{"podcast":{"title":"Hiker Trash Radio","slug":"hiker-trash-radio-2158694","podcast_index_feed_id":2158694,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/TGxnwCmZ","website_url":"https://bleav.com/shows/hiker-trash-radio/","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/6215cda8-011d-4ccd-9fe8-c389912a62af/8462348d-3bc5-4438-a3de-05a96ab6009b/3000x3000/updated-circular-logo.png?aid=rss_feed","author":"Bleav + Doc","episode_count":600,"summary":"Join Doc and his guests on Hiker Trash Radio, the outdoor adventure podcast that takes you on a myriad of trails. With interviews from thru hikers, skydivers, adventure athletes, big wall climbers, and more, each episode is packed with trail talk, gear tips, and hilarious misadventures. And if you thought the great outdoors was all sunshine and rainbows, think again! Tune in for tales of blistered feet, helicopter evacuations, and Type II Fun that will make you appreciate the comforts of home. Settle in and get ready to trade the city for the wilderness. It's time to embrace the suck!","last_synced_at":"2026-09-19T12:22:28.586390+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hiker-trash-radio-2158694"},"episode":{"title":"Trail Stories - There's No Suck to Be Embraced with Bradford \"Rafiki\" Bartels","slug":"trail-stories-there-s-no-suck-to-be-embraced-with-bradford-rafiki-bartels","published_at":"2026-09-12T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hiker-trash-radio-2158694/trail-stories-there-s-no-suck-to-be-embraced-with-bradford-rafiki-bartels","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hiker-trash-radio-2158694","url":"https://bleav.com/shows/hiker-trash-radio/?post_type=gp_podcast_episode&p=1014","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/1385/injector.simplecastaudio.com/6d2da267-75e0-4996-8f52-dc96c283fcb3/episodes/3c42e326-e19d-4b3c-9110-92ed2ac1c0e7/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=6d2da267-75e0-4996-8f52-dc96c283fcb3&awEpisodeId=3c42e326-e19d-4b3c-9110-92ed2ac1c0e7&feed=TGxnwCmZ","summary":"Bradford \"Rafiki\" Bartels just became the first person to thru-hike the Alaska Long Trail — a roughly 500-mile route from Seward to Fairbanks that is still under development, was not on FarOut when he walked it, and has approximately 30 percent road walks connecting trail segments that, in his estimation, still feels like a complete thru-hike because the whole point of a thru-hike is to explore an ecosystem and immerse yourself in a backcountry environment, and the Alaska Long Trail delivers both in surplus. He did it in 47 days. That is an OKT — Only Known Time. He researched it for years, called the organizations that opposed it to make sure he wasn't screwing anything up for people, and walked it in three emergency ponchos (one of which was a skirt) after his rain gear disintegrated against the Devil's Club. In this episode he explains why everybody worries about the wrong thing out there (it's not the bears, it's the rivers), shares his unpopular opinion about thru-hiking culture, and directly argues against the show's own closing line. It's a short detour from embracing the suck. The full interview with Rafiki drops Wednesday in two parts on the Hiker Trash Radio feed.","meta_description":"Bradford \"Rafiki\" Bartels just became the first person to thru-hike the Alaska Long Trail — a roughly 500-mile route from Seward to Fairbanks that is stil…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1209,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hiker-trash-radio-2158694/episodes/trail-stories-there-s-no-suck-to-be-embraced-with-bradford-rafiki-bartels/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hiker-trash-radio-2158694/trail-stories-there-s-no-suck-to-be-embraced-with-bradford-rafiki-bartels.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}