Stu Levitan welcomes Cary Segall  for a conversation about his engaging new book A Talk in the Woods: Voices Along the Appalachian Trail (Back Burner Books), recounting stories of the people he met along the world's longest hiking-only trail.

Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the mid-1930s, the 2,197.4-mile Appalachian Trail runs through 14 states, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. More than three million people hike segments each year; fewer than one thousand earn the designation of thru-hiker, walking the entire trail within fifty-two weeks.

Cary Segall set out in 2014 to become a thru-hiker, but  soon took such enjoyment talking to his fellow hikers -- most with trail names like Deacon, Northstar, Birdman, Gearhead, Leave No Tracy, Mama Bear and the Cubs --that he took the time to interview them; every so often, he'd use the computer at a public library the trail was passing to write their stories. That slowed him down, so he only got to New York that first year; illness, injury and bad weather stymied his efforts in 2015-2017, but he finally summited in 2018.

Impressive and no doubt satisfying, but nowhere near as extraordinary as what Segall, 75, accomplished on Nov. 9  – completing the Madison Marathon 26 days after a UW doctor replaced his defective aortic valve. That was on top of about 80 prior marathons in  31 states, plus a record 44 straight 20-mile Syttende Mai races.

Segall began his racing and writing careers at Green Bay East High School, where he ran cross-country and was sports editor of the Hi-Light newspaper. He was also both a stringer and delivery boy for the Press Gazette, and delivered Vince Lombardi's Sunday Milwaukee Journal.

Before joining the State Journal, Segall applied his UW degree in wildlife ecology as a ranger-naturalist for the National Park Service, and his UW law degree as a public interest environmental lawyer before quitting to raise his newborn son Craig, with whom he would later do much hiking.