The Guidebook

Welcome back to Season 1 of The Guidebook ! I'm your host Rachel. This here episode 4 features Anne “Scrappy” Baker (@ ennakrek ). + Anne has hiked the Wind River Travers, the Teton Crest Trail, the Sheltowee Trace Trail, parts of the Appalachian Trail and Mountains to Sea Trail, and completed the PCT in sections. She’s a PhD candidate too! + Anne wrote an article for The Trek called “ Post Trail...

This episode features Aaron Owens Mayhew. Aaron is a registered dietician and the creator of Backcountry Foodie! Aaron and her husband, Chris, live in a van they custom designed and built themselves. + We chat about how Aaron got started backpacking, thruhiking misadventures, how Aaron became a nutritionist and used those skills to create the Backcountry Foodie, the van that Aaron and her husband...

Our guest this week is Amanda aka @ tidelinetoalpine on Instagram! + Amanda has lived in a van for 6 years! She thru-hiked the PCT SOBO in 2018, Hiked the Washington section of the PCT in 2019 NOBO, and she’s hiked the Sunshine Coast Trail 3 times. Amanda is a climber, photographer, and writer too. She travels everywhere with her dog Frank who has summited over 60 peaks with her. She created @ wal...

Our LIVE guest this week is Britany aka @ britanyinwanderland ! + Brit is the founder of @ 11thessential and a part-time road traveler who is building out a van with an incredible story. Brit is proof that stewardship matters and that a fun car camping adventure can be achieved in just about any vehicle. + I started following Brit for her stewardship promotion with 11th Essential and I stayed for...

Nicholas thruhiked or LASHed for three consecutive hiking seasons and since then has settled down to have a family in Maine. He's hiked the AT, PCT, and a portion of the CDT. I started following Nicholas for his simple beginner’s film photography tricks! On this episode we’ll be chatting about film photography during a thruhike, completing three thruhikes in three years, and how your thoughts abou...

Our guest this week is Allison Williams aka @sizzlemayfield and @19hourswithsizzle! She has worked with @the_sca via @americrops, worked in land management and forest service, gone on an adventure with @nolsedu, and is a yogi. I can’t wait to chat with...

This episode features Tyler Lau, trail name: The Prodigy (@thehikingprodigy). He’s hiked over 8,000 miles in his lifetime including the Pacific Crest Trail, the John Muir Trail, and the Colorado Trail. He is one of 9 people to have completed a Calendar...

This episode features Tyler Lau, trail name: The Prodigy (@thehikingprodigy). He’s hiked over 8,000 miles in his lifetime including the Pacific Crest Trail, the John Muir Trail, and the Colorado Trail. He is one of 9 people to have completed a Calendar Year Triple Crown and the first person of color to do so. He is an active advocate for conservation and diversity in the outdoors.

Kyle O'Grady is the host of Trail Tales and the creator of Kyle Hates Hiking! He's thru-hiked the Vermont Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail. Kyle has also completed the NH48 and the ADK46! In this LIVE episode (recorded on our Instagram), we're...

This episode is a seriously jam-packed hour. In the first half of the episode, we talk about how Val got into backpacking and trail building. About halfway through the episode, Val begins sharing stories from his hikes in Armenia and Georgia! His...

We talk about my first year of freelancing, coming home from a thruhike with an empty bank account, fear of failure, rolling with the punches, debt and affording thruhiking, spending fasts, sacrifice, regrets, Instagram and thruhiking, preconceived notions of thruhiking, and having to make the decision not to complete your thruhike.

This week’s episode features a badass thruhiker who was on the AT at the same time as me. She hiked the AT in two LASH segments and I’ve interviewed one person from each of her tramilies! I’m so glad we got to connect. She had so much advice to pass on that I’m definitely going to implement in my own life. Tessa hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Long Trail, and the PCT. We talk about how it felt to...

In this episode we’re discussing thru-hiking as a total beginner, the divorce that sparked his thru-hike, why he chose the AT over the PCT, getting a job as an Alaskan Tour Guide, being a gay man on trail in 2017, giving yourself permission to ask for help, and returning home from a thru-hike to live with his parents.

I talked to Hell Yeah for this episode. We discuss his two AT SOBO thruhike attempts and their differences, trail hair, gear, and coming home from a thruhike. We also trade trail stories. It’s good to be back! We have music!! Do you love it? Let me know! I’d love to hear from you. DM me on insta @trailnamehere, message me on facebook at facebook.com/trailnamehere, or shoot me an email at trailname...

In this interview we talk about Starting your first thru-hike with a partner, the logistics of bike packing, and the differences between thru-hiking and bike packing.

In this episode we talk about Katy’s 52 hike challenge, redefining hiking, plastic, and life as a social media manager. For this episode we sat out in Katy’s backyard by a little fountain so you may hear that in the background.

This is the second part of a two part episode with the Boston Mule! Go back and listen to the first episode if you haven’t already! We start this episode by discussing the use of explicit language. Later, we talk about coming home from the AT, asking for help, and prepping for his second thruhike. We did this interview right on the side of the Appalachian Trail, so there were some interruptions fr...

We touch on topics like mental health, social media, and working in the service industry. We also talk about starting life over at age 40 and the many trails that Jesse has done so far. This is a two part episode, be sure to listen to part 2!! Here’s where Jesse’s writing will be featured! https://americanwildmagazine.com/

This episode features Gabby Sales. Gabby reached out to me through Instagram! We talked about hiking by yourself for the first time, the 52 Hike Challenge, getting pricked by a cactus, finding yourself, and using hiking to help with your mental health. Gabby mentions a guide she wrote for beginner hikers, you can check that out here: http://from1girlto1world.com/2019/02/05/solo-hiking-the-benefits...

In this episode, Shutterbug and I talk about coming home from a thru-hike, wilderness therapy guiding, and mourning the loss of someone while on a thru-hike. Please bear with me, the sound quality this week is not great but it will get better next episode! Stay tuned through the end of the interview to hear a mini life update from me and check out this link if you want to learn more about Terra:

On this episode, Spencer and I compare NOBO vs. SOBO; he tells me what it was like to have a girlfriend and a dog at home during his hike; we also discuss coming back to our nuanced society and leaving the corporate world. "The only limitation was how much daylight there was."

Hardhat and I talk about the time his food was stolen by a bear, coming home from the trail, Flip-Flopping, and so much more. "When I decided it was time to leave, I used the AT as something to leave to. Instead of just leaving and it was exactly what I needed."

Rachael and I talk about returning to ‘real life’ after trail, our hardest days on trail, and everything in between. “Now it’s like, you know how to dial in to ‘You can do this girl! Look at all you’ve done!’ and that’s what I started telling myself, even towards the end!”

In this short bonus, you'll hear what didn't fit into Devin's episode: her trail name story, her plans for the PCT this year, why tangents are actually important, hiking with a group, saying goodbye to tramily members, and why she chose to change her trail name. It's a packed 20 minutes!

Ashley and I talk about Giardia, Trail Names, becoming a rafting guide, community, chafe cars, and canyons. "Backpacking... there's just something, like, your whole heart is just there."