201.) Summit Sessions #76: Great Range Athlete WOLFJAW Team

Ready for a story of persevering in the mountains? Then you'll enjoy this episode from my recent hike in the Lower Great Range with the recently graduated Great Range Athlete WOLFJAW team


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the forty six of forty six podcast Summit Sessions,
where we'll talk all things Adirondack back country and beyond,
from high peaks stories and adventures to trail tips and tricks.
We'll dive deep into the heart of these mountains and
the people who passionately climb them. Adirondack maps and spruce
traps to bushwackx and backpacks. It's all here the forty

(00:22):
six of forty six Summit Sessions. Hello everyone, and welcome
back to the forty six of forty six podcast. This week,

(00:44):
I'm here with a summit session to talk all about
doing hard things with your friends and overcoming challenges all
in the Adirondack high Peaks. Tonight, I've joined my members
of the recently graduated Great Range Athlete Wolfjaw team to
talk all about our recent team hike up Lower wolf Jaw,
where a large amount of overcoming challenges took place and spoilers.

(01:08):
Everyone made it to the summit thanks to some grit,
determination and the support of a team around you to
help you when you need it most. We're going to
dive right in and hear the many different experiences that
these Great Range Athletes had during our hike up Lower
wolf Jaw and for some the entire Lower Great Range.
But without further ado, I'd like to welcome the members

(01:29):
of the Wolf Jaw Team aka the wolf Pack to
the forty six to forty six podcast. Hello everyone, Welcome
to the forty six forty six podcast. Hey guys, doing
fantastic well, very good. Some of you have been on
this podcast before now in other from other teams or
from other things. But we've got Cari, Deanna, Nick Dave,

(01:49):
and Jenny Collins and of course the Great Range athlete
coach Annie herself Annie from Maryland. Everyone's here to chat
all about your the recent group pike up Lower wolf
Jah it was a good time. Who found themselves recovering
pretty well the following day? Hands up everybody? Yeah, everyone
who was nice and recovered very good. So pretty much

(02:11):
what I want to do in this episode is just
tell the stories, because each one of you overcame something
different and surprised yourself in different ways, from doing the
entire range, from getting yourself up the mountain despite crazy
amounts of pain, to having unfinished business with the mountain
that you made you nervous to come hike this to
begin with. But overall, everybody had such an awesome story,

(02:33):
So I'm just going to literally go around the room
to tell what your story was. So what I want
to hear from each of you is I want to
hear what brought you to the Great Range Athlete program
in general. But then also we'll go into tell us
about how the hike went for you. I'm going to
start with Nick. Nick Sisty, You're up first. Why did
you come to Great Range Athlete to begin with?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
All Right, so I came to Great Range Athlete because
I was having some issues with strength during hiking. Most
of my life, I've had a pretty good baseline level
of fitness. I've always been a cardio junkie, you know, running, swimming, biking,
that sort of thing. But once I started getting up
into the high peaks, my endurance was good going up,

(03:16):
but on the way down, my legs were start getting shaky,
and my stamina really wasn't quite where I wanted it
to be. So I was really looking for a program
that would provide some level of strength training that I
didn't really have any experience with, and also have that
sort of group accountability that I was struggling with To
keep me motivated to work out.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
You wanted to get stronger so you could do more
things up in the mountains. Very good. And then what
did you end up doing that day? We weren't just
hiking Loo.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Not right, That's what I thought I was doing when
I woke up at four in the morning in my campsite.
But luckily I packed enough food because I ended up
doing the entire Lower Great Range, So I started with
Lower Wolf. I was actually a little bit sore on
the way up because I had done about a ten

(04:05):
mile hike the prior day.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't know why I did that, but here we are.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
And then a couple of us were talking about also
hiking Upper Wolf Jaw, and I'm thinking to myself, Okay,
I'm already all the way up here, I might as
well do that one. And then Annie, Jeff, patre Care
and Dave and Jenny's son Mac and talked about also
doing Armstrong and Gothics. So I thought to myself, well,

(04:32):
I'm already on Upper Wolf Jows, I might as well
keep going.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
And then I don't know what came.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Over me between Upper Wolf Jaw and Armstrong, but I
just I hiked it a speed that I never thought
I was capable of, and I just I had so
much adrenaline in my system that I just kept going
and ended up splitting off on my own, and yeah,
and ended up being a great day. I finished a
lower great range to send it via the Sautee scenic route,

(05:01):
which in my opinion is not overly scenic and probably
not meant to be descended becaus it is rather steep.
But it was a good time. And those nerd gummy
clusters are really working.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Over shock.

Speaker 4 (05:14):
I was going to say he was powered by nerd clusters.
We did that.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Lots of discussion about nerd clusters and those quick carbs
that you need, and nerd clusters are all the rage
now in the world of just anything, anything involving involving
going long distances, nerd clusters seemed to be in So
what started as a hike up Lower Wolf Jaw and
you had been up here for the week, enjoying the
Adirondacks and having a little trip, and then you had
already done some hiking the day before, you had already

(05:40):
done hiking earlier that week, and then you went up
Lower Wolf Jaw and ended up doing the whole dang range.
So talk to me about what made that different for you. You know,
you surprised yourself out there, So why do you think
you were able to do that. I think trail nutrition
was honestly something I have heavily under estimated in the past.

(06:01):
So I really brought a ton of food with me,
and I wouldn't have been able to complete the rest
of the range if I didn't have all that food.
If I only had brought one sandwich with me, then
I definitely would not have had enough energy to do that.
And just really all those discussions on mental toughness and
really just pushing yourself kind of beyond your limit, Like

(06:22):
I always kind of had this mental block towards things,
and this program really helped me to kind of push
a little bit further past that and really achieved some
things I didn't think I was capable of. Awesome, and
show yourself what you actually can do. And you feel
stronger now six weeks. Absolutely. Yes. So I had some
issues with my right knee.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
My it ban just very sharp pain prior to this program,
and I really think all of it was because of
weak muscles in my lower body. Because I'm happy to
report I had zero knee problems, that entire attic.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Awesome, that's what's all about. Now you've just raised your floor,
you shattered your ceiling. Now there's so many more, bigger, bigger,
better days in place for you in the high peaks.
Good stuff, Nick, Glad to have you here. It was
fun watching you continue to push yourself and then also
what you did on that group pike awesome, fantastic stuff.
It's fun to see people overcome what they think they're

(07:17):
able to do and go even further than they thought
they were able to go. Speaking of that subject, Carri,
you're up next on the forty six to forty six podcast.
Pretty much the same story, but let's hear your version.
What you thought was going to be just lower wolf
jaw turned out to be so much more. But before

(07:38):
we dive into that, I want to hear from you
what brought you to great range athlete? How did it go?
And then how was your headspace going into the hike
when you thought it was just going to be lower
wolf jaw.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, similar to Nick, stamina wise, cardio wise, that had
always been a strength of mine and I've always felt
pretty good most of the day when I hike. But
I've always just been weak. I've had no motivation to
do any strengthening. It just wasn't something I enjoyed, and

(08:14):
until I started getting older, it didn't seem particularly important.
But then, as my body's kind of been falling apart
the last few years, I really wanted to do this
to help kind of get over a little bit of
a hip issue I've had and to prevent future injuries. Also,

(08:36):
I figured the descent would be safer if I was stronger,
because just like Nick, I've always had kind of shaky
legs coming down, even though I felt amazing going up.
And yeah, so that was basically what brought me to
the program. And then the other issue, the bottoms of

(08:56):
my feet would always get really, really tired and it
would just really her after. I mean, I gradually been
getting stronger, but I still the most I've ever done
is twelve miles, and I felt pretty good the first
ten miles, but the last two miles were killing me,

(09:17):
and so I just thought probably the exercises that you
do in your program kind of sounded like they would
help with that as well, and they did so a
little fantastic. Yeah, we started hiking and are you frozen. Okay,
there you seem frozen for a second. Yeah. So we

(09:42):
started out and it was great. I was hiking most
of the time with Santa and getting to know her,
which was awesome, and the I was hoping to also
do Upper Wolf Jaw. I was prepared for that and
hoping to do that. And most of most of the

(10:04):
people on the hike that we're planning to continue on,
we're kind of up ahead. So Santa and I were
kind of, you know, trying to get up there and
make sure we caught them. And yeah, So we got
there and enjoyed the view, stretched had a lovely lunch,
and we I don't want to foreshadow too much, we

(10:29):
weren't sure exactly who all was making it up. So
we started down and we were I don't know, maybe
four five minutes down from the peak on our way
to Upper Wolf Jaw, and it was like it was

(10:50):
amazing there you all were, and it was just so
unbelievable and it was Yeah, so it was great. So
we all got to the top and it was just
like so amazing that everybody made it. And uh so,
at any rate, I figured Jeff was only planning on
doing Upper Wolf Jaw because he had something he had

(11:12):
to get to. Annie and Patrick were planning on doing
Armstrong and Gothics, and Mac was planning on doing the
whole thing, so I figured I would have somebody to
bail with. And Nick, I don't think he had really
made up his mind as to what he was going

(11:33):
to do. So I'm like, okay. I got to Upper
Wolf john and it was like I had a choice.
I could descend to a Jeff or keep going. And
It's like, I feel pretty freaking good, so I'm going
to keep going. And then we got to Armstrong Gothics.
I'm like, wow, I could go with Annie and Patrick

(11:54):
or I can continue on with Mac and Nick. Nick
was still kind of with us at that point, although
he was getting smaller and smaller. The man had to
keep moving. He had those nerd clusters. He was all
hopped up on nerd clusters. He had to keep moving.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
So before we even before we even get to the
conversation or like, what was going through your mind on Gothics,
So you went from lower Wolf Jaw and decided, you
know what, I'm going to go do Upper Wolf Jaw
because Jeff is going to Upperwolf Jaw and I can
bail with him. Then you get the upper wolf jaw,
and then you decide, you know what, I'm not going
to leave right now. I'm going to keep going to Armstrong.

(12:32):
So obviously at that point, Jeff or Annie and Patrick
were going to Armstrong and Gothics. On Armstrong, had you
made the decision that you were also going to Gothics
or was it peak by peak at that before that point.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Right on, I'm not a huge solo hiker. So when
I got to Armstrong, my comfort level was definitely to
stay with Annie and Patrick no matter what. Okay, but
I felt good enough that it was it was fine.

(13:08):
It was an easy decision, and I knew once I
got to Gothics, I could either go down or continue on.
And yeah, it was funny because Nick had turned around.
He's like, holy cow, Cary, you're kicking Butter said something
to that effect, like as he's running away from me,
and I think that was the last I saw of him.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
You ain't have enough fosters in your bag. Nick is
just nicka just was ready to go. So let's let's go.
Let's go to Gothics.

Speaker 5 (13:39):
Now.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
So you're on Gothics, you you've gone what was supposed
to just be lower wolf jaw and then now became
upper wolf jaw, armstrong and gothics. Now you have them.
Now you have a real decision to me, because you're
not just going to saw Teeth. You have to go
up and over pyramid to get to saw Teeth. First question,
did you know about pyramid?

Speaker 3 (13:59):
Right?

Speaker 1 (14:00):
And actually I guess make that the second question. First
question is what was going through your head? And then
what basically put you over the edge to say, you know,
I'm going to have the biggest day I've ever had.
I'm going to go do this. Let's go. Hey.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
At that point, because my feet felt better than they've
ever felt that far into a hike, I was a
little curious what I could do. And Patrick was also saying,
you know, if you don't hit saw Teeth now, it's
like a thirteen mile day just to hit one peek

(14:35):
in the future. And you're it's only a mile or
two out of the way at this point, so you're
crazy not to And and I had Mac with me too,
so I was like, well, this is you know, it's good.
I got I'm going to go with and it was yeah,

(14:55):
So I I that was the only junction where I
hesitated a little the until then everything felt amazing and
I knew I could do it.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
That was the one junction where I was like, well, here.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Goes nothing awesome, and yeah, so we went there. There
were a few moments where I was questioning my choices
coming the descent off Gothic, so it was it was
a little steep, and my legs were getting a little tired,
So that that was kind of the point where I

(15:31):
was like, it was the first time that I felt
like I do on every other hike, not so amazing,
but tired and probably gonna make it. But sure and
uh and sure enough we did. So that it was.

(15:52):
It was a long descent and we got to the
Lake Road, and that's a long road, but and it was.
My feet felt great until about mile fourteen, the last
two and a half miles, my feet were starting to hurt.
But I just couldn't believe I had done it. So

(16:14):
I was pretty pumped.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Sure, so you were pretty proud of yourself, you'd say
at that point.

Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
And it's funny. I always overpack food. I always bring
a lot because I figure it's a good idea. But
I'm generally not that hungry when I'm hiking, but you
pushing that you have to kind of fuel your day.
And I forced myself to actually eat all the food

(16:44):
that I brought, and I was down to some pumpkin
seeds at the end of the day. But I think
it helped actually eating for a change.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Eating for a change, Having a trail nutrition strategy to
help yourself propel yourself through the mountains a novel concept.
Good stuff. Carry Glad to hear that. Now, how was
your hike over with Mac? I imagine Mac was probably
a big inspiring fact, inspirational factor for you as you
were going, like talk to us about that.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Oh, it was so fun. It was my first time
meeting Mac. So then you know, the last about eight
miles of the day, really it was just the two
of us, so got to do a deep dive and
he's just such a cool kid. So y kudos to
Jenny and Dave. Yeah, he was a lot of fun

(17:37):
to hike with. He reminded me a lot of my son.
There's done a lot of ways. Definitely cut me motivated.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
That's great. That's what's all about, right, having these groups
of people, having other people there in the mountains, with you,
to help push you a little bit further, to do
things that you wouldn't have done normally, to show yourself,
Oh I can do this. That is you are just
a I'm example of what happens. And now you did
the whole Lower Great Range plus saw teeth, which is
like a bonus peak on the Lower Great Range. Good stuff.

(18:08):
So how do you feel your body? How did your
body feel throughout the hike? I know you said your
feet started to hurt eventually, but do you feel that
what you did over the six weeks leading up to
that helps you be prepared for that?

Speaker 6 (18:19):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Absolutely. If I had just done Lower and Upper Wolf
Jaws planned and had more of a twelve ten to
twelve mile ish day, which would have been a big
day that I would have paid for before, I don't
think I would have had any issues recovering. I think

(18:40):
the next day would have felt like any other day.
The fact that I pushed it to sixteen and a
half miles and didn't feel any worse than I did
after a ten or twelve mile day, I think definitely
says the strengthening was a huge factor, especially the planks
in the mountain climbers.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Sorry, yeah, were still with an old farm planks in
the mountain climbers. I think really helped strengthen my core,
because sometimes even even if my legs felt okay, generally
my whole body would just feel tired. But I think
that those exercises in particular, like really helped my core

(19:25):
feel super strong.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Awesome, gotta have that core strong when you're carrying that
backpack all day long out in the back country. Well,
Cary from Rhode Island, a great story. When I heard
at the end that you went all the way to
saw Teeth, I was so proud to hear that. You know,
we hiked the large portion of the mountain up there
together going on the on the ascent, so it was
good to get to know you on a deeper level
at that point. But I was super psyched to hear

(19:47):
that you went all the way to saw Teeth. That
was awesome, very good. Well, great stuff, Cary from Rhode Island.
Glad to have you here on the Wolfjaw team. Now
we're going to go to the parents of your hiking
partner at that point, Dave and Jenny Collins. Dave, welcome
back to the forty six to forty six podcasts and Jenny,
Welcome to the forty six to forty six podcasts. So

(20:08):
we're gonna start with Dave, because Dave, you had some
unfinished business with Lower Wolf John, didn't you.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
Yeah. Yeah, I had a hike. It was ten years ago,
eight years ago where you know, I was borderlined. I
thought I was gonna have to call for somebody to
help me off the mountain. I wasn't injured. I would
do with some very experienced hikers and some you know,
young hikers that were really killing it. But I was

(20:37):
just dying on the mountain that a scent up to
the top. My legs were cramping. I didn't I didn't
think I was gonna make I didn't think I could
make it up to the top. I didn't think I
could make it down at that point. And I got
to the top, I just sat on the ground and
you know, just drenched in sweat, flies buzz around. I
couldn't care less. The only thing I wanted to do

(20:57):
was just stop moving. And then I was able to
you know, rest, get some drace, more hydration in me,
get some food in me. I did okay under the
sense and then as we got down by the waterfall.
I ran out of water too, so I had to
borrow somebody's more for me to get to the other
of the hike. And it was a long day for me,

(21:19):
which made it a long day for everybody else. So,
you know, they were very good friends. They were very
nice and supportive of me. But it was just just
a miserable day for me. Uh, you know, from the
start really to the finish. But I did, you know,
I do enjoy the experience of hiking, and I, you know,
wanted to do more. But that day it looks awful.

(21:39):
And I'll say, you know, I've had a number of
days like that. I had a day like that on
coldon a day like that on Agonquin, I had a
day like that on Malco Todden h You know, I
had a handful of good hikes, but really over my
career from my late forties to my late fifties or
eighty percent of the hikes I struggled with. But I

(21:59):
just kept coming back.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
You kept coming back. And now let's hear how did
Lower Wolf job go for you?

Speaker 4 (22:06):
Yeah, well, just to set up on kind of you know,
how I got engaged with you to do Lower Wolf jaw.
So when I retired in my early sixty I ran
around sixty. I spent two years and then all to
do all this great stuff. I'm going to get in shape.
I love backpacking. We'll do the Appalation Trail, We'll do
more hiking, do some four thousand footers. Two years went

(22:29):
by it and do anything like zero, and I just said,
I have to get in shape. I kind of abused
my body after forty years of you know, being a
job that was kind of over my head, a lot
of stress, didn't take care of myself. I have to
do something. Time is short. I got, you know, ten
summers or eight summers until I turned seventy. I got
to figure out something. So I engage with you and

(22:50):
seek to do more. And that program was great for
me to get some finally foundational fitness, but more importantly
a shift mentally in that fitness became part of my life.
It was like purshally my teeth now versus oh, I'm
just going to do something and get some improvement and
then go back to the couch. So I had a
I had like six months with you, just kind of

(23:11):
building that, and then I got into Great Range Athlete
just to continue it and try something different. So when
I went into Wolfjaw, I had two cycles a great
range athlete under my belt, and I was nervous.

Speaker 6 (23:25):
You know.

Speaker 4 (23:25):
I think I sent you a text saying I had
a really bad experience. This is I'm not really sure
how I'm going to do. But when I went up,
my experience was that my legs were so much stronger.
All the strength work that we did on our legs.
There's a lot of big steps going up the last
you know, twenty five percent of that climb, and every

(23:47):
big step was like no problem for me. You have
to say about to pull myself up and get going in.
You know, I got to the top, I was a
little winded. I think, you know, I know personally, I
stuff to work on my endurance as part of that,
and I you know, doing a hike like wolf Jaw
and then doing something a little harder, and and you know,
maybe then doing two mountains in the future. That's kind
of the two directory that I'm on. But I got

(24:09):
out to the top, I felt great, and I got
down no problem. And then the best thing was that
the next day I didn't have any I didn't feel
any impact from the hike. Typically in the past when
I was doing it. Yet you feel the soreness and
stiffness in your big muscles, but those little ligaments that
are holding your knees and your ankles together just give

(24:31):
you that hiker hobble. And I used to have that
for like a week. I had like zero on that,
you know, that would suggest that, oh, maybe I could
have done more. But but really I didn't want to
push myself. I didn't want to have a bad experience,
and I really wanted to make sure mentally I was
ready to come back and then, you know, do something
maybe just a little bit bigger than next to her.
So it was a great day. It was a great hike,
and I got my redemption that day from.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
The level, absolutely the redemption on Lower Wolf Jaw. If
only ten year years ago Dave could have seen ten
could have seen today, Dave just cruising up the mountain
feeling good and again feeling good after the hike the
next day, Because anybody can stumble their way up a mountain,
but at the end of the day the next day
you might be broken, feeling like you've been hit by

(25:15):
a truck. The difference is getting back and feeling like
you just said like you could do it again. You
just keep going, you feel completely fine. I was really
excited to see how easy it was for you to
go up the mountain given the messages we had exchanged
back and forth, so I already knew. I knew your
history with Lower Wolf Jaw and the nerves because of that.
So it was great to watch you there and not

(25:35):
just help yourself up the mountain, but support your wife
as she had her own battles going up the mountain.
Speaking of your wife, Jenny Collins, welcome to the forty
six to forty six podcast. Let's hear from you. Talk
to us about your journey before Lower Wolf Jaw and
then climbing up Lower Wolf Jaw. Give us your story, Jenny.

Speaker 7 (25:54):
Well, I my journey started when basically Dave started work
working with you.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
You know, I watched the transfer in hit I'm doing
Seek to.

Speaker 7 (26:06):
Do More, and I wanted, you know, when he was
finishing up, I was like, you know, he there was
such a big change in him, a shift in his
mental attitude, a shift in his physical, physical attitude.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
He was just it just overall changed him.

Speaker 7 (26:21):
And so I joined Stick to Do More in October
of twenty four and did work with you for about
eight months, and I it to really help me physically
and mentally. The camaraderie, the nutrition, the workouts, you know,

(26:42):
the one on one coaching, just rhythmical really really set
me up.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
For a life change.

Speaker 7 (26:48):
I really feel like this is the whole program has
been something that you know, this is my way of
life now. I do the commitments every day and it's
just a part of my life. And uh, Deanna and
I started Sea to Do More around the same time.
So we were finishing up around the same time, and
we kind of, you know, we'd heard about the dra program.

(27:09):
My son had done it, and Dave and my son
were doing the Cascade program together, and Diana and I thought,
you know, it would be knowing that there was one
starting around the time we were finishing with Seek to
Do More, that it would be kind of a nice
kind of culminating activity.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
You know, like we want to hike him out and
with the.

Speaker 7 (27:29):
Whole team, you know, because we weren't necessarily we had
hike together as a team. Which the reason why I'm
bringing that up is because it was a different experience
for me from that hike to this hike.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
We did that in January. Some of the seek to do
more women and the cat skills.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
But so we did it.

Speaker 7 (27:49):
And that was what brought me to doing this Welf
Jaw team was you know, wanted to do a high
peak in the Adirondacks and trained for it because it
was a different it was different training than what I
had been doing, and to do more and I wanted
to get that experience.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
So there, there you go. That's how I got here, but.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
That's how you got here, and you did and and
it showed when you were on the trail. So talk
to us about your experience going up. You dealt with
a little You had some issues going up and then
coming down to which we'll get to. We'll get to that.

Speaker 6 (28:23):
Well.

Speaker 7 (28:23):
So it's interesting I had, you know, coming into the program,
I had some severe back issues, but the program actually
I dealt with it medically, but I also got stronger.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
My back was.

Speaker 7 (28:38):
I mean, people who saw me in the beginning of
the program and saw me at the end can tell
you that I was like a completely different person. I
was not in the same kind of pain. The more
I worked out, the better I felt. So what I
thought was going to bother me by back didn't bother
me on the way up, so that I was very
very very fortunate about, but something that I shouldn't have

(29:02):
because in hindsight, I realized why it bothered me.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
I got really nauseous on the way.

Speaker 7 (29:08):
Up, and I, you know, stayed back, got sick to
my stomach with Dave.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
He's hung out back with me, and.

Speaker 7 (29:20):
I had had a really good breakfast, so I had
had fueled myself, so it wasn't like I was operating
with no fuel. And I took some vitamins which and
along with some medication in the morning, and I think
that is the what did it. I think it just
didn't settle with my stomach. But it lasted for such
a long time that I couldn't refuel, Like I just

(29:41):
you know, you were offering me stuff and he was offered.
I was like until I finally gave in and had
a maple syrup canny, which was awesome by the way,
and really helped. It really helped my stomach. But I
just didn't believe it was going to help my stomach
because I just nothing. I mean I tried eating and
nothing was coming going down.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
I just couldn't do it.

Speaker 7 (30:04):
So I didn't get to fuel, Like I was thinking
about care and Nick talking about the fact that they
ate everything in their bag. I had a lot of
food left over, too much food left over for the
amount of hiking I was doing, so that was a challenge.
But by the time I got to the top, the
nausea really had subsided and I was able to get

(30:24):
to the top, and I really it was challenging. It
was a challenging hike. I mean, those steps at the
end are big, and those you know, so the mountain
climbers and the step ups are really great training for that.
But by the time I got to the top, I
was able to eat my sandwich and I felt much better,
and I was able to fuel, and I kept hydrating

(30:45):
and I Dave gave me some electrolytes.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
I had electrolytes that I could do.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
It was the food, sure, So.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
I made to the top. Which was very happy that.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
You made it to the top despite being nauseous. I mean,
I feel like when you told me, well when I
got it out of you, that you're feeling nauseous because
you didn't volunteer the information. I don't even think we were.
I didn't even think we'd barely started climbing at that point,
like it was early on into the hike, it was
towards the begin you know, definitely the first twenty five percent.

(31:16):
So let me ask you, what what kept you from
turning around? Because most people would turn around they're feeling
nauseous that this is not the day. But what kept
you continuing on?

Speaker 7 (31:26):
No, you know, I kind of felt I felt like
I could write it out. I felt like somehow I
know I needed to fuel. I know you wanted me
to fuel, but I felt like if I could just
keep drinking and just keep climbing and keep exercising, I
would write it out. And that's you know, that's kind
of what happened. I was just like I was determined.

(31:47):
I was, you know, there with people that I wanted
to be there with that I had, like Deanna and Dave.
I you know, I've been talking to them about doing
this for months and I wanted to do it, and
Annie and you know, we've been working together, and I.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Was like, I am not turning around.

Speaker 7 (32:03):
I will just keep drinking, and eventually I really felt
eventually my appetite would come back or I'd be able
to suffer through without eating.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
But it was you know, I just have to say, James.
So like we were maybe a tenth of a mile
behind you, maybe two tenths behind, I could see going swell.
You know, Jen would just step off the trail in
hur all over the side of the trail. I didn't
just keep going. There was nothing in her mind that
said should I go forward or not. She was like,
I'll just take care of business. I'll continue going up

(32:34):
the hill.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
All right times I did that for these just to
step on Jen's comming a little more like some of
that's just the grip that she developed between seat to
do more and great range one.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
So that's a good representation. What you did on the
mountain to day was also a good representation of what
you've been doing when it comes to your training, the
whole program you're dealing with. You're dealing with the back
issue that's you know, kind of starred like a couple
months ago at this point, Yeah, and you've been fighting
through it. You're showing up doing what you can exactly

(33:07):
to the level that you can given the circumstances. And
you did the literal, literal, same exact thing that day
on the mountain. You did what you can. You moved
as fast as you could given the circumstances, but you
kept yourself going. Like what you did in the gym
over the last two months is the same thing you
did in the mountains, which will be the same thing,
the same grit, but perseverance, determination that you're going to

(33:29):
apply everywhere else in life. That is why you did that.
And also shout out to both of you guys, because
you two were a constant throughout the entire Wolf Jaw team.
You two moved states a house you lived in for
what twenty five years? Twenty twenty five years you're like, yeah.

Speaker 7 (33:45):
Yeah, yeah, seventeen years in then if thirty three in
the year in the.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Gown you moved to your your new home across state
lines like you had a massive life change happened. But
yet you got all your training in. You never missed days.
You just kept showing up. So talk about an inspiration,
and it consistent throughout the program. So pat yourselves on
the back because I can assure you your peers are

(34:12):
not doing what you guys did and are not making
the decisions in their life regarding their health and their
fitness like you guys did. It was a priority and
man did you guys show up like no other So
proud of you guys, pat yourselves both on the back. Now,
Jenny Collins talk to us about the trip down. Tell
us that story because a lot of people, especially your teammates,

(34:33):
have no idea about what happened on the trip down.

Speaker 7 (34:35):
Well, the trip now is interesting. I'm a I'm a
slow person on the way down. That's always my migat lie.
I've had aco reconstruction, so I have a left knee
that just doesn't love going down quickly. So I wore brakes,
which actually really helped me. I was better than any
brace I've ever had. So that was it because I

(34:55):
didn't feel any pain. And I, you know, so that
that I had slow, I was going slow. So I'm
in the back of the pack and there's like maybe
four of us, four of you guys in front of me,
and Dave's behind me, and all of a sudden, all
of a sudden, I don't know what's attacking me, but
I am getting bit and stung and like like, and

(35:18):
I'm screaming at the top of my lines. I'm like,
I don't know if it's black flies or horse flies
or what.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
And then I looked down and it's like yellow jackets.

Speaker 7 (35:28):
Like all over my feet, all over my legs, flying
under my shirt, down my shirt.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
I felt like I literally.

Speaker 7 (35:34):
I didn't like give you this beautiful view, but I
wanted to just take off all my clothes and get
these butt buds off of me. I was just like
these everywhere. And then Dave was right behind me. He
got I got stung at least six or seven times.
He got stung five times. I don't know how many
times you got stung.

Speaker 8 (35:51):
James and I can I say James has the heaviest
pack of all. I don't know how much your packways.
I get at your superstar. I have never seen some
money with a pack that heavy run that fast.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
When you started screaming, like I barely blinked, and he
was right there next to and we were trying to
figure out what happened.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Because all of a sudden, we're walking down the trail
and Jenny just screams at the top of her lungs.
I'm surprised Carrie and Nick didn't hear her wherever you
were on the lower grade range, because we're just having
a good old time, and then all of a sudden,
out of nowhere, just the just the loudest scream ever,
and it.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
Was I ever heard where before that.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah, Jenny's, Jenny's sailor mouth came out hardcore when those
bees came out. I've never seen such such vulgar words
out of your sweet mouth like that.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
That was she did earn her trail name. Hell, yes, no,
I have a now it's Stare Stinger.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
I love it. Actually, it's funny because as that was
being I don't know if Dave Collins, I don't know
if you have a trail name, but I actually thought
you guys should be writing a book called Stinger and
Pepsi The Trail Adventures. Pepsi's what I would call you.
Dave worked for Pepsi for his career, and the man
is a company man. He's got a Pepsi bag in
his uh in his hiking pack. So I like that. Absolutely,

(37:10):
Stinger and pepsis like that. Now, Yeah, I got stung twice,
just twice. I got stung just twice. But okay, you
were so the thing is, the thing that's weird is
that you were on the trail. You weren't off the trail.
You were literally right on the middle of the trail
where all of us just walked to and then all
of a sudden you were getting just attacked, brutally attacked.

Speaker 7 (37:32):
Yes, and you know, we were telling a story to
our kids and my daughter was like, you mean that's
the thing.

Speaker 9 (37:37):
There can be bees on the trail. I'm never going
hiking again. I never that was an excuse enough, I'm
never doing it. I'm like, I'm like, okay, but it's
really fun.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, I've never experienced bees on the actual trail, and
we're not talking like a little herd path. It was
just right on the just the regular trail right there.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
I didn't step off the trail. They were right there.

Speaker 7 (38:00):
And Dave's pointed out that probably the group ahead of
us sort of went over them and they got kind of,
you know, woken up, and then I happened to come next.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Yeah, whoa, You were the collateral damage. You were the
victim of the whole situation. I'll tell you what. Though
you said you said you moved slow going down, you
certainly weren't moving slow the rest of the hike down.
You're ready to get out, was.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Flying out of there.

Speaker 7 (38:24):
I couldn't wait to get out of there, Like, let
me away from those bees.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Oh my yeh man, it was. It was tough to see,
but you you did it with grace and class. And again,
congratulations on getting yourself to the top of Lower Wolf job.
Both of you an inspiration both on a training side
and a hiking side and a life side. You guys
are absolute relationship goals, training together and holding yourselves accountable.
So great stuff. Glad to have you on the Lower

(38:49):
Wolf Jaw team, part of the wolf Pack. Let's move on.
I saved you for last. Sweet Deanna. Welcome to the
forty six to forty six podcast. You may re member
Dianna from the episode about the quadathalon where she had
to pull out due to a back injury. But there
was a very different story for you today on Lower

(39:10):
Wolf Jos. So let's hear your background, Deanna. What brought
you to the Great Range Athlete program and let's go
through the hike because we're going to tell this story
because it's a good one.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah. So I think that Jenny already touched on it, right.

Speaker 8 (39:25):
We joined seek to do more relatively close together, I
think maybe days apart, and so that we have a
group that during that wave is very tight. We did
the quad athalon together and then we also, like she said,
wanted some sort of capstone here and I wanted to

(39:46):
see this whole GRA business. And so yeah, that's what
brought us here. And obviously it's a hiking community and
so positive. Plus we were able to bag a high
peak out of it, and.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
That's what brought me here.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
That's what brought you here. So how did you do
throughout your program? Because you also had to fight back
problems throughout, but you know what, you kept going, you
kept showing up, you stayed till the end. So I
want to hear how did you get yourself through the
training program? And then we're going to dive into the
events that led up to the hike in the hike
itself and we'll go from there.

Speaker 4 (40:25):
Talk to us about the training. Yeah, so the training
one of the others.

Speaker 8 (40:29):
Seek to do more folks and alumni kind of I
think set it best and Dave also touched on it.
It's the sea to do more, foundation of being able
to do hard things. And then with GRA it's get
it done right, and it was get it done.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
What is the excuse I had?

Speaker 8 (40:47):
Jenny's also out there getting Cortizon shots moving boxes, moving
her whole home, and finding the time and figuring out
how to work out. I'm used to having to modify
as I can, and I think Annie as well, chirping
in our ears of instead of focusing on what you
can't do, there's always something you can do or modify

(41:09):
or do extra of something else. So I, for the
most part, I was able to do every single workout
in its entirety with very minor modifications. Barring a few
small instances. I'm not gonna lie I maybe was not

(41:30):
as graceful as Jenny coming down that mountain on the
step up day. I might have had some choice words,
but we did it as a team.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
That's exactly what happened. Annie has a good way of
helping people see the message and to see a little
bit better in themselves, like she did with you. So
let's talk about that. So the day before the hike,
you were dealing with all sorts of things that we're
going to have you pull out. So take us let's
hear that story, take us through that series of events.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yeah, so I you mentioned the quad athalon.

Speaker 8 (42:04):
I had tweaked my back and I have a long
standing history of multiple back surgeries and you know, it's
just something that you manage, you figure out how to manage. However,
whenever I try to level up, it kind of smacks
me down, and it's the recovery period is egregious. It's debilitating.

(42:24):
Putting on socks and basic things become an Olympic sport.
So I know both sides of the coin. Anyway, after
I had to exit the course at the Quadzilla, I
figured maybe I had enough time recouping. And when I
came up to the Adirondacks that weekend, I did not

(42:45):
have a It wasn't a relaxing week. I was going
to do some confidence boosting hikes. We had a hike
where we ended up taking our gear for a walk
due to weather, so we did about a twelve k
Marcy Dam and back. The next day, I was on
the Atronick rail trail for about twenty miles. The bike

(43:07):
felt good, the hike did not, and everything that typically
worked to help me get through some of the back
stiffness and pain was not successful for various reasons. And
the last thing I want to do is put in
jeopardy anyone else being able to sum it. After everybody's
put so much, you know, sweat and sweat equity into

(43:32):
preparing for this.

Speaker 6 (43:34):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (43:34):
So I had made the decision. I was not going
to hike with the team, but I still wanted to
come see the team take a before picture, you know,
and I was going to stick around and celebrate with
the team after.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Que Coach Channy, I disagree.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Annie was not going to allow it, because that is
not having it.

Speaker 10 (43:59):
Yeah, because you said I chirp, chirp sound good more
than what I actually do.

Speaker 8 (44:05):
Yeah, So the back tweak was an issue. The I
was having an issue modulating my nutrition through the pain
because it was waves of nausea, and there were a
few other things. But Jambi gave me homework and I
went and did my homework, went to the grocery store,

(44:25):
got all the things I needed to get, and I
showed up.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
So, so you made it to the trailhead. So step one,
box one checked. You weren't going to show up, but
you did. All right, this is just the beginning of
your journey up lower Wolf, Josh. So you get to
the trailhead. What's going through your mind that morning before
we start moving?

Speaker 4 (44:51):
Oh, that's probably the freakout time. I know what.

Speaker 8 (44:56):
I have a pretty high tolerance for paint because I've
been dealing this with this for a very long time.
But the injury that I had from the quadathalon really
came to it ahead during the ascent, during the Vista hike,
and this one was another one where it was mostly

(45:18):
straight up luckily coming down not an issue going up,
big problems, and it did not prove me wrong.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
So at what point in the hike did you start
to notice? So you started the hike and you're clearly
thinking to yourself, all right, maybe the back will be okay,
maybe I'll be able to get get up there. So
at what point into the trip up Lower Wolf, John
did you start to feel that first like, oh no?
What was the first oh no moment?

Speaker 8 (45:50):
I think the first real oh no moment was when
I went for a handhold that failed me. That was
the real bad one I was feeling it. I was
going super slow, team sloth. We get there when we
get there. Yes, I'm squarely in the participation award category now,

(46:11):
but I figured slow and steady.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
But when that handhold left and tweaked it again.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
A jarring moment or majarring motion from the sounds of.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
It, Yeah, yep, Yep, that was it, and.

Speaker 8 (46:29):
I was not able. I was having issues again getting
food down, but I was drinking a lot of water.
And yeah, I think you all took turns. I don't
know if you were doing rock paper scissors behind my
back or if you were just like telepathically sending each
other messages. But there were various times and people who

(46:52):
were much much faster. Never did anybody ever make me
feel like I was holding them up more that hey,
we'd rather hike together as a team. Get there together
as a team, because about I want to say, half
to three corps of the way.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
If we didn't have this team, I was not continuing on.
I would have turned around.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
You had some moments of pain while we were hiking
together where you threw your trekking polls down because you
were in so much pain. You were dealing with a lot,
so you said three. You would have turned around if
you were by yourself. What kept you from turning around?

Speaker 8 (47:36):
I think there was a combination regret, a combination of
having people there who are willing to stay with me.
I had come prepared with the ability to turn around.
I had my own satellite comms, where if I had
an emergency. The trail was well marked. I didn't have
an issue there. I think it's just wanting to prove that, yes,
I can get to the top, and this isn't going

(47:58):
to be another thing that just continues to smack me
down and public service announcement. I do have to say,
nowheres in this did I ever feel like if I
was in danger of harming my back further, folks would
not have supported me turning around.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
That is not the case here.

Speaker 8 (48:20):
I had had clearances very recently, as in like a
month and a half that it was to my pain tolerance.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Pain was excessive, but a lot of grinding teeth, maybe
some colorful salor language. Trail mouth, right, a little bit
the trail. It doesn't count on the trail.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Yes, there's a mother, there's a as a mothering lesson
for all of you with kids. It doesn't count on
the trail. If your kids swear on the trail, it's
trail mouth. It's okay. Per coach Annie, she says, it's okay.
But all right, So you started climbing up the mountain,
you had some moments where you would have turned around,
and then we got to the we got to the trail,

(49:02):
junction for lower Wolf Job where we're I think it
was like point three miles or point four miles something
like that. What was going through your mind at that
point knowing, Wow, it's it's it's it's we're almost there.
What was going through your mind?

Speaker 8 (49:16):
You're going to have to remind me when we ended
up running up against Mark.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
And between that trail junction and the summit, we had
already started up that junction when we came across mister
Mark Anderson photography dot com check him out.

Speaker 8 (49:34):
When I saw the junction, Sorry, this one's going to
get heavy, but.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
Random sidebar.

Speaker 8 (49:41):
My mom was an oncology nurse and became an oncology patient.
And some patients are like they get frustrated and mean,
and some well accept the help with grace, And all
I could think of was channel that inner grace because
at that point I was in a lot of pain,
and to gen point, it was straight up and rock

(50:02):
scrambles and stuff that I previous in a prior life
was rock climbing, lead climbing, sport climbing, all of that.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Some of that came back.

Speaker 8 (50:12):
But when others started to offer, hey, can I hould
your poles can I you know, I think this is
a better route, leaning on your right side, not.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Your left side. You know what. It was just yes, okay,
thank you, we're going to get there.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
Yeah. And I get it, Like in the moment, you're
probably wanting to punch that person in the face for
suggesting any sort of help. So I get it. The pain.
The pain is real, and it's more so frustration that
your body is not allowing you to do the things
that your brain is trying to do. So we we
accept that. We accept that moment. So okay, So as

(50:48):
we started climbing up lower Wolf Jaw, we hit the
trail junction you go left to upper Wolf Jaw, right
to lower Wolf Job. So we start climbing up and
then we eventually run into our photographer, Mark Anderson from
the Colden and the Elite team, who had to get
He had to leave, he had a showing, he's a
real estate agent. He had to leave, but we were
able to talk him into turning back around and getting

(51:10):
back to the top, and Mark was like, you know what,
finally you know what, Let's do it. Let's do it.
So I know you were I know there was some
frustration there because I could talk to coach Annie, but
take us through that hike between you, Annie and knowing
that like there's people at the top kind of waiting
for you, because there was a lot of persevering happening
here to take us through.

Speaker 8 (51:30):
Now now I felt like I was holding It's the
first time I felt like I was holding somebody up,
and I was like, hey, Mark Anderson, he is a
very talented photographer.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
I'm betting that he could photoshop me and and it
would be professionally done and nobody would know.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
I would never allow you. I would never have allowed
it ever we were getting you to that summit, but
so so you felt that you helped push yes.

Speaker 8 (51:59):
And at that point, I don't know, Annie and I
have had the ability to hike a few times together
as well as you know, doing the quathon, and she
clearly read my mind because she kicked everybody else out
and pretty much got me across the finish line and

(52:20):
got me up to the summit because at that point
every step was pretty grueling, and I did feel like
I knew there were others that wanted to do multiple.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Peaks, and time is not money in this situation.

Speaker 8 (52:35):
Daylight is so Daylight is what you're racing with the
high peaks, and now I know that there's been a
delay in continuing on to those other high peaks. So
that is the first time where I really felt the pressure. Okay,
just just get up there and get it done.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Okay, sometimes you need that little fire lit under your butt.
And I'm sure knowing Annie, there were probably some choice
words in her coaching to you to get yourself up
to that summit. If I'm a betting man, So as
you walked up to the summit and you saw everyone
there waiting for you, clapping, cheering, super stoked that the
whole team was there, how did that feel?

Speaker 4 (53:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (53:17):
I was pretty pretty emotional that I still wasn't believing
that I was going to summit to be frank and
to be.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
When I saw Mark come down, I didn't know.

Speaker 8 (53:30):
If everybody had waited or if he was coming down
because some had chosen to like continue and no harm,
no foul, that would have been perfectly acceptable. Again, these
are high peaks. You want to deal in daylight as
much as possible. But seeing everybody and not a soul,
like everybody was just smiling and supportive, humbling and just

(53:57):
really humbling, going from being someone who is a really
strong athlete to somebody who's just struggling to get up
a mountain.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
That's it's a hard pillow to swallow. But everybody was there.

Speaker 4 (54:12):
Just I don't know, I don't have words.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
I don't have words.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
Well, I saw the tears of pain and frustration on
the way up, and I saw the tears of joy
at the summit, and we got it captured on camera
courtesy of Mark Anderson as well. Your summit moment is
a moment that I will personally remember witnessing for a
long time. So thank you for giving me that opportunity,
because watching having hiked up with you and watching you

(54:37):
not give up and keep pushing and keep continuing, stopping
where you need to, fighting through the pain and getting
yourself to the summit was quite frankly, a joy to
watch you at the summit and then on the way
down the mountain. You were like a kid on Christmas.
You would have forgotten that you had the pain that
you dealt with, would you? Am I wrong?

Speaker 8 (54:56):
As I mentioned previously, going down was not as jarring
and I as long as I wasn't stepping up on
that left side, so I was not like by any
means parkouring or sprinting down, but it was definitely a
speedy move. And then of course when Jenny was yelling

(55:17):
get me out of these foods, we were all moving
at a pretty good club.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
There was a few bombs in that sentence from Jenny
Collins about getting out of these something woods, for sure,
there was, but that was a that was a and
it was a moment. It was a moment. All right.
That's good, well, Deanna, seriously, great work, great work pushing
yourself to the summit. Great work continuing to show up
to do the training alone in the program, and then

(55:44):
on the actual hike, persevering and getting yourself to the
summit and reminding yourself that you can do hard things
even when the chips are down, even when it feels
like you just can't go another step. You showed yourself
that you can proud of you. Are you proud of yourself?
Because you should be.

Speaker 3 (55:59):
I earned that, damn patch.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Amen, you absolutely did great work. And last, but not least,
Coach Annie, what did you think of the Wolf Jaw team?
Give me your your opinions of this experience for you,
now that you've done great range athlete like sixteen times.

Speaker 10 (56:15):
This team, every team is very unique. And before I
address what happened, I wanted to talk. You know, Santa
was with us too. She this was her first hike
without you know, hiking with her husband, and she kicked
its ass too. Jeah, I knew Jeff had done part
of the Lower Great Range. I've been watching. You know,

(56:37):
Jeff and I have been through this whole journey together,
so you know, watching him get lower and upper to
complete the Lower Great Range was fantastic.

Speaker 4 (56:47):
Getting the hike with him again.

Speaker 10 (56:50):
And then you know, having Jordan there, Jordan, you know,
another one who puts the team above personal performance. She's
just such a sweet and calming presence and having her
wash her along the way through the.

Speaker 4 (57:02):
Whole journey has been great.

Speaker 10 (57:03):
And then being able to hike with her, and you know,
Dianna's like, go ahead, go and she's like, why I
want to hike with you? Like Dianna starting to make
everybody leave so they she doesn't hold them up, but
she forgets that she's their teammate and that they want
to spend time with her, so she's not holding them up.

Speaker 4 (57:23):
She's part of the team.

Speaker 10 (57:25):
But yeah, this team especially, you know, having the amazing
example of the Collins crew. Just watching them do everything
that they do and showing up not just for themselves
but together.

Speaker 4 (57:37):
It's pretty awesome.

Speaker 10 (57:38):
And I don't like NERD clusters, but I feel as
though Nick is a pretty big spokesperson for them.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
Yes, I saw them multiple times throughout the trip.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
Pari was probably the biggest.

Speaker 10 (57:55):
Like like the greatest, like just triumph, because I mean, yeah,
do Deana would, But like Cary showed up to do
one mountain and she was researched, and she was ready,
and she followed all of your guidance and then oops,
she did the whole lower Great Range and saw Teeth.
And the only reason I didn't do saw Teeth is
because that's supposed to be my finisher, So that stupid

(58:18):
thirteen mile day will be me at some point in
the near fear her.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
But yeah, Diana was a challenge.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Jeez.

Speaker 10 (58:25):
I was more exhausted from emotions than physically getting up
the mountain. With Dianna, I'm pretty sure I shook her
a little bit, just a little.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
Bit, just a little bit of little one that coaching.

Speaker 10 (58:40):
Words a little well, the I think it was that
she she was doing that, like accepting of help and
being gracious, but that's not what she needed to do
at the end. She needed to get angry at the
mountain and get her ass up to the top.

Speaker 4 (58:57):
So we went in that direction instead.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
Yeah. Well, you know, you different things at different moments,
and that was the last.

Speaker 4 (59:02):
End of a mile.

Speaker 10 (59:03):
She was mad and she was pounding her feet all
the way up there, so that was great. But yeah,
I mean, you see, like the things that the things
that everybody learns during great range athlete from you know,
the training and like like Dave was saying he wants
to work on his endurance, Well, the reason he made
it up so easily was because of his muscle endurance.
People think about cardio and I'm gonna run, run, run, run, run,

(59:25):
and then I'm gonna hike. But Dave has book builds
up his muscle endurance so much that he's so much stronger.
So his muscles are getting him up there. You know
the heart will follow, It'll be fine.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
Already showed him. You know, his heart's already fine. He
got up there. Just no, you already got up there?

Speaker 4 (59:41):
Well, yes, right, and everybody just being so prepared with it.

Speaker 10 (59:44):
I think actually you need to add maple candies to
your ten essentials or your bonus ten essentials.

Speaker 4 (59:51):
Good maple candies to be in there.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
A good point. And let the records show Jenny Collins
that I had the maple candies Annie took. Annie took,
you know, credit for giving you them, but they were
from my backpack.

Speaker 7 (01:00:02):
Just want you to know that I knew you'd had them,
and she asked leave first to hot take them.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
I will give you that credit, and she's at you
wasn't ready?

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
You are ready? Okay, understood, great ask for hiking. Everyone,
put some maple maple candies in your pack. You'll get
twenty grams of carbohydrates. They're delicious, and then you can
just suck on them throughout your trip. And then you
get to enjoy delicious maple syrup along with getting carbs

(01:00:30):
throughout your hike. And then you keep replenishing the carbs
that you're burning as you're hiking. There's a there's a
hack for you write it down and enjoy. There's upsol and.

Speaker 7 (01:00:39):
That I envisioned with like the number, but you like
they're like a maple.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
They're really awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Mabel Hardcaree, little.

Speaker 10 (01:00:49):
Thing of maple syrup. This is way more, way more economical,
all even, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
So yeah, the twenty calories twenty two excuse me, twenty
two calories actually twenty two point five calories per maple
candy forty five calories per serving, which is two but
they're awesome. Anyways, Maple Candy's great stuff coming soon to
the forty six of podcast web Store. Just kidding, I
wish all right, So anyway, so as we as we

(01:01:18):
wrap up this episode, I just want to go through
each one of you, what is one takeaway you have
for yourself that you learned either through the Gray Range
AFFI program or through your experience on the hike. And
I'm going to go back to the beginning and talk
to Nick. What's one takeaway you had for yourself during
this experience.

Speaker 6 (01:01:36):
I would just say that just having that team motivation
and support is really what I needed to push through
all of those mental blocks that prevents it being in
the past from achieving things that I didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Know I was capable of. Fantastic, freaking awesome good stuff.
Nick Cary from Rhode Islands.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
Yeah, Deanna and I kind of have a little Saint Lawrence. First,
Clarkson thing going. So I want to take the wind there,
but I'm a fraidy cat, like if something hurts me
a little, I'm afraid to do anything because I don't
want to make it worse. And Deanna, I hate to

(01:02:20):
admit that a Clarkson grad is so fearless, but that
was mind blowing what she could do and that much pain.
It was just unimaginable. And if I could have two takeaways,
it's that Annie basically parcours, this scrambles.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
You know, That's why we train. That's why we train
to be able to move athletically in the mountains, to
build the athleticism because you need that ability to climb
up the mountains, climb down and grab the roots, climb
the boulders, jumped off the boulders, all these things. Things
you don't think about until you need to be able
to do it. So glad to hear it, Kry, glad
to have you here. Dave Collins, what's your takeaway from

(01:03:03):
this round of great range athletes?

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
Yes, so we talked about how the poor showing I
had on at Walt years ago. You know, I'm at the
point now that this was a big win for me.
So I feel like I can build on that and
I can get to the next redemption hike, which for
me is going to have to be Colden, because I.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
All right, yeah, you've got some more unfinished business with
Coldon now. Very good, Jenny. Besides for don't step on
the bees? What is your what is your big bake? Good?

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
Hey that I was going to say that, what make
sure you look down?

Speaker 1 (01:03:38):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:03:38):
I think for me, I don't set goals for myself enough.
And this was definitely a goal I had with Sanna
and I. That was a big takeaway that we completed
this goal and both of us and we made it,
and we talked about it months ago and we were like,

(01:03:59):
we're going to do a Jerry and we're going to
complete this hike. And we did, and you know, we
trained for it and we were able to do it,
and so despite whatever we had to deal with, we
still persevered. So, you know, just setting goals and sticking
with that goal and persevering through it was something that

(01:04:20):
I really took away from this whole experience.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Fantastic stuff. Good job everyone, Dianna. What's your takeaway?

Speaker 3 (01:04:29):
Finding your tribe is priceless.

Speaker 8 (01:04:30):
I think if we could all do it individually, we
would have done it by now. But having those folks
there who work hard, play harder, can call you out
on your bs, tell you when you know you can
push harder, you can do hard things, and are there
right alongside you to show up every single day, not
just for the fun hikes, not just for but all

(01:04:53):
the in betweens when you don't want to show up
and pushing each other to do so.

Speaker 3 (01:04:58):
But when you find that track vibe, it's priceless.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
Priceless indeed. And Annie, what is your takeaway from the
Great Range Athlete Wolf Jaw team.

Speaker 10 (01:05:10):
I think that like just like Diana saying, you know
the team, the team aspect overcomes. I mean, I like
to do things solo. I like to be on my own.
I'm comfortable being on my own. But when you know
it comes down to it, you need to have a
circle of support, and you know, being part of Great

(01:05:32):
Range Athlete for over a year now, I have a
really big circle of support. So it's been pretty awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
And a big shout out to Jordan, A big shout
out to Jeff Santa. You weren't able to make the
podcast now you guys were on the hike and another
big shout out to just everybody that was a part
of the Wolf Jaw team, the wolf Pack. I will
miss waking up in the morning and saying hello, wolf Pack.
What a fun way to greet the Great Range Athlete
Wolf Jaw team on the Marco Polo. But it's been
awesome having you guys on the team. It was awesome

(01:06:02):
leading you guys for the last seven weeks and also
then hiking with a few of you guys at the
end of the trip. Great times. If any of you
guys listening to this podcast want to join the next
Great Range Athlete it starts August thirty. First head over
to Great Rangeathlete dot com to join that team and
join this tribe, find your own tribe, just like Dianna

(01:06:23):
was just talking about a group of people that are
undoubtedly going to push you to become your best on
and off the trail. That is what we're all about
here with the Great Range Athlete teams. But you can
sign up for the next team at Great Range Athlete
dot com. We're gonna kick off and have a fantastic
fall in the Adirondack Mountains when we go on our
group hike. But that's going to wrap up this episode

(01:06:44):
of the forty six of forty six podcast. Once again,
thanks to the Wolfjaw team for coming on and sharing
your story on our hike up Lower wolf Jow. Head
over to forty six outdoors dot com to see what
I can offer you to help you become a better
hiker here in the Adirondack Mountains, and check back on
Fridays as always for new mountains, new stories, new guests,
and new episodes right here on the six forty six podcast.

(01:07:07):
Remember to always leave no trace, do the rock walk,
and if you carry it in, you had better carry
it out. See on the trails Everybody