Trail Stories - The Youngest at the Finish Line with Kaylee Frederick

About the Guest Kaylee Frederick is a 21-year-old elite ultra-endurance athlete from Pennsylvania, currently studying biology and secondary education at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (with a minor in chemistry, an ESL certification, and a STEM endorsement) while working four part-time jobs including forklift operator, assistant manager at a frozen custard shop, CrossFit coach, and tutor. At 18 she became the youngest person ever to finish the Badwater 135. She recently won the Eastern States 100 outright — first woman ever, first to break 24 hours, finishing 90+ minutes ahead of second place. She finished 12th female in the world at the 24-Hour World Championship in France. She trains with coach Eric Kosik. She ran a five-mile warmup before this interview at 4 AM New Zealand time. Her mom hiked the Appalachian Trail in 99 days. Her trail name is Thunder Butt. Episode Highlights Thunder Butt Badwater at 18 — On Cloud Nine Eastern States 100 — First Overall, First Under 24 Hours The Pain Cave — Mile 93, Age 16 24-Hour World Championship — Walking on Purpose Running for Her Dad — and Then Not The Youngest at the Finish Line Links & Resources Kaylee Frederick — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frederick.kaylee The Line — Billy Yang documentary on Badwater 135: https://www.youtube.com/@billyyang Eastern States Trail Endurance Alliance/Association: https://www.easternstates100.com Mount Coast T1 trail shoes — Kaylee's race shoe of choice. Recently also testing the lighter, more responsive M1. Eric Kosik — Kaylee's coach since January 2024. Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. The full interview with Kaylee drops Wednesday in two parts. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For four episodes, this series followed people who look at a map and see a line that isn't there: across deserts, mountains, and cities. We saved this maker for last, because her story holds the final lesson. We first met Renee Patrick, trail name She-Ra, in Episode One, at the height of her craft: the longtime coordinator of the Oregon Desert Trail, a professional route maker who thought about the difference between a trail and a route more deeply than almost anyone. She was planning the hardest routes of her life. The next time we spoke, everything had changed. This finale tells her full arc: the architect at her peak, a life-altering diagnosis that brought her forward motion to a screeching stop, and the reinvention that followed. Because Renee is a thru-hiker, and a thru-hiker knows how to cover an impossible distance: incremental progress, one step at a time. The route maker who built some of the most remote, difficult trails in the country now wants to build the opposite: accessible routes, Camino-style trails, lines that the most people can walk. It's the perfect ending to a series about lines that never stop changing. Two episodes ago, in the city, we met the makers who bring the wilderness home. Renee, from the far end of the maker's world, arrives at the same truth: the best thing a route can do is include people. She's living proof that a maker's greatest line might be the one that lets the most people walk it. This episode is shared with Renee's blessing, and includes candid discussion of serious illness. It is, at its heart, a tribute to a route maker, and to the oldest thru-hiker wisdom there is: one step at a time, one day at a time. You can follow Renee's own writing at shera-hikes.com. If the themes in this episode resonate personally, please know that support is available. Featured route: Oregon Desert Trail (with the American Perimeter Trail and Great Western Loop referenced) Featured maker: Renee "She-Ra" Patrick (with Rue McKenrick and Andrew Skurka) This is the final episode of The Route Makers. A bonus episode — on the newest big trail in America — follows. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guest Bradford "Rafiki" Bartels is a Marine Corps veteran, backcountry guide, and the first person to thru-hike the Alaska Long Trail — a roughly 500-mile route from Seward to Fairbanks, currently under development by Alaska Trails. Born in Soldotna, Alaska, he grew up bouncing around the East Coast and served at 29 Palms before finding his way to the outdoors through volunteer work and a friend's advice to try trail runners instead of boots. He has done an AT section hike, explored the Pacific Northwest Scenic Trail, and worked as a backpacking guide on the West Coast. He is 32, based in Massachusetts, and planning to retire from thru-hiking in favor of getting 12 to 16 dogs. What's Covered in Part 2 The Trail's Political Situation The Most Beautiful Sections Why This Was His Last Thru-Hike Andrew Skurka and Doing the Research There's No Suck to Be Embraced Why the Alaska Long Trail Hiking Hack — Have Fun Off the Beaten Path — Tooth and Claw Pay It Forward — Alaska Trails Links & Resources Alaska Trails (trail organization): https://www.alaska.org/trails Alaska Long Trail — Information: https://www.alaskalongtrail.org Wes Larson — Bear biologist making bear safety and wildlife content. Rafiki's primary recommendation for anyone heading into Alaska bear country. Tooth and Claw Podcast — Bear safety and wildlife content. Rafiki's top media recommendation for pre-trail preparation on the Alaska Long Trail. Andrew Skurka — The reference for Alaska backcountry trip planning. Rafiki studied his routes and approach extensively in preparation. Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guest Bradford "Rafiki" Bartels is a Marine Corps veteran, backcountry guide, and the first person to thru-hike the Alaska Long Trail — a roughly 500-mile route from Seward to Fairbanks, currently under development by Alaska Trails. Born in Soldotna, Alaska, he grew up bouncing around the East Coast and served at 29 Palms before finding his way to the outdoors through volunteer work and a friend's advice to try trail runners instead of boots. He has done an AT section hike, explored the Pacific Northwest Scenic Trail, and worked as a backpacking guide on the West Coast. He is 32, based in Massachusetts, and planning to retire from thru-hiking in favor of getting 12 to 16 dogs. What's Covered in Part 1 Trail Name — Rafiki Trailblazer's Toolkit — A Good Puffy The Hiking Poll — Score: 33 How He Found Thru-Hiking The Trail — Overview Bears vs. Rivers Gear — I Like to Tinker Links & Resources Alaska Trails (trail organization): https://www.alaska.org/trails Alaska Long Trail — Information: https://www.alaskalongtrail.org Wes Larson — Bear biologist making bear safety and wildlife content. Rafiki's primary recommendation for anyone heading into Alaska bear country. Tooth and Claw Podcast — Bear safety and wildlife content. Rafiki's top media recommendation for pre-trail preparation on the Alaska Long Trail. Andrew Skurka — The reference for Alaska backcountry trip planning. Rafiki studied his routes and approach extensively in preparation. Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. Part 2 drops in 10 minutes. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guest Bradford "Rafiki" Bartels is a Marine Corps veteran, backcountry guide, and the first person to thru-hike the Alaska Long Trail — a roughly 500-mile route from Seward to Fairbanks, currently under development by Alaska Trails. Born in Soldotna, Alaska, he grew up bouncing around the East Coast and served at 29 Palms before finding his way to the outdoors through volunteer work and a friend's advice to try trail runners instead of boots. He has done an AT section hike, explored the Pacific Northwest Scenic Trail, and worked as a backpacking guide on the West Coast. He is 32, based in Massachusetts, and planning to retire from thru-hiking in favor of getting 12 to 16 dogs. Episode Highlights Trail Name — Mandrill, Actually It's Not the Bears. It's the Rivers. 30 Percent Road Walks and Why That's Fine Seth Holden and Homemade Bear Armor The Political Opposition — And Why He Called Them First There's No Suck to Be Embraced Why the Alaska Long Trail Links & Resources Alaska Trails (trail organization): https://www.alaska.org/trails Alaska Long Trail — Information: https://www.alaskalongtrail.org Wes Larson — Bear biologist making bear safety and wildlife content. Rafiki's primary recommendation for anyone heading into Alaska bear country. Tooth and Claw Podcast — Bear safety and wildlife content. Rafiki's top media recommendation for pre-trail preparation on the Alaska Long Trail. Andrew Skurka — The reference for Alaska backcountry trip planning. Rafiki studied his routes and approach extensively in preparation. Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. The full interview with Rafiki drops Wednesday in two parts. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In Dinosaur National Monument, Kevin Koski once scaled a thirty-foot sandstone cliff because his own map told him there was a way up. There wasn't — not a safe one. He survived it, and then he did the thing that separates a person who walks routes from a person who makes them: he took it off his map, so nobody else would follow him into it. Because a route doesn't end when the maker finishes walking it. That's when the real work starts — the years of correcting, erasing, second-guessing, and handing off. A trail is not a monument you carve once and leave standing. It's a living thing that keeps changing after its maker is gone. Rue McKenrick redraws the American Perimeter Trail every quarter and structured its nonprofit so the board can fire him — "we all own this," he says, "I just get to be the one that talks about it until I croak." Kevin "The Animal" Koski watched two strangers find a better line on his Four Corners Loop and changed his own map to match theirs. Donovan "Iceman" Rice released the Great Colorado Route to the public before he'd even proven it, calling route-making "just stitching together things that other people have done." And as this episode airs, Rice is more than 50 days into that route, deep in the high country, finding out whether the gift he gave holds up. This is the episode about letting go: the community that holds the pen, the fear of sending someone into real country on your word, and the truth every maker in this series has had to accept — that the line was never really theirs to keep. Featured routes: Great Colorado Route · Four Corners Loop · American Perimeter Trail · the "Fourth Crown Route" (Mexico–Canada) · Great Western Loop Featured makers: Kevin "The Animal" Koski · Donovan "Iceman" Rice · Rue McKenrick · Wesley "Megaman" Tils ·Andrew Skurka Next time — the series finale of The Route Makers: a maker we met in the very first episode returns to teach the last thing a route can teach, when everything changes at once. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guests Fab (from Berlin, Germany) and Fitch (from the UK) met in Australia a year ago on a group hike at Pages Pinnacle, Gold Coast — a Facebook meetup they both almost didn't attend. They are currently thru-hiking the HexaTrek, France's Grand Traverse: roughly 3,000 kilometers across the entire country, from Wissembourg to Hendaye at the Atlantic Coast. They are doing it with Billie — Fab's eight-year-old Australian kelpie cross cattle dog — on their first thru-hike as a couple. They are in Stage 4, about 1,500 kilometers in, and in the process of buying a 200-year-old farmhouse in Brittany. They post on Instagram as @FabandFitch. What's Covered in Part 2 How the Relationship Grew Fitch's Origin — Leap Before You Look Fab's Origin — A Park in Hamburg How Their Two Relationships With the Road Fit Together The Brittany Training Hike — GR 380 Would You Do It Again — Honest Answer What's Next — The Farmhouse Hiking Hacks — Two for One Off the Beaten Path — Dust on My Shoes Pay It Forward — The Sugi Project Links & Resources Fab and Fitch — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabandfitch HexaTrek — Official Website: https://www.hexatrek.com Dust on My Shoes — Peter Pinney (1952). Fitch's media recommendation — a minimalist traveler's journey from Yugoslavia to Zanzibar. The Sugi Project — Pocket Forests: https://www.thesugiproject.com Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guests Fab (from Berlin, Germany) and Fitch (from the UK) met in Australia a year ago on a group hike at Pages Pinnacle, Gold Coast — a Facebook meetup they both almost didn't attend. They are currently thru-hiking the HexaTrek, France's Grand Traverse: roughly 3,000 kilometers across the entire country, from Wissembourg to Hendaye at the Atlantic Coast. They are doing it with Billie — Fab's eight-year-old Australian kelpie cross cattle dog — on their first thru-hike as a couple. They are in Stage 4, about 1,500 kilometers in, and in the process of buying a 200-year-old farmhouse in Brittany. They post on Instagram as @FabandFitch. What's Covered in Part 1 Trail Name — No Trail Names (Yet) Trailblazer's Toolkit — Two for One The Hiking Poll — Fab: 53, Fitch: 47 How the HexaTrek Happened Day 62 — The Near-Quit The Hexadog — What They Didn't Expect Hiking With Billie — Joy and Cost Links & Resources Fab and Fitch — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabandfitch HexaTrek — Official Website: https://www.hexatrek.com Dust on My Shoes — Peter Pinney (1952). Fitch's media recommendation — a minimalist traveler's journey from Yugoslavia to Zanzibar. The Sugi Project — Pocket Forests: https://www.thesugiproject.com Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. Part 2 drops in 10 minutes. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Appalachian Trail is more than a footpath - it’s a living piece of American history. Stretching over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine, the A.T. winds through some of Virginia’s most beautiful and rugged landscapes. But have you ever wondered how this legendary trail came to be, and who the dreamers, builders, and hikers were that shaped it? We’re hiking through history with someone who knows the Appalachian Trail like few others do. My friend, Mills Kelly, is a historian, archivist, podcast host, lifelong hiker, and author of the new book, A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail. His book captures the A.T.’s history, not just as a collection of facts and dates, but as a human story about purpose, adventure, and our search for meaning in the mountains. Mills shares fascinating stories from the trail’s early days and how it has changed over the past century. And when you think about how far we’ve come - from hikers in wool suits carrying canvas packs filled with fresh produce, to today’s ultralight gear and freeze-dried meals - it’s amazing to see how the trail has evolved right alongside us. Mills reminds us that the A.T. wasn’t built for heroic end-to-end treks, but for ordinary people to breathe easier and feel a little wilder for a few hours or a few days. That simple idea still shapes lives, towns, and trail culture across Virginia and beyond. The story of the Appalachian Trail is as much about the people and their experiences as it is about the path beneath their feet. So join us as we hike back through time on the world’s most iconic long-distance trail. Let’s Go! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

About the Guests Fab (from Berlin, Germany) and Fitch (from the UK) met in Australia a year ago on a group hike at Pages Pinnacle, Gold Coast — a Facebook meetup they both almost didn't attend. They are currently thru-hiking the HexaTrek, France's Grand Traverse: roughly 3,000 kilometers across the entire country, from Wissembourg to Hendaye at the Atlantic Coast. They are doing it with Billie — Fab's eight-year-old Australian kelpie cross cattle dog — on their first thru-hike as a couple. They are in Stage 4, about 1,500 kilometers in, and in the process of buying a 200-year-old farmhouse in Brittany. They post on Instagram as @FabandFitch. Episode Highlights How They Met — Pages Pinnacle Day 62 — The Factory Pontoon The Hexadog — Designing a Thru-Hike Around a Dog Billie — Joy and Cost Fab's Origin Story — Walking After Loss The Couple on the HexaTrek What's Next — A 200-Year-Old Farmhouse in Brittany Links & Resources Fab and Fitch — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabandfitch HexaTrek — Official Website: https://www.hexatrek.com Dust on My Shoes — Peter Pinney (1952). Fitch's media recommendation — a minimalist traveler's journey from Yugoslavia to Zanzibar. The Sugi Project — Pocket Forests: https://www.thesugiproject.com Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. The full interview with Fab, Fitch, and Billie drops Wednesday in two parts. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it takes 60 seconds and makes a real difference. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.