Rocks and Roots

Tumbles and Crank are back in PA for a local gem of a hike.  The Lehigh Gorge State Park near Jim Thorpe, PA is a lovely spot to enjoy a little bit of everything hiking wise.  The hike that we did is hike at your own risk!  It has been technically closed since 2019, however we needed to sneak a peak at some lovely waterfalls.   We also learned that one impressive waterfall is better than 26 waterfalls from our last hike! 

It was actually like 26 or so but we realized when you have too much of a good thing, the appreciation starts to dwindle!  Crank and Tumbles talk waterfalls in PA all while heading to a Metallica concert. This episode is a month behind so I (Tumbles) sincerely apologize for the tardiness. Expect a double episode today! 

Happy Easter, Happy Greek Easter, and a Happy Passover to those who celebrate!  Crank and Tumbles return to the trail (even though we have done some hiking between August and now…). Some can say the podcast has been risen from the dead.  Hallelujah.  Go visit Neversink State Park NY.  Nice wee watering holes.  We love you guys! ❤️

Today we tackled Friday and Balsam Cap Mountains in the Catskills and boy was it awesome. A fun and challenging bushwhack for all levels, This is a perfect one to dip your toes in if you were thinking about trying out a bushwhack. Tumbles goes over the hike as well as has a mini TED talk on the importance of strength training.  Enjoy!

Hey R&R friends, we decided to head north this time and do a small section of Vermont!  Were there rocks?  Yes. Roots?  Yes. MUD?!  Oh hell yes.  We also caught the thru hiker bubble and chatted with some awesome humans. Enjoy!

Hello intrepid listeners!  A full report on the beauty of southern Virginia on the AT!   We saw ponies, longhorns, highlands, untrained dogs, and much more on this episode!

Hi friends!  We’re happy to be back and talking to you about the small but mighty Bull Hill Loop in Cold Spring, NY! A great after work uphill and downhill trail that has fun for everyone.  Have you been here?  Let us know!

Hey friends and a happy belated New Year. We missed you and hope you missed us.  We have been working hard training for our redemption ultramarathon taking place in less than 2 weeks!  Check out our adventure running Manhattan. Mucho mucho love. 

Heyo!  The duo discusses one of Tumbles’ favorite sections of the AT and its historic impact on the Appalachian Trail.  Crank goes into an unknown trail near the Zoo and Tumbles tries to not get sick.  Enjoy and thanks for listening!

Hey y’all!  We got our booties out and traveled down to Virginia for some AT/Mau-Har Trail action!  It’s the height of foliage in western Virginia and we were blessed with great weather and even a rainbow!  Come check out the 3 Ridges Trail on this episode, known as one of the most difficult in Virginia!

Barefoot Ken joins us once again for a fantastic chat on his Ultra/Half Marathon run, the Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run!  We get into the logistics of this trail and what made him decide to co-race direct this awesome race!  We also go into some of Ken’s recent and upcoming races as well as New York/New Jersey Trail Conference updates. Thanks, Ken, it was fun to catch up!   We’re signing up. Are you? runwild.org/srtrun or look for the Shawangunk Trail Run on UltraSignup.com Check Ken out at thelongbrownpath.com  

The lovely Tina Merritt joins us once again to talk all about her journey to the Grand Canyon. Not only that but Tina went to hike one of the most difficult trails out there, the R3 or Rim to Rim to Rim. That’s going from the south rim of the Canyon to the North Rim and back to the South Rim. Just shy of 50 miles, Tina talks about her experience with Project Athena, heat induced hallucinations, and a SNAFU at the North Rim which resulted in a 10pm dinner with a 12am wake up time.  Tina’s hard work and resilience training over the years has paid off since she was able to conquer this beast of a trail.  Congratulations, Tina!  We <3 u! Check out Tina on Insta! @tinatreksne Project Athena: www.projectathena.org

And they said it wouldn’t last, but we’ve reached 100 proper episodes on the Rocks and Roots Podcast!  We are thrilled to chat with ultrarunner and author Catra Corbett!   We hear about Catra’s start in the ultra running world in the mid-90s after a battle with substance abuse.  Her determination on the road and then trail gives her an edge that not many possess; the ability to conquer very hard things seamlessly.  She went from 10ks to 100s in less than a year, has podiumed, don’t multiple FKTs of the John Muir Trail and beyond, and loves her some 200 mile races.  She is on the way to do the High Sierra Route in August 2023 and we wish her the best in that awesome endeavor!   Looking forward to having Catra back on the show soon! https://catracorbett.com Insta: @dirtdiva333 TikTok: @dirtdiva3  Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/dirtdiva333/?wtsid=rdr_0Zdj0QQ6mL0s2wmkA

What a fun chat we had with Kate Cloud (Feathers)!  Kate has years of trail miles under her belt as she’s an AT alum class of 2018 and a PCT alum class of 2019.   Her life took a fun turn with the adoption of her goat Little Leaf and her trail experiences in 2020-2022. The journey continues with Kate’s recent acquisition of a laundromat-turning-hostel in Rawlins, Wyoming. Kate’s energy and joy is contagious as we talked trail, goats, and hostels all while giggling.  If you’re to take anything away from this episode it’s this quote, “If you don’t push back, the universe tends to bring you what you need.” Follow Kate! www.youtube.com/@KateCloud Insta: kate_cloud_feathers Art website: littlebitsandbigdeals.com Little Leaf 🐐: little_leaf_goat

We’re thrilled to welcome back 46 of 46 Podcast host James Appleton to the show to speak to us about his half marathon experience with minimal running training (but a bunch of hiking training).   Along with that, we learn about James’ decade long passion for lifting and how the sport of Powerlifting has strengthened not only his body but his mind as well.  As a well-rounded student of exercise, James has lost over 100 lbs, completed two rounds of the ADK 46 and is now a bonafide runner.   We also speak about his ebook and guiding experience in the Adirondacks.  46of46.com @46of46podcast  @jamesappleton46  

We had the pleasure of chatting with Mike of the popular Adirondacks-based Instagram handle @ADKFunPolice.   With a passion for the park and a sense of humor, Mike has made it one of his missions to bring up-to-date trail news and trail memes to his followers… with some light prodding in there too.  We also spend some time talking about the ever popular topic of registration and permits to hike the popular trails, especially in the High Peaks Region.  A big thanks to Mike for joining us and we hope to have you on the show again sooner than later!  

The deluge hit the High Peaks with many hours of rain, thunderstorms, bugs and unnerving river crossings.  Cranky and Tumbles took a few days to bag some peaks only to find that it wasn’t as easy as they thought.  A trying expedition up to Nye Mountain would make or break the aspiring 46er along with bagging another orphaned peak we left behind a few weeks ago made it one for the books.  Honestly it wouldn’t have been bad at all if we didn’t do it torrential downpours.  We also scouted out Catamount Mountain which is going to prove a favorite in the ADK.  Onward!

Finally coming out of the busy season of spring, Cranky and Tumbles bring you the latest trail related news including…. FIRES, PRIDE MONTH, ESG SCORES, and more.  We are going a bit out of order since we did do Whiteface in the ADK Memorial Day weekend but we figured this is current events and we’ll post the hike AAR next week.  Enjoy the episode, dear friends. 

It’s Trail Talk day with Cranky and Tumbles!  We catch you up on a couple of trail news reports as well as dive into the importance of resistance training and why we’ve been slacking.   We’ll be back on Trail soon with a surprise trail coming up that we are excited to start.  Stay tuned!

We have a very special guest who combines several of our passions,running, hiking, and books. Ken Posner is an ultra marathoner, hiker, and author. He has completed 100 marathons/ultras, the ADK 46, the Catskills Grid (35 peaks each month for 12 months for a total of 420 summits), he has hiked the Long Path in NY and John Muir Trail. Ken has also completed 51 races barefoot including 13 marathons and ultra marathons. He has completed the Catskills 35 barefoot and the ADK barefoot. Ken was also an Airborne Ranger. In this episode we discuss Ken’s Badwater record, the Catskills 9, and the work of the NY/NJ Trail Conference! Kim Levinsky’s Long Path FKT to raise money for trail conference. https://www.nynjtc.org/news/ultrarunner-aims-set-record-long-path-raise-funds-trail-conference