Jul 31, 2025

Welcome to episode 500 of the Mighty Blue podcast, with Jessica Hawkins, or Dixie, as our main guest. Jessica has been a guest several times before, but in this conversation, we focus on recent life events and her hiking within a family structure.

As ever, Jessica is engaging and gives nuanced answers to questions,...

Jul 24, 2025

Our 499th episode features Charlie Rogers, a fellow member of the AT Class of 2019, and an all-round good guy who gives back to the trail as a trail maintainer and shuttle driver.

Charlie and I never met, but I would have enjoyed his gentle wit had we met.

When he had completed his bucket list item, Charlie took on...

Jul 17, 2025

Brigid Bell set out on a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail just two years ago, and had the most extraordinary encounter in the Smokies. That she lived to tell the tale–and continued her thru-hike–is testament to her resilience and the calmness she gained as a 911 dispatcher.

Brigid not only flourished on the...

Jul 10, 2025

Our guests today are Jim and Sarah Klepzig, a couple who lost their 22-year-old son, Tristan, in a terrible car accident five years ago. Tristan is on the left in the picture below, taken just two weeks prior to his accident.

How they responded to this tragedy, turning to hiking as a way to heal, has been inspiring and...

Jul 3, 2025

We meet Charles Bruce, or Tracker, this week. Charles is a member of the Appalachian Trail Class of 2022, and he fulfilled a long-held bucket list item when he completed his thru-hike.

Charles is from the northeast, and one of his passions is to track white-tailed deer through the snow. While those skills didn’t help...