About this episode
Diversity on the trail is a heavy, but important subject. It's impossible to do this subject justice in the span of an hour long podcast, but it's a conversation worth having nonetheless. Our correspondents share their thoughts about the diversity -or lack thereof- that they've encountered on trail. Our hikers also ponder ways the community can encourage under-represented groups to get onto the trail. Admittedly- our correspondents largely follow the demographics of the thru-hiking community at large- which is to say young and white. Though one of our hikers is visiting from across the pond and another is gay- and we've got more female correspondents than male when the trail skews the other way. But in terms of racial diversity, there's none. We were fortunate to get the input of Elsye "Chardonnay" Walker , who's one of the few (if not the only) black woman to hike the triple crown. She shares her take on these same questions, which offers some interesting contrast to the other stances offered in this episode. Lastly, we get an update from Jeffrey "Legend" Garmire , who's on the tail end of his Great Western Loop journey, a 6,875-mile footpath across the western half of the USA. The path, popularized by Andrew Skurka, links five existing trails, including the Pacific Crest Trail, Pacific Northwest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Grand Enchantment Trail, & Arizona Trail, as well as some route finding through the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts. In today's show, we hear from: Jacob Beaver Kate Mueller aka Sassafras IBTAT Madeline Newel Kate Emmons Lukas Isaacson Sarah Mowery Rachael "Rabbit" DeLano You can support the show through our Patreon page , which helps us to publish episodes more frequently. Have any praise, questions, praise, comments, praise or praise for Backpacker Radio? Reach out to podcast@thetrek.co . Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes (and please leave us a review)! Find us on Stitcher and Google Play . Follow Backpacker Radio , The Trek , Chaunce , and Badger on Instagram. Follow The Trek and Chaunce on YouTube Follow The Trek on Facebook , Twitter and sign up for our newsletter . A super big thank you to our Chuck Norris Award winner(s) from Patreon : Sawyer Products. A big thank you to our Cinnamon Connection Champions from Patreon : Gregory Gardner, Kate Hurley, Clint "DuctTape" Sherbet, Peter Leven Episode produced by Pauly Boy Shallcross . Check out his coffee roaster, Old Man Murph's . Music via .