Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Outdoorsy Educator Podcast, where stories become lessons and every journey has something to teach us. Every week I sit down with people from all walks of life to hear their adventures, explore their experiences, and uncover the insights that have shaped them along the way.
Speaker: Whether it's from the outdoors, the classroom, or any other path, each conversation offers a fresh perspective on learning, growth, and what it means to truly connect with the world and the people around us.
Speaker: And on this week's episode of the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, we have Tim Bennett. Tim, how are you today? I'm doing great, Alistair. And thank you for connecting and inviting me on the podcast. Thank my trail name, my current trail name is Porky, for those who may be interested in trail names. And there's quite a story behind that, but um I'd rather...
Speaker: you know, see what it is you would like to discuss and maybe we'll land there as part it. I would love that, um, to hear about that. One of my favorite things is learning about trail names because, and we'll get into this hiking is amazing for this, the scenery and the the actual act of hiking and this, that, the other bit, it's the people, right? It's the people that really make this something.
Speaker: And what better place to start with than why Porky? Where did this name come from? Well, um, Doing some some long section hikes on the AT a few years back, I was given a different trail name. I have a fondness for for beer, and sometimes I would show up and meet a group of through hikers that I would try and catch for a week at a time, and I always showed up with beer. So they gave me the trail name 12 Pack.
Speaker: And i was hoping for so something more profound, but that kind of stuck. And I got used to that. But in 2022, set out to, i retired and set out to tackle the number one item on my post-retirement bucket list. And that was to hike the long trail in Vermont.
Speaker: And I had heard stories from my father when I was growing up that he had hiked it. What I didn't realize is that he kept a trail journal and he hiked it at 18 years old in 1937. So so wow one of my siblings found the trail journal and gave it to me.
Speaker: And he was obsessed with porcupines or porkies as he wrote over and over in his journal. And, um In the, in the twenties, thirties, actually up until the late 1950s, uh, the long trail was overrun overpopulated with porcupines.
Speaker: Uh, all the natural predators were gone and the porcupines were doing great damage to the shelters. And, um, the guidebooks up until the nineteen eighty s suggested that you kill all porcupines on site and dispose of the bodies so that they don't create a nuisance.
Speaker: But at any rate, in this journal, in this very short journal of his hike, um he talked about porkies over and over again. And and because this was ah a hike to honor a legacy, I changed my trail name. I know some people don't agree with giving yourself a name, but it was to honor that legacy. So I'm Porky.
Speaker: I can't think of a better reason for any trail name, let alone just giving yourself one, than honoring your father and the legacy that he we created on a trail.
Speaker: Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. I think that's, that's, that's just perfect. Well, why don't you tell us a little bit about your hiking background? um You've mentioned the long trail and I'd love to talk about that, but the AT, other trails, where did your love for hiking start and what has it manifested itself into?
Speaker: Well, um, As a young teenager in the Boy Scouts and and through my father's love of the outdoors, I mean, I grew up in Philadelphia, so not exactly great outdoor opportunities right there, but through the Boy Scouts and ah just connection with camping and hiking.
Speaker: Actually, my first backpacking trip was on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, in 1974. So over 50 years ago.
Speaker: And um from there, actually backpack different sections of the AT. The idea of through hiking or long distance hiking wasn't on my radar at 18 years old, like my father had been, but started hiking. There's a lot of great under the radar trails in Pennsylvania are are uh, really scenic, really rugged, the black forest trail, the Chuck Kiper trail, the loyal sock trail. There, there are several.
Speaker: And I was, um, an aspiring photographer. So back in the, starting in the late seventies through the eighties and into the nineties, I carried large format camera equipment to take photographs for calendar companies and magazines.
Speaker: Uh, Carrying more camera equipment than camping gear. Right. you've got to follow our passions. I get it. Yeah. And at, and at that age I was either strong enough or foolish enough to do that kind of thing. Could be both. Yeah. And I made enough money to just keep buying more film.
Speaker: So I, so I sold enough that that was more a passion project than a ah career path. But I, um I ended up working in medical photography for an entire career. So still a lifelong photographer.
Speaker: But through that, those backpacking experiences, then I started branching out and doing wilderness canoe tripping, Canada, Maine, um and life gets in the way. So I couldn't take months off at a time, a week here a week there, and actually moved a little bit away from backpacking until several years later.
Speaker: before retirement, ah had this ah on a day hike, climbed Mount Mansfield in Vermont and had this epiphany, like I'm going to hike the long trail when I retire. ah And knowing some of what's involved and having done it for several years, I was determined to not be the characters in a lot of the the books out there that roll off the couch unprepared.
Speaker: So I knew enough to know that I needed to update my gear, get in shake. So I actually spent over three years training to do the long trail and it, it might offend some people, but I use the AT as my training ground for the long trail. Yeah. And, um, so in a nutshell, that's, uh,
Speaker: Kind of it. And I would tag along periodically with actually some very young friends that were through hiking the AT. And you know, I'd get a call and say, hey, come meet us. and And so I would spend a week with them and until um my 60 plus year old body couldn't hang with them anymore. I could hang with them for maybe five days and before it started the wheels started coming off. And usually what I do is if I had more time, I'd come off the trail, take a zero, pick up some trail magic, drive ahead of them and hike southbound until I ran into them again and spend a couple of
Speaker: So that that was actually a really fun exercise. And so my love and passion for ah backpacking came back i mean all through the years i'd been hiking day hiking and um snowshoeing cross-country skiing wilderness paddling ah so i never lost that love for the outdoors it's just that i hadn't been backpacking for several decades and um realized that i really missed it and
Speaker: In fact, I miss it right now. I wish I were on the trail. Well, though, it's it's pretty hot right now in Pennsylvania. I just got out my car and the the temperature gauge read 96 degrees.
Speaker: And it's like it's people talk about seasonal depression. And I always joke that it's the opposite down here in Texas because we're stuck inside for for months now. is what it feels like. um yeah I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you because I simply don't know, but I just must ask you quickly, medical photography, what is that?
Speaker: um And that that's the short title. yeah So I worked in ophthalmology, which is related to eyes. and most of the diagnostic testing in ophthalmology is based on imaging.
Speaker: And back in the day, it was all film based photography. So I spent a whole career photographing eyeballs, and surgical procedures and ah things for clinical trials and research projects. And in ophthalmology, they use photographs much like many other specialties use x-rays or um MRIs. So it was it was a fun career.
Speaker: Yeah, I'd imagine that that could be one of those careers where you never do exactly the same thing a couple of days in a row. No, it get it can get pretty routine. Yeah. It can get routine. Yeah. yeah Just a a world I know nothing about. Yeah. um And before we get onto something else, you've mentioned obviously the long trail and hiking it and the journal, what was kind of the timeline of, did you always know this journal existed or when did your, you said your sibling? know What was it the gap?
Speaker: I didn't know until I had already had this epiphany, like I'm going to hike the long trail. And, um that particular day when I had that epiphany, um I was hiking with my adult daughter and her fiance. And I just told her, I said, you know, your grandfather sat on top of this mountain way back when.
Speaker: And um so she thought it was kind of cool. And i announced to other members of my family. And that's when my brother said, Oh, well, great. You can use his journal to, you know,
Speaker: sort of follow in his footsteps. And I was like, journal? What journal? And everyone assumed it had been handed down to me because I'm the only one in the family that really shared that same passion for the outdoors.
Speaker: And I insisted I had never seen it. And my brother, that's when my brother said, Well, don't you remember all the, you know, how many porcupines he killed? Right. And all the mention of porphyse. And so there was this family scavenger hunt, everybody went looking at my one sister found that in a box of ah family heirlooms and memorabilia and sent it to me and and it was Truly a ah treasure. I mean, it very short, very sparse. He was 18 years old.
Speaker: Clearly had a miserable time. it was between rain and bugs and porcupines and ah packs that started out at 60 pounds.
Speaker: um Right. but But ended up in the 20 pound range by the time and his high school buddy finished the section they did. um so Yeah, that's in a nutshell, that's, you know, finding the journal was was great for me. And I thought this is going to be fantastic.
Speaker: And I just picture, umm I'm sure you've read and or seen the movie, Walk in the Woods. And what was the chap's name? ah Cats, Bill Bryson's friend. yeah Where he just starts launching things because the pack he had which was just ridiculously heavy.
Speaker: Yeah, i I remember a moment tossing some... ah Back in the 80s, some stiff leather hiking boots after a three-day torture hike of the old Lagers Path in Pennsylvania, and the boots fit too tight and And i I launched them into the woods and my hiking buddy went and got them and said, you're going to want these. I never wore them again, but we really you know we didn't want to leave them in the woods. We'll talk you about equipment weight. I'd love to just photography. I mean, we all now have a camera in our pocket, essentially. And people, you I do this too. You know, we want to take pictures to share them online. What does your photography equipment look like these days compared to, say, 30 years ago?
Speaker: i I use my iPhone. Yeah. Yeah. And um I was carrying a separate high quality point and shoot digital camera for a couple of years.
Speaker: And um when that malfunctioned, I thought, all right, I'm going to replace it. It's waterproof. It's shockproof. There are some things about it. I really like.
Speaker: And in the interim, that model was discontinued and the Olympus was the one I was using and and the new ones had jumped quite a bit in price. And I'm thinking, well, instead of buying a new camera, I'm just going to put that money and upgrade my phone and never looked back.
Speaker: And there are some limitations if I want to publish high quality photos, but it the creativity, the freedom,
Speaker: of not carrying heavy camera equipment, the spontaneity. I mean, yeah if you carry it, you'll use it. And ah so I use a phone and it's liberating.
Speaker: Yeah, that's, i mean, I've got a a digital SLR, DSLR that's 10, 10-ish years old now. And it's a great camera. Nothing bad to say about it, but it's it's clunky compared, you know. And by the time I got it out, the thing that I want to take the picture of is inevitably gone because it was usually and and an animal, something I had to capture in that moment.
Speaker: Yeah, and I have no shortage of similar camera equipment, ah digital ah SLR and and lenses, but uh, for backpacking and for most things now, it's just, it's so convenient.
Speaker: And, and the weight savings is, i mean, you're using it as your GPS device. If you're navigating, you're, you're using it to stay connected with the world. And, uh,
Speaker: The problem for me is keeping it charged because I do take take so many photos. Yes. Yeah, running out storage is always ah always something that's ah ah' something I need to be aware of because yeah like you, I'm sure I'll i'll take 100 pictures, maybe use 10. And that that that' i think that's probably all of us.
Speaker: Yeah. And some, something I'd love to talk about with guests is yes, the hiking and the mechanics of hiking, but the lessons that this sort of life lessons has taught you being on the trail and what lessons you've taken and applied to your, your day-to-day life, family, work, that kind of thing.
Speaker: Well, um, I think in order to get there for the lessons that I've learned specifically on the on the long trail, uh, I think I'd like to share a little more of my story because it's, yeah, it's, we um it's hard to believe. Right.
Speaker: So I hit the long trail as planned was cruising. I mean, I 65 years old, but I was, I was not Bill Bryson. I was not Cheryl straight where I came off the couch.
Speaker: That year I had 500 miles on the AT before I started the long trail. So cruising along, having the time of my life, yeah the the expression living your best life, that was me.
Speaker: And um I was actually blogging for the trek at the time. So I was writing. um When I take a zero, I try and find a computer and post a story.
Speaker: And i got to, so the the first hundred miles of the long trail runs concurrent with the AT in Vermont. So they follow the same corridor. And ah my father's hike had started right there where the long trail and the AT split back in 1937.
Speaker: So I got there, figured that was just a warmup for the real hike. I looked over his journal. I adjusted my mileage back for the first few days because he was covering short days with heavy packs in a trail that was still fairly primitive.
Speaker: Um, but I went into town posted a story. There's a free bus that runs from the, there's a place called the in at long trail, um, and both AT and long trail hikers use it.
Speaker: And I went back to the trail. My backpack was sitting in their woodshed. All I had to do was cross the road, pick up my backpack and start following his footsteps.
Speaker: I didn't make it across the road. I got hit by a car at high speed. Goodness. And I'm fortunate to be alive.
Speaker: I mean, it was it was one of the, I mean, I remember it and quite well. um So several broken bones broke my leg. I couldn't walk. ah But i'm this some people look at me in disbelief when I say this. I'm laying there in the road.
Speaker: And my first thought was, am I going to make it? My next thought was, Yes. How soon can I get back on the trail?
Speaker: Right. And I am not making that up. Right. I i would be in disbelief, but i I kind of get it. We're cut from the same cloth. Yeah. I'm like, why here? Why now?
Speaker: and Another 50 feet and I would be starting the the hike my father took. um But it was it was a year of hospital surgeries, recovery, infections,
Speaker: And I couldn't drive for several months. But once I could, I started hiking every day. And so one of the lessons, a long-winded way to get to to this particular lesson, and and you hear other hikers talk about it and books written about it, is the healing that can occur in nature and in the woods.
Speaker: And um I embraced that and hiked every day. And the medical personnel that were guiding my recovery were amazed.
Speaker: They're like, at your age, we can't believe you're bouncing back like this. um So that was, yeah and often people talk about the the emotional or mental health healing that occurs in nature.
Speaker: but this was physical healing. And um' I'm a bit of a skeptic. I mean, I worked in academic medical centers all my life and the idea of yeah the forest bestowing some magical power and helping you heal, ah but there's science behind it.
Speaker: And um so when I couldn't walk, I read up on that. And so now I'm a believer that ah time spent outdoors, time spent in nature is incredibly healing physically as well as mentally.
Speaker: So that's the number one lesson I learned. I love that. I've spoken to quite a few people who've talked about the mental health aspects. We're were're all a believer in in that.
Speaker: But this is this is new for me, really talking about, I don't want to say it sped up your recovery. i mean, i don't want to be wanting your mind, but it certainly aided it where other places couldn't, perhaps? I don't know.
Speaker: right I question those same things, right but i'm i'm a I'm a believer. Right. In whatever it may be. Yeah. And um so there there are some other lessons.
Speaker: um
Speaker: And and i'll I'll explain. So I got back on the trail and it kicked my ass. So I was more than prepared a year before. I trained. I hiked every day.
Speaker: I couldn't carry a pack for months because my one shoulder had multiple surgeries on it. um But when I finally got the all clear and got back on the trail, I was in shape, but not like I had been the year before.
Speaker: And the difficulty goes way up the further north you go on the long trail and by an order of magnitude. And even though I was in hiking and backpacking shape, it it kicked my ass. um And it was a struggle.
Speaker: I had to sort of give myself a pep talk occasionally. And but knowing at that point, I was following in my father's footsteps, there was um it kept me going.
Speaker: And deep motivation. Yeah. Yeah. And it took a while before I felt a connection with him And i think I needed to face that adversity before I was going to connect.
Speaker: So that's, that's a lesson looking back. Um, but then, and you can't make this up. I i swear to you. Um, I got to camel's hump, which played a big role in his journal.
Speaker: Um, And so that's ah one of the 4,000 foot peaks on the long trail and it's iconic. So e every Vermonter knows the outline of Camel's Hump. And ah before crossing it, some thunderstorms rolled in.
Speaker: So I stopped at one of the, it's a basically a cabin, Montclair Glen. And the rain didn't stop for a couple of days.
Speaker: once I, when I was able to pull up a forecast, it was catastrophic flooding. Don't go anywhere. Um, it was, it was historic flooding in Vermont that year. And unfortunately ah there was a hiker my age on the AT, his trail named Steady Eddie. And this was in 2022 passed away, trying to afford a stream.
Speaker: He was about 50 miles behind where where I was. So I was trapped for a couple of days in a very so secure location, but it yeah I couldn't move. and And then when finally when it broke, um I was able to get to the next road crossing and I was planning a double zero anyhow.
Speaker: um It occurred to me that the universe might be telling me that. So I completed the section my father had. But I was planning to continue on and do the whole trail.
Speaker: And it seemed to me that the universe was saying, all right, you got hit by a car last year, catastrophic flooding. Now, maybe it's time to, you know, give it a rest. And, and they briefly, the green mountain club briefly rerouted the trail, some of it onto roads to avoid, uh, some of the river Valley stuff. And I wanted nothing to do with hiking.
Speaker: roads, right given given my history. So I had an opportunity to catch a ride home and I did. And I went out, actually went out and did a little bit of the CDT, um, which I found way easier right than the long trail and got some of my confidence back.
Speaker: And, and a few weeks later, I went back and finished the trail. nice So one of the lessons is that the universe did its best to make me give up.
Speaker: Yeah. If not kill me. Um, And, but I was determined to do it. And then I struggled with the question, why, why did I feel compelled to go back? And it, and it took some time after the fact in retrospect and actually writing about it before i came to understand my own motivations. So um that was, that was a ah big lesson learned. It,
Speaker: and And one of the things I've written ah a couple of times, i was prepared for the trail, hu but not the journey.
Speaker: I love that. Now, do would you classify it an emotional journey or spiritual journey, that kind of journey? Spiritual, yes, in some ways. theyre I'm not the most spiritual person, but there were forces at work right that...
Speaker: I clearly didn't understand. There there are so many coincidences and and I could go on for quite a while um that are hard to explain a yeah otherwise.
Speaker: So acknowledging that spiritual part of the journey was an important part of it and understanding what drove me And i guess the ultimate lesson is despite the adversity, I wouldn't change a thing, even getting hit by the car, because if that had not happened, I would not have found the connection that I did.
Speaker: goodp i mean, with my father and, and writing about it was very cathartic. And, and so I blogged for the track for, for quite a while, but then Once I finished, there was like a lot of through hikers. Now this was less than 300 miles, but it was 14 months worth of constant, you know, effort. And um once that was done, I had that loss of purpose that a lot of people talk about with completing a through hike.
Speaker: And what filled that void was writing about it. I love it. Let's talk a little bit about that. Because later this year, you've got some some big things happening. I've been looking through your website one mountain after another.
Speaker: Correct. And ah so I've written about this journey, and including the accident and recovery and getting back on the trail. And it, it's been fun. My initial thought was, Oh, i' I've got 20 blogs up on the track. I'll just blew them together and call it a book.
Speaker: Right. and then I started going to some writing workshops and and the frowns on people's faces when they're like, you know, you'll end up sharing that story with, you know, your family and friends and that's it.
Speaker: So um I took classes, workshops, um worked with a writing coach to um sort of do things the right way. and And you and I briefly talked about other authors like Derek Lugo and and reading things like that ah gave me confidence that I had a real story to tell.
Speaker: And so I've done that. and And the title, One Mountain After Another, is based on a line in my father's journal. So I love that. Yeah. I had some other ideas and I just decided, you know what?
Speaker: He, he talked about one section and being one, it's called the Monroe skyline, this one stretch of the, the long trail. um But he, he used the line. It was probably the most profound closest thing to a profound line and an 18 year old trail journal.
Speaker: um So I, I took the title. and based it on that. Um, and, and it also includes some retrospect, some, some of the characters I met on the trail.
Speaker: um and, uh, there's some humor, uh, just, there's actually some humor with the accident and, and my, ah adventures in the emergency room in Rutland, Vermont. Um,
Speaker: and the banter with the emergency room physician that took care of me because I had worked in medical centers my entire career. um We just hit it off and ah it hurt to laugh, but I ended up laughing and a bit. Once I, once I knew I was in the clear for the most part, I knew there'd be a long road to recovery, but there there's quite a bit of humor. There's some, there's some trail,
Speaker: wisdom. ah There's, because I was retracing my father's 1937 footsteps, I included history um of the trail a little bit, and what it was like in his day, and finding some supporting information to back that up. So i i coordinated a little bit with the Green Mountain Club, I had them take a look at at things that I wanted to make sure we're accurate ah from their perspective. And they have some great online arch historical archives that I use to sort of fill in the gaps in my father's journal.
Speaker: um So it's got a little bit bit of everything. It's got hiking humor, knowledge, history, and and and it's all sort of glued together by this, this journey, unexpected journey.
Speaker: I love that. um I mean, i I can't wait for it to come out and read this book because, I mean, and and no disrespect to them, there's many how-to trail guides, and that's not what this is. This is a personal connection, and I think on some level, that's what we're all looking for, especially when we're reading.
Speaker: can we connect with the author and feel like we're on this journey with them and it sounds like that that's what this is so uh if you'd be so gracious i'm very excited to offer you know can you come back near the end of the year and let's you know dig into this book when it comes out ah Absolutely. i'd I'd be honored.
Speaker: Yeah, that would be just just wonderful. I do have three questions I would like to ask you as I ask ah as i ask every guest. um We all want to be successful, whatever that means. I was curious what how you would define success in your own life and how maybe that has changed throughout the years.
Speaker: Hmm. Yeah. How much time do we have? we um i'm I'm kidding. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. eight One of the things, and in and i I would have said this before this hike as well, that um life throws you curve balls.
Speaker: It's what you do about it that matters. So um I see success as being able to overcome adversity. I love Yeah. And And that's that's true whether it's career, school, through hike, you know, whatever that may be. And and I mean, I was very successful in my career. I taught, I lectured, ah became almost by default an authority on education.
Speaker: the field that I worked in. Because it was it was interesting to me. So i was very successful in that and and recognized in that field. But adversity plays a big role in and overcoming that can take you a long way.
Speaker: And that I think that's something every one of us can relate to. um I'm always curious. I used to ask people about their favorite book, but I've actually changed that to a book that has been particularly impactful on your life. If I ask you about something you've read that has really made a difference, is there a book that might jump out at you?
Speaker: um The first thing that popped into my head thank Yes. Is actually an old classic. Right. Jack, Jack London's the call of the wild, the idea of adventure, you know, so growing up being, i don't know, 12, 13, 14 years old and reading about adventure, uh, is something that has always been there for me.
Speaker: And, ah So that's the first thing that popped into my head. There's some great, love it ah you know, through hiking books out there. And ah I have to admit, I haven't read as much as I would like right now because I spent so much time writing and in some ways didn't want that reading to influence what I was putting on the page.
Speaker: um But I have read several through hiking memoirs. But really, if I go back, a sense of adventure. in Call it the Wild.
Speaker: I love that. And you you brought up our mutual friend, Derek Lugo. That's something he actually mentioned to me when he's writing. He doesn't read anything about hiking because, and and I don't want to misquote him here, but I think they could sort of bleed together almost. You would unintentionally take take ideas.
Speaker: So yeah, he has to put those to one side. Yeah, and and I purposely did that until I had a complete draft of the book.
Speaker: And then it was important to, from the publishing side of it, know what comparable titles are out there. And so that's part of was part of my education. And so then I went and reread several books I'd read before, and also including darks, the unlikely through hiker, And I got through the first couple chapters of a fabulous through hike. Yes. And I need to finish that up. But I'm able to read again now. But for a while, I purposely...
Speaker: kept through hiking books at arm's length. Yeah. I think from what I can tell, that's a very good thing to do. Yeah. um Well, speaking of hiking, if it wasn't blazing hot outside, it was perfect hiking weather. And you could go for a day hike with anybody in the world. This could be somebody you know, don't know, dead, alive, famous, not famous. If you could go hiking for a day hike and pick somebody's brain, talk to them, learn from them. Who's somebody that you might like to get on the trail with?
Speaker: So this this may be cheating a little bit. Yeah, go for it. So on the on the AT right now in the whites is Dale Sanders is hiking.
Speaker: he's His trail name is Greybeard. And he's 91 years old and he's trying to reclaim the record as the oldest person to hike the entire eighteen in a single year. He held it once before and then his friend Nimble Will Nomad took the record and they're buddies. and they So Dale is quite a character.
Speaker: um I've met him twice. Mm-hmm. I caught up with him when he passed through Pennsylvania. I i hiked five miles with him and we had a conversation that was needs to be continued. So and that's why I say by cheating, it's somebody that I've i've walked a few miles with.
Speaker: And um it was it was funny because he's a bit of a celebrity and people gush over the fact that He's in his 90s and hiking the AT. And um I had met him at the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association gathering last year. I saw him speak and talk to a little bit. um But you we're on the trail.
Speaker: We're having a conversation. and he's polite and he's tolerating me. Right. But then we had this moment of connection.
Speaker: um I knew the secret password. So he holds the current record. He held this twice too, as the oldest person to canoe the entire length of the Mississippi river.
Speaker: And we just started talking about that. And I asked about his canoe I knew what brand it was. And he says, well, you know who designed that?
Speaker: And I did know who designed it. ah so And that was, yeah that was the secret password. And he opened up and we had a conversation and i was, I was, he asked me to lead the way and he was right behind me, making me go really fast. right And, and I said, well, there's the road right there to to where his crew was waiting for him.
Speaker: He's like, How we get here that fast, right our our conversation. So being able to have that connection with somebody and he's a hero to me.
Speaker: um And he's ah a few hundred miles from completing that journey. That's incredible. I can't wait to read about this journey upon completion.
Speaker: Yeah. I love it. And if people would like to reach out to you, find out more about your upcoming book, about hiking, photography, and the anything we've talked about today, what's the best way for people to reach you or get hold of you?
Speaker: Um, well, um, you can look me up on, I'm, I'm fairly active on Facebook and some of the AT hiking groups. So just look up Tim Bennett or my website is long trail hiker.com.
Speaker: Perfect. And feel free to reach out there. There's contact info. And, um, I enjoy sharing stories and talking about, uh, hiking and I've done, uh,
Speaker: lost my earbud there for a second. good um Yeah. Yeah. um And, and, Hopefully, we I've done a handful of presentations. So for the AT Museum, the Alda Gathering last year, I plan to be at Trail Days this coming year and and similar things like that. So look for me there as well. Awesome. Well, I am planning on getting back to Trail Days this coming year. So I look forward to shaking your hand there. Tim Bennett, it's been an absolute pleasure. I'll consider to this part one of two. I look forward to continuing the conversation later in the year. Thank you so much.
Speaker: Thanks, Alistair. Really appreciate it You got it. Okay. Take care. Thank you. Thank you again to this week's guest and I hope today's episode was as enjoyable for you as it was for me and perhaps even inspired your next adventure. If you did enjoy the show, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more information at theoutdoorsyeducator.com or follow us on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook. Until next time, thank you so much for listening to
Speaker: The Outdoorsy Educator Podcast.
