[00:00:00] Joe: Welcome everybody to the Live Ultralight podcast, powered by Outdoor Vitals. I am Joe and I have with me on the podcast today. Jeremiah now Jeremiah is a Backpacker who's backpacking, YouTube channel. Jeremiah Stringer, hikes has over 27,000 subscribers and also hosts the backpacking podcast along with John Kelly who we had on just a few weeks ago. Welcome to the podcast. Jeremiah
[00:00:29] Jeremiah: thank you so much for having me on here pleasure.
[00:00:33] Joe: It's a pleasure for me. I get to through this podcast have I'm getting to meet all these cool like Backpackers and creators and your what your your now my third guest I've ever had on this show. So I'm really, I'm kind of nervous, I'll be honest. I've been listening to and watching a lot of your videos mostly as I've been working. Because you know you know, that's what I That's that's part
[00:01:03] Joe: of my job is to watch YouTube videos and then tasting will pay me for it. So It's obvious man.
[00:01:09] Joe: Know, I've usually do it other stuff at the same time, but no. Yeah. So I've gotten to, I've gotten to know you in that kind of way and that kind of weird way where, you know, someone who's I guess maybe has a YouTube channel has a podcast or something like that and then like, you know, now you're familiar with them and then you finally meet him and it's kind of like, oh
[00:01:29] Joe: I actually know quite a bit. Yeah, I know that how this guy kind of works. So is that while doing
[00:01:35] Jeremiah: how is wild internet just opened up this whole new realm of I guess interpersonal skills. I don't know.
[00:01:43] Joe: Make Skills. I'm not sure but it is definitely like a new just, it's a new It's like a new celebrity almost but it's like, you know, more contained more confined smaller like Niche groups. And And I don't know, it's kind of cool. I've done. I've been doing podcasts for years and years. I have nothing to do with backpacking. And what I found was like I don't you get like you you have
[00:02:13] Joe: like your little just your community and almost no one knows about it except for like those couple thousand people that listen to you a couple hundred people, you know, how many. And but yet for them like You are like a major part of their life because they're checking in every time you upload a video or do a podcast or whatever. And so it's interesting what you meet listeners of that and also vice versa.
[00:02:39] Jeremiah: Yeah, it's very interesting. I was thinking about something along the same lines as what you're describing. So whenever I had covid, of course, your binge watching stuff on Netflix, right? You're locked in your house and I saw this documentary on Netflix and it's like all the last day to watch. This is like this coming Saturday and then you're like, oh okay, I have to watch it because it's going to be gone,
[00:03:04] Jeremiah: right? Oh, it's gone off of Netflix and then you're never gonna get the chance to see it. So I watched it and it was about Flat Earth, you know? It's like Flat Earth people and they had this whole community and they, it was like, I don't know, three or four years over over, 34 years is just kind of blown up. And then they were having like conferences and get together and And
[00:03:26] Jeremiah: they had this this whole community that nobody I mean people kind of know about it because the Flat Earth has been popularized over the last little while but I was like backpacking. Nothing to a conspiracy but it's kind of similar in like this little niche of a community that we have where we all I don't know, we're just Gathering resources from each other. We're going on trips. We're meeting each other. People
[00:03:51] Jeremiah: are listening consuming content. It's, well, I'm just surprised when I started working for Outdoor Vitals.
[00:03:56] Joe: And I'm doing a, you know, helping with tasting and Derek with content creation thing was like, whenever I would, we would do like research on YouTube look at other channels, like yours or, or Dan Becker. And, and what I would find out is, like, taste them go. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Something with that. Oh, yeah, I know him like, No, nobody in the community basically or at least is very familiar with their
[00:04:22] Joe: their content kind of like has a good hold on it. So it's very interesting this kind of like small Niche community of Backpackers specially like the YouTube backpacking. Space is very, it's very interesting, a lot of gear reviews which includes your channel. Hi. Yeah, I
[00:04:39] Jeremiah: like to do the gear reviews. It's it's been interesting Journey so far for me with the whole YouTube and stuff. But I got to tell you, some of my, I've met some of my best friends in college, lifelong friends, and then since I started doing YouTube, the same thing like some some of my favorite people you know you still go hang out, I went on vacation to Savannah Georgia with somebody that
[00:05:04] Jeremiah: I met on YouTube. We've done a couple's trip. His fiance in him and myself and my wife and we literally spent like a week there went to the beach and everything never would have met him if he didn't comment on the video and be like hey is that a J&H Landmark sticks on your water bottle? He's like it. That is in here in Lexington Kentucky I go to that store all the
[00:05:27] Jeremiah: time you you from around Kentucky? Like yeah. And then before you know it a couple months later you're on a trip together and then while you're like brothers
[00:05:35] Joe: that's all I got a I got a podcast listener, one of my podcasts which I won't plug on this show. They're actually coming to like stay at my place like I've met him in New Jersey and in New York and then bring it. Now he wants to come, he's never been to the West, the western part of the United States, and he's going on a trip, he's gonna stay here for a
[00:05:55] Joe: couple weeks and just like be here because I live near Zion and all that. So I'll be able to base camp, it's so bizarre. So, such a bizarre, cool world. It's a really positive part of all. These kind of technological changes and all that. Sorry to get a Sidetrack. We're definitely gonna talk about backpacking. So you said, did you just say you were in Kentucky?
[00:06:23] Jeremiah: I mean yeah, South Central Kentucky is where I was born and raised. Okay, so born
[00:06:29] Joe: and raised. Have you ever left the state
[00:06:35] Jeremiah: Like it. But yeah, I have, you know, I I grew up pretty poor and then whenever I made it to College, you know, I worked full-time and stuff and went to school and that gave me a chance to really get outside of this state. And I got to travel a little bit before I discovered, backpacking travel a little bit and Lived in Ecuador for a month. That was interesting that elevation was
[00:07:02] Jeremiah: insane. That was like 10,000 feet. So, I play pick up basketball. I love doing that. And I tried playing there. And it was like, Sprinted up the court one time. It's like breeding through a straw, you know, I was like, but when I got back, I mean, I guarantee I could run up five flights of stairs. But backpacking wise, And we went out west to Colorado. I've done the Vermont Long Trail
[00:07:26] Jeremiah: done. 70, five, Ishmael Trail, North, and South Carolina, and that was a Foothills Trail. So, try get around a little bit, but Kentucky is the best state. No offense. All right.
[00:07:43] Joe: I've driven through it. And unfortunately that's about all I could say about it. It's always beautiful over in the in the east coast for for Westerner, I guess like the all the, The Greenery and and All that. It's it is beautiful out there was you were playing pickup, basketball was the outdoors, a part of your life or just sports or what. Both. As
[00:08:07] Jeremiah: I was growing up, I really did a lot of camping and that kind of stuff. So, you know, you you drive up in the car and I grew up on, like Cumberland. And it's one of the biggest likes in Kentucky. We get to a lot of Tourism and stuff so as a local, you know, you may be go camping around the lake. Swim and all that kind of stuff and then whenever
[00:08:30] Jeremiah: the season arrives maybe do a little gin saying hunting. So you just take off through the woods and you're looking for these plants with certain type of leads and certain type of berries, depending on the time of year. And You got the roots and sell those things. And you kind of just learned to navigate, I guess the mountains around here and, of course, you travel to surrounding State's. Maybe the Smokies. That's
[00:08:55] Jeremiah: like a rainforest So, little exposure to The Great Outdoors. But then, in 2018, My. My wife's dad asked me if I wanted to go backpacking on like a four or five day trip through the smoke. He's and I was like, Well, what does that even mean? You know, he's like, well, you've been hiking before, right? And I was like, yeah, I love hiking. You know, go check out waterfalls and all that
[00:09:21] Jeremiah: good stuff. And he's like, well, we do that. But you had to take everything with you for several days and you just sleep out there. And I was like, what, what are you talking about, bro? And he's like, yeah, you want to give it a try? I was like sure. So I borrowed some people's gear and headed out on that trip with him and I met these people that were through Hawking
[00:09:43] Jeremiah: Appalachian Trail. We were doing a section hot from Fontana, Dam to the clingman, Dome area, clingman's down. and, I was like, man, this is crazy, who are these people? And they you know, they told me and they tell me stories about the bear encounters that they had and going into town. They're like we're about to head into Gatlinburg and I was like Gatlinburg. I mean I was born and raised around here,
[00:10:07] Jeremiah: man. You know, that's only a few hours away. So that was a weekend trip. And they're like, what? Well, you know we've never been there. We're gonna go check it out. We, you know, we're four or five six hundred miles into the Appalachian Trail, and we think it'd be cool. And I was like, well let me show you around. So this is bad for me to say I kind of ditched my
[00:10:25] Jeremiah: in-laws family down there and Spent the night with the through hikers for a couple nights and hiked with them on the trail and then we we couldn't get a ride, we couldn't get a ride, you know, you get to Newfound Gap. and, You're just in the middle of nowhere. In Gatlinburg is still like 45-minute drive away. So there's no way you're going to walk there. You're trying to hitchhike and you got
[00:10:50] Jeremiah: all these tourists down there and nobody wants to pick up a bunch of stinky Hawkers. So I was like, well, let me give it a try because the guy that I was with from like the round, the Boston area. And I was like, I don't know, like he was literally walking over people and they'd roll up their Windows, you know, trying to hit you. And I was like, let me give it
[00:11:12] Jeremiah: a try. And then I met this guy and start talking to him about fishing, he's from Orlando area, and they were up pulled their camper up. And I was like, man, well, were you headed? You know? I love fishing too. I've been fishing my whole life and Here's like, well, we're actually headed back into town. I got to get some gas and I was like, you don't think we could bum ride
[00:11:34] Jeremiah: with you, do you? He's like, well, how many is there? And I was like, well we can fit in there, you know, there's four or five of us, she had big truck and he gave us a ride on the way I started talking to him about Dave Ramsey, which is his final. Yeah. And I was like yeah, my wife not been doing this stuff, he's like, no way. I've been preaching this
[00:11:55] Jeremiah: to my son. God has put you into our life and you he's like you talking about this and his son was sitting right next to. He's like this is This, this is supposed to happen. He's like, of course, with you into town. So, I bumped his ride there, I'm like, 10 for 10 on the hitchhiking and I think the accent once the accent kicks in and they hear the hospitality and, you
[00:12:20] Jeremiah: know, it kind of LOL she in.
[00:12:21] Joe: Do you work on that? Is that your natural voice?
[00:12:24] Jeremiah: I think I think that's god-given talent right there.
[00:12:29] Joe: That. Okay so that story underlines a few things like You're willingness to just go into the smokies with your father-in-law and and also you're willing to just chat up a guy and try to hitchhike out of there. You're talking about going to Ecuador before this like this. I think you're you have the heart of an adventurer so that's sounds like, where does that come from?
[00:12:53] Jeremiah: You know. I don't know, I think it may be was yeah, as I grew up, I grew up in a really small town and, you know, there's only like, I don't know, the city population is like four or five thousand people, probably where I live now is only 15,000 people in the city and whenever you grow up like that, You really have no choice but to live like a semi sheltered life.
[00:13:18] Jeremiah: They're just not a lot of exposure out there, you know? And you don't have no money to travel. Then you're just kind of lived there. So once I got to college and I figured out that not everybody's like me, you know, I want to a public school went to Western Kentucky University and I don't know. It's just like there's, it's so exciting because there's so much Adventure to be taken and, you
[00:13:45] Jeremiah: know, you make, you make friends with people who are from completely different backgrounds. And then, you know, you start getting introduced to new things and you just start to grow as a person, you start to grow up, you know, your brain's finally fully developing and You can make your own Big Boy decisions and so I think that that played a role, you know, just discovering in college. There's so much opportunity and
[00:14:09] Jeremiah: then, you know, moving back, you know, kind of around my home town. I'm like well. A lot of people around me that are just like me here. I got to get out and and find the new cultures so that that trip for the Vermont Long Trail. I actually, The guy's name was hatchet man that I had met on the Appalachian Trail and he
[00:14:34] Jeremiah: probably thought I was crazy. Whenever I was out there and then out of the blue you know, I hadn't talked to him in months, he texted me. He's like, hey man, you got anything going on? Here in like two or three weeks and I was like well I was thinking about hiking the shell toe we Trace which is like a three or four hundred mile trail that runs through Kentucky and part
[00:14:53] Jeremiah: of Tennessee. It's like why don't you come do the Vermont Long Trail with me? He's like I'm trying to get away from the Boston area, you know, it's so jam-packed. I need some outdoors time and I was like well, what's that look like? He's like well we'll be out there for a month. I was like well that's about how long the other Trail was going to take. He's like, just fly up
[00:15:11] Jeremiah: your man, and I was like, You think about it. And so that weekend, I went to Trail Days, that's over in Damascus. Virginia, and I got back on Monday, I believe. And then that next Thursday or Friday, I flew out to meet him up and Boston and we drove up. Did the Andrea have a little Adventure in your life, man. So short, just say, yes.
[00:15:38] Joe: I, I want to bring it back to the to the story where you were with the, it was it was meant to be, or the guy of the Dave Ramsey fan. Were you like bitten by the the backpacking bug at that point or what?
[00:15:53] Jeremiah: I mean. I think. I don't know if I Was Bitten just yet, I was definitely falling in love with it. And at that point I'd spent four days in the woods and three of them was with these through hikers. And then you just you have no choice but to kind of be enveloped in that culture. If you're just surrounded by it, So, once I got to there and then I had success
[00:16:17] Jeremiah: on the hitchhiking, I was like, there's a win and I was like, what else? What else does this? This Through hiking style of Life, have for you. And Once we got to Gatlinburg, I mean, there's like moonshine to Stiller. He's down there and so I took them out for like taste testing and you know I went to a couple different bars and went out to eat and we got this hotel and
[00:16:42] Jeremiah: I mean it was like I was like, this is crazy awesome at that point, like I had to call my in-laws and be like, hey can you pick me up there and Pitching Forge? Which is pretty close to Gatlinburg. I was like, I need you, I'll pick me up in the morning because we're gonna head home, right?
[00:16:59] Jeremiah: My trip is over. And they're like, yeah, who will make you? And I was like, at that point. Yeah, Count Me In. I'm definitely, I'm definitely game for this. I can't keep borrowing gear. I have to I don't know, I gotta get my own gear plus. My pack was probably like 65 70 pounds and super uncomfortable and they kept helping me repack and they're just so nice. And I was like, yep,
[00:17:23] Jeremiah: Count Me In. Oh,
[00:17:25] Joe: that's awesome. I what? So, so from that was 2015, you said that was 2018 or
[00:17:35] Jeremiah: 2018. Okay, that was June being the June 2018. I'd never been backpacking before that.
[00:17:42] Joe: All right, so you gotta take me from 2018, not that long ago now and yeah, like this big backpacking, YouTube channel, your co-host a backpacking podcast. How do you what's the, what's the line there? How do we track that?
[00:17:59] Jeremiah: Well, You know, in October of 2018, that's when I started the YouTube channel and basically I take that trip in June and I kind of fallen in love with it. And then over the summer, I was like and this is awesome. I started collecting my own gear and then I took my wife on a backpacking trip, and she did not love it. Like, I
[00:18:24] Joe: loved it. I'll go it
[00:18:25] Jeremiah: and then I was like, well, This ain't gonna work. I'm gonna have to take some other trip with some other people and I'm a school teacher. I'm a high school math teacher as my day job, so I get these breaks. You know, you get Summer break and and fall break and all this stuff and so on my fall break, Always the first full week of October. I was like I need to
[00:18:51] Jeremiah: take a trip. You know I want to take a trip and do some backpacking and there was this I don't know 50 or so Mile Trail, about an hour and a half away from my house in Tennessee and I asked my father-in-law if you'd be interested in through, Hawking it with me. And he is like yeah how long you think it'll take. I was like, I don't know, maybe four or five
[00:19:12] Jeremiah: days and then he's like, count me in. So we went and done that trip and I was like, I've been watching all these YouTube channels to try to figure out what kind of gear you're supposed to take and what mistakes to avoid and all that. And I was like I think I can do that. I really would like to share. I don't know if you
[00:19:31] Joe: can tell but I just have his passion
[00:19:33] Jeremiah: for getting out there and doing it. And I was like, I love to share this passion and I'm a teacher like, literally Get paid to do it. So I absolutely love teaching people stuff and I was like, what better way to teach people and document my growth as I learn how to backpack and grow in that kind of sport or whatever you want to call it recreational activity. Then to do this
[00:19:58] Jeremiah: YouTube channel. Plus it'd be cool to look back at some of the trips, specially when I first started. So I was like, I'm gonna film it on myself on and then we got, like, two or three days, deep out there and Phone completely stopped. Working didn't work. Yeah, I had like a bar through and stuff. I remember I was laying there. I was like, let's camp on top of a rich. I'll
[00:20:18] Jeremiah: have cell phone service because I didn't want to miss a UK football game. So, I was laying there, like my little baby tent watching the game and then the post game comes on and the phone stops working. So I still got most of that trip down, I got back and started editing it and I was like this is really fun and then that sold me on the YouTube and I was like,
[00:20:37] Jeremiah: yeah, I can do this so I made
[00:20:39] Joe: like videos or anything like that before.
[00:20:44] Jeremiah: No, not really, but
[00:20:46] Joe: so teaching yourself editing.
[00:20:47] Jeremiah: I gotta learning attitude, man. I think it's very important to not have a fixed mindset. If you, if you want to grow in something and you're willing to put in the work, As long as you don't want to make excuses, you can do it. I mean, you limit yourself. So I was like, I can definitely do that. So I still am not good at it, but I'm trying and I upgraded equipment
[00:21:09] Jeremiah: and Become speaker because of the, you know, talking to the camera. And then also, you know, my day job, I literally am talking for a living. So kind of get a slight presence about you and become a better communicator. And so I just kept making the videos, you know, the December rolled around the 2018 and I was like, I need to get really good at this. and, I was like, I'm gonna
[00:21:33] Jeremiah: do a video every day until Christmas. So I did it and I made it like 60 or 17 days in and I made a video and I was like, I don't think I could do this, you know, and at that point, I had almost no subscribers and no support or anything like that. You're starting to build a community. Some people like you need to keep doing it. You can do it. You
[00:21:53] Jeremiah: know, it's only for like, you know, eight more days or so, I was like, all right, I'll do it. And so, I did the video still Christmas and I was like, if I do this, that taught me so much, you know, it's like trial by fire, you learn how to edit a lot faster and how to speak and all that. And so, I was like, I can do one of these a
[00:22:11] Jeremiah: week and so I just started and then it kept growing and actually, you mentioned, Dan Becker. I had talked to him. Yeah. Well leave in November of that year so he had started his channel in November. I started mine in October and we had talked like right there and I talked to him on the phone for a long time. You know, we're kind of growing and stuff and then he just exploded
[00:22:34] Jeremiah: and I was like well if he can explode, if I keep grinding here then I can grow as well and it's fun. And so I continue to do it and I'm still doing it today. and so I just keep taking these trips and fortunately, for me, you know, with YouTube, I was able to get some sponsors and stuff and so, what that enables you to do is to do even bigger tree,
[00:22:59] Jeremiah: it's, you know, A trip to Colorado or to do with it through hockey or something like that. And so you can kind of be like You know, babe, I know we're married and everything, but I got a little extra income on the side from this. Maybe. If I go take his tree up, I can make a little more money for us and we could continue to grow and that kind of thing.
[00:23:19] Jeremiah: It's so it's just been fun. And, you know, you had the pandemic and all that that really freed up a lot of time for me because you couldn't work. And I was like, well I can't work, I might as well hit out to the woods around me and keep making videos and have fun.
[00:23:35] Joe: He didn't do any of the the zoom call classes. We
[00:23:40] Jeremiah: had to do all that. Oh, and I got to tell you I'd be lying if I said I didn't offend a few meetings from the woods. Oh yeah,
[00:23:51] Jeremiah: yeah. But I think everybody should have done that for big honest but now the I don't know with with the school and stuff, I don't know if you have kids but
[00:24:01] Joe: if you do or if you're
[00:24:05] Jeremiah: listening this and you do, you know that that was kind of a hot mess, you just kind of figuring everything all out at once with a pandemic and all that. And so the schools are kind of just shut down and you're you're just working on the fly. So there's not a whole lot, you can do in that moment. So that's when I stepped up and said, let's keep doing the
[00:24:22] Joe: backpacking stuff. That's awesome. Well, speaking of sponsors, are you proud of sponsors really guys. Links to our awesome backpacking gear here at outdoor. Vitals, we'll be found in the description of this episode. So if you want to let you know, listen to the podcast, please go through click one of those things. And And maybe purchase something, I don't know. So, tell me we had John Kelly on here a couple weeks ago,
[00:24:52] Joe: at least, as far as the podcast is concerned and we barely touched on the podcast. Could you tell me about the backpacking podcast? I mean, great name.
[00:25:03] Jeremiah: First off that, nailed it on the nailed it. Hey, yeah, I can tell you, I can tell you something about it. So, I don't know if John mentioned how it started, but I'll give you the quick play-by-play. I was like, John, let's take a trip. So, we took his trip and then we're sitting around and talking about the fire. And we know just telling stories and all this, and people was just
[00:25:30] Jeremiah: sitting around listening, and then I think John was like, you know, we should, we should start a podcast, and I was like, no, dude, there's no way almost started podcast. I was like, I already, I already got me irons in the fire. You know. I don't need to know another one. He's like oh you know I do a podcast already or I've done one of the past through my day job and
[00:25:50] Jeremiah: blah blah blah blah. And I was like well all right, I'll try but if it's gonna be a lot of work, count me out man, and I was like, all I want to do is show up and talk, you know, I can spare a little bit of time to just show up and hang out because it's fun just sit around talking to John and we started the podcast and I don't know
[00:26:12] Jeremiah: when you're publishing this episode but we just published our 100th episode and thank you very much and actually outdoor bottles. They are sponsor of our podcast too and you know, we've been using your gear for a while now. So huge shout out to you but on our podcast we basically go off the cusp. Not really planned for the most part. We do some episodes where we're like, you know what? Let's do,
[00:26:41] Jeremiah: you know, saw your squeeze filter versus katadyn beef. Free, you know, that'd be fun or Until I came next. Let's do a little debating. Luckily we'll what just pick out somebody that we think is interesting. Maybe we read their book or we like their YouTube channel or they've done it through hock or something or for example. We had on Justin Sylvester and Randy and Randy is blonde. And He him and Justin
[00:27:15] Jeremiah: backpacked all of the 4000 Footers during the winter time in one wincher, in New Hampshire fireman quickly. It's been a while since we've done the The episode and I was like who more interesting could I talk to then a blind guy that bagged all these peaks in the dead of winter? He is having to be signaled by his seeing eye dog and one of my friends to back these Peaks and I
[00:27:43] Jeremiah: I can see right? I have good Vision. I mean I wear glasses but it would be a lot easier for me. I would feel like to do all those peaks in winter time, but I don't think I could do it. So, you know, we try to find people like that and have them on the show and just have fun time talking to him and a lot of times we'll live streaming on
[00:28:03] Jeremiah: YouTube, too. So then you get, you know, if we were to have you on if you got some people that are part of your community, they get to come on and interact with you and kind of live chat and ask questions that they ordinarily. Wouldn't have an Avenue to do that. It's a listen to you on a podcast. They're kind of, you know, they're sitting there in the room with you. But
[00:28:23] Jeremiah: they don't really have a voice so that kind of gives them a voice too. And that's what the podcast is. Pretty much is about, I don't know how we got the name to backpacking podcast. I know what else got that before? You like podcasts? Have been out for 10 years. At that point. Like, I don't know, I don't know if you've heard of this podcast called the survival podcast, But he started
[00:28:46] Jeremiah: this a long time ago, and he is just exploded, and he has the biggest Survival Podcast. He does all of these episodes on preparedness and homesteading and yada yada yada. And I was like, John, our podcast is about backpacking. Let's see if the name backpacking podcast is available, like the survival Podcast was available, but of course he started his like 10 years ago, so, What do you know it was available? There
[00:29:14] Jeremiah: was all the like Devin has backpacking experience. You know, there's all these backpacking, you know, All these different names nobody had taken it. So I was like Snapchat up. So we paid the little thing to get the website. Backpacking podcast.com and all that. And
[00:29:29] Joe: well now you got that pressure. You got the pressure with someone searches for you and iTunes they are looking just looking for backpacking. Now, they got you first so if you're not good,
[00:29:41] Jeremiah: At that point, if you're not, because you got me with that name, you know, you're seeing backpacking podcast,
[00:29:49] Joe: the backpacking podcast exactly. What are What are some of your favorite backpacking trips that you've gone on? What's like, what's your favorite one? What's the first one that pops into your head?
[00:29:49] Jeremiah: Well, I would say
[00:30:09] Jeremiah: the Long Trail was probably the most life-changing. Because you get, you really learn what's important to you. And what I learned was important to me is my family. I don't know if you've ever
[00:30:09] Joe: are you married? I'm not.
[00:30:09] Jeremiah: Okay. Well, you probably dated somebody at some point, right?
[00:30:09] Joe: Yeah.
[00:30:09] Jeremiah: Well, if you've ever been in a serious relationship and then spent a long time away from that person, it's very, very difficult. So,
[00:30:38] Jeremiah: my wife and I, we went to to different universities, our first year and then we aren't married at the time. Now, we're High School sweethearts but we almost broke up. You know, long distance is very difficult and then she transferred to my university and ever since then we have pretty much you know, been together, you know live together and we bought a house and stuff and then Flash Forward to all of
[00:31:00] Jeremiah: a sudden. I'm gonna be gone for a month. well, being gone for a month and not even being able to, you know, hug this person that you spent the last You know, 18 years with every day, being able to see them. You know, it's very difficult. So I learned, you know, that you got a prioritize, the things that are most important to you, and that's a huge priority to me. Those relationships,
[00:31:25] Jeremiah: especially with my wife also,
[00:31:31] Jeremiah: Waking up and seeing how simple that life can be or a monstrous straight. It just it changes your perspective. You know, you meet all kinds of these different people that you never would have met otherwise. And then I've been fortunate enough to be able to go meet up with them. You know, you develop like this little Trail family and then we call it. Ourself our Trail family, was the brunch club, and
[00:31:56] Jeremiah: we talked more about that if you want to, but the brunch Club had at most probably 14 16 members and us. Our core group was probably six. five or six of us, maybe and I still text them. Still text him weekly, you know, group text and talk to him and have met up with him a couple times since we've done the trip. But Vermont Long Trail. I mean that was legit man.
[00:32:26] Jeremiah: I never been To mountains like that and every Region's got its different terrain but I'd never. There's no switchbacks, you know, it inspired the Appalachian Trail. So I guess that they they've done now and they played it before the switchbacks were invented but it's just straight up the mountains, you know, one point. I'll just so exhausted. I backpack like 40 degrees raining for 12 miles, straight started hallucinating seeing stuff. That wasn't
[00:32:55] Jeremiah: there. And all you want to do is just get to the shelter and warm up, you know your shivering and then all of a sudden you stumble on to some trail magic and then that just kind of revives you and rejuvenate you and then you know the trail provides and then you just push on you, you complete that 20 miles a day or whatever your aspirations were whenever you said out and
[00:33:17] Jeremiah: you make it through the rain and you meet some new people at the shelter and they share food with you or you tell stories or you make a fire or whatever. And it's like, I mean it's life changing man. It's big deal.
[00:33:29] Joe: That's really cool. How what is the Vermont Trail for those who maybe aren't familiar with it? Sorry the wrong trail
[00:33:37] Jeremiah: on no worries, so Vermont Long Trail. I can't remember what year it was established, but it was pretty Appalachian Trail and it it takes the average person about a month or so to complete. And I think, if I remember correctly, it's around three. Maybe 400. I can't remember, it's been a couple years now, but it starts on the border of Massachusetts and Vermont and it ends at the Canadian border with Vermont.
[00:34:10] Jeremiah: So you backpack either north or south or south to North obviously and you started either Terminus but I started at the South right at Massachusetts and then I kept walking until he Canada and then you walked through the woods into Canada and you kind of try to find your way into town from the middle of nowhere. And that's the Vermont Long Trail and a nutshell of course, it's got a number shelters,
[00:34:34] Jeremiah: every six to ten miles and the first 100 miles or so coincide with the Appalachian trail that runs through there and then it kind of splits off. So the last two thirds or whatever it is, you're walking through a lot less beating down path because that population Trail, if you're familiar with it it's got a lot of foot traffic as we're. The Long Trail doesn't have as much. So when they split,
[00:35:01] Jeremiah: you know, get smacked in the face with pine branches for five miles straight and but the the senior is a lot better and the The Lodges or the the shelters that you stay in, they're more cabin style. And so it's awesome man. Now I can imagine having been up
[00:35:20] Joe: in that area before The country up there is beautiful like that
[00:35:26] Jeremiah: New England area. Yeah, it's rug it's different in the grade of the heels are different but I was fortunate enough to be able to go back up there. Guess it was, I don't know in the last six months or so we looked there and done a little trip myself. Well my buddy backpacking with Jason's is YouTube channel. Jason we've left there together and I got to show him around and kind of
[00:35:52] Jeremiah: relieve some of those experiences and then a couple of my buddies that were from Massachusetts. They drove up and met up with us and we got to go out and have a couple drinks and and hang out and play some guitar. Oh one of my buddies is, his name is Kate me and that's on the trail of Vermont Long Trail. He Child's House guitar. And so I have, I have experience playing
[00:36:17] Jeremiah: guitar a little bit. I can't talk myself through high school and college and stuff and then caveman, of course, knew how to play guitar. Obviously, you had the guitar with him and then his best friend was with him. And they have their own little like two-man band, were they both play? And so, his name is birdie, we call him birdie, but the three of us jamming on guitar singing at night around
[00:36:38] Jeremiah: the shelters. We hit this one shelter. We met the guy earlier that stays at the shelter, it's called The Green Mountain Club, kind of sponsors and maintains the trail and that kind of stuff. And there's people stationed at some of the shelters and you pay like five bucks and spend the night there. And we had made him on top of a mountain. And he's like, actually, I'm spending the night over at
[00:36:58] Jeremiah: the shelter over there. I'm stationed there and I'll see you guys there later tonight. And he come over there, and he walked, and he's like, I got a surprise for you guys, like, what is it? He opened his chest up and he had a second guitar in there and that first time on the
[00:37:12] Joe: trip that we had two guitars
[00:37:14] Jeremiah: and talk about fun man, having somebody played Rhythm you could sing and jam and they'd after
[00:37:22] Jeremiah: like 11 a.m. the next morning. Got a late start to the day just so we could keep jamming.
[00:37:28] Joe: Oh, that's awesome. I I play guitar and I can imagine just like being able to bring what kind of what kind of guitar was able to bring out there.
[00:37:37] Jeremiah: Well he he had hawked the Appalachian Trail the year before and he said that about a 1000 miles in. He's they had went and you know resupply it in a town or something and they went to his pawn shop, just hang out you know maybe kill a little time and he haggled with this guy and got into selling this child's House guitar. I don't know, I don't remember. It was probably like
[00:38:02] Jeremiah: 20, 25 bucks and he had all these people to sign it while he was on the trail. So they yeah,
[00:38:09] Jeremiah: you know. So if you jammed with him he had a permanent Mark and you could sign it. And then whenever you got done with the trail, some of them was starting to wear off. So he like clear coated and everything and kind of solidified those on there. But it was so beat up and it was so it's crafted the outside of his backpack, right? So you gotta imagine this is child size
[00:38:26] Jeremiah: guitar. It's maybe as long as from, I don't know, maybe as long as somebody's arm or something, maybe a little shorter, and
[00:38:35] Jeremiah: He had taken a couple trash bags, just black trash bags and wrapped the stuck. The guitar in there wrapped it up and then he had some 550 cord and he strapped it to the outside of his backpack. Every time he sit down the back I mean the guitar is just kind of slamming on the ground so it was like split so he glued it back together. Glued the backpack on had all
[00:38:56] Jeremiah: these signatures and so I don't know, it was awesome. Whenever they they came to visit me whenever I was doing the little reminiscent trip on the long run not too long ago and they brought like three guitars and stayed in the hotel with me and we jammed out for a while and got some recordings and I don't know, it's just so much fun.
[00:39:15] Joe: Oh man, I can I can kind of imagine how that guitar would sound after a while. It's So half a song and you had to retune it. Yeah,
[00:39:26] Jeremiah: we made that we we broke like a ink pen or a pencil and we made a capo out of it using some rubber bands. Oh my gosh,
[00:39:36] Jeremiah: we were looking at the tabs, right? You know you're playing, you're like somebody's like oh can you play this? And you're like, well, not yet. But if we got service, we can Google the tabs. So, if you look up the tabs, you can pretty much play whatever you want with chords. And so I was like, man. If we could keep this on the second fret, I can really Jam this song. Now
[00:39:54] Jeremiah: we can really sing it and stuff. So you kind of just engineer, however, you can. So we wrap that pencil, maybe it's a hair band. Gave me a man had real long hair. So I think we might use that civil rubber band to kind of make a
[00:40:06] Joe: makeshift Capo. Wow. I think I would have just bought a capo if I were on that. If I were on the at, yeah. We
[00:40:17] Jeremiah: they ever several capos and they come to the hotel. I mean, we had to make one but when you're in the middle of the woods and you really want to play that song, well you going to do
[00:40:26] Joe: Sorry to go into too much detail about this for those at home. Okay. Child, like a child, beginner guitar. Like the almost plasticky kind of once like a Hello Kitty guitar, or we talking like that the tiny little travel ones that are like, a regular, like a well-made guitar, but like, tiny,
[00:40:44] Jeremiah: Well, made it was definitely wooden but it was kind of the size of a mandolin,
[00:40:48] Joe: okay? Because I have looked at there's, there's these things called these little travel guitars. I've seen them in in guitar stores of like, oh, that might be useful for. One thing like
[00:41:00] Jeremiah: well, that was a trail days. I saw this one chick and she was carrying around a clear plastic guitar with like I don't remember. What are the strings that have the coating? What kind of guitar is that like a nylon string? Or yeah, and you play Instead of playing with the pick or maybe just picking you're really using your fingers and you know I don't know if people are watching that you
[00:41:26] Jeremiah: kind of playing like this and your plucking with a bunch of fingers at once.
[00:41:31] Joe: Is it classic classical guitar?
[00:41:31] Jeremiah: Yeah, that'll be the night on string so it's like it's almost like a clear. Plastic string instead of the instead of the steel. Yeah,
[00:41:41] Jeremiah: copper whatever. So so I saw her walking around, she had that strap to the outside of her pack. And I was like, that's really smart because that's not gonna rust. Of course, it's plastic. But that's not gonna rust and I don't know how long the strengths and stuff will last being out there, but
[00:41:56] Joe: I don't know how long the glue will. Last it wild environment like that. Like I'm already afraid to like leave the heat off in my apartment for too long. In case my guitar you know starts warping.
[00:42:08] Jeremiah: Well we definitely didn't have like humidity settings or anything like that. There's just kind of Take what you can. But if you, if you're out, backpacking, you know how to play guitar? If you can stomach carrying the weight? I mean there is There's few things more fun than being out there. Playing music with people in the middle of the
[00:42:28] Joe: Woods. I promise you like everybody here is Ultra Lite. Write out their vitals because that's the kind of gear we make. I don't think, I think they'll I think they'll laugh me out of town. If I brought a little trout with me,
[00:42:39] Jeremiah: you might be a big man on campus, bro. You might be like, oh my gosh, you got to do this every time. And here's the key with the ultralight. anytime I do ultralight, it's an excuse, so that I can carry more weight of other stuff I want like chocolate or maybe if you are
[00:43:00] Joe: That's good. What are you planning on doing any? Any other like big huge hikes like that or was that like too long? Did you learn your lesson? Like, you're not gonna go on that long of a hike?
[00:43:12] Jeremiah: Well, or with my wife, she actually did the Foothills trail with us. So she was out there for like five days with me and that was her longest trip, but she is sold on the fact of doing the Camino de Santiago, which is a pilgrimage across Spain. Yeah, me
[00:43:29] Joe: too. I'm sold on that.
[00:43:30] Jeremiah: Yeah. And it's a different topic, different backpacking. Yeah,
[00:43:35] Jeremiah: it's more front country, cultural based pilgrimage style, Samson hostels, you know, even if you didn't go ultralight, your pack is still ultralight, you know,
[00:43:48] Jeremiah: get some clothes and that kind of stuff, you're kind of buying food and drinking wine along the way. So she is sold on that. And what we would love to do is not this coming summer, of course, again I have summer breaks. So I have a couple months of vacation but not this summer but next summer
[00:44:07] Joe: We would love to do that. And we'd like to go over their
[00:44:12] Jeremiah: backpack backpack from France. Over to the Western kind of seafront area of Spain and I think that would take us about a month and maybe do a little traveling, check out some of the cool cities around Europe. and also, if I could do the Appalachian Trail, our idea is, she would kind of Provide support we would do the kind of van Life Style and I would still have to spend, you know,
[00:44:41] Jeremiah: maybe two or three knots in the woods. If I'm backpacking, just a traditional Appalachian Trail style, but maybe it road crossing, she could provide support or, you know, maybe I spent a couple nights in the woods. And then, you know, I have to be able to Camp with her at the van and that would also offer up, you don't have to worry about the hitchhiking. You just be like, okay, meet me
[00:45:02] Jeremiah: here at this time and then we can go into town, we get a hotel, we can shower and all that kind of stuff.
[00:45:07] Joe: You're thinking. There you go. That's, I don't know. I
[00:45:13] Jeremiah: just don't know if that that work out. But deathly, the Camino.
[00:45:18] Joe: And I've been looking at the Camino thing I like to. I like to try, I like to Google travel and I've been looking at the, the northern route of the community Santiago. Oh,
[00:45:30] Joe: that's the. It's shorter than the One that comes from like the edge of France but it's like it's like the skirts, the the coast, the northern coast of Spain and it just it just looks amazing. I don't know. We're looking at the French way but that's like the main one. The French way is the main one. It's also the long one, but yeah,
[00:45:51] Joe: yeah. You don't have to do
[00:45:54] Jeremiah: if you if you want the certificate and stuff which I still haven't even apply for my certificate, for the Foothills Trail or the Long Trail. I don't know why it just doesn't
[00:46:04] Joe: Yeah, right. So I think though don't you only have to do so many
[00:46:11] Jeremiah: miles before it's considered in a through hockey of that trail.
[00:46:15] Joe: I think so. I think so. I think there's like, I think you do in like five days or something like that.
[00:46:19] Jeremiah: Yeah, it's like 100 miles or something like that, but it's not, it's not the combat packing that we do across the US. Typically, though,
[00:46:27] Joe: it's not quite the same. Yeah, for that.
[00:46:31] Jeremiah: That's true. But I really hope you get to do it. Man, it would be fantastic.
[00:46:37] Joe: I might just do like the five-day route, we'll see. I'm that that'd be if he really cool to hear. So I got interested in that. Few years ago I saw that saw that homemade Wanderlust Dixie's video on that thing or yeah she was doing it. I was like oh that looks so cool. That looks so
[00:46:56] Jeremiah: you're right and just like reignited my
[00:47:00] Joe: my want to do that. I've also been studying Spanish, not Spain Spanish, but Spanish So well not all come together.
[00:47:06] Jeremiah: Yeah. I that's what we said to. We was like, you know what, make that even better is if we were fluent in Spanish. and of course everybody's like oh I took Spanish in high school or whatever, so I did take Spanish in high school and now I lived in Ecuador and I got to the point
[00:47:22] Joe: where I could at least
[00:47:26] Jeremiah: Have a one-way conversation with you. If you're speaking Spanish and still even, you know, I watch shows like, narcos or Narcos in Mexico or something. Yeah, Up titles on. But
[00:47:37] Jeremiah: yeah, that's true. So get your practice in but I would love to take like formal classes and mastered the Spanish and that would make the experience even better over there.
[00:47:48] Joe: I can record. I talky as a service. What is
[00:47:53] Joe: so I talked he, i t e l k, i Dot com. And it's just a bunch of like tutors like private tutors and they have, it's like this. It's like a zoom call that you do with the tutor. You just schedule an hour. You pay someone honestly like a lot like the US Dollars pretty strong. So you can pay someone in Columbia or someone to talk with you in Spanish for an
[00:48:18] Joe: hour for like eight bucks. An hour and it's gonna be more if you want to talk to someone from Spain just because of the Euro and all that. But yeah, you can just like set up these appointments. You could just see everybody's like nice to meet you things. Some people teach like classes like form like formally or trying to teach you things while doing conversation. Practice. And then sometimes you can just
[00:48:41] Joe: pay to just talk with someone. For an hour and it's kind of better than like doing like the online meetups because people are flaky with that kind of your pains. If you're paying like a tutor and you're doing, I've been doing for once a week for about a year, I've been talking in Spanish for an hour with someone and I cannot recommend that enough. Like I cannot recommend I talk to you
[00:49:04] Joe: and that's because it is. It's really affordable. and I don't know, my Spanish has got way up because I get to Have a full-on conversation once once a week and that then that then that conversation once a week. It's kind of like anything. Like, if you take guitar lessons, for example, you know, you have to be practicing for your guitar teacher at the end of that thing. Like that's the so it
[00:49:28] Joe: kind of encourages you to do, okay? Well, I'm gonna read in Spanish for an hour today. I'm gonna watch some television in Spanish with the Spanish subtitles on, like, narcos. I'd started with that kind of stuff. So, I'll definitely check out, man, whole system, whole system. I get really passionate about the language learning lately.
[00:49:50] Jeremiah: I'll tell you this. The so, my Tom and Ecuador I was doing an internship as a student teacher. So I was teaching at this Bilingual School so I actually taught in English but it's almost kind of like a foreign exchange program where you go live with the family or whatever. And I got to tell you, I'm not sure there's a better way to learn Spanish, then living with the family that only
[00:50:18] Jeremiah: speaks Spanish. And you're only means of communication or Google translate or no, it's Spanish.
[00:50:25] Joe: Oh, I think you're right. I think you're absolutely right about that.
