Ask Darwin Q&A #50 (Answers)

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Carrot Quin's Website - https://carrotquinn.com

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,AT Thru Hike,Thru Hike,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru Hike,Backpacking,UL Hiking,UL Backpacking,UL Gear,Hiking,Hiker Trash,Camping,Adventure,Pinhoti Trail,Long Distance Trail

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin here with my weekly Q&A to answer more of your questions if you want to ask a question for next week's Q&A you can either leave it in the comment box below or send me a video question over to Darwin on the trail at yahoo.com

and then next week I'll answer as many as I possibly can all right let's go ahead and get into this week's first question how do people solo section hike these longer trails transportation wise I'd like to do one four-day weekend a month from March to September on the 80 Buber how do you get back to your vehicle where you started do I just need to get a hiking buddy so there are a lot of different ways that you can set up a section hike how I typically do it is I will have snuggles drop me off on one end of the trail and then pick me up on the other but it's easier for me because snows and I are always together and obviously we travel together for some people it's probably not gonna be that easy but my number one suggestion would be utilize a friend or a family member to drop you off and then pick you up but if you can't do it on the 80 there are a lot of hostels and trail angels and stuff that do offer shuttle services so you can pay to stay at a hostel one night and you can pay an extra fee to park your car at that hostel a lot of those hostels will then shuttle you to the start of the trail then you can go out for your four-day section you can either get that hostel to shuttle you back or have a friend pick you up and bring you back the other good thing is if you're into the idea and you're comfortable with it on the Appalachian Trail especially here in Georgia or North Carolina or Tennessee or Virginia it's really easy to get a hitch whenever you're coming out from the trail on the road and that's just because all these different towns and communities are really used to having through hikers constantly come through every year so most of them know that if you're out there and you're trying to bum a ride they're going to give you a ride into town or to the hostel where your car is parked I just started using hiking poles I notice in a lot of your videos you're carrying your

in one hand when do you use polls and when do you carry them in your hand in a lot of my videos you will notice that I am carrying my trekking poles in my hand and just kind of walking past the camera it's typically because I'm on more of a flat section of trail and when I'm on a flat section of trail I tend to not use my trekking poles to pace myself I only use my trekking poles when I'm climbing up a mountain or whenever I'm coming down from a mountain to take the load off of my knees when I'm climbing up a mountain I use trekking poles to really dig in and kind of give myself a little bit more umph and then whenever I'm coming down on something steep I use my trekking poles to brace my weight and that's really what trekking poles are for a lot of people think trekking poles are more for like pacing yourself and it's not true trekking poles are really made to take that extra load off of your body your knees especially so that's probably why you notice a lot that I'm carrying them in my hand is because when I'm taking those shots I'm not climbing and I'm not coming down a mountain hey Darwyn it's metro coming to you from the Chattahoochee River National Park Island Ford had a quick question for you as you hit the trail do you carry any type of book or journal to log your miles like this one I'd like to hear your thoughts on if you're capturing your miles and if you're logging any type of journal see out the trail Darwin hey Metro so no I do not carry a journal anymore on the trail I used to carry a write in the rain notepad along with a pen whenever I first started hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and I never found myself taking notes in it what I do utilize though is the notes section on my cell phone

so what I'll typically do is at the end of the day well after I've eaten and I've put an up camp and I'm laying in my tent about to go to bed or without my phone and I'll type out the miles that I hike for the day maybe any gear malfunctions that I had for the day just overall an overview of what I hiked for the day I typically do that I don't always do it and then I'll usually take that and then you know if I'm writing a trip report or something that's where I'll get my information I like that just so I can remember exactly what I hiked for the day but as far as a notepad no I do not carry one on the trail how is the hiking community around queer and gay hikers specifically in the southern states

what about trail angels hikers towns - sorry if this is an ignorant question but I'm Canadian and full of fear for these reasons Jen that is not an ignorant question at all and I could see where you would probably be concerned with that going into a different type of community now in my experience I have never seen any type of segregation against anyone that is straight gay black white male or female in the hiking community everyone is the same we're all just hiker trash we're all out there enjoying the woods getting dirty getting gross putting in those miles and enjoying our hike I'm sure somewhere there has been some problems with it but I have personally never experienced it as far as down here in the south I would assume that you're talking about the Appalachian Trail and specific again I've never seen that not with a trail town now at the trail angel and no hikers I don't have a lot of personal experience with anything like that on the trail but if you want to read more into that and more on a different insight I would suggest checking out a blogger named carrot Quinn she is an awesome hiker she wrote a book about the PCT a couple years ago and she has a really great website and she herself is queer and very open about it and open about her experiences on the trail I'll put a link in the description box below to her website go check that out but like I said in my experience I don't think there's anything to worry about just get out on the trail become part of that awesome hiking community and just hike for all the new subscribers can you tell a little about yourself how do you work how do you live in a van how are you I've made a video about that called how I afford my lifestyle if you want to check that out I'll put a link up here I'll also put a link in the description box below

but how I am I I'm great I'm about to go do a thru-hike of the and holy tree oh and then I'm gonna be out on the Pacific Crest Trail life is good living in a vans fun and I'm Darwin have your feet gotten bigger after all those miles I'm thinking about a thru-hike but my feet are already giant I would rather not have to custom order shoes the rest of my life Stuart my feet actually have grown while I've been a hiker so before I did my first through hike in 2015 I think that I wore like a size 10 and a half I am now currently in a size 12 now that all depends on what shoe it is you know the shoe that I used to wear whenever I hike is different than the shoe that I wear today but yes I have noticed a pretty significant growth in my foot size not only in length but also in width I think that what happens is after you put those miles down every day and you're just getting that pounding repetitive motion your feet just kind of start to sprawl out and flatten out a little bit especially whenever you're using like a wider toe box shoe like what I use which is the ultra Lone Peak it just happens now that being said once they have grown to that bigger size I haven't noticed them getting any bigger and I have been in the size that I am now for the last year and a half and I put down some miles in the last year and a half so do they grow yes have they grown absolutely I don't know if it'd be anything to worry about though I don't know how big your feet are though I'd be interested in knowing that what's your real name so obviously you figured out that my real name is not Darwin that is my trail name and I guess I've just never shared what my real name is so here we go my real name is Ray Darwin I stays here doing a section hike on israel national trail what is the function of this belt I've never found it useful love your videos thank you so that belt is actually called a sternum strap and the function of it is whenever you clip it and you tighten it a little bit it actually pulls all your straps in so your load from your pack is not sitting out here on your shoulders it's sitting a little closer end all of the straps and everything on your pack do serve a function in pretty much bringing the pack

on to your body so you have your load lifters that are up here that bring the pack up on your back then you have the sternum strap to bring your shoulder straps in what you're really doing with all of your straps is trying to dial the pack in to Center the weight on to your hips so it's kind of an art form really adjusting everything how I usually do it is I'll put my pack on I will do my hip belt strap first and get it on my hips then I'll attach my sternum strap then I'll take my shoulder straps and cinch those down a little bit I'll take my load lifters bring the pack towards my back and then tighten my sternum strap a little bit now the big thing with the sternum strap is you don't want to tighten it too tight because then you're putting a lot of pressure on your chest and you're not able to breathe as good especially if you're climbing a mountain or something but you just make those little adjustments until it feels right to where the pack is brought in toward that that center of gravity is where you want it but it's not too tight to where you can't breathe how do you or others handle being alone in the wilderness at nights is it sometimes scary or did you hear that somebody left the trail because he can't handle that I've never heard of someone leaving the trail because they can't handle being alone at night being out on the trail as much as I have and just camping a lot because we do live out of a van full-time so we utilize a lot of national parks and a lot of national forests I'm very very comfortable in the dark alone at night in the woods it's just kind of become my natural habitat as far as being out on the trail alone and being in the woods and it being dark I don't get scared or freaked out but I do get lonely sometimes you know I just wish that there was another hiker there sitting with me so as much as I do want to be out on the trail by myself and experience the trail by myself and having that peace and quiet I do miss the community of having another hiker around me I think that's just because we're human I think that we like having that connectivity with another person and it's just fun at the end of your day when you're out on the trail it's fun to sit down at camp maybe around a fire maybe while you're eating and talk to another hiker about the miles that you put in for the day or what you saw on the trail for the day

so yeah don't get scared but I do get lonely from time to time all right guys last question of the week during your hiking career what's your biggest on-trail mistake that is a great question I don't think there's one in particular on trail mistake I think what I tend to always do that I feel like is a mistake is I go out too hard so because I come from a triathlon racing background and a cycling background when I get on the trail and I get into a rhythm and you know I'm in the moment I kind of get into this racing mindset and I'll tend to hike too fast I do it whether I'm hiking with someone else or by myself I just hike fast it's it's just kind of it's my pace and a lot of times that'll get me in trouble because I'll either wear out too fast for the day I've gotten injuries from hiking too fast

so I think that my biggest mistake on the trail every time I go out on the trail is just going too hard and mentally treating it like it's some sort of a race or a competition with myself all right guys so I should be out on the pin holy trail right now as you're watching this video hiking from flag mountain in Alabama all the way to Georgia where it meets up with the mint and makai trail I'm not gonna be posting video updates while I'm out on the trail for about three weeks but if you do want to follow my hike go over and check out my Instagram account I'll be trying to post a picture a day from the trail so that's how you can follow my hike if you guys are interested in checking out some exclusive content like watching my videos early getting in on a monthly live Q&A seeing exclusive photos from the road or even getting some really awesome rewards go over and check out my patreon account for just $1 a month you could help contribute to this channel to help make more videos do more gear reviews get me out on the trail more so I can make more content for you I'll put a link in the description box below if you want to check that out if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

[Applause]