With summer approaching, Army veteran and long-distance hiker Akuna Robinson joins host V.V. Ganeshananthan and guest co-host to talk about the experience of through hiking, or long-distance hiking a trail from end to end.
Robinson, the first Black man to complete the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail—the Triple Crown of through hiking—recounts how he was inspired by the movie to attempt the Pacific Crest Trail as a way of managing post-traumatic stress disorder from his military service in Iraq. Robinson reflects on encountering greater diversity on the trail in recent years, seeing the landscape affected by climate change, and the individualized nature of packing for a months-long journey. He also discusses hiking with Gallagher, and reading and writing on the trail.
Gallagher reads from his 2021 ESPN profile of Robinson. Akuna, you’ve been hiking for eight years now, and that piece came out in 2021. So, you’re looking back on all this with a different perspective.
You started hiking before the pandemic, returned to hiking after the worst of COVID, and you finished the Triple Crown. What effect has it had on your mental health to spend this much time in nature with this level of intensity? What are some of the most beautiful and unusual things you’ve seen? As far as my mental health goes, PTSD isn’t something to vanquish. I think that’s a big misconception people have.
They believe that going out and hiking cured me. .
