Dan The Road Trip Guy
Join Dan the Road Trip Guy as he explores the adventures, memories, and life lessons of diverse guests from all walks of life. This podcast goes beyond the road to celebrate the journey of life by uncovering stories of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or simply love a good story, Dan the Road Trip Guy will leave you inspired and ready to embrace your own adventures. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
I hope you enjoy the episodes. You can find me at https://www.dannyneal.com.
Dan The Road Trip Guy
Epic Journeys: Sarah's Appalachian Trail Adventure
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Embark on an unforgettable journey with me as I explore the inspiring story of Sarah Shyers, who fulfilled her lifelong dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Stretching over 2,194 miles from Georgia to Maine, the AT serves as not just a physical challenge but a profound journey of self-discovery and resilience. Sarah shares her heartwarming experiences, from setting out with her sister to overcoming injuries, and learning invaluable life lessons about flexibility and perseverance along the way.
In this episode, we delve into Sarah's motivations, which stemmed from childhood connections and dreams sparked by her family. As she recounts navigating the challenges of the trail—from extreme weather conditions to unexpected hurdles—Sarah illustrates how these experiences profoundly shaped her. Her lessons about embracing the present, managing expectations, and recognizing the beauty of friendship along the way resonate with anyone, regardless of their hiking experience.
Listeners will gain practical insights into appropriate hiking gear, the importance of planning, and how to tackle obstacles confidently. Sarah’s engaging perspective and relatable anecdotes leave us not only inspired to explore the great outdoors but to apply these lessons of resilience and adaptability into our everyday lives.
Join us in celebrating the spirit of adventure and the wonder of the Appalachian Trail. Be sure to tune in, share the episode, and check out Sarah’s journey through her YouTube channel for more breathtaking experiences and insights!
You can find her first video at Day 1: Part 1 :Appalachian trail 2022 or by searching on heres_2_the_journey on YouTube
Welcome to Dan the Road Trip Guy. I'm your host, dan, and each week we'll embark on a new adventure, discovering memories and life lessons of our incredible guests, from everyday travelers to thrill seekers and everyone in between. This podcast is your front row seat to inspiring stories of passion, resilience and the pursuit of happiness. So buckle up and enjoy the ride. Back in November, november 28th, episode 65, I interviewed a young lady who walked the Pacific Crest Trail, commonly referred to as the PST. So you can look back and listen to that episode. But today my guest is Sarah Shires, and Sarah and I worked together at the same company and she took off a time a few years ago. We'll get to that. I don't remember exactly when it was and she chose to walk on the East Coast and walk the Appalachian Trail, and we'll refer to that as the AT during our conversation. I'm excited to. I've been wanting to get Sarah's story for quite a while and we finally connected on it back in December, and now we're going to do it. So welcome to the show, sarah.
Speaker 1:Thank you Pleasure to have you here. Tell my listeners just a little bit about who is Sarah Shires.
Speaker 2:All right, there's not much to me, but I am, as you know, a thru-hiker. I am going back to school right now for a dietetics degree, which I took quite a long break in between my schooling and I decided well, I want a college degree, so I went back. I grew up in the greater Cincinnati area in a little town called Middletown. I don't live there anymore but it's hometown to me. But if you're familiar with that, that's where JD Vance is from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, our vice president's from there.
Speaker 2:I have connections to there because I grew up in south-central Kentucky and a lot of people moved there and went to work back when the steel mills were there. Yeah, it's not that booming town anymore, but they are revitalizing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I see they're trying to bring it back. Well, it's a pleasure to have you here and we'll jump straight to it, but I always like to ask people what was your first car?
Speaker 2:My first car that I actually bought was a 2000 Chevy Impala.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, Now was that used or new? It was used it was used and what color was it?
Speaker 2:It's like a goldish tannish color yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, that's cool. Now you were telling me earlier. I asked you if you got, because in Ohio you can get your permit at 15 and a half. You told me that was not the case for you. You got it later.
Speaker 2:I did. I got it at 18. I got my license at 19. It was more of if I wanted to drive, I had to get a job, pay for everything myself, pay my way through driving school. So I decided, well, if I'm 18, I don't have to go to driving school and I'll just wait.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you go. So now Growing up, did your family, were they hikers, Before we jump into the story here? But did you grow up being a hiker?
Speaker 2:I grew up being sort of a hiker, it was more. We did a lot of car camping, with short little hiking trips while we were camping. Nothing major.
Speaker 1:Okay, so is there any? That took me to when you mentioned car camping. Is there any epic road trips in your past?
Speaker 2:there we did have quite a few road trips tell me about one oh, let's see. I don't remember specifics of certain ones, but there is one thing that always stuck with me every time we went on a road trip, we always had car trouble, broke down somewhere on the road, um. So I learned a lot of how to be flexible with that. I know I did go to New York in that Chevy Impala some while back my car was fine. We get up there and the engine starts redlining and it breaks down.
Speaker 1:Oh great. So breakdowns kind of go with Sarah, right? Yeah, yeah, maybe you just stick to hiking and forget the driving. Yeah, it's probably better for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, maybe you just stick to hiking and forget the driving. Yeah, it's probably better for me, that's good.
Speaker 1:You chose to take on the Appalachian Trail. For my listeners who don't know about that trail, tell us a little bit about it. How long is it? Where does it start? Stop?
Speaker 2:Okay, the Appalachian Trail is an East Coast trail. It starts in Georgia, ends in Maine. If you are a southbounder, you want to say it starts in Maine, ends in Georgia.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:It's about 14 states long. When I hiked it in 2022, it was 2,194 miles.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:The mileage changes every year due to rerouting, so sometimes it grows, sometimes it shrinks. Okay, I think it's at like three miles longer this year. Okay, Even when I was on the trail it expanded by like 0.3.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, okay. So you're thinking, oh, I'm almost finished, and then they go. No, it's a little bit longer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't know if I wanted to go back and hike that little section or not.
Speaker 1:Who maintains the trail?
Speaker 2:So it is mainly volunteers. So there's clubs along the Appalachian trail that it's usually older retired folks that go out every day or weekend and they each have a section and they maintain it throughout the year.
Speaker 1:That's cool. And then any idea why the trail came to be. We might have to, we might have to google search that, but do you have? Any idea?
Speaker 2:I don't. I remember that there is a trail called the long trail in vermont. It was the original white blaze um trail. So if you're not familiar with what a white blaze is, it's a little blaze, little marking on a tree or a rock that shows where the trail is. And the appalachian trail is a white blaze trail um. Other offshoots are different colors, but the long trail is the white trail, the original white trail, and it just kind of connected all the way down. So it rerouted. So the long trail is still there but now it's part of the Appalachian Trail as well?
Speaker 1:And had you done long hikes before this?
Speaker 2:No, I did not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what was the longest hike you'd ever done?
Speaker 2:So before I decided to actually go on the Appalachian trail, it was always back in like I had that plan but it wasn't like, oh, I'm going to do it this year. I think the longest I ever did was like five miles.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right.
Speaker 2:And then I was like, oh, I'm going to go hike, so I should probably prepare. So I did like a day hike that was nine miles, okay. And then the year before I did my hike I did two overnight. It wasn't overnight backpacking, it was like two or three days backpacking through Ohio. That was the only preparation I had.
Speaker 1:When you were doing those other hikes, were you typically a solo hiker.
Speaker 2:No, I usually hiked with my sister.
Speaker 1:So you decided to take on the AT. We'll call it that because I looked it up, I Googled it because I've never hiked it. I did see a sign once down in the Smokies that this was the Appalachian Trail. I do know where it's at, yeah it goes right through Cleveland's Dome. But what made you want to take it on?
Speaker 2:It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 2:My mom went to college to be a park ranger or a park naturalist. She never did go into that, but she had this little map of the Appalachian Trail and at that time it was only like a thousand miles and I would always pull it out and I'm like, oh, this is so cool. So I was like I'm going to hike that when I get older.
Speaker 1:So it's been in your mind for a long time. So you said you hiked that in 2022.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So you decided to take a break from work, and had you planned out how long it might take.
Speaker 2:I was planning on about six months. It took me seven months.
Speaker 1:Took you seven months. Okay, and where did you start? Did you go southbound or northbound?
Speaker 2:So I started in Georgia. Okay, amakula Falls, that's really hard to say.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:It's in the north east portion of the state.
Speaker 1:Okay, somebody drove you there, or yeah?
Speaker 2:So my parents took me and my sister down there to start. Okay.
Speaker 1:All right. And did you start by yourself or did your sister? Was she hiking with?
Speaker 2:you? Yeah, she started with me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did she go the whole way?
Speaker 2:No, she lasted about two weeks. I think it was about two weeks before she got an injury, got off and then came back later.
Speaker 1:So she did about a month's worth Wow okay, how many miles a day was a typical? What was a typical day?
Speaker 2:So when they, when I started out, it was about seven to eight miles.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Um. The time I hit Maine it was about a 20 miles average.
Speaker 1:Okay, you mentioned your sister got injury. Did you have any injuries along the way? Oh, yeah, oh.
Speaker 2:I had a major foot injury which I don't think I let heal properly, which flared out again later up the trail.
Speaker 1:Wow, okay, is there medical attention on the trail, or you just got to try to find your way to the nearest little clinic?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got to find your way.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:You go through towns, some areas, or you go across roads and got to find your way. Okay, Um, you go through towns, um some areas, or you go across roads and you can hitch away, hitch your way in to town.
Speaker 1:My last guest that hiked the Pacific crest trail. She talked about all the people she would meet up with, so I'm assuming during this time period you met up with a lot of other hikers.
Speaker 2:I did. The Appalachian trail is known for how many people are on there, and usually thousands of people start in the beginning. By the time you reach the end it's dwindled down to about a fourth. So I met a lot of interesting people along the way. I hiked with a few of them and I made some really good friends. So you hiked to distances with some of these people?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I assume you had to carry your own food, or are there places along the way where you can stop?
Speaker 2:Because the Appalachian Trail is up the East Coast, there's a lot of population up the East Coast and so you go through a lot of areas that you can have access to towns.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So you just plan for like three to five days' worth of food then go into town again and resupply.
Speaker 1:Okay, that injury. Did you take days off then to try to let it heal a little bit?
Speaker 2:I took two days off two days.
Speaker 1:Okay, you just pushed on, yeah. And where did that injury happen?
Speaker 2:was that like months into the hike or the time I hit virginia, so it was about a month or two in. I went home for about a week for my uncle's funeral.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And I came back and I pushed it too hard after taking a week off, and that's where I got the injury Okay.
Speaker 1:So it was like, hey, you had this momentum going and you're like I can continue on. Do you ever get scared out there?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people, animals.
Speaker 2:I would say, mostly people.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:A few times animals.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I did have like a bear following me or I always stepped on a rattlesnake. You know stuff like that, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that wouldn't be. Yeah, I've always wondered about bears because we hike my wife and I hike but I'm always like you know they tell you to make noises and stuff You'll scare them off, and I'm always kind of like I don't know if I buy into that it's only the little ones that scare away the big ones yeah they don't nothing.
Speaker 1:They realize they're bigger than you yeah, you carry your food or you find food. I assume you carried some food, yeah, and then uh, what about overnight? Are you camping on the ground or are there places to stay?
Speaker 2:So along the trail there are 250 shelters. They're like three-sided sort of. You can call them like lean-tos. You just kind of go in, make a spot and you lay down next to a bunch of people.
Speaker 1:Okay, awkward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was awkward the first time. The more you get to know people, it's just you know scoot over, I went in.
Speaker 1:Wow Okay.
Speaker 2:Because it was nice when it was like a thunderstorm or something, you didn't have to set up a wet tent, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you did carry a tent.
Speaker 2:I did carry a tent. So I did tent about half the time. I stayed in shelters. About the other half.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I assume that these shelters they have bathhouses.
Speaker 2:They do have Most of them have privies.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:There's some of them that don't, so you just got to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Take a cat hole somewhere and do your business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about showers?
Speaker 2:No, that was a luxury.
Speaker 1:Luxury.
Speaker 2:Wow, that was something you have to plan when you go into town.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you would if you went into town?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so about once a week I'd go into town, do my resupplies, take a shower, do my laundry, wash my dishes that I was carrying.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, okay, interesting. So, along the way, any big challenges that you face and you thought oh, this I'm done, yes, I'm going home.
Speaker 2:Yes, there were a few of those. One of the main challenges I faced was when I got my trail name. So a trail name is something that either you give yourself or someone gives to you, so nobody knows your real name.
Speaker 1:It's just like a nickname, so mine was Pathfinder. Okay, did you pick that?
Speaker 2:I did not. It was given to me Okay. So there's an older lady about in her 70s. I went through the Smokies right after a major snowstorm. Okay, it was very, very cold. It's like low, maybe like seven degrees.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cold for Tennessee.
Speaker 2:And she was hiking extremely slow, she was dehydrated but she would not get off the trail and so I hiked with her and it took about two days to go six miles and it was really trying for me because it was really cold and you know I was just like why do I have to do this? And you know it was a lot of mental growth for me, character growth. Well, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, just helping somebody else. That seems to me what these trail hikes are about. You know I haven't talked to Miranda earlier about hers and, listening to you, Everybody's out there to try to pull this off On the Appalachian Trail. Is that a lot of elevation change?
Speaker 2:Yes, the three trails the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Bight Trail and the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail is the hardest by elevation-wise even though it's shorter. Wow. So the equivalent elevation change over the entire trail is equivalent to hiking Mount Everest 16 times up and down.
Speaker 1:Wow, who would have even thought that? Right, you would think you know out in the Rockies or someplace would be much more difficult Weather. You mentioned the snow.
Speaker 2:How was the weather during your I hit everything from extreme cold and snow and ice to extremely wet weather and really hot dry temperatures through Virginia, yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you have enough gear? Or is this a point where you go oh my gosh, I didn't bring that. I got to go into town and get another jacket.
Speaker 2:No, I brought enough gear. I think I probably brought a little too much gear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kind of weight where you carry it. Do you know?
Speaker 2:Uh, I think with food and water I probably reached about 30, 35 pounds, Cause the more gear you shed, the more you eat as well. Um, and so your food gets really heavy.
Speaker 1:Um sure, yeah, you started in Georgia, you ended up in Maine, and how long did it take?
Speaker 2:Uh, it took me seven months, seven months.
Speaker 1:So that was what I didn't ask you when you started.
Speaker 2:I started February 18th.
Speaker 1:Okay, so February? So yeah, still a little bit cooler in the south.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But at least you could get through those more northeastern states when it's not cold, yes. And when you got to Maine, who's there to greet you? Family show up there after dropping you off in Georgia.
Speaker 2:I hiked with a guy that I met down in Tennessee. I started hiking with him Tennessee to Virginia, and I hiked with him pretty much the entire way, except for about two states in between pretty much the entire way except for about two states in between. And his parents came all the way from Georgia to pick him up, and so they picked up both of us and then they drove me to a town and a friend picked me up that lives up there.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 2:And I took some buses and some trains home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, have you stayed in contact with people that you hiked with? I have, so it's like a little family thing now, right yeah, so you finished up. What was the recuperation like?
Speaker 2:Uh, I wasn't able to walk properly. I looked like an old person for probably about six months, and my feet were swollen for about that time as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, how many pair of shoes Did you go through? More than one pair of shoes?
Speaker 2:I went through three pairs.
Speaker 1:Three pair of shoes. What brand?
Speaker 2:So I started off with boots. I don't remember the brand of them, because I had them for years before.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, they're already broken in, so I'll start with those.
Speaker 1:Probably a smart move, right.
Speaker 2:Then I switched to ultra trail runners. Okay, they were more of the tennis shoe kind of style, and my feet did not like those. So when I got to, New York, I switched to the ultra lone peaks and I absolutely love those.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, another trail runners. Yeah, you did a YouTube. I watched some, I didn't watch them all. How did that go?
Speaker 2:It was a lot of learning curves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had a lot of issues trying to upload them and everything from the trail. Yeah, Now did you cover the entire trip I? Did yeah and a lot of issues trying to upload them and everything from the trail. Yeah, now did you cover the entire trip? I did, yeah, so we'll talk about that at the end if people want to go watch those. You mentioned that there was some life changing and just some growth out of that. What's one thing you took away from that?
Speaker 2:It's not that serious Everyday life. Don't be so stressed out. Be more flexible. Flexibility was the biggest thing, because I was like a super planner, like everything had to go exactly how. You know this, this, this. But yeah, just to be more flexible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess you learn pretty quick that that schedule's kind of out.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm just going to go with the flow and take the take the hard times with a smile.
Speaker 1:Yeah, reminds me of when we used to go to Haiti and I'd show up with this list, this to-do list, and my daughter who lived there she'd look at it and she'd go Dad, we're going to get about two of those things done. Okay, stop doing these lists. And yeah, I'm sure it was kind of the same. Sounds like that was a big, what I would consider bucket list item. Mm-hmm, it was what's on your bucket list?
Speaker 2:After that I completed another bucket list item to go to India, so I got that marked off.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So I think the last thing that I really wanted to do was hike the Camino in Spain.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if that's going to happen, but it is on that list.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it will happen. We're going to keep it on Fun. Yeah, would that be the right?
Speaker 2:word yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lots of nice places to stay along the way. It looks like to me. Yeah, I don't know if I'd want to do either the Pacific Coast or the AT, so I'm not sure. Here's a question for you If you could take a road trip with anyone, living or deceased, who would it be?
Speaker 2:I think it would just be my sister.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's cool. So you're pretty close to your sister, yeah, and obviously you've talked about a lot of stuff. What are you going to drive Something?
Speaker 2:that's not going to break down, right? Yeah, something, probably with four wheel drive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you're going to go rent a car.
Speaker 2:Maybe, like, maybe one of those new Broncos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, there you go, there we go. And uh, where do you think you would go if you could just go anywhere in the us?
Speaker 2:we'll say the us I think it would just be cool to do a full road trip around the us, like a big circle wow a lap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that I can share one with you, your sister older or younger?
Speaker 2:she's younger, yeah and uh.
Speaker 1:So you guys are obviously close. And is there anything you think there's anything you'd want to do on that road trip? Is there, you know, one of those things? You know people, biggest ball of twine or anything along the way? Is there something out there you would like to see?
Speaker 2:I would really like to see Zion National Park.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, I think you all should do that and I'll encourage you to do that. You gave us a little advice, some things you learned. Is there any other advice you would give, maybe particularly to young people? You're a young person. What would you tell young people about life? I mean, you gave us a little bit there earlier. Is there anything else?
Speaker 2:I would say there's an AT AT motto that says never quit on a bad day and that kind of got me through the trail. It kind of gets me through life you know, just wait until you're having a good day so you can think clearly like do I really want to quit?
Speaker 1:Well, it's kind of like uh, you know sports stars when they're at the height of their pinnacle. Most of them know I should get out on a good day. Now I'm going to have a bad year, not the time to go out, right? So that's great advice. So tell my listeners how to find your YouTube.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:Because, you know, I think people would find it very interesting.
Speaker 2:I am on YouTube and Instagram. I need to change the name because it's very hard to find, so it's here's to the journey but it's spelled weird, so it's spell it for us. It's H E R E S underscore, the number two, underscore T, h E underscore journey spelled out and then underscore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, we'll get that in the notes and we'll try and make sure people can find it somehow and, if they want, to find you on Instagram.
Speaker 2:Same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, same thing. Okay, well, sarah, it's been a pleasure to take this little road trip with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to Dan the road trip guy. I hope you enjoyed our journey today and the stories that were shared. If you have any thoughts or questions or stories of your own, I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out to me anytime. Don't forget to share this podcast with your friends and family and help us to spread the joy of road trips and great conversations. Until next time, keep driving, keep exploring and keep having those amazing conversations. Until next time, keep driving, keep exploring and keep having those amazing conversations. Safe travels and remember you can find me on the internet at dantheroadtripguycom.
