Trail Stories - There's No Suck to Be Embraced with Bradford "Rafiki" Bartels

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.

The first two episodes of this series took us into deserts you cross with a map and a compass, and Alaska tundra a week from the nearest road. This episode is about a different kind of empty space on the map — the one most of us walk past every day without seeing the line at all. Because the impulse to look at a place and imagine a route through it doesn't need a trailhead. It doesn't even need a wilderness. Sometimes all it needs is a city. Liz "Snorkel" Thomas — a Triple Crowner and, per Outside magazine, a living legend —took the entire framework of a thru-hike downtown, inventing "urban thru-hikes" like a250-mile route across Seattle and a 100-mile "brew-through" connecting Denver's breweries. Alexandra "Sunshine" Kenin, founder of Urban Hiker SF and author of three Urban Trails guidebooks, has hiked more than a thousand public staircases in a single city— and inherited the project from Adah Bakalinsky, the woman who mapped San Francisco's stairs by hand before Google Maps existed. Along the way: why walking on pavement can be harder on your body than a mountain trail, why a route through a city might deliver more genuine adventure than a wilderness, why San Francisco is full of staircases in the first place, and how the urban route-maker's deepest cause turns out to be the same one a desert route-maker arrived at from the opposite end of the country — that a person on foot deserves to be safe. This is the series' warmest chapter: proof that the wilderness maker and the city maker are doing the same thing, and that the best routes are the ones the most people can reach. Featured routes: San Francisco Roundabout · Crosstown Trail · the Denver "brew-through"· Seattle urban thru-hike · the New England Trail Featured makers: Liz "Snorkel" Thomas ·Alexandra "Sunshine" Kenin (with Andrew Skurka & Rue McKenrick) Next time on The Route Makers — Episode 4: "The Eraser and the Gift," on what happensto a route after the map is drawn: the years of correcting, erasing, and handing it off towhoever comes next. 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 Chris "Rad" Carter is a Triple Crown thru-hiker (PCT, CDT + AT in a single calendar year), mountaineer, adventure filmmaker, and senior editor at Switchback Travel, where he runs the climbing, mountaineering, travel, and backpacking categories. Born in the United States and raised in Nairobi, Kenya by NGO parents, he came to America for college in 2014 and fell deeply in love with the country through his thru-hikes. In June 2025 he summited Denali — the highest peak in North America — as cameraman for Brandon's "Seek Your Summit" 50-highpoints record attempt. He is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, recently married, and currently training for The Shield on El Capitan. His PCT documentary is called To Measure a Mile. What's Covered in Part 2 The Seek Your Summit Project — Brandon's Record Attempt Post-Trail Depression and the Why What He Got Wrong The Kenya Trail Project Best Switchback Trip — The Haute Route in Switzerland The Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan Disaster — A Gear Review in Absentia The Roped Expedition Mindset vs. Solo Thru-Hiking Hiking Hack — Hypoxico Altitude Generator What's Next Off the Beaten Path — Two Reads Pay It Forward — PCTA Links & Resources Chris Carter — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris.cart.er Switchback Travel: https://www.switchbacktravel.com To Measure a Mile — YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscarter Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage — Alfred Lansing. Rad's current read — an unbelievable expedition story. Kon-Tiki — Thor Heyerdahl. Read on Denali. A must for adventure lovers. Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA): https://www.pcta.org Continental Divide Trail Coalition (CDTC): https://www.continentaldividetrail.org 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 Chris "Rad" Carter is a Triple Crown thru-hiker (PCT, CDT + AT in a single calendar year), mountaineer, adventure filmmaker, and senior editor at Switchback Travel, where he runs the climbing, mountaineering, travel, and backpacking categories. Born in the United States and raised in Nairobi, Kenya by NGO parents, he came to America for college in 2014 and fell deeply in love with the country through his thru-hikes. In June 2025 he summited Denali — the highest peak in North America — as cameraman for Brandon's "Seek Your Summit" 50-highpoints record attempt. He is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, recently married, and currently training for The Shield on El Capitan. His PCT documentary is called To Measure a Mile. What's Covered in Part 1 Trail Name — The Ass Tat Trailblazer's Toolkit — Household Bleach The Hiking Poll — Score: 22 The Origin — Kenya, NGOs, and America Denali vs. the Trail — What's Different The Denali Poop System The Diving Board The Talkeetna Cemetery Links & Resources Chris Carter — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris.cart.er Switchback Travel: https://www.switchbacktravel.com To Measure a Mile — YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscarter Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage — Alfred Lansing. Rad's current read — an unbelievable expedition story. Kon-Tiki — Thor Heyerdahl. Read on Denali. A must for adventure lovers. Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA): https://www.pcta.org Continental Divide Trail Coalition (CDTC): https://www.continentaldividetrail.org 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 Chris "Rad" Carter is a Triple Crown thru-hiker (PCT, CDT + AT in a single calendar year), mountaineer, adventure filmmaker, and senior editor at Switchback Travel, where he runs the climbing, mountaineering, travel, and backpacking categories. Born in the United States and raised in Nairobi, Kenya by NGO parents, he came to America for college in 2014 and fell deeply in love with the country through his thru-hikes. In June 2025 he summited Denali — the highest peak in North America — as cameraman for Brandon's "Seek Your Summit" 50-highpoints record attempt. He is based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, recently married, and currently training for The Shield on El Capitan. His PCT documentary is called To Measure a Mile. Episode Highlights The Bleach Gang From Kenya to the Triple Crown Denali — The Mountain in Context The Poop System The Diving Board The Autobahn Post-Trail Depression and What the Trails Are For Links & Resources Chris Carter — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris.cart.er Switchback Travel: https://www.switchbacktravel.com To Measure a Mile — YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chriscarter Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage — Alfred Lansing. Rad's current read — an unbelievable expedition story. Kon-Tiki — Thor Heyerdahl. Read on Denali. A must for adventure lovers. Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA): https://www.pcta.org Continental Divide Trail Coalition (CDTC): https://www.continentaldividetrail.org Connect with Hiker Trash Radio Email: mailto:[email protected] Social: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok — search Hiker Trash Radio. The full interview with Rad 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.