The Guidebook

08/09/2020

STAY TUNED
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Hey y’all, I want to thank you for your patience as of late and for all of our new Patreon members! I’m so excited to see our little community growing!
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You might have noticed I haven’t posted any new episodes in a bit....
Amazingly my freelance business () has grown exponentially in the past six months. This is both amazing and overwhelming. I’ve been overbooked and bring out for a month straight and there really no end in sight.
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Sadly, the podcast doesn’t quite make enough money yet to prioritize it over my paying clients, so I’m currently trying to edit when I can to get more new episodes out ASAP.
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I miss it and I miss having weekly conversations with all of you!
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We’ll be back super soon, I promise! In the meantime, I hope you’re staying safe and still getting some fresh air. ✌🏻

10/07/2020

I was supposed to release the first part of my chat with yeserday.
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Well .fm won’t let me upload anything and isn’t responding to service tickets due to high volume so I can’t upload it right now (see my stories for more detail).
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Since I can’t post the whole episode right now, check out the stories for some previews!! I had so much fun chatting with Tip Tap.
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Often I think we conflate the things we see on YouTube with someone who is fearless (even though she talked about it in her videos) and maybe even close to perfect. In reality fear, identity struggles after trail, post trail grief, and the search for the perfect life plan are a big part of the mental side of thruhiking.
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I love that Elina and I got to talk about all of those things and more. Stay tuned. This was supposed to be a 2 part episode (it was pretty long) but I’ll most likely combine the two for one hour+ episode next week. I’ll let you know when the episode gets on the air. Thanks for being patient and loyal, friends!

02/07/2020

Welcome back to Season 1 of ! I’m your host Rachel (aka ). This here episode 4 features Anne “Scrappy” Baker ().

Anne has hiked the Wind River Travers, the Teton Crest Trail, the Sheltowee Trace Trail, parts of the Appalachian Trail and Mountains to Sea Trail, and completed the PCT in sections. She’s a PhD candidate too!

Anne wrote an article for called “Post Trail Depression: It’s Not What You Think” in 2019 and I immediately reached out to her to talk. I was so curious about her research because at the time I had just launched my Post Trail Depression survey and decided to write a book about Post Trail Depression (it’s still in the works).

This interview is more than just a talk about post trail depression, though. We also discussed reconciling the person you are on trail with the person you are at home, how thruhiking can have the same effects on the human body as drug addiction, the thruhiking community, working toward her PhD, and working in the US mental healthcare system.

Anne is incredibly smart, so relatable, and a great gear reviewer (check her out on the Trek!). I hope you’ll be able to relate to this episode and maybe put some thought into your feelings about your thruhike and yourself.

Find this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Please please subscribe and give us a quick review! Or share it with a friend!

PS I did finally sell that saxophone! A college freshman studying jazz performance bought it from me and he uses it every day, happily.

02/07/2020

You can now support the guidebook through Anchor! If you love the show, consider a small monthly donation :)

https://anchor.fm/theguidebook/support

The Guidebook is raw conversations with risk-takers about adventure, work, life, and the emotions behind it all. We’re unveiling the challenges and joys of adventure to inspire you to TAKE THE RISK.

26/06/2020

New episodes return July 2, 2020!!

Hi, friends! Thanks for listening to podcasts featuring Black voices outside during June. I hope you’ve all been taking action and educating yourselves on the civil rights movement happening in the US right now.

I have 12 (!!) full episodes in the back log that were recorded over the past 6 months and I’m so excited to share them with you.

Over the next 12 weeks I’ll be releasing full episodes every Thursday around 5pm ET! You can look forward to some casual trail chats, an interesting episode about Post Trail depression, the amazing journeys of some vanlifers, YouTubers, and so much more.

I’ve had incredibly meaningful conversations thanks to Instagram and all of you. I want to thank you again for being here ❤️

I’ll see you next week with an all new full episode!

PS: I will be rebranding Trail Name Here soon. You’ll hear more about that over on . I hope you’ll stick with me through this transition and maybe find something valuable in it too!

14/05/2020

This episode features Aaron Owens Mayhew. Aaron is a registered dietician and the creator of ! Aaron and her husband, Chris, live in a van they custom designed and built themselves.
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We chat about how Aaron got started backpacking, thruhiking misadventures, how Aaron became a nutritionist and used those skills to create the Backcountry Foodie, the van that Aaron and her husband Chris designed and built together, and starting a small business together. Aaron also gives great tips for living vanlife with your dog!
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This episode was recorded pre-COVID-19 so quick update on Aaron and Chris’s status… Aaron and Chris have traveled in their van back to Florida to park in the driveway of some family members to shelter in place safely. They’re pretty bummed because, as you’ll hear in the episode they were working on choosing a place to plant roots and begin phase two of their business. They’re incredible entrepreneurs and I know they’ll get through this.
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Support them by checking out their platform and subscribing! Plus, if you want a DISCOUNT on Backcountry Foodie’s AMAZING ultralight recipes platform, go to backcountryfoodie.com/friends and enter the code “The Guidebook” for 20% off of their service!
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You can support The Guidebook by sharing this show with someone you think might like it! You can also leave a review, rate the show, and subscribe on your favorite podcast player. If you have a dollar or a few to spare, please consider donating to the show at paypal.me/trailnamehere.
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As always THANK YOU for listening! See you next Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 2pm with a LIVE episode right here on instagram.

05/05/2020

JOIN US ON THURSDAY 5/7/2020 AT 7PM EDT right here on Instagram!
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Our guest this week is Amanda aka !
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Amanda has lived in a van for 6 years! She thru-hiked the PCT in 2018 and the Sunshine Coast Trail in 2017. Amanda is a climber, photographer, and writer too. She travels everywhere with her dog Frank, who makes the best facial expressions. She created to share more about backpacking with dogs.
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Amanda’s instagram is full of truly honest and gritty accounts of her travels, the people she’s encountered, the things she’s learned, and the mental stuff she’s working through and I love that. Her honesty is really why I started following her. Plus, she shares adorable pics of her dog on her stories and in her feed!
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We’ll be talking to Amanda about her choice to live in a van and some things she’s learned over the past 6 years of living in a van. Plus, we’ll touch on adventure travel with a dog! I hope we’ll get to talk about climbing too, but let’s see where this leads us! I hope you’ll be able to join us!
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If you can’t make it to Thursday’s LIVE episode, it’ll be posted to our feed on Saturday! You’ll be able to find it UNEDITED on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts just like our other episodes.
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If you love the show, please share it with a friend!! You can also donate to the show at the link in our bio so that we can keep pumping out these extra, fun episodes!
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SEE YOU THURSDAY!

27/04/2020

JOIN US ON THURSDAY 4/30/2020 AT 6PM EDT right here on Instagram!
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Our guest this week is Britany aka !
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Brit is the founder of and a part time road traveler who is building out a van with an incredible story. Brit is proof that stewardship matters and that a fun car camping adventure can be achieved in just about any vehicle.
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I started following Brit for her stewardship promotion with 11th Essential and I stayed for her dope captions and adventures. We’ll be talking about her recently acquired van, the 11th Essential, and her adventures in part time road travel!
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If you can’t make it to Thursday’s LIVE episode, it’ll be posted to our feed on Friday! You’ll be able to find it UNEDITED on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts just like our other episodes.
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If you love the show, please share it with a friend!! You can also donate to the show at the link in our bio so that we can keep pumping out these extra, fun episodes!
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SEE YOU THURSDAY!

22/04/2020

Cannot wait until we can start making episodes in this rig! 😍

Proud sponsor of The Guidebook mobile studio.

21/04/2020

JOIN US ON THURSDAY 4/23/2020 AT 6PM EDT right here on Instagram!
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Our guest this week is Nicholas Reichard aka !
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Nicholas attained his triple crown in three consecutive years and since then has settled down to have a family in Maine.
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I started following Nicholas for his simple beginner’s film photography tricks! On this episode we’ll be chatting about film photography during a thruhike, completing three thruhikes in three years, and how your thoughts about thruhiking change over time (especially after having a kid!).
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If you can’t make it to Thursday’s LIVE episode, it’ll be posted to our feed on Friday! You’ll be able to find it UNEDITED on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts just like our other episodes.
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If you love the show, share it with a friend!! You can also donate to the show at the link in our bio so that we can keep pumping out these extra, fun episodes!
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SEE YOU THURSDAY!

14/04/2020

This episode features Tyler Lau, trail name: The Prodigy (). He’s hiked over 8,000 miles in his lifetime including the Pacific Crest Trail, the John Muir Trail, and the Colorado Trail. He is one of 9 people to have completed a Calendar Year Triple Crown and the first person of color to do so. He is an active advocate for conservation and diversity in the outdoors.

We talked for over an hour and I split our conversation into two parts. This is the second part. In this portion of my conversation with Prodigy we delve into more feelings. This is a humble, determined, human conversation and I’m so glad we got to make it happen! We talk about:

+Never wanting to thruhike again when he got home
+PTSD from the CYTC
+Going back to work after his CTYC
+Deciding to try thruhiking again
+Losing yourself to thruhiking
+Reminding you that the trail is about the people
+Post trail depression
+Crying at ’s short film
+Recapturing the feelings of trail that you missed
+The importance of volunteering after a thruhike

Consider doing volunteer work after your thurhike to combat depression (and stay in shape)!

If you want to hear about the ups and downs of podcasting and the motto I’m trying to live by, stay through the end for a bonus clip!

I am so grateful to Prodigy for coming on for this episode. This is the content I LIVE for and I hope you love it too.

If you loved this episode, please support the show. You can share, rate, subscribe, or review the show for FREE which is a huge help to us. If you really really loved it and want more episodes, you can donate to PayPal.me/trailnamehere or click the link in our bio. Every cent that is donated goes to the server fees to get the show from my computer to your device. It costs me over $200 per year and if every listener donated just $1 it would be completely covered. Advertising only covers about 1/8th of the show’s fees so far, not including the time I spend creating the show.

Thank you SO MUCH for being here. I’m humbled and grateful to have you all here listening.

13/04/2020

JOIN US ON THURSDAY 4/16/2020 AT 7PM EDT right here on Instagram!
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Our guest this week is Allison Williams aka and !
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She has worked with via , worked in land management and forest service, gone on an adventure with , and is a yogi. I can’t wait to chat with her about all of her varied experiences!
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I’ve been following Allison on Instagram ever since I first thought I might want to work outside more. She is sunshiney and almost always has something funny or cheer up worthy in her stories. I love that she’s always supporting her community too. Follow her for some sunshine, work life, and inspo!
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If you can’t make it to Thursday’s LIVE episode, it’ll be posted to our feed on Friday! You’ll be able to find it UNEDITED on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts just like our other episodes.
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If you love the show, consider sharing it with a friend or donating to the show at PayPal.me/trailnamehere so that we can keep pumping out these extra, fun episodes!
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SEE YOU THURSDAY!

12/04/2020

This episode features Tyler Lau, trail name: The Prodigy (). He’s hiked over 8,000 miles in his lifetime including the Pacific Crest Trail, the John Muir Trail, and the Colorado Trail. He is one of 9 people to have completed a Calendar Year Triple Crown and the first person of color to do so. He is an active advocate for conservation and diversity in the outdoors.

In this episode, we get deep. We talked for over an hour and I split our conversation into two parts. This is the first part.

We’re talking about:
+How it feels to complete a CYTC
+Why it meant so much to him to do a CYTC
+How comparison and expectations will hinder your thruhike
+How the trail community really makes the hike what it is and why our community needs to step up right now in this time of global crisis
+How Each thruhike is unique
+How technology and social media affected his CYTC
+Hikers having to cancel their plans because of the pandemic
+How Prodigy got into backpacking and conservation in the first place
+Becoming an advocate and putting yourself out there
+The uphill battle of Instagram
+Backlash in the media of outwardly identifying as POC alongside a big accomplishment
+Access to the outdoors
+The privilege of thruhiking

Prodigy shares wisdom, opinion, and feelings in this extremely candid episode. He advocates and elaborates. He tells us why and how we can be a better community from his perspective. Prodigy has offered to be someone to talk to about quitting your hike. If you’re struggling with this, feel free to reach out to him via Instagram DM.

I am so grateful to Prodigy for coming on for this episode. This is the content I LIVE for and I hope you love it too.

If you loved this episode, please support the show. You can share, rate, subscribe, or review the show for FREE which is a huge help to us. If you really really loved it and want more episodes, you can donate to PayPal.me/trailnamehere or click the link in our bio.

11/04/2020

Did you miss our live interview with Kyle? Catch it on the feed while you wait for our new episode to drop:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/live-kyle-ogrady/id1448935298?i=1000471175842

Log in to your Buzzsprout account.

06/04/2020

JOIN US LIVE ON APRIL 9, 2020 AT 5:30PM EDT RIGHT HERE ON !
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This week’s LIVE guest is Kyle O’Grady a.k.a. Nor Nar. You might remember, I went on his podcast, over the winter! Since we last spoke, Kyle has also started a Youtube channel called ! Kyle thruhiked the AT in 2018 (much faster than me).
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We’ll be talking about thruhiking (of course), his trail name story, starting a podcast, starting a Youtube channel, and life!! Check it out for some laughs and pandemic free chit chat.
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If you can’t make it to the LIVE episode, don’t worry! I’ll be posting it UNEDITED on the podcast feed so you can listen later. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play.
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If you’re loving these LIVE episodes, consider helping out by following The Guidebook on Instagram, subscribing on your fave podcast platform, rating, or reviewing the show.
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You can donate to the show at paypal.me/trailnamehere or through the link in our bio.
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HAVE QUESTIONS FOR ME OR KYLE? Drop ‘em below in the comments or ask us in our stories and we’ll answer them during the show!

30/03/2020

JOIN US ON THURSDAY 4/2/2020 AT NOON EST!
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What’s up fam?! I have some EXCITING news for ya! The Guidebook is going LIVE.
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Crack open a nice beverage and chit chat with us via Instagram LIVE right here on !
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We’ll be answering your questions about backpacking, vanlife, freelancing, the pandemic, and LIFE. You can ask us questions in our stories the day before so be sure to follow Sarah () and me () if you have something in mind. 😉
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I literally cannot make podcast episodes fast enough lately! With so much going on in the world and so much time on our hands, Sarah and I decided a LIVE episode via our fave app was just what we needed. You might remember Sarah from the first season of Podcast Here: (our former name) and I’ve been dying to interview her again because a) she’s my friend and b) we always have a good time.
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Need some laughs but also wanna hear how you can get into vanlifing or freelancing or just generally living your dreams? Tune in. I promise it’s gonna be a good one!

30/03/2020

is a trail builder, climber, hiker, and engineer from the UK. He’s helped establish routes in Armenia, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan! Listen to his episode for stories from the trail, cultural observations, and some serious inspiration!
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Find the guidebook on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play or at the link in our bio.
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Please subscribe, rate, and review the show too! It helps new listeners find our show!
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If you’d like to support the podcast you can donate via PayPal at PayPal.me/trailnamehere or at the link in our bio.

22/03/2020

Episode 1 of the Guidebook is now LIVE!!
Thank you all for your patience while we’ve been rolling out the rebrand!!

This episode features . It is a seriously jam-packed hour. In the first half of the episode, we talk about how he got into backpacking and trail building. About halfway through the episodes Val begins sharing stories from his hikes in Armenia, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan! His adventures in Eastern Europe are epic and risky.

We also discuss coming home from these wild adventures (of course), the evolution of outdoor tourism, the kindness of strangers, work / adventure balance, and trail building as a career. An interesting vein we explored was comparing the UK and US thru-hiking scenes as well as our prejudices toward foreign travel.

This is the perfect first episode for the Guidebook. Talk about TAKING RISKS! I hope Val’s story helps quell some of your fears about backpacking in a foreign country and maybe sparks you to get out and volunteer your time for some trail work! I know I will be volunteering this summer in my area.

In this episode we mention , , and (who is coming on the show soon!) be sure to check them out for inspiration!

You can support the show by donating to PayPal.me/trailnamehere or subscribing, rating, and reviewing our show!!
Thanks for listening.

06/03/2020

28/02/2020