trail
Traci: Lakes going on but they were super kind. I got into the shelter you know, way later than they all did. They had been there for hours and they had beer and offered me a beer and that's really refreshing on a really hot day after hiking and relax.
Traci: Yeah, we just kind of started chatting and the next day, I, Left my hiking, my trekking Folds. At a waste such. Now think of this, most people when you hike with trekking poles, that's like an extension of your own. So it's really difficult to think that you would actually be able to leave them somewhere and not realize it, but
Traci: I guess I hadn't been hiking long enough that it really didn't occur to me. I went over to one of the The rubbish bins and you know they're difficult in there in the Shenandoah is because you've got to use both hands to get in there and open everything up. And so I must have set the falls down. and, you know, Never thought about him again. And tell us
Tayson: you never found these things.
Traci: So I got about a mile down the trail and I've realized, oh no, this is really bad because I don't know how I'm going to get over all these rocks today. That's a little bit of extra studying our and I
Traci: happen to find a stick, which this kind of became a joke, but I found this stick which had the head of an eagle. I swear to you and I called this thing Spirits, because Spirits was gonna get me to this day and he did I got all the way to the next shelter and this whole group of young people were there and I told him what happened and said you guys meet spirit. and, The next morning.
Traci: One of the, the gentleman that was there. He was called teacher and he said to me, I want you to have my Trucking Folds. And I was like no no no that you can't do that. I've got Spirit you know it's fine and he said no you know I've walked almost 900 miles without these trekking poles they've just been attached my pack so go ahead. They're yours gave me these trekking poles, it was amazing. Yeah, definitely
Traci: Trail magic and that There's more to that story because I had three sets of trekking poles on that trip. But I'll get into that later, if you.
Tayson: Got it so. So let's, let's kind of finish out this first. The first 107 miles. I just kind of want to hear, Like so you're you're making a challenge is every single day what was in your mind? Just the hardest part of that first week and not getting off Trail? Okay. Honestly.
Traci: It was just getting my body used to hiking every day. You know, that's a really different change for your body. You don't realize it before you get on trail, but you know, hiking every day getting up and that is your job, essentially, you know, but you have to hike to get to your next destination and, you know, you can't, I mean you could sleep in if you do you want, but then you're going to be hiking
Traci: in the dark, which I'm not that great at and you know, so I think it was just mentally and physically adjusting to that change of This is now what you're doing every single day.
Tayson: Was it a lot of soreness or did you have like pinpointed pain going on?
Traci: Um, I think it was just rent, you know? Relative soreness. But I did have some pain in my toes because my my boots though they were large enough for me for normal High game, they were not appropriate for going up and down so steeply and
Traci: so I had pain in my toes.
Tayson: Did you stick with the boots? The whole hike.
Traci: I did stick with boots but I ended up going to a different type of boots and I had Solomon's and I swear by Solomon's but these boots the first boots and also they weren't ended up not being waterproof but I went to another pair of Solomon's and they had torn through almost after 100 miles, they had just torn through. I ended up going to I think they were called the Quest. They're like a little sturdier Boot
Traci: and those ended up being what I wore the entire rest of the trail and if it started.
Tayson: Yeah. I my feet love Solomon's. I kind of look at Solomon's is like there's nothing that flashy out of him but my feet just like him. I can pick up a brand new pair of Solomon's. Take him on the trail and my feet. Just fill at home in him so yeah, that's right. Yeah, you don't
Traci: even really need to break them in. I mean, it's like somebody's already broken him in for
Tayson: you. Yeah, yeah. I've had a lot of good luck. I know there's a massive following for ultra's and different things, but I feed have never loved ultra's but they just always still home in the Solomons. So, yeah.
Tayson: Um, Okay, so It seems like I so I, I would say so this summer, like, I started running and I haven't been running for a long, long time and it and it developed it showed my body real quick where I had a lot of weaknesses, particularly like my soas muscle and different things that was causing additional back pain. As it was strengthening up and my hamstrings and stuff are just way too much sitting, right? And not
Tayson: nearly as much time on the trail, but it sounds like you kind of were able to avoid a lot of like the like this one, particularly I'm getting back pain. I'm getting like my right knee is on fire or something like that. Just just soreness and you're cranking through your feet are hurting but and and so did you take care of that, right? As you got into your first checkpoint? Or did you stick with those boots longer?
Traci: You know, I changed them out right away. Yeah,
Tayson: awesome. We're gonna feel like coming in, you know, that's to that first checkpoint,
Traci: you know, I was, I mean, almost his tears. It was amazing. It was just beautiful day I come in and I call. So I stayed at some, Stumble in. And so I called text and I just said, hey, I'm here and they were coming to get me and right as they pulled up in the Jeep, literally the skies opened up and just it started pouring. So it was perfect timing. So I had this beautiful first week
Traci: out on trail and everything and sunny great weather and then I was coming in to this beautiful hostel. It was amazing. I can't even explain it.
Tayson: Yeah, you're like, hey, this is the finish line. I'm not. Yeah. Or
Tayson: you go back out. Did you spend time there that first day? Or
Traci: I did I did. And that's actually, I ran back into the group of young people that I had been kind of going around at the shelter's in. The Shenandoah is so heater and day, hiker and pizza cutter. All these, these people they were in town and they had taken a zeros So I got to meet up with them and hang out with them a little bit. Yeah. So that was fun as well.
Tayson: That's awesome. So by this point, did you already have your name reroute?
Traci: I, Well, it was in the works. so, and My very first day I got lost like you wouldn't believe and I did not have
Tayson: these started. Late got lost.
Traci: Well, and the thing was that, you know, I didn't realize that you had to put your phone in airplane mode. And so you know people were texting me all day long and I'm like oh my gosh people are texting me but you have service because you know you're so close to the road and yeah.
Traci: Yeah I learned very quickly that my battery pack wasn't gonna last if I kept my phone on you know, kept it in service all day long and but yeah by the end of the day you know, I My phone had died and it was a mess. So I was glad actually charge my phone, but it was, it was a quick learning curve, I would say, yeah.
Tayson: So did you get your name reroute from that first day then? Or when did that
Traci: crazy? Much from the very first day that and That's when people started kind of noticing that but I didn't get my name until that day that I was leaving on. I was leaving Front Royal that's when everybody kind of said. Yeah, it should be reroute. It should be reroute because I kept saying They'd say to me when I get into the shelter, like, well, what took you so long and I said, well, I mean, first of
Traci: all, I'm just slow, you know. But all so I thought there was this really nice trail and I started walking on it and then I realized it wasn't the trail. So I have find my way back to the trail and
Traci: yeah, I mean it happened multiple times every day. So yeah, by the time I left but Royal I have my name.
Tayson: And it's still apply today. Did you figure it out by the end?
Traci: Yeah. I mean, I I'm not gonna lie to you, I still get lost in my life, my family. When I told them, what my name was on trail, they all thought that they just laughed really hard. They're like this is perfect for you. That is, that is your day. says, when we lived in Virginia, this was several years ago but we lived in Virginia. We moved away for a little bit and then we moved back to
Traci: Virginia and I went to my best friend's house, probably every day after work. And one day, my husband asked me to go to the mall first, and then and then I had to go to her house and I got lost and called him at midnight. Saying, I don't know where I am. I had to call at this time. We didn't even have mobile phones. So I had to go into a barred up Burger King. Oh, I'm collect.
Traci: yeah, so reroute it's perfect for me actually unfortunately
Tayson: I like it, I like it. Okay, we're kind of planning on going about an hour, so I would, I would love to, like, go through every week of this, but I'm gonna probably have to change up the questions here because I did what. I just want to spend time though, on that first week, I just feel like there's there's so much to pull out of it for people even if they're not through hikers. I think there's
Tayson: a lot to pull out of it because there's if they're not through hikers, they're still probably want to do some bigger hikes and go and see some some things at least if they're following us. So um, I think it's really interesting to go into something like that. I would say, well maybe to finish up kind of first week. What was kind of your biggest regrets that maybe hadn't done or would change from that first week? So
Tayson: whether that's like kind of the pre the preparing stuff or maybe it's gear items or something. Like what was your biggest regrets from that first week? Or things you change very quickly, obviously, besides the boots. But
Traci: yeah, I mean I think the boots were really my only thing because everything else, I think everybody goes through it. You know, I wanted to bring you over and you know and we all know that it's so silly to bring deodorant because it's just extra weight. I think we're all gonna smell the only people that don't smell out there. Day hikers, so we all know. Right? You know, but all those things that's just the learning curve
Traci: that everyone has I think, really? It was just my boots. Okay.
Traci: I think I would have done it exactly the same and going back, you know and doing it again.
Tayson: Do you feel like your goals for hiking were too ambitious or about right for where you're coming in? Physically
Traci: think they were about, right? I mean, you know, I I also work and run about eight to ten miles a day and I
Tayson: you were running, you'd been running? Yeah, yeah. That clicks a lot more for me. I, I find that running and if you can trail running is the best way to train for hiking. It just flat out as you're getting all of that impact and movement and stability. And all of that makes a massive difference. So that that clicks that connects a lot for me because I'm like, how did you Show up and and cover you know
Tayson: 10 15 miles a day and not have injury because almost everyone. I know that trees that has injuries.
Traci: Yeah, so and I do have problems with my ankles and and so I generally in the winter time in Oregon, it's wet and our, our pavement, all around here is pretty uneven. So my husband can tell you, I could trip over a pine cone and break my ankle. And so that's another reason for the boots. And but I so I generally in the winter time only run on the treadmill and so it is a little bit
Traci: different but you can get yourself a little bit of incline and whatnot but
Tayson: yeah, it's still is way more helpful than than logging zero miles a day and something like that. So yeah.
Tayson: Oh that's pretty awesome. Okay. Um, So let's kind of Turn the page into your getting into your groove. How long do you felt like it take before you had hiker legs, right? Or Trail legs, right? Or however you want to call them? Like, what did that? What did that feel like to you? You know, before you felt like you were, your body had made some big adaptations?
Traci: Only about. well, I was able to make much better mileage and But at the same time, at that point, I was starting to get into. I think I was in Pennsylvania at that point and Pennsylvania is very difficult and in my opinion for me because the Rocks really were difficult to Figure out how to step over and step. I mean, there really was no stepping over stepping around. I mean, you were always constantly on rocks so
Traci: and that was actually difficult. I did end up breaking two toes and the top of my left foot while I was in Pennsylvania, which is why I took about a month off Trail actually and but it was broken up and I did write some toes and the top of my foot and we were going into Port Clinton at the time. And and I just knew there was something wrong. I couldn't walk on my foot on my
Traci: foot normally. But yeah. So and I kind of like
Tayson: fractures. It wasn't from an incident. It was like from okay. Yeah, they would.
Tayson: Yeah, you were packing enough. What is that? Like, instant milk on the trail. I guess. I just are always hard to diagnose though, because it's not like you didn't have an impact, or a certain thing. That is in your mind, you're like, oh, that's what did it. It's just like so
Tayson: much wear and tear and beating him up concert. Yeah, okay.
Traci: yeah, I mean, so I would say that my legs Came about. Time. But then, I got off Trail. About 10 days and then you know going back on trail. It seems like you lose your Trail legs really quickly, when you've been off Trail for just a little bit. So then when I came back, it took me another week. I was saying to get my trail legs back, so explain to me maybe, I know
Tayson: because like every section of the Charles different, right? So you can log in Miles, some people are like You know,
Tayson: what's your biggest, you know, what was your hardest day hiking? And it could be 15 miles of just pure mountains and up and down or it could be right. You
Tayson: know where everyone expects you to say, like all this day, I logged, 30 miles or something. But so if you were to go back, you know, once you were like A month or, you know, once you felt like you had your Trail legs, if you were to go back to like the same place, where you started, how much do you feel like, like, for the same amount of energy exertion or mental anguish? You know? If you
Tayson: were logging 10 miles then, how many would you be up to 15 now? And it would just kind of feel like the same load if that makes sense? Or is there a way to like, explain to people what that would feel like, like the difference between unconditioned legs and conditioned legs?
Traci: Well, I have a better perspective on that than somebody else, just because of the fact that I started in the shenandoah's and I did the flip-flops. So coming back right back
Traci: to Virginia. I mean I started at 25 Mi coming, you know, going south so yeah
Traci: and my largest mile day was 37 but my heart is my day was probably when I was in the white and I think we only did eight miles that day, but it was so, So difficult, but your entire body was sore when you were done with the day. And I know there are some people, especially younger people, I mean, they could do bigger miles in the whites after, you know, going through this. But For me, it,
Traci: I couldn't. I mean we were we were exhausted every day in the whites, and that's okay. And yeah, yeah,
Tayson: so that's pretty remarkable. You almost doubled your mileage by the time you flip flop? Okay. Yeah,
Tayson: that's that's really. I, I find that very interesting. I guess it's really cool, just to see how much bodies adapt. And, and just, that whole concept, that, you know, I've heard this said before, I've heard it said by a lot of people, but, you know, humans really are some of the best long-distance animals per se that, right? That there are right. Like, there's not many animals that can do what we can do and cover the kind
Tayson: of mileage we can do. So it's really cool to just see that and Yeah, I don't know. so, Let's let's think of another great question. What do you feel like our what was the biggest surprise? What did you just not expect to happen or to experience on the trail? Okay. And maybe while you're thinking about this, I did like I got a few minutes yesterday to look at your channel and stuff for those of you that
Tayson: want to hear more of, I think a chronological type order or seen Traci is done a great job with her YouTube channel. Again, I think that's Reluctant Hiker to on YouTube that you can go and kind of follow along more with her journey and and see that. I think that you'll find a lot of that, interesting. I'm I say I would love to just like be have the time to just go through the whole trip, right?
Tayson: So I may have to go experience that on your YouTube channel as well, but anyways, go check that out. Like in Reluctant Hiker over on YouTube, but yeah, biggest biggest surprise is are just things that you did not expect to happen.
Traci: So, I'm You always hear about the trail providing. So when I told you about teacher and how we gave me is trekking poles, So this I told you I'd get back to this story. So when we were up in, I had those trekking poles that entire time and we ended up leaving the morning. We were gonna Summit Todd in at about 5:30 and it was pouring rain and a lot of the Rocks up in Maine, in
Traci: New Hampshire. They're very slick when they get wet. And so I had fallen multiple times, it's just a thing with me but it's fine and we were coming. We had crossed Catan's dream and we were getting ready to enter the hunt Trail and our well we were getting ready to enter the climbing portion of Huntsville and there was these two huge boulders And I knew instinctively, these were going to be slick. And so I braced my
Traci: poles, my trekking poles were in my right hand and I braced on these and I put my foot down, but it's still dark and where I put my foot, it ended up being a root and the roots are very slick as well and my feet just went out from under me, my arm, hit the boulder that I was trying to lean again because it had slammed up and immediately my Trucking bowls flew out. Well we had
Traci: just crossed Catalan street so Somebody has probably found these by now, but they went into the stream and one of them went immediately away and the other one went under that huge Boulder that I slipped and hit my arm on it, went underneath there and we couldn't get it. And at this point I had a new, I had a trembly and they were Underdog and tractor and tractor. He's like, you know what? I haven't been using
Traci: my poles. Here you go. And I said, no, no, no, you need him. And he said no. Take them goes, you need these and he gifted me his polls right there, right? When I lost mine. So that was the second set of poles or the third set of polls that I had on this trip. And it, I mean, it was amazing. And the trail did provide for me but the trail provided all. So when I was
Traci: in, When I said to you, that I broke my toes and the top of my foot I was in Port Clinton and we had just left the Cabela's and, you know, I I was limping around there and I knew it was my plan to actually have gone an extra 10 miles that day after we had gone into this Cabela's. and I knew at that point, I wasn't gonna be able to because I could barely walk and
Traci: and I went into the Walmart there and just finishing up some resupply and I had been calling the whole afternoon to the there was there were three hotels there, I believe for two hotels. But anyway, one of them was full up and the other one wasn't having anybody stay there because of covid they were doing renovations. And there were supposed to be two people that were doing shuttling and nobody was available. One of them was out
Traci: of town and one didn't go beyond the border of that town and I thought, I don't know what I'm gonna do and I'm in the Walmart and this lady comes up to me and I had a path on. And this lady called Dana came up to me and she said, are you hiking the trail? And I said I am and I said, but I'm not hiking right now. I'm trying to find a place to stay and
Traci: she invited me To stay at her house with her family, this lady who did not know me and she took me to the doctor. The next day. She I mean she and her family went somewhere the next day and they left me in their house. She completely trusted me. And without knowing me at all, she left me in her house to have whatever I wanted to eat and drink and whatever. And she just was absolutely lovely.
Traci: Her entire family. Lovely. And so I was really, really shocked that when people say the trail provides to actually find that the trail provides like that there was another couple up in. I did get her another time up in Maine and I had to have a cortisone shot in my shoulder and I lovely couple called Gary and Kathy and They met us and they took us to the doctor. They took us all around. They treated us
Traci: to food. I mean, just absolutely brilliant. You you can't even say thank you enough to these people that do this kind of thing and you don't feel like you're even, you know, how is this happening to me? How, you know, I don't, I'm not aware of this. I mean, this is just so generous, but it's it's just amazing. And so I would say that's probably been my biggest surprise of the trail. And I would say, negatively
Traci: my largest surprise, was that doing a flip-flop? And the way that I did, it was lovely and most aspects, but when I came back down south having been so used to the social aspects of the trail, I went for nearly 10 days and didn't see a person basically, except the day hiker here. And there it was, it was really lonely. Yeah,
Traci: so that was shocking, but I know that I was way ahead of the Bubble at that point. So I think that's, you know, Um, yeah. So anyway, that was shocking.
Tayson: Yeah, it's it's a really interesting. I think sometimes for just good people, everywhere you go. I think I think even even what I would add to that too is even like internationally if you if you haven't or if other people haven't traveled internationally just always surprises me. There's just there's just really is really good people everywhere you go. So that's that's really cool. And yeah it's magic, right? So let me let's jump into a few other
Tayson: things. One thing that's always fascinated me about through hiking is the food aspect because Typically for me through hiking it's not in the cards for me and if it's gonna come in the car, it's going to be later in my life. I've just got a young family. Growing business and just different things that just don't really enable me to do that. You know, going out for 7:10 days, something like that. I can, I can, I can
Tayson: swing that, right? But but when you do that, I'm and I'm a little bit privileged that we, we sell to our members on our little trip membership foods. And so I always have Good food, you know, a company just sent us a freeze dryer. I'm going to start freeze dry. You know, I just always had a lot of good options and good food, and it's easier for me to spend money on that food, too, because it's
Tayson: a short duration of time. But you're going through hike, you have no income for three to five months, you've got, you know, and It gets harder, but you're also exerting a lot. And so to me, it's like, man, how do you keep up on maybe quality of food? How do you find that food? How do you not spend too much on food if that's a big factor? So yeah. I mean, maybe just spend five or seven
Tayson: minutes talking about what kind of food you were eating and and How, I don't know if there's if there's how you how it changed, maybe throughout the trail.
Traci: so, the food that I'm Trail is not at all reflective of what I eat in normal life. Let's just put that out there first, but I'm better or worse.
Traci: I was eating hot Tardes, just drizzling, peanut butter on them and you know, I mean you're trying to get enough calories and I I love Clif bars. I'm very unique in that. I found most people on trail after a certain number of months students, do not like bars anymore. I think they get tired of them, but I love them and the bars with peanut butter. I love. And while I was on trail, I really just had
Traci: things that had a lot of calories. And I knew that I was exerting a lot of energy and and I mean I didn't lose any weight on Trails so I must have done something. Okay, I ate at night, I ate and the Mountain House meals or whatever, the freeze dried meals and And sometimes Ramen as well.
Tayson: And that's when it gets me, is I see these like through hikers. Maybe put out videos that they're like, eating Ramen. I'm like, how are you functioning on Ramen? You know, like you can't hide 25 miles a day on Ramen. I I'm a bigger guy, right? I'm like six three. But, you know, so like I just not sustainable for me, but yeah,
Traci: a lot of people would just do like a packet of potatoes and I couldn't do that. I did try that one time and I just felt like, I was really hungry. I didn't get enough of what I needed and I felt like it was worth it to pay the money for the Mountain House meals or the, you know, refuel or Peak meals or whatever they are. And because I knew that it had everything that I needed
Traci: and it was a lot easier to think about, plus they're usually a lot lighter than the other stuff and and then the heaviest portion of what I carry for food. Was my snacks but I also I carried in addition to the Food Bag, I carried a fanny pack and that was busting at the seams with my snacks for every day. But I probably
Tayson: don't judge my hair. I those those are Lifesavers.
Traci: Yes, I love a fanny pack.
Tayson: That was like, one of the biggest things, I feel like I changed this year in my food is I refuse to take two of anything for like one day. Like all the same thing maybe the next day but like, yeah, the Clif Bar. I have one Clif bar for the day, not two or three Clif bars in the day and so just that variety and having a bunch of variety and then smaller portions, so that you
Tayson: can even have more variety for some reason, my body. Agreed at that more. And I also just I found myself wanting to eat liking and just not getting tired of my food ever, you know? And that was I got and I'm gonna talk about this on a later podcast but Um, on one of the hikes, I got pretty sick this year and I just couldn't eat anything. But one of my co-workers, one of my team members
Tayson: had some jerky and I was like the only thing that sounded good and it's like after that I came back, okay, I've got to have way more variety so that if that ever happened to me again, I I could have something in my pack at least and sort of just stealing his food all the time or trading food, you know. Anyways, but
Traci: So of a day, I would say that I had three Clif bars. I had at least every day. This is what I would eat
Tayson: military long. I think if you can if you can eat three Clif bars a day for months, on end, you are very unique, Traci
Traci: had a packet of crackers, you know cheese or peanut butter, I had two meat sticks and a thing of Eminem's and a thing of either energy jellies or energy gummies, and Generally. That was my I think that was about what I ate until night time. And then at night, I would have the freeze-dried meal and then maybe Ramen yes. So, I mean I I ate a lot
Tayson: that's you. You did it, right? You didn't lose weight. I think that's a good thing. So okay, let's jump to gear for a second and maybe just go through like what you felt like with the most critical or favorite pieces of gear that you had on the trail. Maybe list your top three or something like that.
Traci: Okay. Well I I know, I've said this before, but Ultimate. Satellites. I love my Shadowlight and and I I mean, so many people on trail would ask me about it and I would just talk to your off about it. I love that it is. I think, absolutely perfect. And the only thing that said I got myself in trouble with my pockets and pockets are danger for me because I I can still pocket. Sometimes I would
Traci: find myself stuffing like if we'd be in town and you know, we go to a convenience store or something. I shove some extra stuff in there. So I add extra weight for me for whatever reason and
Tayson: But yeah, I stretch Pockets guy in trouble and I was like
Traci: yeah and I mean even going through the whites I think I told you guys this I had to sew it up a couple times because those branches are so so thick and just poke. They ended up ripping a couple places in my my package or
Traci: just the mesh. Yeah. Everything else held up amazingly but I mean even this it was so easy to sew it up. It was it was just a quick little so here and I did it with colorful thread because you know, It looks pretty here. Yeah, no, I mean this is absolutely my favorite piece of gear and I,
Tayson: And I want one thing that Derek, Derek helped us set up this meeting, but he mentioned that the satellite were sending to you right now. I believe that you're actually not going to use that one that you're gonna continue with the one you have. Is that true?
Traci: I'm gonna continue with this one. I opted to get the larger one, so the this is the 40 45 and but, you know, it's a lot.
Tayson: I got it. Okay, I gotta stop you there for a second because we think getting out of stock on the 60s covid. The pandemic has ran, of course, particularly on our backpack stock and people people who sold to one the backpack is done. Very, very well for us and right.
Tayson: And so we the stock went through really fast but then our 60 leaders went out and there's so many people that think they need the 60 leader, but when we go out on a trip, I look around and 90% of our staff has 45 liters, you've got a 45 liter, you're doing a massive Pike, Is that big enough? I mean what did you feel about the size of it?
Traci: I really felt like it was thick enough and Like when we went through the 100-mile Wilderness and I had quite a bit of food because of course, now we had food for five days but also I'm eating a lot more than I had been. So I couldn't quite get it to roll down, but and aside from that, it was perfect for me that the entire trip. And the reason that I wanted to go with the 60
Traci: was that my husband and I are considering the PCT and and we were told that there are certain portions that you have to have a bear canister and I thought having a larger pack with allow for us to put it still in there and yeah and so that was really my only consideration on that but and so the the 60 didn't seem to fit me as well. Mine just
Tayson: That's okay. I think I think really Traci. What you're gonna do is you're gonna load up your husband's pack and stay nice and light on the trail with your 45.
Traci: No, I I did tell him. There was a couple that I met in the whites. No, sorry in Maine. And the wife, they were both older and wife really did not ever want to go on this trip at all, but her husband wanted to go on the trip. And the only way that she was gonna go with him was if he carried all the heavy stuff. So this gentleman carried, everything, he carried the tent. He carried
Traci: the cook stove, and not only that. He went and got all the water and
Tayson: Got it. Okay, so that's that's piece. Number one. Okay. What's the next couple pieces here?
