How to Speak AT (Appalachian Trail) Lingo With Sleeper and His Tramily
What’s your trail name? Who’s in you’re tramily? Mules Brick, Cracker and I had a damn amusing encounter with some hikers on the AT (Appalachian Trail) this week. Meet Sleeper, Jimmy Dean, The Bard and Badger. They’re going to teach you the lingo you’re going need to sling if you ever hike the AT.
AT Lingo With Sleeper, Jimmy Dean,… Continue reading
Join my Mules For a Cup of Coffee Cooked on Our BioLite Wood Stove
Howdy. Instead of carrying a conventional camping stove on my mule ramble up the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail, I used a BioLite wood stove. It uses sticks instead of gasoline or propane. Click on the video below to join me for a cup of wood-brewed coffee.
For an in depth review of what it’s like to spend a month cooking on a BioLite wood cook stove, check out this review I wrote. It’s called Now We’re Cooking With Wood… Continue reading
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Get A Free Copy of my New Photo Book 19 Million Mule Steps
I’d love to give you a heads up when my new book Two Mules to Triumph, comes out. Two Mules to Triumph is about riding my mules Brick and Cracker 2,300 miles from North Carolina to Idaho. Just sign up for my newsletter (details below) and I’ll even give you a link where you can download a free copy of my award-winning e-book 19 Million Mule… Continue reading
Overcome by Rain in Elk Garden While Riding the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail
It ain’t always sunny in Elk Garden… Here’s a soggy update from my soaking wet mules in Elk Garden, Virginia. We were out riding the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail when a spring thunder storm overtook us.
Get A Free Copy of my New Photo Book 19 Million Mule Steps
I’d love to give you a heads up when my new book Two Mules to Triumph, comes out. Two Mules to Triumph is about riding my mules Brick and Cracker… Continue reading
Squatting in Nettles
I stopped to let my mules Brick and Cracker drink from a waterfall as I was riding them up the Virginia Highlands Trail. Then I felt the burning sensation…
Time Lapse Mule Camp on the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail
Here’s a time lapse of me unloading my mules Brick and Cracker outside of Raccoon Creek Horse Camp on the Viriginia Highlands Horse Trail. In real time it took twenty minutes. Some days, I wish I could boil it down to 40 seconds like you see in this time lapse video.
Get A Free Copy of my New Photo Book 19 Million Mule Steps
I’d love to give you a heads up when my new book Two Mules to Triumph… Continue reading
Renegade Hoof Boot Repair Day
Mules Brick and Cracker are taking two days off from our mule ramble at Nancy and Bill Sluy’s CCC ranch. The mules have enjoyed lots of grain, deep grass and two well-earned rest days. While I was here, I had a chance to go over my Renegade hoof boots with new friends Hanna and Lisa.
Virginia Highlands Horse Trail Mule Ramble Update: Cripple Creek
Howdy. Mules Brick, Cracker and I wanted to give you a quick update about our pack trip up the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail. We’ve been on the road nine days now and have traveled about 70 miles. Cell phone reception has been pretty much nonexistent, but I finally got some coverage in Cripple Creek.
I thought you’d enjoy these photos from the last few days. The Virginia Highlands horse trail… Continue reading
Listen to Mule Cracker Eat His Breakfast
Brick, Cracker and I have been on the trail for nine days following the Virginia Highland horse Trail from Elk Garden to Ivanhoe, Virginia. Grain is too heavy to carry so I picket them out along the way to fill their bellies on the grass that we come across. Most of the ride is through deep forest but luckily, we have come across grassy openings along the way.
This morning, Brick, Cracker and I are camped at the Hussey Horse… Continue reading
SheRa Just Wants to Transition And Hike the Appalachian Trail
Mules Brick, Cracker and I recently met SheRa on our mule ramble up the the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail. “All I want to do is walk through the forest,” SheRa told me. It turns out that’s not easy if you’re transitioning from being a man to a woman.
Listen to SheRa’s Story
Click on the player below to listen to my story about SheRa and her epic backflip off Brick
Becoming SheRa
A few days after I met SheRa in Elk Park, I ran into her again in the Scales camp on top of Grayson Highlands. SheRa told me she is the first person to complete hiking the Appalachian Trail while transitioning from being a man to a woman.
We had a fascinating discussion that goes beyond the scope of what I can peck into my phone on the top of Grayson Hughlands, but I did make a recording of my thoughts that I look forward to sharing with you.
I will say that I found SheRa charming with a kind sense of humor. She grew up in Tennessee and says, “Deep down, I’m just a redneck from Appalachia.” She told me the hikers she met on the AT were amazingly supportive and encouraging of her transition. She also points out she’s suffered physical assault and social media criticism by strangers who disagree with her choice. “I’ve had restaurants not serve me, the law called on me and some guy called me a faggot while I was drinking a whiskey in a bar to celebrate the end of a hike. All because they don’t understand that I’m just want to live my life and part of that is becoming a woman. I’ve always felt that way and now I’m going through with becoming on. How does that hurt anyone?”
In that way she’s like everyone else I’m meeting on the AT.
“All I want to do is walk through the woods,” she says.
Here are some photos of our visit.
If I have one takeaway from my encounter with SheRa it’s this. If you don’t understand someone, start by being kind. Then ask them the questions you’re afraid to ask.
More about SheRa on Facebook at SheRa Be Free.
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