Ep. 02: Megan Bryant - Big Adventures Empowered by Little Inspirations

Dr. Joy James speaks with App State alumnae Megan Bryant about her her trek solo hiking the Appalachian Trail for 6 weeks covering 600 miles. Along the way she found a community of like minded people from many different walks of life, suffered through shin splints, discovered she was much stronger than she thought and even happened to meet her future fiance! 

 

Transcript:

00;00;19;00 - 00;00;51;06
Melissa Weddell
Welcome to the Outdoorosity Podcast. Get outside. Keep going outside. Where we share Appalachian State stories that entertain, inspire and inform listeners about living an active outdoor lifestyle. Each episode features a story. The goal to get you outside and keep you going outside to improve your overall wellness. The Outdoorosity Podcast is brought to you by the Hope Lab, where our purpose is to investigate the role of outdoor physical activity, exercise and play on healthy environment and human development.

00;00;51;16 - 00;01;16;22
Melissa Weddell
The vision of the Hope Lab is to continue developing the perfect foundation for promoting and supporting outdoor physical activity, exercise and play through interdisciplinary research. Feel free to check us out at hopelab.appstate.edu. Hi, my name is Melissa Weddell. I'm a professor in Recreation Management at Appalachian State University and a self-proclaimed outdoor addict. I will be your host for the Outdoorosity Podcast.

00;01;17;04 - 00;01;45;06
Melissa Weddell
On today's episode, team member Dr. Joy James, also Professor in Recreation Management Interviews Alumni Megan Bryant. We will be discussing the title of the episode, Big Adventures Empowered by Little Inspirations, where Megan tells us the story of how she moved from the city to attend Appalachian State University, why she made that decision in her journey from learning how to hike and enjoying the outdoors, to planning and participating in a six week backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail.

00;01;46;07 - 00;01;48;14
Melissa Weddell
Now, here's the interview with Joy and Megan.

00;01;50;27 - 00;02;10;16
Joy James
So this is Joy James, and we have Megan Bryant here with us today to share her story on Outdoorosity. Megan, what I'd like you to do, if possible, if you would introduce yourself, kind of like where you from, how you ended up at Appalachian State. I know you've graduated and then tell us your favorite outdoor activity.

00;02;10;25 - 00;02;36;09
Megan Bryant
Yeah. So I'm originally from Atlanta, Georgia, grew up there, but was always drawn up to the mountains, which is one of the reasons that most people end up it up to me, too. I did my first two years of college at the University of Georgia, and I studied environmental economics there. But the mix of the campus culture and also just the focus on economic use of the outdoors was just not where my interest was.

00;02;36;23 - 00;02;55;05
Megan Bryant
When I was in high school. I originally applied and got into App, and after two years at UGA, I was like, I'm not happy here. I'm going to try to mix this up a bit. I love App, let's try that out again. So went out for two years and graduated there. I'd say my favorite outdoor activity. I love long distance backpacking, which I know we'll talk a bit about later.

00;02;55;16 - 00;02;58;28
Megan Bryant
So that's my all time favorite outdoor activity.

00;02;59;04 - 00;03;04;25
Joy James
Cool, so how would you say you first got interested in the outdoors, like your childhood or a friend?

00;03;05;01 - 00;03;22;16
Megan Bryant
So my introduction to the outdoors was through Girl Scouts when I was in elementary school, going on little camp outs and stuff. And if you've ever been to The Hike Inn in North Georgia. It's Four miles out and then you stay at this awesome lodge and hike back. We did that and I was like, this is my type of thing.

00;03;22;16 - 00;03;44;15
Megan Bryant
Like, I love this. And then as I got into high school, me and my friends love to go hiking. And then on spring break, when most people are going to the beach, we planned a big hiking trip with all of our friends and camping and all of that. And more and more as I was doing it, I was like, I love being outside and then when I got to college, I actually originally wanted to do international affairs and work for like State Department and like big government and stuff.

00;03;44;15 - 00;04;04;24
Megan Bryant
And I was very quickly like, Oh, I'm not nearly as passionate about this as I am about being outside. Like I wanted to do National Park stuff. As I got more and more into college, I was like, This is what I want to do. And then I ended up doing a six week solo hike on the Appalachian Trail because I was kind of just lost and wasn't sure what I was going to do.

00;04;04;28 - 00;04;23;05
Megan Bryant
After my first year at college. Having all that time out there kind of being like, not only is this opportunity awesome for me, just being able to be outside, like, I think I want to do something to give more people access to opportunities like this. So it was like, Oh, wow, this really helps me. I bet it can help other people too.

00;04;23;08 - 00;04;26;01
Megan Bryant
I want to do this. And it was like down that path.

00;04;26;10 - 00;04;43;29
Joy James
In terms of backpacking and that solo hike, what inspired you or helped you to make that plan? Because, you know, a lot of people don't like to do things by themselves and sometimes backpacking is a solo activity, but it can be social. How did you move from hiking with your friends to backpacking?

00;04;44;06 - 00;05;05;21
Megan Bryant
I went backpacking twice with my aunt who lives out in California when I was in high school, when that was out in Yosemite. So it was like, oh yeah, starting up the best I knew it was awesome and I was like, This is incredible. Like, this is so great. The time to reflect out there. I really like I was saying I was feeling lost that like...

00;05;05;26 - 00;05;35;17
Megan Bryant
I don't really feel like I have that many people that I can rely on to do a long trip. And I was like, Well, I can rely on myself. Let's make this happen. And when I reflect on that time of planning for my experience, the planning became a leisure activity of itself. When I had my free time, I was doing research, I was watching videos, I was going on the RV website or going to local outfitters and trying to figure out what the best sleeping bag would be because I had a super low budget for the trip.

00;05;35;17 - 00;05;58;20
Megan Bryant
Like, what's the best sleeping bag, what's the best backpack, what's the weather going to look like? Because I was 18 when I went out there. That's also one of the things that brought me to doing the 80 instead of any other long trail was that I knew that there would be that community. Once I got out there, I felt super socially awkward at the time, so I was like, Even if I don't make any like super long term friends, you know, once I got out there was like a super big community.

00;05;58;20 - 00;06;04;09
Megan Bryant
I was like, Oh my gosh, I actually get along with these people. What is this? This is crazy. But it's like, Oh, this makes sense.

00;06;04;28 - 00;06;06;14
Joy James
Did you have a trail name for the app?

00;06;06;24 - 00;06;23;17
Megan Bryant
I did, and my church name is Duct Tape. My second day out there, I was at Trail Magic with a bunch of people that were like yellow blazers. I kind of just drove from one trail crossing to another, and we were about to go into a really scenic section, Grace Highlands. And I was like, you know, I heard supposed rain for the next few days.

00;06;23;21 - 00;06;34;04
Megan Bryant
And they said, if you keep perusing the weather like that, we're going to have to duct tape you to a tree. For some reason, I was like, All right. And then they're like, We're going to call you duct tape. And I'm like, Cool. Like, I have a trail yeah.

00;06;35;03 - 00;06;44;26
Joy James
Well, a couple more things I want to go a little deeper into your backpacking planning and stuff like that. Before I do that, can you describe that feeling of lost? Like.

00;06;45;04 - 00;06;45;15
Megan Bryant
Yeah.

00;06;45;24 - 00;06;55;04
Joy James
You were just kind of not knowing what to do, like, what was that feeling? And then how did you get out of that feeling to direct yourself into backpacking?

00;06;55;04 - 00;07;15;00
Megan Bryant
I mean, I was at a school that I didn't want to be in. I hadn't followed my heart. I was more like, This is a well-respected school and it has a good program, so I'm going to go there. Even though everything inside of me is like, don't go like I'm just going to go and like because will probably be good in the long term.

00;07;15;06 - 00;07;41;26
Megan Bryant
So I wasn't really where I wanted to be. I wasn't setting stuff that made me passionate. So feeling really bogged down by the core Sloan and the tech stuff I was studying in the classroom environment, which was so different from App. It was very unprofessional. Also, the campus culture there was just not me. It was very sorority based or like really cultural in a way that I was in touch with, like really good music.

00;07;41;26 - 00;07;59;02
Megan Bryant
And art and stuff. And I just was like, I don't know anything about that. So I was just having a really hard time finding my people in my place, and I knew I loved the outdoors, and I knew that when I started thinking about doing something like a big trip, like a big backpacking trip, I was feeling excited and I felt good.

00;07;59;14 - 00;08;02;00
Megan Bryant
So I was like, I'm going to follow that. I'm going to make that happen.

00;08;02;12 - 00;08;05;17
Joy James
How did you bring it to your parents? I want to do a six week solo hike.

00;08;07;07 - 00;08;22;15
Megan Bryant
I inched into it. I was like, I think I want to do a big trip by myself. This summer. And then I was like, I think I want to go on the 80, Hey, here's all these documentaries that I can show you that we can watch together that show how many people are out there and here's all this cleaning that I've been doing.

00;08;22;15 - 00;08;44;07
Megan Bryant
Like, Look, I'm not just coming up with this and just going to go. I have done my research. I feel like this is a safe enough place. Also, just kind of like reassuring myself, like I can do this myself. I would love my parents would be super supportive, which they ended up being super supportive. Just telling myself, even if they don't feel like it's the safest or best place I'm going to do this.

00;08;44;13 - 00;08;49;28
Megan Bryant
So it's like a mix of trying to appease them, but also feeling self-assured in your journey.

00;08;50;26 - 00;09;06;10
Joy James
Probably the process of trying to appease them help you as well. Like you were kind of buying all this stuff and that made you more confident when you were talking to them. Yeah, so ultimately they kind of were supportive of you as well. And so you did it during the summer. Does that mean you didn't work that summer?

00;09;06;10 - 00;09;10;04
Joy James
You kind of worked really hard to save up, but like how did you afford to happen?

00;09;10;16 - 00;09;30;12
Megan Bryant
I didn't like it two ways. So the reason why I did it for six weeks, I did it time based instead of distance based. My family was awesome with it eventually and once I had, they really felt secure about it, but they were like, Wherever you are, six weeks into it, we'll pick you up there. So I had that six week period the whole time.

00;09;30;12 - 00;09;46;24
Megan Bryant
Before that, I worked really hard. I was a waitress at a sushi restaurant, works really hard as much as I could save up money. That pretty much all went into the trip afterwards. I came back after that six weeks and I nanny Donna Summer front loading and back loading and just trying to keep myself secure throughout it.

00;09;46;28 - 00;09;52;10
Joy James
Yeah. What section did you end up doing did you start from the beginning? Did you pick that area?

00;09;52;22 - 00;10;10;13
Megan Bryant
Yeah, I research a lot. I'm a very big planner, so I was like, I know I'm going to be starting May seven where is the bubble going to be? And I want to put myself right in the middle of it. And I was like, right in the beginning of Virginia. So I was like, you know, it'd be really fun if I started right at the base of Virginia.

00;10;10;13 - 00;10;28;11
Megan Bryant
So I started in Damascus. My pipe dream was to get through Virginia, and I ended up getting three Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland and I my last day hiking, I crossed into Pennsylvania. So it was like 600 miles total, which I was not planning on doing, but I felt really proud of.

00;10;28;12 - 00;10;30;18
Joy James
What was your original mileage you thought you would do?

00;10;30;27 - 00;10;45;04
Megan Bryant
I thought that my longest day would be 15, but my first day I ended up doing 15 miles, which was not good planning. I got Shin splints three days into it. I did not think in the beginning, but my longest ended up being 25 miles.

00;10;45;13 - 00;10;50;16
Joy James
And how did you persevere with sunspots? Like some people that would knock us off the trail.

00;10;51;00 - 00;11;09;08
Megan Bryant
Yeah. So my sisters boyfriend at the time told me before I left, Hey, like I want you to know, like, you can call it quits at any time your family was talking. If you call it quits early, they can pick you up. And in my head I was like, Oh, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to call it quits.

00;11;09;17 - 00;11;31;25
Megan Bryant
It was like this feeling of, Don't tell me that I can't do it. Like, I can do it. So I ended up taking a ton of ibuprofen for a few days with my shin splints until I got into town. And I actually ended up staying in a motel room in Marion, Virginia, by myself for like four days, just trying to recover.

00;11;32;05 - 00;11;53;10
Megan Bryant
And that was definitely a why am I doing this moment? But I just was like really hard headed and get through it. And then a few days later, because I was keeping my mileage down because of the shin splints. And the next day, I think this hiker named Weather Man was like, oh, you have shin splints. I had these really long socks that compress your legs and can help you with shin splints.

00;11;53;10 - 00;12;04;21
Megan Bryant
Do you want them? And I was like, yeah, awesome. So it's like the trail provides. It's what people say. And it helped me out, and I just had to really watch my mileage for the next week. Yeah.

00;12;06;11 - 00;12;29;16
Melissa Weddell
As we listened to Megan's story, one of the purposes of the podcast is to also inspire you to get outdoors. Recent literature discusses an abundance of benefits for your health through being in nature. We know that being outside and exercising includes improved heart and lung fitness, fewer cardiovascular risk factors, fewer deaths, and less coronary heart disease. It also reduces your risk of cancer and reduces obesity.

00;12;29;23 - 00;12;52;11
Melissa Weddell
While these are physical aspects of being outside and exercising, there are many emotional and intellectual aspects where research has shown that we can concentrate more just by taking a ten minute walk around the neighborhood, having nature around us, whether we have plants around us or in our work. Home, Office or Windows. These health benefits are documented through different disciplines that we represent in the Hope Lab.

00;12;53;09 - 00;12;59;12
Melissa Weddell
In the next half, Megan shares more of her experiences and how she became more comfortable in the outdoors.

00;13;01;27 - 00;13;18;09
Joy James
While you're on the trail, what did you learn about yourself? And then as an outdoor person, what did you learn that you didn't know before about the outdoors or a skill or something that is going to help you like with your pursuit of being a backpacker for the rest of your life?

00;13;18;09 - 00;13;41;14
Megan Bryant
Yeah, so I tell you what I learned about myself is that I'm a lot stronger than I think I am and that I can push through a lot more than I think I could. There were like so many moments that if there had been a road where I was, I may have hitchhiked and called it quits. But when you're stuck in the middle of the woods and you're five miles to a road crossing, you have five miles to think about, OK, this is why I'm doing this.

00;13;41;19 - 00;13;58;12
Megan Bryant
I'm going to try to push on or, you know, you meet someone that's like, OK, this is why I'm doing this. I can do this. So I really found out that not only I'm like I'm strong enough, but I can find strength in other people and that's OK also because that's a big thing you'll hear on the edge is a big part of it is the people in the community.

00;13;59;03 - 00;14;24;14
Megan Bryant
And then from an outdoor perspective, I think a lot of that, what I learned came from the just huge, diverse array of people that I met, veterans and retired folks and people that were triathletes and people that had never gone backpacking a day in their life, like just this huge array of people that were out there recreating and doing something totally transformative and crazy for themselves.

00;14;24;25 - 00;14;53;11
Megan Bryant
And as an outdoor professional or just as a recreation professional in general, I think seeing that can show you like, oh, anyone can benefit from recreation. These opportunities that, you know, sometimes you think like, oh, you have to be like peak fitness be mentally like super disciplined to get done with something like no, like anyone who puts their mind to getting themselves involved in some sort of recreation or awesome leisure activity can find that enrichment and improvement.

00;14;53;19 - 00;15;00;23
Megan Bryant
And that was super inspiring to me. And that was one of the reasons why I was like, OK, I'm definitely going down the rec pathway once I got a rate hike.

00;15;01;25 - 00;15;21;11
Joy James
You put it so well. It's amazing with the human body and the human mind can overcome regardless of our ability, our size, the amount of money we have. If we want to do it and put our mind to it, we could do it and it could be transformative. And you kind of mentioned this transformation sounds like the trail change your perspective of a career.

00;15;21;20 - 00;15;40;19
Megan Bryant
I was leaning environmental law at the time. I actually took some law classes trying to figure out like, I think this is what I want to do. But it was like being out there, really seeing direct experience with nature and direct experience with yourself can do. And I was like, I want to go the recreation side of things.

00;15;41;05 - 00;16;06;05
Megan Bryant
Yeah. Like doing a big law case that protects an area of land is awesome. That land has so much worth in itself but think about how much protection that land can spread if people are able to, like, engage with that area of land. And that's where I'm now looking for and where I'd like to go because I found that, oh, I can have that desire of protection, due protection with sustainable recreation use on land.

00;16;06;08 - 00;16;16;01
Megan Bryant
And that's where I'm most passionate about. And being an app and working with the risk management department really helps me like figure out, wind down like, OK, this is what I think I want to do.

00;16;16;05 - 00;16;34;03
Joy James
Yeah, cool. This may go back to more in your childhood, but you were hiking a lot as a young person and then you decided I wanted to go and do this backpack. But what actually created comfort for you to go to the bathroom in the outdoors or to just be comfortable with insect or be uncomfortable with being wet?

00;16;34;09 - 00;16;37;13
Joy James
Like, how did you become comfortable in outdoor settings?

00;16;37;27 - 00;17;05;03
Megan Bryant
Experience? 100% experience. I was like, I'm not going to be able to be comfortable going to the bathroom or I'm not going to be comfortable going six, seven days without a shower. But the only way you're able to see if you can or if you can't is if you do it. If you put yourself in that uncomfortable position, I realized that I don't mind there being little bugs around me, but if they're near my eyes, it really bothers me.

00;17;05;03 - 00;17;30;14
Megan Bryant
I hate it. So it's like, OK, when I'm out there, I'm going to put a little bit of like a Groupon here and like I'm able to make the adjustment instead of never going out there because I'm afraid I may not like bugs and not realizing how to make those adjustments to make recreation work for you. So I think if you're curious about something, if you think that something might be a way to like be like intriguing and transformational, like try it and then try to make adjustments for you.

00;17;31;02 - 00;17;50;22
Joy James
OK, cool. This is kind of like a social media question, but it shouldn't have to be social media response. I've been reading about influencers and how they influence people on social media. And so another way of looking at this is was there an influencer or a mentor or someone in your life? It sounds like your aunt took you to Yosemite, but like, was it her?

00;17;50;22 - 00;18;06;12
Joy James
Was there someone else that kind of really I mean, just the fact that you were a high school student, hiking is where yeah. And from Atlanta, I'm like, there was Atlanta. You know, all I did was Stone Mountain for how did you go seek that out yeah.

00;18;06;21 - 00;18;33;06
Megan Bryant
I. I feel like it may have been field trips, eso mountain or for Science Center or if you're from Atlanta, I bet you if that were like OK, let's give these kids as little experience with outdoors and then let's let them explore that. I was an environmental education intern at a nature center back in Athens, and that was a big part of what we did, which was just getting kids into nature and seeing kind of what sticks and what's intriguing to them.

00;18;33;15 - 00;18;47;28
Megan Bryant
And I think those experiences, especially with kids, are so wonderful and can lead someone who's lives in Atlanta in a kind of a concrete jungle, like getting them to prioritize nature and natural experiences. Yeah.

00;18;48;09 - 00;19;00;14
Joy James
Some of your experience mirrors some of mine as that young person, but I'm assuming the Sandy Creek Nature Center you were at and did you volunteer at them because that was something you want to do? Or is that a class assignment for you at the University of Georgia?

00;19;00;19 - 00;19;25;14
Megan Bryant
No, I was wanting to get involved I was wanting to do something with my days, and I was taking a class through UGA was Forestry and Natural Resources College were now and because I was in one class, I was technically on their listserv and Sandy Creek sent out an email that was like, Hey, if you want to volunteer, you'll come in a few mornings a month, bring some kids on hikes.

00;19;25;14 - 00;19;43;29
Megan Bryant
And I was like, That sounds awesome. That sounds like so much fun. So I volunteered with them for probably a year and I just went in one morning and we were kind of just getting like told what the curriculum is going to be and what standards we want to meet and stuff. And they were like, Oh, also, we have a paid internship and you can do this pretty much on a bigger scale.

00;19;43;29 - 00;20;02;13
Megan Bryant
And do animal encounters and go to the farmer's markets and do all this fun stuff. And I was like, I would love to do that. And I was looking for a summer job. I thought I was going to have to work at like a restaurant or something again. And I was like, No, I want to do that prep for the interview to handwrite it, written thank you notes, which is totally like trying my hardest.

00;20;02;13 - 00;20;19;08
Megan Bryant
And I got the internship and it wasn't for a class or anything. I just really wanted working with kids, working in the outdoors. I love animals. I like working with animals. I like this is going to be the best. And it was awesome. It was like a super cool way to be like, Oh, this is a job. Like, this is an actual job I could do.

00;20;19;17 - 00;20;27;00
Megan Bryant
These are people that are employed that are literally like just doing the most exciting stuff. Like, I want to do this. I can actually do this.

00;20;27;10 - 00;20;42;12
Joy James
Not to bemoan that, but I wish, you know, Boone had a nature center similar to Sandy Creek Thriving program because it would be a great partnership for our students and all majors to be able to have access to that experience that you have.

00;20;42;18 - 00;21;00;05
Megan Bryant
Yeah, it was super great. They had a sea turtle and snakes and bearded dragon, like just awesome animals and their interpretive hall any of our students would freak about it because it was so interactive and engaging. Great signage. Just awesome. The dream.

00;21;01;08 - 00;21;20;08
Joy James
One last question. And then I go into another segment. We were wondering if you could share a story with us about an outdoor experience. You've kind of been sharing your backpacking experience, but think about it on a micro level. Is there a moment that was really funny, revealing, or hilarious? That's a story that you'd be willing to share with our listeners?

00;21;20;16 - 00;21;45;20
Megan Bryant
Yeah, it was one of those Appalachian periods where it rains for like five days straight. You ever see this guy? I sat down, I was like, I am so in pain right now. I am miserable. I took my shoes off to try to like, treat my feet. My feet were so blistered and pruney that there wasn't even any point I was just like, OK, let me make my plan to leave.

00;21;46;06 - 00;22;06;29
Megan Bryant
This was like my lowest, just every step miserable. And I was like, I need something right now to make me feel good. And I turned a corner and I knew I was Enemy Crossy Road. I said a little bit of like Blue or some, like, human color. And I'm like, probably someone just sitting there like, don't get excited, keep walking.

00;22;06;29 - 00;22;28;16
Megan Bryant
And I'm like, Don't get excited. Like, it's probably nothing. They're like, Everything sucks. They're going to be anything good. Right now, the world's general and I get closer and I see that it's this huge set up through true magic and I'm like, Oh, my gosh, please let there be something. Cause I was a vegetarian at the time, and I was like, probably not going to be able to get anything, like everything, socks, whatever.

00;22;28;27 - 00;22;50;23
Megan Bryant
And I walk up and like, the first thing they say is, Do you eat meat? And I was like, No, we have veggie burgers for you. Awesome. No problem. We want grilled onions. We got grilled onions, like putting together all these burgers and like, I sit down, I start talking to them. And it turns out that they were from the town my sister was living in and that their daughter lived in the same area that my parents lived in.

00;22;51;01 - 00;23;10;27
Megan Bryant
And she worked at our family's favorite restaurant of all time. And I was like, I'm not a superstitious person or anything, but I was just like, this is crazy. I was literally at the like, This is it. I'm done. It was like the best food ever. Something I could eat as many snacks as I could want. All these nice people there, everything about these people's life fit into mine.

00;23;11;07 - 00;23;23;13
Megan Bryant
It was like, OK, I can do it. And I just think that feeling of even when things can be like super at the lowest that people can really come together, lift you up from there. That's like a moment that stuck out of my mind.

00;23;23;26 - 00;23;32;03
Joy James
As a hiker, and particularly at the age you're familiar with this. But could you describe what trail magic means? Yeah, your listeners who may not know what that means.

00;23;32;19 - 00;23;52;17
Megan Bryant
There's a whole lexicon of hiker words. Trail magic is when traditionally people that aren't hiking leave things or station at road crossing and either make a lot of food or leave really good treats and stuff. I've seen it where a lady just put a little box of homemade cookies and a little note on it, like true magic. Take one if you like.

00;23;52;27 - 00;24;12;11
Megan Bryant
Or it could be like this where they apparently made breakfast, lunch and dinner. Wow. And beers, soda, snacks, anything anyone could ever want. Sometimes it's like a whole grill out. It's just people taking time out of their days to just give to hikers. And they never charge any money or really ask for anything. It's more just you guys are doing something really hard, really awesome.

00;24;12;13 - 00;24;14;00
Megan Bryant
I want to give you guys some love.

00;24;14;08 - 00;24;21;02
Joy James
It's really quite amazing. And it goes along with what you're saying about meeting people and that community of support.

00;24;21;23 - 00;24;40;22
Megan Bryant
Because a lot of times our culture really promotes individualism doing it yourself. And a lot of people like hear that people go out on long hikes by themselves. You must have really had to push through. Well, I pushed through a fair bit, but if I didn't have so many awesome people around me, I wouldn't have been able to get through it.

00;24;40;28 - 00;24;53;19
Megan Bryant
I think we need to realize, yeah, personal motivation is awesome, but personal motivation is lonely. If you don't have people to share it with, it's awesome to really engage in a community especially a community of people that are creating alongside you, I think is really special. Yeah.

00;24;54;01 - 00;25;01;05
Joy James
Do you see yourself doing the A.T. as a section hiker or do you want to ever pursue it all in one fell swoop?

00;25;01;23 - 00;25;20;04
Megan Bryant
I definitely want to do it all in one fell swoop. I actually met my now fiance on the trail. Oh, I have this partner now in my life. We are able to like want to do these same things together. And he did half the trail and I did a quarter of it. And we're like we have certain beginning and end.

00;25;20;18 - 00;25;38;22
Megan Bryant
Like we don't want to just do the parts we don't like. We want to do it all through. And right now, you know, we're like settling in. We don't quite have the funds to do it, but as soon as we can, as soon as the time's right, we're getting out there. We love to do the PCT and do as many as we can because it's our thing.

00;25;38;22 - 00;25;39;01
Megan Bryant
We, you.

00;25;39;01 - 00;25;53;23
Joy James
Know, it's almost like it's going to happen because my I had a college buddy who she did the 80 and at the time they didn't have the Internet to meet people she knew. She didn't want to do it by herself. So she was not like you in terms of the solo and we just didn't have a lot of information.

00;25;53;23 - 00;26;21;05
Joy James
So she, there was a club newsletter that you could get and she found this guy and so they started hiking together. She hated him. He had her and they partied in Pennsylvania, which apparently is one of the most difficult parts of the trail, from what I understand. And then in the brief period of time they stopped, they realized they couldn't live without each other, and then did the eight in the next year together and got married at the bottom of Mount Katahdin.

00;26;21;21 - 00;26;41;08
Joy James
That's on the hike, the last part up. So and then they did the PCT and they did I mean, so it really is interesting, once you start kind of getting into that crowd of people, you not only maybe meet partners or significant others, but you you get more support and encouragement so that you feel inspired that I can continue to do these big type of hikes.

00;26;42;04 - 00;27;03;12
Joy James
Oh, cool. That kind of finishes out the questions that we have for you. And one of the things we're doing with the people that we're interviewing is to segment getting the dirt on getting outside, particularly in boom. And I know you're living in Asheville now that you've graduated, but I have like four questions. So what is your biggest fear about being in the outdoors?

00;27;04;15 - 00;27;26;22
Megan Bryant
Whitewater really fast moving water can't do it. I have friends that do whitewater kayaking and stuff. I've tried it petrified is neat. I recently did the little gorge loop, a backpack that was a friend, and there's a point where you have to swim across to bring your pack over and it's like a whole thing and just swimming across water.

00;27;26;22 - 00;27;32;10
Megan Bryant
That was pretty slowly moving toward a rapid I can't do it. That's my biggest fear. 100%.

00;27;32;27 - 00;27;37;00
Joy James
All right. What is your most embarrassing outdoor moment?

00;27;38;18 - 00;27;50;02
Megan Bryant
When I was in Yosemite and we didn't put our food away, right? And Chipmunks got into all of our food and we had to go back early. Yeah, I would say that's probably the most embarrassing. Not even the Bears chipmunk.

00;27;50;10 - 00;28;12;06
Joy James
I had a raccoon eat through one of my backpacks I had Eminem's rolled up in my raincoat in a pocket, like in the middle, and the raccoon ate the pork. It got to the Eminem. So I enjoyed those. Eminem. All right, the third question, what is a must have when you go backpacking or in the outdoors? What's something of a piece of equipment?

00;28;13;04 - 00;28;44;23
Megan Bryant
I have a lot because whenever people are like getting into gear and like a bunch of different stuff. But I would say my top recommendation is a squeeze water filter. It seems so simple, but so many people use pumps or the tablets or bleach or aqua mirror and stuff. But having something that when you're on a really long hike, you get to a water source that you can just immediately drink water just by like squeezing it into your mouth or into another water bottle or something I think is the biggest game changer and get the school sized ones not the little ones full size.

00;28;44;26 - 00;28;46;23
Joy James
And what did you call it in a squeeze?

00;28;46;23 - 00;29;05;11
Megan Bryant
We the Sawyer squeeze water filter. I keep one in my car. It's so worth it. So you don't have to risk getting any sort of digestive problem or sick, just immediate water. I've gotten so many backpacking trips with people that use tablets and they're having to do all that. Flipping around and shaking and waiting have said all these times, I'm squeezing my water bottle.

00;29;05;11 - 00;29;07;26
Megan Bryant
I'm good to go. I think it's such a game changer.

00;29;08;03 - 00;29;12;04
Joy James
All right. And then what's your favorite local spot in Boone?

00;29;12;14 - 00;29;38;09
Megan Bryant
So I trail run a lot. I actually lived in Blowing Rock, and I would go to Moses all the time, and a lot of people go to Moses and they're like, this isn't really like good hiking. And because it's so, like paved and gravel and stuff and like it's like it's not real hiking, but it's so great for training running because there's 20 something miles of trails so you're able to make loops that are longer as you get more comfortable and awesome.

00;29;38;09 - 00;29;45;25
Megan Bryant
Really mildly great. Great for horses, great views. You get to see the house and everything and I really miss Moses Cohn and running all around there.

00;29;45;27 - 00;29;53;29
Joy James
It really is a treat to have that. And even though it may not be like the hiking experience, it's still nature. Yeah, and getting the sand.

00;29;54;00 - 00;30;17;20
Megan Bryant
It's such an accessible place. People that may not be super experienced with hiking are able to get out in nature, feel what it's like to like someone up that mountain, get to the house and stuff. Like they're able to have those experiences that even though like as a professional, you might be like Oh, this isn't real rock, but it's like, think about all the doors that a place like this could open for people.

00;30;18;00 - 00;30;19;27
Megan Bryant
I think it's such an awesome resource.

00;30;20;00 - 00;30;44;29
Melissa Weddell
Been as Megan shares how she became comfortable in the outdoors, you may be reminded of who introduced you to a new outdoor activity or experience. When Megan talks about her time in Yosemite with her aunt, we can refer back to some research examining environmental socialization experiences in the outdoors. What we know is that experiences as a child often shapes our ability to be comfortable in the outdoors.

00;30;44;29 - 00;31;06;17
Melissa Weddell
We have outdoor experiences we can kind of think of like a ladder. You take the first up, the second step, the next step, and pretty soon you're a conservationist or an outdoor enthusiast. If you are new to the outdoors, some local options are to visit Grandfather Mountain which has an amazing nature center where you could also volunteer April and December or what we call dollar days.

00;31;06;17 - 00;31;33;13
Melissa Weddell
Local students, employees or anyone in the community can go for a reduced price. These are great spaces to go and learn about animals and to go hiking on more developed trails where you will see people around other opportunities in our area, our Moses Cone in the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is close to campus, we have other small trails around campus that you can also hike personally, we like to use the all trail app on our phone.

00;31;33;13 - 00;31;50;00
Melissa Weddell
What's nice about this is even if you don't have cell service, it has GPS and can tell you exactly where you are. On the trail. Remember, outdoors is a learning process. You're not going to go on your first trip or your first hike and have everything go right and say it was perfect. This is not how it goes.

00;31;50;10 - 00;32;13;14
Melissa Weddell
Mother Nature has her own mind. The weather can change. You can get a blister, have an animal encounter. Things are constantly changing. Each situation is different and we all make a lot of mistakes. But remember, every experience is an opportunity to learn. But you need to continue moving forward and continue braving those challenges. We want to thank Megan Enjoy for sharing these stories.

00;32;13;14 - 00;32;22;00
Melissa Weddell
As we sign off, we want to end with a quote and encourage you to get outdoors. Remember a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.