AT vs. PCT Panel: Gear, Culture, and Logistics with Abby Evans and Hannah Goodman

In today's episode of Backpacker Radio, presented by The Trek and brought to you by Topo Athletic, we are doing a thorough breakdown of the differences and similarities between the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. We are joined by Trek Bloggers, Abby Evans, aka “Shitwater Fireball: Queer of the Salamanders" and Hannah “Spring” Goodman, who are both 2024 PCT thru-hikers, and had previously thru-hiked the AT as well. We talk about the differences in overall difficulty, including weather, terrain, logistics, and gear, the difference in trail cultures, the various highs and lows, and ultimately, each person gives which of the two trails they prefer overall. The results may surprise you. We wrap the show with some news of a positive update on the new Lyme disease vaccine, who we would trade bodies with and what we would do first, the triple crown of streaming services, and a reader prompts Chaunce into giving us a more detailed breakdown about the time she pooped into a mountain house bag in her tent. Topo Athletic: Use code “THETREK15” for 15% of topoathletic.com. Gossamer Gear: Use code “SNUGGLEBUG” for 20% off shelters at gossamergear.com.  LMNT: Get a free sample pack with any order at drinklmnt.com/trek. Katabatic Gear: Use code “BPR15” for 15% off at katabaticgear.com. Duer: Get 20% off at shopduer.com/backpacker. [divider] Panel with Abby Evans aka “Shitwater Fireball” and Hannah “Spring” Goodman Spring's Instagram Shitwater's Instagram Time stamps & Questions 00:05:30 - Reminders: Come to our Brooklyn meetup TODAY (September 16)! And support us on Patreon for exclusive bonus content and get your tickets for our live Denver show on December 7! 00:07:50 - Introducing Shitwater & Spring 00:09:03 - Spring, how did you get into the outdoors? 00:10:20 - Shitwater, how did you get into the outdoors? 00:12:57 - What are your trail name origin stories? 00:16:00 - What backpacking trips did you do before the AT? 00:17:08 - How has your PCT experience been? 00:18:27 - Zach & Chaunce’s AT/PCT experience 00:19:10 - AT vs. PCT: Overall difficulty 00:25:00 - Discussion about fire logistics and impacts 00:28:16 - Zach & Chaunce’s difficulty comparison between the trails 00:32:30 - Discussion about hike mindset between the AT and PCT 00:47:22 - What was the hardest part of skipping miles on the PCT? 01:01:00 - AT vs. PCT: Social experience 01:11:35 - Do you think being on trail was a good place to process the breakup? 01:18:00 - Chaunce’s trail social experiences 01:33:25 - AT vs. PCT: Gear differences 01:50:20 - How much rain did you experience on the PCT? 01:54:40 - AT vs. PCT: Highs and lows 02:14:20 - If you could only pick on trail for the rest of your life, which would you pick? 02:17:30 - Where can we keep up with you? Segments Rapid Fire Interviews James “Almost Famous” Townsend Rachael “Pack Rat” Davis Katherine “Willy” Baals Sean Durkin aka TreeBeard Trek Propaganda: Lyme Disease Vaccine Passes Stage Three Trials by Kimberly Featherston QOTD: If you could trade bodies with someone for a day who would be and what would you do first? Triple Crown of streaming services Mail Bag 5 Star Review [divider] Check out our sound guy @my_boy_pauly/. Leave us a voicemail! Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes (and please leave us a review)!  Find us on Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play. Support us on Patreon to get bonus content. Advertise on Backpacker Radio Follow The Trek, Chaunce, Badger, and Trail Correspondents on Instagram. Follow Backpacker Radio, The Trek and Chaunce on YouTube. Follow Backpacker Radio on Tik Tok.  Our theme song is Walking Slow by Animal Years. A super big thank you to our Chuck Norris Award winner(s) from Patreon: Alex and Misty with NavigatorsCrafting, Andrew, Austen McDaniel, Ben Love, Brad & Blair Thirteen Adventures, Brent Stenberg, Bryan Alsop, Christopher Marshburn, Coach from Marion Outdoors, Dayne, Derek Koch, Eric Casper, Erik Hofmann, Gillian Daniels, Greg Knight, Greg McDaniel may he bring honor to his name, Griffin Haywood, Hailey Buckingham, Liz Seger, Patrick Cianciolo, Rebecca Brave, Sawyer Products, SPAM, Timothy Hahn, Tracy ‘Trigger’ Fawns A big thank you to our Cinnamon Connection Champions from Patreon: Bonnie Ackerman, David, Dcnerdlet, Emily Galusha, Jeanie, Jeanne Latshaw, Joann Menzer, Katharine Rudzitis, Lauren Cain, Luke Netjes, Merle Watkins, Peter, and Ruth S.