#189 - Teton Crest Trail Lessons and a Failed Mount Rainier Attempt

In today’s video, I talk with Myllene about how she ended up hiking the Teton Crest Trail after her friend Dan planned the permits and logistics, and why she now prefers less research and fewer expectations after learning on the PCT that real experiences rarely match pre-hike hype. She shares how through-hiking built confidence and reduced overthinking, but also raised new concerns like proper food storage in grizzly country, where she still hopes to finally see a grizzly. She describes how the TCT’s constant views and abundant wildlife—especially pikas—made it one of her favorite hikes, while shorter mileage days felt both relaxing and occasionally boring. We also cover her growing interest in mountaineering, including climbs of Adams and Baker, an attempted Rainier summit stopped by altitude sickness and group issues, and the humbling value of turning back. She also mentions trying a 50K trail race and wanting to learn skiing and mountain biking.📲 MY SOCIALS📸 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chadahooche_/📸 TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@chadahooche_?lang=en🎙️ Podcast → https://open.spotify.com/show/4uqC8SiipEHirRPPOACQCX━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⛰️ MY COMPLETE OUTDOOR GEAR LIST → https://app.rockporch.com/prflink/chadahooche_━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I discovered my YouTube channel had been hijacked during a Sunday around 12:30, renamed “Ripple Foundation,” and used to run a Brad Garlinghouse/Ripple crypto livestream with a QR code asking viewers for money, even though I’ve never talked about crypto. The hack started after I communicated with what I thought was BetterHelp about a sponsorship and clicked a link to “Impact Radius” to share analytics by logging in with Google/YouTube; soon after, I was locked out of Gmail and everything tied to “Sign in with Google.” After noticing the channel takeover, I tweeted @TeamYouTube, used YouTube’s hacking/chatbot report flow, and submitted forms while fearing termination. The channel was eventually terminated for guidelines, then restored after I reset Google security, re-did 2FA/recovery options, and worked through YouTube support, getting everything back in about three days and sharing lessons to prevent phishing and secure accounts.📲 MY SOCIALS📸 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chadahooche_/📸 TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@chadahooche_?lang=en🎙️ Podcast → https://open.spotify.com/show/4uqC8SiipEHirRPPOACQCX━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⛰️ MY COMPLETE OUTDOOR GEAR LIST → https://app.rockporch.com/prflink/chadahooche_━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

In this episode, I talk with endurance athlete and speaker Croix Sather about how he went from never running to running over 2,000 miles (nearly 3,000) across America, completing a marathon a day for 100 straight days at 40 while speaking publicly after each run. We discuss how his carpentry upbringing shaped his work ethic, how mindset and “manifesting” influenced his life, and what makes the Badwater solo self-contained Death Valley crossings so challenging, including pushing a supply cart in extreme heat. Croix recounts returning at 55 to reclaim his solo unsupported Death Valley record, making it 42 miles in 124 degrees before severe chest pain and a frightening recovery that left him in ongoing cardiac testing. He shares how that experience brought peace and shifted his goals toward humor-infused motivational speaking, fitness, business growth, and his message: “Don’t let your dream die.”━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━💥 CROIX'S LINKS → https://www.croixsather.com/→ https://www.instagram.com/croixsather/━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📲 MY SOCIALS📸 Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chadahooche_/📸 TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@chadahooche_?lang=en🎙️ Podcast → https://open.spotify.com/show/4uqC8SiipEHirRPPOACQCX━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⛰️ MY COMPLETE OUTDOOR GEAR LIST → https://app.rockporch.com/prflink/chadahooche_

Today I explain how finishing a 100-mile run in 2022—something I trained for and obsessed over for years—was incredible, yet left me feeling emptier than ever afterward, which made me realize the mountains won’t fix my internal problems. I talk about how “escape to the mountains” culture (especially on social media) can turn into contrived checklists, and how Colorado peak-bagging often feels like a constant competition, even though it can also sharpen skills. I use my 14er journey (including a day on Culebra Peak) to argue for thinking in terms of opportunity cost and an 80/20 mindset instead of chasing endless arbitrary goals like 13ers. I also describe how some thru-hikers fall into a trail-vs-real-life misery cycle, why the real work is internal (books, therapy, friends), and how I’m pivoting after the fourteeners toward hunting, new mental challenges, and teaching others—because the mountain won’t fix your marriage, your relationships, or your self-worth.📲 Socials --Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chadahooche_/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chadahooche_?lang=en⛰️ Gear Lists --My Outdoor Gear Lists | https://app.rockporch.com/prflink/chadahooche_00:00 100 Miles and Empty01:08 Mountains as Escape02:17 Fourteeners and Goals03:32 Contrived Peak Bagging06:02 Colorado Comparison Culture09:19 Opportunity Cost Mindset10:27 Thru Hiking Escape Cycle14:36 Do the Inner Work16:19 What Comes After Fourteeners17:33 Hunting as New Challenge20:51 Teaching and Sharing Adventures22:23 Mountains Cannot Fix You

Nick hosts The Contractor’s Edge podcast with guest Chad Lubinski to share how contractors can use content to grow credibility, leads, and community by acting early on trends, similar to how Chad grew by repurposing TikToks into Instagram Reels. They emphasize YouTube as a long-tail, evergreen platform driven by keyword research (using vidIQ) and Facebook groups as a highly targeted “captured audience” where consistent, value-first participation builds trust and referrals. They discuss using Instagram mainly for personal brand and potential brand deals, and recommend tools like Descript, vidIQ, ChatGPT, and Canva to speed editing, captions, thumbnails, titles, and repurposing long-form videos into Shorts/Reels and blogs. They stress commitment, consistency, strong hooks and matching thumbnails to reduce early drop-off, and selective A/B testing once view volume is sufficient.---My Socials---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

On his third appearance on the PB in Mountains podcast, Cameron Dorn explains how reading Into Thin Air inspired him to start mountaineering, beginning with a guided climb of Mount Rainier after college despite having no prior crampon experience. He recounts his first Denali attempt in 2021 as a two-person, self-supported expedition that ended when his sled slid at 10,000 feet and his thoracic spine (T5–T9) went out of place, prompting a responsible self-evacuation amid bad weather and limited food. Cameron describes returning to Denali on a guided trip, how the right team and logistics (food, rules, manpower, fixed-line efficiency, and experienced leadership) increased safety and success, and details the exposed “Autobahn” traverse above 17,000 feet. He also describes a crevasse fall and self-extrication, and closes with lessons on humility, gratitude, and doing hard things sooner rather than later.-- Cameron's Links -- https://www.instagram.com/dorncameron/---My Socials---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 00:00 Pre Show Setup01:25 Cameron Dorn Intro01:44 Rainier Origin Story03:35 Early Adventures Mindset04:39 Denali First Attempt06:37 Turning Back Lessons09:24 Facing Camp 10 Again11:41 Why Go Guided13:44 Guides Food Weather Edge16:24 Team Trust Dynamics17:09 Tent Team Dynamics17:38 Autobahn Traverse Explained19:27 Gear and Step Kicking20:17 Mindset in the Tent21:53 Guides and Ego24:28 Heavy Loads and Attitude25:07 Preparation and Karma27:56 Crevasse Fall Story30:45 Gratitude After Returning33:02 Do Hard Things Now34:19 Closing and Where to Find

Today I explain why I canceled the Tahoe Rim Trail (TRT) thru-hike and were I'm pivoting to next while urging listeners to follow what excites them and avoid slogging through plans out of sunk cost.-- My Socials --Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chadahooche_/?hl=enTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chadahooche_?...Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4uqC8SiipEHirRPPOACQCX?si=d0832657018b451a00:00 Canceling the Thru Hike00:44 Why the TRT Plan01:37 Training for 14ers05:03 Weather Window Changes06:14 Dread and FOMO07:20 Choosing Peaks Instead09:07 Canceling and Relief10:21 Burnout from Thru Hiking12:20 Shared Adventures Next15:51 Sunk Cost Lesson17:32 Find Your Chapter18:53 Wrap Up and Thanks00:00 Canceling the Thru Hike00:44 Why the TRT Plan01:37 14ers Summer Priority05:03 Weather Window Changes06:14 Dread and FOMO07:20 Choosing Peaks Instead09:07 Canceling and Relief10:21 Burnout From Thru Hiking11:49 New Chapter Shared Trips15:30 Sunk Cost and Obligation17:32 Find What Fires You Up18:53 Wrap Up and Thanks

Today I rank the worst parts of hiking Colorado 14ers. ---My Socials---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Today I rank tge common hiking and backpacking pains from S (most painful) to D (least). ---My Socials---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Choosing your first Colorado 14er can make or break your love for these majestic peaks. This video ranks the best beginner-friendly 14ers from S tier to D tier, helping you find the perfect starting point for your next outdoor adventure. As someone who has hiked 40 of Colorado's 59 14ers, I'll guide you through each mountain, starting with Mount Sherman and touching on Mount Elbert, to ensure you have an incredible hiking experience. ---My Socials---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠