Tag Archives: she-ra

Day 5 – 4 Miles (89 miles from Mexico)

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Oh town, your seductive fast food, showers, and excesses…while we thru-hikers dream of you, it’s always a relief to return to the trail. I decided to take a nero today (a nero is hiking just a few miles into or out of town…as opposed to a zero where no trail miles are hiked), and man did my feet need it. Everytime I looked at them I would discover new blisters. No lie! My feet have some catching up to do, or I have some slowing down to do so they can catch up. You need to keep those two appendages happy…the hike depends on it.

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I think the pink toe nail polish matches the bushwacking scratches well

So I lounged in the hotel room all day, chatting with Kirk, friends and family, visiting Instagram and Facebook regularly, and catching a few movies on cable TV…something I don’t even watch at home! Wow, vacation rocks!

The first few days of my hike I refrained from turning the data on for my phone, but now I’m going to use it when I want…and today that means I’m streaming my Alt-J station on Pandora! I still can’t get over how much technology changes the trail experience, and again, It’s pretty cool.

I listened to Trail Side Radio on my walk out of town… Ratatouille again featured part of the interview he did with me last month in Bend…and I got to share the air with my good friend Allgood. Check out his podcast, he’ll hit the trail soon and will be broadcasting from the PCT. I’m looking forward to listening to his adventures as I hike north. It is kind of trippy to be featured on another podcast…

I’m barely outside of Lordsburg…my four miles took me about three miles down the highway (blah to walking on the side of a highway) and into one of the last big wide open spaces I’ll be hiking through in a while. Again I’m camped in cow range land behind a bush. I actually feel quite decadent out here. I packed out some cheddar and sour cream ruffles, the tunes are playing, and my feet are feeling good after all that rest.

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Cowboy camping behind a bush, with chips!

I don’t know how many miles I’m going to do tomorrow, or the day after for that matter. All I know is I’m going to walk. Life is good.

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The great wide open

What is hikertrash?

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When Daniel “Ratatouille” Hepokoski first contacted me because he was interested in covering the topic of “hikertrash” on his new podcast series, Trailside Radio, I was happy to oblige…trying to define hikertrash for those who aren’t hikers can sometimes be a confusing discussion. Yes, it makes sense why we self identify as dirty on a long distance trail, but Ratatouille, like others I’ve spoken to over the years, wasn’t sure he wanted to call himself trash.

Thus the podcast. What is hikertrash?

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Ratatouille will be getting on his first long distance trail, the PCT, in a few weeks, and will be attempting to continue this podcast series; an ambitious but exciting proposition. When he asked me why someone would want to call themselves hikertrash, I suggested he hike for a month and then we revisit the issue.

Take a listen to the Trailside Radio podcast:

Thanks for listening!

To expand on the podcast a bit, here are some photos detailing more about my hikertrash origin story:

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My first screen: a curtain stapled onto a picture frame from goodwill.

My first designs included bikes and a kayak for Kirk, ever the water lover.

The first designs included mostly bikes. Did I mention I love bikes?

Back in 2009 on Lint's second thru-hike of the PCT I printed my first "hikertrash" on his pack when he passed through Bend.

Back in 2009 on Lint‘s second thru-hike of the PCT I printed my first “hikertrash” on his pack when he passed through Bend.

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Kirk helped me build a screen printing press out of 95% recycled materials for 2014’s PCT Days.

Now we make a variety of products in a rainbow of colors.

Now we make a variety of products in a rainbow of colors.

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and TEMPORARY tattoos! (I love temporary tattoos)

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Hikertrash has had a good first year…2 trips to the OR Show and hikers wore our hats on the triple crown trails. Dude!

Brian and I continue to come up with new designs

Brian and I continue to come up with new designs (this one will be available soon!)

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and I’ll be gathering more design ideas on the CDT in a few short weeks

As I said, getting dirty on the trail is the big equalizer. we are all hikertrash.