November 28, 2024 • 31 mins
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How does leaving a stable tech career to hike over 2,600 miles across rugged terrain sound to you? Meet Miranda Cocca, whose journey on the Pacific Crest Trail offers an inspiring lesson in embracing life's unpredictable adventures. Trading her desk job in Cincinnati for the trail's breathtaking mountain views and unexpected challenges, Miranda shares how each step transformed her outlook on life. From a snowy Easter drive through the Badlands in her RAV4 to navigating the strategic intricacies of long-distance hiking, Miranda’s story is a testament to resilience and the unexpected joys that come with seizing opportunities.
Beyond the miles hiked and the injuries endured, Miranda's tale is enriched with encounters that highlight the human spirit. Her interactions with "trail angels"—those kind souls offering food, shelter, and support along the way—illustrate that generosity knows no boundaries nor requires perfection. These experiences taught her invaluable lessons about community, kindness, and the beauty of imperfection. Join us as Miranda reflects on her transformative trek, the friendships forged on the trail, and the enduring impact of her business education focused on social justice from Xavier University. This episode promises to inspire, reminding us all of the powerful journey of self-discovery that awaits when we step outside our comfort zones.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to another episode of Dan the Road Trip Guy
.
I'm so glad you're here.
I'm your host, Dan Neal.
If this is your first time tolisten, welcome.
If you're a regular listener,you know what this podcast is
about.
It's about the stories of myguest.
Here we'll talk about cars androad trips, careers, life
lessons and sometimes even alittle bit of advice from my
(00:32):
guest.
For me, there's nothing betterthan a great road trip, except
maybe hearing the incrediblestories of my guest.
So for the next 30 minutes,buckle up and enjoy the show.
My guest today is a young ladyoriginally from the Indianapolis
area.
She moved to Cincinnati.
Her name is Miranda Coca.
Miranda and I met through abusiness relationship.
(00:52):
She was working for a techcompany here in Cincinnati and
we were looking at them for someservices.
She left that company earlierthis year to take on the Pacific
Crest Trail and she is here toshare about road trips and cars
and her experience on that trail.
This was an encouraging storyfor me and I think it will be
(01:14):
for you, as Miranda headed outto take on over 2,600 miles on
the Pacific Crest Trail.
Welcome to the show, Miranda,Thank you so much for having me
Pleasure to have you here.
Let's start the show off.
Who is Miranda Koka?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh, I feel like as maybe a younger person in this
world.
I feel like the version ofmyself changes about every few
years.
But a little bit about me is Igrew up in Indianapolis, went
off to college in Cincinnati,went to Xavier, you know, have
always spent my career withinthe tech space, really enjoy the
(01:47):
work that I get to do workingwith companies and clients in
that space.
But I've, you know, over thelast few years developed a real
passion for the outdoors andspecifically backpacking, and so
that's kind of changed my lifein more ways than one the last
few years and you know a bigpart of, I think, why you wanted
me on the show here today.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We'll get to that.
So tell me any great first carstories.
What was your first car?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
My first car.
Well, I think, technically itwas a Toyota Camry, it was an 05
.
But then, of course, you know,you get to an age where you and
your sibling are battling outthe car and I eventually ended
up with a Toyota Camry 03.
And that was the one that Itook on a few road trips and
drove around for a few years.
Unfortunately, it didn't lastme as long as I was hoping for,
(02:32):
but it was my first car.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Usually Toyotas go forever.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I was really hoping it would go forever, but it did
not, and unfortunately I endedup spending too much to put into
it than it was worth at the endof the day.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Did you buy that used ?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I did, yes, got it used, and I think that was I
don't know.
Yeah, my brother still has his,so his has lasted him a lot
longer than mine lasted me.
But yeah, I guess you neverreally know when you get a used
car how it's going to turn outsometimes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Absolutely, and did you get that in college, high
school or after?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I got the yeah, the 03 Toyota Camry I got in college
so I only drove it around forabout three years.
It really didn't last me long.
Yeah, it was a reliable car fora bit and did like a few road
trips with it.
Drove it to Florida one timeand it made it back.
But eventually I realized, oh,I couldn't, I can't.
I was living in, about to moveto Cincinnati and I realized, oh
, I can't drive betweenIndianapolis and Cincinnati
anymore.
This car is not going to be areliable transportation.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Right, you grew up in Indianapolis, but you came to
school in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I, uh, I went to Xavier University and, as many
people in Cincinnati alreadyknow, it's a Jesuit university
and, while I don't considermyself Catholic, I really wanted
a school that had more of afocus on social justice.
So I was in the business schoolthere.
But I wanted an educationfocused on social justice and
(04:01):
have always been passionateabout tying for-profit business
with social responsibility andso, to kind of make that
possible, going to Xavier.
So it was a really good schoolto attend.
I enjoyed living in a city andI think being in a city as a
college student provides a lotof great opportunities for
internships and was a fun placefor me to be.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, and you ended up staying here, I guess, right.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, I moved back to Cincinnati for a few years and
then I ended up staying here, Iguess, right?
Yeah, I moved back toCincinnati for a few years and
then, you know, I ended up atEngage Partners and that's what
brought me back to Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
And that's how we met .
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You mentioned before we started.
You had some epic road trips inthat Camry and other cars.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Tell me about one I feel like this is the year of
road trips for me.
I didn't really see myself assomeone who loved road trips,
but I have a newer vehicle nowthat I fully trust, and so it's
a lot more fun to be taking aroad trip.
I have not once, but twicedriven across the country this
year.
I actually really like roadtrips.
I like the excuse to kind ofsit in the car and listen to
(04:59):
music, and I again did a roadtrip across country twice this
year and both times was with areally good friend of mine, and
I feel like you just always lookback on road trips and realize
just some random things thathappened that wouldn't have
happened if you were on a roadtrip Like the first.
I drove out from Cincinnati toIdaho in late March of this year
(05:23):
and one of the things is wedrove through the Badlands on
Easter and you know driving noone goes to the Badlands in late
March because, there's snow onthe ground and it's not going to
be enjoyable at all.
It's super windy and we drive inand no one is there.
No one's there.
You can't really even like seethat far in front of you, so you
can't see the beauty that isthe Badlands.
And then we decided to go toMount Rushmore.
(05:46):
I it's like one of those wasfunny in the moment and like I I
think we'll always look back onthis as like a oh, this
wouldn't have happened if wewere on a road trip.
We would have planned forprettier weather, but we, we got
to Mount Rushmore and Iremember my, my friend she's
like the kindest person and shewas so nice to the guy who was
like you know we had to pay toget in so nice to him, like
(06:09):
wishing him happy Easter, allthat.
And we drive in, park, drive inand we start walking out to
Mount Rushmore and we realized,oh, we can't see anything.
It's way too cloudy and likewalk straight up and you know
we're at like the closest pointwe can possibly be to mount
rushmore and still can't seeanything.
It was just like you know, oneof those funny moments again of
(06:31):
like no one's in mount rushmoreat the end of march, because
that's not a great time to seeit.
Uh, early april, and I thinkthat's just like how road trips
go.
There's like just funny momentsthat you look back on.
I was like, oh, I didn't seethat one coming for sure, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So now you have, you have to go back at some point so
you can see mount rushmore andgo.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh, that's what you missed I know, I know I'm like.
Well, now it's still on thelist of places to go, because I
didn't see it the first time nowyou know us 50.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
It's a cross country highway.
Have you been on that highway?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I, yes, I think I have a little bit, not much.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well, so the next trip you make, you're going to
have to at least drive it fromSacramento, california, to
Colorado.
Then you can jump on theinterstate and go.
It's the most beautiful.
I tell people it's the mostbeautiful drive, but kind of the
badlands it's, uh, it's calledthe loneliest road in america,
(07:30):
uh for good reason.
Yeah, I bet that's a prettydrive though yeah, it's
beautiful so you'll have to dothat yeah I don't know what's it
been about.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
A year or so you quit your job right yeah, it was at
the end of march of this yearthat I march this year.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I was at the end of March of this year that I quit
March this year.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, it was March of this year.
I know time is crazy, but yeah,march of this year.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
And you took off to the West Coast because you're
going to walk the Pacific CrestTrail.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I don't know if you want me to dive into it and
explain a bit about the PCP.
Well, yeah, we'll get there.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
But did you just wake up one morning and go?
This is what I'm going to do.
Tell me what put that on yourlist of?
I've got to go hike this.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I mean, as I kind of said in my intro, I have enjoyed
hiking over the last few yearsand gotten into that, but it
wasn't something.
I mean I grew up camping everyso often but I wouldn't say I
backpacked or I, you know, lovedthe outdoors.
I think a lot of people canrelate to this.
During COVID I spent a lot oftime outside, spent a lot of
(08:37):
time camping with friends, andso that was like my toe back
into enjoying camping, enjoyingbeing outdoors.
And I say I went on my firstreal backpacking trip in
September of 21.
So it's actually right, as Iwas moving from Indianapolis
back to Cincinnati to start myjob at Engage Partners, I did a
week long backpacking trip inthe Wind River Range in Wyoming
(09:01):
and it was with three otherwomen and friends.
I guess in some ways it changedmy life.
I just fell in love with hikingout in such a remote place and
experiencing beauty that I hadnever seen before.
It's funny because the threeother women that I hiked with,
they were in great shape, theywere always climbing up the
(09:22):
passes well before me and I wasdragging behind.
You know, out of shape and notused to the altitude at all, but
I loved every minute of it.
I just thought it was beautifuland, yeah, I love so many
aspects of backpacking.
So I kind of left that tripthinking like, okay, I want to
do more of these and I think Ijust had like a lot of little
(09:43):
moments like I there's a trailcalled the Sheltowee that goes
through a big section ofKentucky and so I did that whole
trail across 2022, continue todo other backpacking trips.
I had a good friend in 2023 whohiked the whole Appalachian
Trail.
(10:03):
So I had like little littlemoments of seeing people hiking
things that I might want to door hiking with other people,
backpacking with other people.
That kind of got things.
You know, gears turning in myhead and I think I'm always
someone who likes a challenge.
I look back on the thing youknow, those significant moments
(10:25):
in life, and recognize there's amoment of like okay, I could do
the same thing or I could takeon a new challenge and I was
really enjoying my career andwhat I was doing in Cincinnati
the last two plus years.
That like filled me up in somany ways.
But I kind of wanted to take ona personal challenge and the
(10:45):
Pacific Crest Trail or doing along distance backpacking trip
is definitely a new challenge.
I feel like I had this momentin time where I realized I'd
never really taken on achallenge in which I didn't
think I could necessarilysucceed at it, and so I was
interested in trying somethingthat would really push me out of
my comfort zone in a new wayand something that I wasn't
guaranteed to be successful at.
(11:07):
Yeah, that excited me, I think,as, like a solo female hiker, I
definitely had a lot of I hadto process am I okay hiking
alone?
That was a huge component of mediscerning whether or not I was
going to do a long distancehike.
But, yeah, I would say there waslike a few, a number of moments
in which I was surrounded bypeople who knew the backpacking
(11:30):
world and enjoyed backpacking,and so I could kind of test out
whether I would enjoy doing athrough hike.
And then, just like an interestin a challenge and being in
just a really unique season oflife where I felt like, okay, if
I'm going to do a through hikelike this is, this is the best
time to do it.
And so that's how I ended updeciding on the PCT.
I, you know people decide likeokay, which, which, there's a
(11:53):
few different long distancetrails in the U?
S, but I kind of always knew ifI was going to do a long
distance trail, it was going tobe the Pacific Crest Trail.
It's it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And for those who don't know that are listening,
it begins where and ends where,and how long is it.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Pacific Crest Trail.
Most people hike it north.
So they say Nobo, you can hikeit south or Sobo, but most
people I think like 80% ofpeople who do the Pacific Crest
Trail they hike it north.
And if they're hiking it norththey start just 45 minutes east
like driving distance, east ofSan Diego on the Mexico-US
(12:30):
border, and you go north toCanada.
So you go all the way throughCalifornia, oregon and
Washington.
It's 2,650 odd miles and itgoes through 700 miles of desert
.
In California it goes throughthe Sierras and Yosemite, really
close to Mount Whitney A lot ofPCT hikers hike Mount Whitney
(12:51):
and then, yeah, you crossthrough all of Oregon and
Washington.
So, yeah, in terms of thebeauty of hiking a trail like
the Pacific Crest Trail, it'spretty incredible what you get
to see.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And when did you start?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
There's a permit system for it, so there was some
amount of good luck in that.
It's kind of a harder permit toget over the years or has
become one, but I ended upgetting a permit for 4-14.
So April 14th started April14th, and then the last day I
was on trail was October 2nd.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
On October 2nd.
Where did you?
You didn't complete the trailyet, correct?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Correct.
Yeah, I finished in the town ofAetna in Northern California,
okay, but I didn't technicallygo in order, so I did Oregon,
which is obviously north ofNorthern California.
But yeah, my last day, october2nd, was in Northern California,
in Aetna.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Okay, and so did you skip around then got injured at
about 1100 mile mark.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
When I got back onto trail I realized um, oregon is
known as like it's crazy to saythis to you know non-backpackers
.
But oregon is relatively a veryeasy section of trail.
People hike it very quicklybecause it's just softer terrain
through most of it, lesselevation, lower altitude.
There's a number of differentfactors there and as someone who
(14:13):
was injured I knew if I wasgoing to recover Oregon would be
the best place to do that.
So I actually flipped up toOregon and then, when I finished
Oregon, I flipped back down todo Northern California.
So that's why I ended in Edna.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Okay.
Was there a moment out therewhere you said okay?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
what was.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
I thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
There is definitely a number of those moments.
I think, overall, every singleday, I was happy to be out there
, like I recognize that very fewpeople have an opportunity like
the opportunity that I had inlife and I think, just as like a
Midwesterner maybe maybe it'snot the case, but I think as a
Midwesterner, like I was just inawe every single day to be out
(14:56):
there and, yeah, it wasuncomfortable, like you know
every, every other day there wassome new, random, weird thing
that was happening.
You know, like chafing.
I didn't expect or some someuncomfortable aspect of being
out in the woods for so longsure but I mean, I truly loved
it and I was happy to like havethose uncomfortable moments for
(15:18):
other moments.
That was like a beautifulsunrise or a sunset or yeah,
getting up to the top of like amountain pass and being able to
see an incredible view.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So did you set goals like each day, oh, this is where
I want to get to.
Or did you just take it as itcame?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
yeah, at the beginning I feel like my and I
don't think this is as commonfor other hikers, but for me
each section of the trail wasvery different, mainly because I
got injured the beginning ofthe hike.
I was just figuring out what itlooks like to do a through hike.
Prior to starting on the PCT, Ihad never done more than three
and a half days out on trail ina row, and so there was a lot of
(15:58):
newness that came with it.
I was more experienced than anumber of people, but still a
lot of newness, and so I justtook it as it came than a number
of people, but still a lot ofnewness, and so I just took it
as it came.
And then, as I, when I was inOregon and injured, I had like a
pretty strict schedule that Ikept to in terms of just not
wanting to push my body too much.
And then in Northern California, which was like the last
section that I did, I had somelike pretty strict deadlines to
(16:21):
make sure that I got the milesin that I needed.
I had an Excel spreadsheet forall of Oregon and Northern
California that I stuck to very,very tightly.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Now, where do you sleep?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
For modern day through hikers?
Definitely not the case, youknow, 10 plus years ago.
But for most hikers these dayswe all use an app.
There's a few different onesout there, but I used an app and
it kind of tracked, helped metrack miles, helped make sure
that I was on the path.
If I didn't feel comfortablethat I was actually on the right
(16:53):
path Although normally thatwasn't a problem and there was
designated camp spots itdepended on where you were,
because the PCT goes through.
It goes through private land.
You know it can be like timberproperty, it can be public land.
You know national parks.
We PC hikers hike through a lotvariety of areas, so it kind of
(17:13):
the rules depend on what youcould and couldn't do depending
on what area you were in.
But for the most part there wasdesignated camp spot, as in
like.
You looked at the map and sawthat there was a camp spot.
There wasn't like a bathroomthere or you know any shelter,
but there's a space large enoughto pitch your own tent.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Okay, and what about food?
Is there places to get food ordo you have to carry everything
with you?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, I think the longest I ever carried food was
probably close to a week in theSierras.
It's a pretty remote area andso yeah, I think I carried close
to seven days of food at onepoint, but other than that it
was again depends on what areayou were in.
But when I started the trail Ididn't do any shipping of food
(17:59):
ahead of time.
I would just hike for a setamount of days mileage and then
I would get into the nearesttown and resupply, get food from
a random grocery store,normally, kind of put that all
together and get back out ontrail.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, and did you hike with other people?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I think that's the great thing about the PCT is
that there's you know there's.
They hand out 50 permits perday for like end of part of
March to end of May and so youknow you're starting with 50
other people go.
(18:42):
But you just knew that therewas 50 people who got a permit
for the day that you also had apermit and so naturally I met
people that first, even honestly, before I started on trail.
But really I met people thatfirst day on trail, just start
hiking with them and realizeokay, we're the same pace, I
enjoy spending time with you andI ended up hiking pretty much
with a group of people from whenI started at the Mexico-US
(19:03):
border to when I got injured.
It's a pretty social trail inthat way.
Again, it looked different onceI got injured, but for the
first half of the mileage-wiseof the trail for me I was hiking
with people.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
How long were you?
I assume you were down withyour injury for a bit.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I had a stress reaction in my third metatarsal
so it quickly can lead to astress fracture which would
completely be a hike ender.
You know you're not supposed toreally walk on those sorts of
things for six to eight weeks,but I was fortunate to catch it
early enough, get an MRI andknow that it was a stress
reaction.
So I I was off trail for lessthan three weeks, about two and
(19:45):
a half weeks.
So not a long time, but inhiking world that's a very long
time.
When you know that snow ishitting Washington.
Two and a half weeks is a is avery long time, and more than
that I I got back on trail.
I was doing 10-mile days andmost people in Oregon do 25,
(20:06):
30-mile days.
I was at a very different pacethan all of my hiking peers when
I got back on, but was happy tobe back there hiking again,
yeah sure.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Is there one particular place that you just
have this great memory of?
Is there one particular placethat you just have this great
memory of, whether it be asunrise or a sunset, or is there
something you saw that just isalways going to be in your mind?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I would say my favorite section of the hike was
the Sierras.
It's, you know, the middle ofCalifornia and I think hiking
through that section it's anarea where it's very hard to
hike in.
That section Be just in thesense that you have to get a
permit if you're ever going tohike in that section, so there's
less people there than at anyother place that you're going to
hike most days, so prettyremote.
(20:55):
That's where I was carryingseven days of food and it was
interesting because there'sdefinitely challenges, Like most
days you were hiking in someamount of snow and again, as
someone from the Midwest, Inever really dealt with hiking
in snow.
So there was definitelychallenges that came with the
Sierras, but I would say everysingle day in the Sierras.
I was just blown away I wasactually talking to a friend
(21:16):
about this the other day Like Iwould stand somewhere and it's
hard to like describe, but Iwould stand looking out onto a
view of like these beautifulmountains and know, even
standing there I wasn't fullycomprehending what I was a part
of, Because it's just.
It's just.
The view is is absolutelystunning to see all these
(21:36):
mountains and the snow and thepeaks and to be out in an area
that so few people experience.
Yeah, it was just likebreathtaking.
Every single day it's one ofthose moments where you take a
photo and you're like, well,that doesn't do it justice at
all.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yeah, I was going to say my wife and I always do that
We'll be out on a hike, we'llbe someplace driving, we'll take
a photo and I'll be like, ohwell, that's disappointing.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, yeah, but I didn't love always hiking in the
dark, but to see a sunrise or asunset in the mountains is
stunning, so I always reallylike those points.
And yeah, there's definitelysections that were prettier than
others, but every single daythere was a pretty view at some
point.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So you haven't finished the trail yet.
What's the plan?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
When I got injured I kind of had like a few different
decisions to make in terms ofwhat it was going to look like I
could have.
I decided ultimately not tohike Washington this year.
So I didn't get to Canada andreally kind of decide again to
flip back to Northern Californiaand to do those those miles,
because my goal is to stay inthe Pacific Northwest and so I
(22:47):
thought it'd be easier for me tomake up Washington over the
next few years.
So yeah, I haven't I haven'tyet PCTY set foot in in
Washington, but I could probablydo it in a few different
section week-long hikes.
So my goal is to still get itdone.
That's the whole reason why Idecided to flip down to Northern
(23:10):
California was I had a goal ofdoing the PCT and while I didn't
get it done this year, it'sstill the goal that I want to
accomplish the whole thing.
So yeah, I think over the nextfew years I'll make up
Washington sections and I didn'tdo like a very small section in
Oregon because there waswildfires, like this year.
There was just a ton ofwildfires, so there was most of
(23:32):
like half of Northern Californiaat one point was closed.
The trail was closed due tofires.
Oregon, there was a sectionfrom April until like
mid-October that was closed dueto fires and, like almost half
of Washington, was closed due tofires at one point.
So this year's, through hikersand doing the PCT, experienced a
lot of navigating forest firesbut hopefully doing making up
(23:56):
Washington in sections that willbe like easier to navigate.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, good luck on that.
We'll make sure we're stillfollowing along when you start.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yes, all right.
So this is a big bucket listitem that you just worked on,
but what else is on your bucketlist.
You got any other big hikes orany other adventures that are on
your bucket list?
You're a young person.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It's funny, when you put down that question, nothing
came to mind at first and I kindof just laughed at myself.
I was like nothing's coming tomind, you know like.
But I quickly came up withthings, don't worry.
Uh, no, I think I would stilllike to do some smaller long
distance hikes.
So, there's like a trail inColorado, there's one in Arizona
(24:42):
and I want to do someinternational backpacking.
I mean a lot of internationalbackpacking.
You get coffee halfway throughthe day and you get like a nice
warm meal at the end of the day,and I didn't get either of
those two things on my trail.
So I think that soundswonderful, yeah that would be
good.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I hope you get to do that.
Here's a favorite question foryou If you could take a road
trip with anyone you've been onsome road trips If you could
take it with anyone, living ordeceased, who would it be?
Where would you go?
What are you going to drive?
What are you going to talkabout?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would probably want to do aroad trip with my mom's mom,
darlene, so my middle name isactually because of Darlene.
She passed before I was bornand I have this woman who I'm
related to, who I only know somuch about.
(25:36):
I would love to have theopportunity to go on a road trip
with Darlene.
Would love to have theopportunity to go on a road trip
with Darlene.
I think it would be reallysweet to drive through Southern
Indiana where she grew up, andunderstand more about her
childhood and kind of the lifethat she lived.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
That would be a fun trip.
What do you think?
One question you would ask her.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I would ask her how she did it.
I mean, what I know about heris that she is a really
hardworking woman and that shehad so many miscellaneous jobs
growing up and raising her kids,and I would be so curious like
what motivated her most days andlike brought her joy.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Okay, great question.
Thank you for sharing that.
That would be a fun trip.
All right, you're young,miranda, but I always like to
ask my guests hey, leave mylisteners with some life advice.
Life advice, just advice ingeneral, hiking advice, whatever
you wanna leave us with.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I would say I do wanna focus it on my hike a bit.
I think one of the unique partsabout this season of life I've
been, you know I, as you know, Iquit my job, I drove across the
country, did this hike, and nowI've decided to stay kind of
out west.
I, like, through that, haverelied a lot on other people to
(26:57):
help make this possible, like Iyou know I I wouldn't there's so
many things that would havewould look different if I didn't
have people in my life to helpsupport me.
But I think one of theinteresting things about and it
connects to this, one of theinteresting things about a
through hike is that, andspecifically like the hikes that
we have in the U?
S, is there's a huge culturearound trail angels.
(27:18):
Trail angels are the people who, whether they know it or not,
help a hiker and many like.
A common thing is that youwould get to a trail and maybe
there's you'd be hiking on atrail and there's a trailhead in
which you know, everyday peoplecan access the trail and trail
angels would set up food forhikers and it could be, you know
(27:39):
, a fun, like I.
One morning I had pancakes ontrail because a trail angel
drove to this like very remotepart of the desert and like set
up pancakes, so it can be like avery.
You know that takes a lot ofeffort to make happen.
But there was also one timewhere I had someone who I, just
like you know, cross paths withon trail and they offered me
(28:00):
like a Gatorade you know itdoesn't have to be anything huge
, but a lot of times trailangels whether they know it or
whether they know about a hikeor not, it's like you know,
giving them a gift many timeslike trail angels will help help
people with housing.
So, especially towards the endof my hike, I spent a month
hiking through NorthernCalifornia and I I was still
hiking that I didn't hike itwith any other people at the
(28:22):
time just because of, again, myinjury and the timing in which I
went through NorthernCalifornia.
And at the time at thebeginning of my hike, I really
was splitting a hotel with a fewpeople and so it became a cheap
place to stay when I wanted anight in town, whereas towards
the end of my hike a $ a $200hotel is is a $200 hotel for one
(28:43):
person.
So I ended up staying with trailangels a few different times
and they were just so kind andgracious and I think one of the
things that like struck me inthat is that they didn't have to
have a perfect setup to stillbe a generous host and someone
who was like excited to give andI that was just like such a
(29:07):
gift to me both as, like youknow in the moment, a gift that
I could receive a warm meal or Icould receive just like shelter
over my head or a warm shower.
You know all things that werevery important for a hiker.
But I think, more than that, itwas like a good reminder to
show up and care for people,even if it's not going to be
perfect Like their houses weremessy, you know, at times, or
(29:29):
like they didn't have you knowall the things I think we think
we need to host people, and so Ithink it was like the reminder
to me, and what I'm trying tolike live out now is like show
up for people, even if it's notperfect.
You know, like host someone fordinner, even if it's not like a
gourmet meal, or like have afriend over, or, like you know,
(29:51):
host someone at your house, evenif, like, your house is messy
and I don't know that's a verylong-winded thing to leave your
listeners with, but I think it'sthe reminder to show up and be
generous to people, even if it'snot perfect.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, if we wait around until it's perfect, we
may miss the opportunity, right?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Well, miranda, this has been fun.
So glad to catch up.
Didn't realize you were stillon the West Coast and I just
wish you all the best.
And before we leave here, ifyou want to leave my listeners
with a shout out to something Iknow you had a, no, I don't have
anything.
Yeah, and that's cool too.
I've had people go.
(30:33):
I don't have anything, danSorry.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I don't think I have anything.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
We'll give a shout out to how we connected.
And good, We'll give a shoutout to how we connected and
that's with a company here inCincinnati called Engage.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Give a shout out to Engage.
It's fun when professional andpersonal collide.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yes, absolutely Well, Miranda, this has been fun.
Thank you again.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah, thank you so much Dan.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Day on the Road
Trip Guy.
You can find me online atdayontheroadtripguycom.
I hope you'll follow the showso that you don't miss any
future episodes.
I'd love your feedback, somessage me, and I hope you'll
share the show with your familyand friends so that they can
enjoy the conversations I havewith my guests.
(31:16):
And be sure, when you're withyour family and friends, to
record stories before it's toolate.
And for now, remember, keepdriving and keep having
conversations.
Welcome to another episode of Dan the Road Trip Guy
.
I'm so glad you're here.
I'm your host, Dan Neal.
If this is your first time tolisten, welcome.
If you're a regular listener,you know what this podcast is
about.
It's about the stories of myguest.
Here we'll talk about cars androad trips, careers, life
lessons and sometimes even alittle bit of advice from my
(00:32):
guest.
For me, there's nothing betterthan a great road trip, except
maybe hearing the incrediblestories of my guest.
So for the next 30 minutes,buckle up and enjoy the show.
My guest today is a young ladyoriginally from the Indianapolis
area.
She moved to Cincinnati.
Her name is Miranda Coca.
Miranda and I met through abusiness relationship.
(00:52):
She was working for a techcompany here in Cincinnati and
we were looking at them for someservices.
She left that company earlierthis year to take on the Pacific
Crest Trail and she is here toshare about road trips and cars
and her experience on that trail.
This was an encouraging storyfor me and I think it will be
(01:14):
for you, as Miranda headed outto take on over 2,600 miles on
the Pacific Crest Trail.
Welcome to the show, Miranda,Thank you so much for having me
Pleasure to have you here.
Let's start the show off.
Who is Miranda Koka?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Oh, I feel like as maybe a younger person in this
world.
I feel like the version ofmyself changes about every few
years.
But a little bit about me is Igrew up in Indianapolis, went
off to college in Cincinnati,went to Xavier, you know, have
always spent my career withinthe tech space, really enjoy the
(01:47):
work that I get to do workingwith companies and clients in
that space.
But I've, you know, over thelast few years developed a real
passion for the outdoors andspecifically backpacking, and so
that's kind of changed my lifein more ways than one the last
few years and you know a bigpart of, I think, why you wanted
me on the show here today.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
We'll get to that.
So tell me any great first carstories.
What was your first car?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
My first car.
Well, I think, technically itwas a Toyota Camry, it was an 05
.
But then, of course, you know,you get to an age where you and
your sibling are battling outthe car and I eventually ended
up with a Toyota Camry 03.
And that was the one that Itook on a few road trips and
drove around for a few years.
Unfortunately, it didn't lastme as long as I was hoping for,
(02:32):
but it was my first car.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Usually Toyotas go forever.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
I was really hoping it would go forever, but it did
not, and unfortunately I endedup spending too much to put into
it than it was worth at the endof the day.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Did you buy that used ?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I did, yes, got it used, and I think that was I
don't know.
Yeah, my brother still has his,so his has lasted him a lot
longer than mine lasted me.
But yeah, I guess you neverreally know when you get a used
car how it's going to turn outsometimes.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Absolutely, and did you get that in college, high
school or after?
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I got the yeah, the 03 Toyota Camry I got in college
so I only drove it around forabout three years.
It really didn't last me long.
Yeah, it was a reliable car fora bit and did like a few road
trips with it.
Drove it to Florida one timeand it made it back.
But eventually I realized, oh,I couldn't, I can't.
I was living in, about to moveto Cincinnati and I realized, oh
, I can't drive betweenIndianapolis and Cincinnati
anymore.
This car is not going to be areliable transportation.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Right, you grew up in Indianapolis, but you came to
school in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I, uh, I went to Xavier University and, as many
people in Cincinnati alreadyknow, it's a Jesuit university
and, while I don't considermyself Catholic, I really wanted
a school that had more of afocus on social justice.
So I was in the business schoolthere.
But I wanted an educationfocused on social justice and
(04:01):
have always been passionateabout tying for-profit business
with social responsibility andso, to kind of make that
possible, going to Xavier.
So it was a really good schoolto attend.
I enjoyed living in a city andI think being in a city as a
college student provides a lotof great opportunities for
internships and was a fun placefor me to be.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, and you ended up staying here, I guess, right.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, I moved back to Cincinnati for a few years and
then I ended up staying here, Iguess, right?
Yeah, I moved back toCincinnati for a few years and
then, you know, I ended up atEngage Partners and that's what
brought me back to Cincinnati.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
And that's how we met .
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
You mentioned before we started.
You had some epic road trips inthat Camry and other cars.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Tell me about one I feel like this is the year of
road trips for me.
I didn't really see myself assomeone who loved road trips,
but I have a newer vehicle nowthat I fully trust, and so it's
a lot more fun to be taking aroad trip.
I have not once, but twicedriven across the country this
year.
I actually really like roadtrips.
I like the excuse to kind ofsit in the car and listen to
(04:59):
music, and I again did a roadtrip across country twice this
year and both times was with areally good friend of mine, and
I feel like you just always lookback on road trips and realize
just some random things thathappened that wouldn't have
happened if you were on a roadtrip Like the first.
I drove out from Cincinnati toIdaho in late March of this year
(05:23):
and one of the things is wedrove through the Badlands on
Easter and you know driving noone goes to the Badlands in late
March because, there's snow onthe ground and it's not going to
be enjoyable at all.
It's super windy and we drive inand no one is there.
No one's there.
You can't really even like seethat far in front of you, so you
can't see the beauty that isthe Badlands.
And then we decided to go toMount Rushmore.
(05:46):
I it's like one of those wasfunny in the moment and like I I
think we'll always look back onthis as like a oh, this
wouldn't have happened if wewere on a road trip.
We would have planned forprettier weather, but we, we got
to Mount Rushmore and Iremember my, my friend she's
like the kindest person and shewas so nice to the guy who was
like you know we had to pay toget in so nice to him, like
(06:09):
wishing him happy Easter, allthat.
And we drive in, park, drive inand we start walking out to
Mount Rushmore and we realized,oh, we can't see anything.
It's way too cloudy and likewalk straight up and you know
we're at like the closest pointwe can possibly be to mount
rushmore and still can't seeanything.
It was just like you know, oneof those funny moments again of
(06:31):
like no one's in mount rushmoreat the end of march, because
that's not a great time to seeit.
Uh, early april, and I thinkthat's just like how road trips
go.
There's like just funny momentsthat you look back on.
I was like, oh, I didn't seethat one coming for sure, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So now you have, you have to go back at some point so
you can see mount rushmore andgo.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh, that's what you missed I know, I know I'm like.
Well, now it's still on thelist of places to go, because I
didn't see it the first time nowyou know us 50.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
It's a cross country highway.
Have you been on that highway?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I, yes, I think I have a little bit, not much.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Well, so the next trip you make, you're going to
have to at least drive it fromSacramento, california, to
Colorado.
Then you can jump on theinterstate and go.
It's the most beautiful.
I tell people it's the mostbeautiful drive, but kind of the
badlands it's, uh, it's calledthe loneliest road in america,
(07:30):
uh for good reason.
Yeah, I bet that's a prettydrive though yeah, it's
beautiful so you'll have to dothat yeah I don't know what's it
been about.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
A year or so you quit your job right yeah, it was at
the end of march of this yearthat I march this year.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
I was at the end of March of this year that I quit
March this year.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, it was March of this year.
I know time is crazy, but yeah,march of this year.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
And you took off to the West Coast because you're
going to walk the Pacific CrestTrail.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, I don't know if you want me to dive into it and
explain a bit about the PCP.
Well, yeah, we'll get there.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
But did you just wake up one morning and go?
This is what I'm going to do.
Tell me what put that on yourlist of?
I've got to go hike this.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I mean, as I kind of said in my intro, I have enjoyed
hiking over the last few yearsand gotten into that, but it
wasn't something.
I mean I grew up camping everyso often but I wouldn't say I
backpacked or I, you know, lovedthe outdoors.
I think a lot of people canrelate to this.
During COVID I spent a lot oftime outside, spent a lot of
(08:37):
time camping with friends, andso that was like my toe back
into enjoying camping, enjoyingbeing outdoors.
And I say I went on my firstreal backpacking trip in
September of 21.
So it's actually right, as Iwas moving from Indianapolis
back to Cincinnati to start myjob at Engage Partners, I did a
week long backpacking trip inthe Wind River Range in Wyoming
(09:01):
and it was with three otherwomen and friends.
I guess in some ways it changedmy life.
I just fell in love with hikingout in such a remote place and
experiencing beauty that I hadnever seen before.
It's funny because the threeother women that I hiked with,
they were in great shape, theywere always climbing up the
(09:22):
passes well before me and I wasdragging behind.
You know, out of shape and notused to the altitude at all, but
I loved every minute of it.
I just thought it was beautifuland, yeah, I love so many
aspects of backpacking.
So I kind of left that tripthinking like, okay, I want to
do more of these and I think Ijust had like a lot of little
(09:43):
moments like I there's a trailcalled the Sheltowee that goes
through a big section ofKentucky and so I did that whole
trail across 2022, continue todo other backpacking trips.
I had a good friend in 2023 whohiked the whole Appalachian
Trail.
(10:03):
So I had like little littlemoments of seeing people hiking
things that I might want to door hiking with other people,
backpacking with other people.
That kind of got things.
You know, gears turning in myhead and I think I'm always
someone who likes a challenge.
I look back on the thing youknow, those significant moments
(10:25):
in life, and recognize there's amoment of like okay, I could do
the same thing or I could takeon a new challenge and I was
really enjoying my career andwhat I was doing in Cincinnati
the last two plus years.
That like filled me up in somany ways.
But I kind of wanted to take ona personal challenge and the
(10:45):
Pacific Crest Trail or doing along distance backpacking trip
is definitely a new challenge.
I feel like I had this momentin time where I realized I'd
never really taken on achallenge in which I didn't
think I could necessarilysucceed at it, and so I was
interested in trying somethingthat would really push me out of
my comfort zone in a new wayand something that I wasn't
guaranteed to be successful at.
(11:07):
Yeah, that excited me, I think,as, like a solo female hiker, I
definitely had a lot of I hadto process am I okay hiking
alone?
That was a huge component of mediscerning whether or not I was
going to do a long distancehike.
But, yeah, I would say there waslike a few, a number of moments
in which I was surrounded bypeople who knew the backpacking
(11:30):
world and enjoyed backpacking,and so I could kind of test out
whether I would enjoy doing athrough hike.
And then, just like an interestin a challenge and being in
just a really unique season oflife where I felt like, okay, if
I'm going to do a through hikelike this is, this is the best
time to do it.
And so that's how I ended updeciding on the PCT.
I, you know people decide likeokay, which, which, there's a
(11:53):
few different long distancetrails in the U?
S, but I kind of always knew ifI was going to do a long
distance trail, it was going tobe the Pacific Crest Trail.
It's it's just beautiful.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
And for those who don't know that are listening,
it begins where and ends where,and how long is it.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Pacific Crest Trail.
Most people hike it north.
So they say Nobo, you can hikeit south or Sobo, but most
people I think like 80% ofpeople who do the Pacific Crest
Trail they hike it north.
And if they're hiking it norththey start just 45 minutes east
like driving distance, east ofSan Diego on the Mexico-US
(12:30):
border, and you go north toCanada.
So you go all the way throughCalifornia, oregon and
Washington.
It's 2,650 odd miles and itgoes through 700 miles of desert
.
In California it goes throughthe Sierras and Yosemite, really
close to Mount Whitney A lot ofPCT hikers hike Mount Whitney
(12:51):
and then, yeah, you crossthrough all of Oregon and
Washington.
So, yeah, in terms of thebeauty of hiking a trail like
the Pacific Crest Trail, it'spretty incredible what you get
to see.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
And when did you start?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
There's a permit system for it, so there was some
amount of good luck in that.
It's kind of a harder permit toget over the years or has
become one, but I ended upgetting a permit for 4-14.
So April 14th started April14th, and then the last day I
was on trail was October 2nd.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
On October 2nd.
Where did you?
You didn't complete the trailyet, correct?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Correct.
Yeah, I finished in the town ofAetna in Northern California,
okay, but I didn't technicallygo in order, so I did Oregon,
which is obviously north ofNorthern California.
But yeah, my last day, october2nd, was in Northern California,
in Aetna.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Okay, and so did you skip around then got injured at
about 1100 mile mark.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
When I got back onto trail I realized um, oregon is
known as like it's crazy to saythis to you know non-backpackers
.
But oregon is relatively a veryeasy section of trail.
People hike it very quicklybecause it's just softer terrain
through most of it, lesselevation, lower altitude.
There's a number of differentfactors there and as someone who
(14:13):
was injured I knew if I wasgoing to recover Oregon would be
the best place to do that.
So I actually flipped up toOregon and then, when I finished
Oregon, I flipped back down todo Northern California.
So that's why I ended in Edna.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Okay.
Was there a moment out therewhere you said okay?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
what was.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
I thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
There is definitely a number of those moments.
I think, overall, every singleday, I was happy to be out there
, like I recognize that very fewpeople have an opportunity like
the opportunity that I had inlife and I think, just as like a
Midwesterner maybe maybe it'snot the case, but I think as a
Midwesterner, like I was just inawe every single day to be out
(14:56):
there and, yeah, it wasuncomfortable, like you know
every, every other day there wassome new, random, weird thing
that was happening.
You know, like chafing.
I didn't expect or some someuncomfortable aspect of being
out in the woods for so longsure but I mean, I truly loved
it and I was happy to like havethose uncomfortable moments for
(15:18):
other moments.
That was like a beautifulsunrise or a sunset or yeah,
getting up to the top of like amountain pass and being able to
see an incredible view.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So did you set goals like each day, oh, this is where
I want to get to.
Or did you just take it as itcame?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
yeah, at the beginning I feel like my and I
don't think this is as commonfor other hikers, but for me
each section of the trail wasvery different, mainly because I
got injured the beginning ofthe hike.
I was just figuring out what itlooks like to do a through hike.
Prior to starting on the PCT, Ihad never done more than three
and a half days out on trail ina row, and so there was a lot of
(15:58):
newness that came with it.
I was more experienced than anumber of people, but still a
lot of newness, and so I justtook it as it came than a number
of people, but still a lot ofnewness, and so I just took it
as it came.
And then, as I, when I was inOregon and injured, I had like a
pretty strict schedule that Ikept to in terms of just not
wanting to push my body too much.
And then in Northern California, which was like the last
section that I did, I had somelike pretty strict deadlines to
(16:21):
make sure that I got the milesin that I needed.
I had an Excel spreadsheet forall of Oregon and Northern
California that I stuck to very,very tightly.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Now, where do you sleep?
Speaker 2 (16:33):
For modern day through hikers?
Definitely not the case, youknow, 10 plus years ago.
But for most hikers these dayswe all use an app.
There's a few different onesout there, but I used an app and
it kind of tracked, helped metrack miles, helped make sure
that I was on the path.
If I didn't feel comfortablethat I was actually on the right
(16:53):
path Although normally thatwasn't a problem and there was
designated camp spots itdepended on where you were,
because the PCT goes through.
It goes through private land.
You know it can be like timberproperty, it can be public land.
You know national parks.
We PC hikers hike through a lotvariety of areas, so it kind of
(17:13):
the rules depend on what youcould and couldn't do depending
on what area you were in.
But for the most part there wasdesignated camp spot, as in
like.
You looked at the map and sawthat there was a camp spot.
There wasn't like a bathroomthere or you know any shelter,
but there's a space large enoughto pitch your own tent.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Okay, and what about food?
Is there places to get food ordo you have to carry everything
with you?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yeah, I think the longest I ever carried food was
probably close to a week in theSierras.
It's a pretty remote area andso yeah, I think I carried close
to seven days of food at onepoint, but other than that it
was again depends on what areayou were in.
But when I started the trail Ididn't do any shipping of food
(17:59):
ahead of time.
I would just hike for a setamount of days mileage and then
I would get into the nearesttown and resupply, get food from
a random grocery store,normally, kind of put that all
together and get back out ontrail.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, and did you hike with other people?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, I think that's the great thing about the PCT is
that there's you know there's.
They hand out 50 permits perday for like end of part of
March to end of May and so youknow you're starting with 50
other people go.
(18:42):
But you just knew that therewas 50 people who got a permit
for the day that you also had apermit and so naturally I met
people that first, even honestly, before I started on trail.
But really I met people thatfirst day on trail, just start
hiking with them and realizeokay, we're the same pace, I
enjoy spending time with you andI ended up hiking pretty much
with a group of people from whenI started at the Mexico-US
(19:03):
border to when I got injured.
It's a pretty social trail inthat way.
Again, it looked different onceI got injured, but for the
first half of the mileage-wiseof the trail for me I was hiking
with people.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
How long were you?
I assume you were down withyour injury for a bit.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I had a stress reaction in my third metatarsal
so it quickly can lead to astress fracture which would
completely be a hike ender.
You know you're not supposed toreally walk on those sorts of
things for six to eight weeks,but I was fortunate to catch it
early enough, get an MRI andknow that it was a stress
reaction.
So I I was off trail for lessthan three weeks, about two and
(19:45):
a half weeks.
So not a long time, but inhiking world that's a very long
time.
When you know that snow ishitting Washington.
Two and a half weeks is a is avery long time, and more than
that I I got back on trail.
I was doing 10-mile days andmost people in Oregon do 25,
(20:06):
30-mile days.
I was at a very different pacethan all of my hiking peers when
I got back on, but was happy tobe back there hiking again,
yeah sure.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Is there one particular place that you just
have this great memory of?
Is there one particular placethat you just have this great
memory of, whether it be asunrise or a sunset, or is there
something you saw that just isalways going to be in your mind?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I would say my favorite section of the hike was
the Sierras.
It's, you know, the middle ofCalifornia and I think hiking
through that section it's anarea where it's very hard to
hike in.
That section Be just in thesense that you have to get a
permit if you're ever going tohike in that section, so there's
less people there than at anyother place that you're going to
hike most days, so prettyremote.
(20:55):
That's where I was carryingseven days of food and it was
interesting because there'sdefinitely challenges, Like most
days you were hiking in someamount of snow and again, as
someone from the Midwest, Inever really dealt with hiking
in snow.
So there was definitelychallenges that came with the
Sierras, but I would say everysingle day in the Sierras.
I was just blown away I wasactually talking to a friend
(21:16):
about this the other day Like Iwould stand somewhere and it's
hard to like describe, but Iwould stand looking out onto a
view of like these beautifulmountains and know, even
standing there I wasn't fullycomprehending what I was a part
of, Because it's just.
It's just.
The view is is absolutelystunning to see all these
(21:36):
mountains and the snow and thepeaks and to be out in an area
that so few people experience.
Yeah, it was just likebreathtaking.
Every single day it's one ofthose moments where you take a
photo and you're like, well,that doesn't do it justice at
all.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Yeah, I was going to say my wife and I always do that
We'll be out on a hike, we'llbe someplace driving, we'll take
a photo and I'll be like, ohwell, that's disappointing.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, yeah, but I didn't love always hiking in the
dark, but to see a sunrise or asunset in the mountains is
stunning, so I always reallylike those points.
And yeah, there's definitelysections that were prettier than
others, but every single daythere was a pretty view at some
point.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
So you haven't finished the trail yet.
What's the plan?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
When I got injured I kind of had like a few different
decisions to make in terms ofwhat it was going to look like I
could have.
I decided ultimately not tohike Washington this year.
So I didn't get to Canada andreally kind of decide again to
flip back to Northern Californiaand to do those those miles,
because my goal is to stay inthe Pacific Northwest and so I
(22:47):
thought it'd be easier for me tomake up Washington over the
next few years.
So yeah, I haven't I haven'tyet PCTY set foot in in
Washington, but I could probablydo it in a few different
section week-long hikes.
So my goal is to still get itdone.
That's the whole reason why Idecided to flip down to Northern
(23:10):
California was I had a goal ofdoing the PCT and while I didn't
get it done this year, it'sstill the goal that I want to
accomplish the whole thing.
So yeah, I think over the nextfew years I'll make up
Washington sections and I didn'tdo like a very small section in
Oregon because there waswildfires, like this year.
There was just a ton ofwildfires, so there was most of
(23:32):
like half of Northern Californiaat one point was closed.
The trail was closed due tofires.
Oregon, there was a sectionfrom April until like
mid-October that was closed dueto fires and, like almost half
of Washington, was closed due tofires at one point.
So this year's, through hikersand doing the PCT, experienced a
lot of navigating forest firesbut hopefully doing making up
(23:56):
Washington in sections that willbe like easier to navigate.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, good luck on that.
We'll make sure we're stillfollowing along when you start.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yes, all right.
So this is a big bucket listitem that you just worked on,
but what else is on your bucketlist.
You got any other big hikes orany other adventures that are on
your bucket list?
You're a young person.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It's funny, when you put down that question, nothing
came to mind at first and I kindof just laughed at myself.
I was like nothing's coming tomind, you know like.
But I quickly came up withthings, don't worry.
Uh, no, I think I would stilllike to do some smaller long
distance hikes.
So, there's like a trail inColorado, there's one in Arizona
(24:42):
and I want to do someinternational backpacking.
I mean a lot of internationalbackpacking.
You get coffee halfway throughthe day and you get like a nice
warm meal at the end of the day,and I didn't get either of
those two things on my trail.
So I think that soundswonderful, yeah that would be
good.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
I hope you get to do that.
Here's a favorite question foryou If you could take a road
trip with anyone you've been onsome road trips If you could
take it with anyone, living ordeceased, who would it be?
Where would you go?
What are you going to drive?
What are you going to talkabout?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, that's a great question.
I would probably want to do aroad trip with my mom's mom,
darlene, so my middle name isactually because of Darlene.
She passed before I was bornand I have this woman who I'm
related to, who I only know somuch about.
(25:36):
I would love to have theopportunity to go on a road trip
with Darlene.
Would love to have theopportunity to go on a road trip
with Darlene.
I think it would be reallysweet to drive through Southern
Indiana where she grew up, andunderstand more about her
childhood and kind of the lifethat she lived.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
That would be a fun trip.
What do you think?
One question you would ask her.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
I would ask her how she did it.
I mean, what I know about heris that she is a really
hardworking woman and that shehad so many miscellaneous jobs
growing up and raising her kids,and I would be so curious like
what motivated her most days andlike brought her joy.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Okay, great question.
Thank you for sharing that.
That would be a fun trip.
All right, you're young,miranda, but I always like to
ask my guests hey, leave mylisteners with some life advice.
Life advice, just advice ingeneral, hiking advice, whatever
you wanna leave us with.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I would say I do wanna focus it on my hike a bit.
I think one of the unique partsabout this season of life I've
been, you know I, as you know, Iquit my job, I drove across the
country, did this hike, and nowI've decided to stay kind of
out west.
I, like, through that, haverelied a lot on other people to
(26:57):
help make this possible, like Iyou know I I wouldn't there's so
many things that would havewould look different if I didn't
have people in my life to helpsupport me.
But I think one of theinteresting things about and it
connects to this, one of theinteresting things about a
through hike is that, andspecifically like the hikes that
we have in the U?
S, is there's a huge culturearound trail angels.
(27:18):
Trail angels are the people who, whether they know it or not,
help a hiker and many like.
A common thing is that youwould get to a trail and maybe
there's you'd be hiking on atrail and there's a trailhead in
which you know, everyday peoplecan access the trail and trail
angels would set up food forhikers and it could be, you know
(27:39):
, a fun, like I.
One morning I had pancakes ontrail because a trail angel
drove to this like very remotepart of the desert and like set
up pancakes, so it can be like avery.
You know that takes a lot ofeffort to make happen.
But there was also one timewhere I had someone who I, just
like you know, cross paths withon trail and they offered me
(28:00):
like a Gatorade you know itdoesn't have to be anything huge
, but a lot of times trailangels whether they know it or
whether they know about a hikeor not, it's like you know,
giving them a gift many timeslike trail angels will help help
people with housing.
So, especially towards the endof my hike, I spent a month
hiking through NorthernCalifornia and I I was still
hiking that I didn't hike itwith any other people at the
(28:22):
time just because of, again, myinjury and the timing in which I
went through NorthernCalifornia.
And at the time at thebeginning of my hike, I really
was splitting a hotel with a fewpeople and so it became a cheap
place to stay when I wanted anight in town, whereas towards
the end of my hike a $ a $200hotel is is a $200 hotel for one
(28:43):
person.
So I ended up staying with trailangels a few different times
and they were just so kind andgracious and I think one of the
things that like struck me inthat is that they didn't have to
have a perfect setup to stillbe a generous host and someone
who was like excited to give andI that was just like such a
(29:07):
gift to me both as, like youknow in the moment, a gift that
I could receive a warm meal or Icould receive just like shelter
over my head or a warm shower.
You know all things that werevery important for a hiker.
But I think, more than that, itwas like a good reminder to
show up and care for people,even if it's not going to be
perfect Like their houses weremessy, you know, at times, or
(29:29):
like they didn't have you knowall the things I think we think
we need to host people, and so Ithink it was like the reminder
to me, and what I'm trying tolike live out now is like show
up for people, even if it's notperfect.
You know, like host someone fordinner, even if it's not like a
gourmet meal, or like have afriend over, or, like you know,
(29:51):
host someone at your house, evenif, like, your house is messy
and I don't know that's a verylong-winded thing to leave your
listeners with, but I think it'sthe reminder to show up and be
generous to people, even if it'snot perfect.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Yeah, if we wait around until it's perfect, we
may miss the opportunity, right?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah right.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Well, miranda, this has been fun.
So glad to catch up.
Didn't realize you were stillon the West Coast and I just
wish you all the best.
And before we leave here, ifyou want to leave my listeners
with a shout out to something Iknow you had a, no, I don't have
anything.
Yeah, and that's cool too.
I've had people go.
(30:33):
I don't have anything, danSorry.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I don't think I have anything.
That's good.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
We'll give a shout out to how we connected.
And good, We'll give a shoutout to how we connected and
that's with a company here inCincinnati called Engage.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Give a shout out to Engage.
It's fun when professional andpersonal collide.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yes, absolutely Well, Miranda, this has been fun.
Thank you again.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah, thank you so much Dan.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Day on the Road
Trip Guy.
You can find me online atdayontheroadtripguycom.
I hope you'll follow the showso that you don't miss any
future episodes.
I'd love your feedback, somessage me, and I hope you'll
share the show with your familyand friends so that they can
enjoy the conversations I havewith my guests.
(31:16):
And be sure, when you're withyour family and friends, to
record stories before it's toolate.
And for now, remember, keepdriving and keep having
conversations.
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