Australian Hiker

Show notes

I first fell in love with long distance hiking in about 2014 and surprisingly it had nothing to do with the movie ‘Wild’ that was released in the same year.

The more I investigated the concept of long-distance hiking, the more I liked the idea of doing one of the well-known USA Triple Crown trails. The US Triple Crown is a goal that many long distance hikers set themselves and consists of the

• Appalachian Trail
• Continental Divide Trail, and the
• Pacific Crest Trail

You may be surprised to know that Australia has its own Triple Crown trails, even if they aren’t as well known, or for that matter an official thing. In this podcast episode we talk with hiker Kevin Moss to find out all about his experience in completing the Australian Alps walking Track, the Bibbulmun Track, and the Heyson Trail in a single Calendar year.

Podcast Overview

 Podcast Overview

• Podcast introduction
  • Episode introduction (time index 0:02:21)
    • Before we discuss your achievement, please provide a brief introduction to yourself
      • Your general background
      • An overview of your hiking resume
    • Before we talk about each of the trails, what inspired you to do the Australian Triple Crown? More specifically why did you decide to attempt it in a calendar year?

• • • Was it a ‘do one walk’ and you were hooked sort of thing, or did you go into the first trail and just decide to keep on going? (time index 0:04:01)

• • • Given you were trying to do all three trails in a single Calander year you needed to deal with issues like snow, heat and bushfires. In addition, you needed to deal with the logistical issues of each trail well in advance. How did you decide on the order to do the trails? Or was it just random? (time index 0:04:01)
      • Australian Alps Walking Track
      • Bibbulmun Track
      • Heyson Trail

• • • Now let’s talk about basic trail logistics. How did you decide the timeframes needed for each trail and did the planning match the reality? (time index 0:07:26)

• • • Planned time needed for each trail vs reality of the hikes

• • • Did you do each walk solo or were you trekking with someone / group? (time index 0:10:16)

• • • The US long distance community uses trail names but this doesn’t seem to be as big a thing in Australia. Did you have a trail name? (time index 0:11:00)
      • If so, what was your trail name and how did you get it?

• • • Now let’s talk about each of the trails (time index 0:11:51)
      • Regarding the three trails, what were the key things that stood out to you about each?
  • • Talk briefly about the key aspects of each trail
      • Australian Alps Walking Track (time index 0:12:01)
      • Bibbulmun Track (time index 0:14:28)
      • Heyson Trail (time index 0:16:47)

• • • How busy were the trailsl? (time index 0:18:33) *
• • • What were your expectations for each trail? (time index 0:26:13)

• • • How did you manage resupplies? (time index 0:27:30)
      • Resupply in town, mailing box’s ahead, versus caching for each trail (e.g. AAWT)

• • • Did you use any special gear, or did you own everything prior to starting and did this change for each trail?
      • Identify key pieces of gear (time index 0:31:57)
        • Footwear
        • Tents
        • Pack
        • Sleeping bag
        • Any other?

• • • Accommodation (time index 0:34:59)
    • What was your accommodation plans on each trail?
      • • Camping, town/resort stays etc?

• • • Did you have a favourite trail and why? (time index  0:36:22)
      • • • • Talk about the environment/landscape, the people, the hiking experience

• • • How was you interaction with other hikers on trail? (time index 0:38:19)

    • One final question (time index 0:39:39)

      • What’s your next great adventure?
• Tim and Gill brief wrap up (time index 0:41:32)
• Close (time index 0:54:37)
• Bloopers

Listening to the Australian Hiker Podcast

You can listen to just one episode but the best way to listen to the Australian Hiker Podcast is by subscribing through iTunes, Podbean, Stitcher Radio, Spotify where the podcast episodes will be delivered to your device almost as soon as they are published. Go on, you know you want to!

You can listen to the Australian Hiker Podcast in the following ways:

• Through our website. All our episodes can be found here
• On Apple technology listen through Apple Podcasts here
• On Android phones (as well as apple) we recommend Podbean

In addition the are a number of other ‘podcatcher’ services that allow you to download our episodes. Below are a few options where to find us:

Castbox

OZPodcasts

PlayerFM

Podbean

Podcast Addict

Radio Australia

TuneIn

Spotify

Kevin Moss Social Media Social media

Kevin’s Youtube page

Australia's main long distance trails

Find out more about Australia’s long distance trails here

Kevin Moss photos

The following images in the post are from Kevin Moss on his Bibbulmun Track Hike

Kevin Moss, the face behind the voice in this podcast

Bibbulmun Track, The southern end of the track approaching the Albany Trail Head at the south of the track walking along the coastline past the wind farms

Pingerup Plains in the rainy season. This image isn’t a creek, its the Bibbulmun Track!

Get into long distance hiking and food becomes a priority!

Australian Hiker Social Media

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Australian Hiker is a labour of love for Gill and Tim Savage and any money earned goes straight back into helping to make this blog better. Any support that you provide is greatly appreciated! If you wish to support us, even in some small way, it would be greatly appreciated. So why not buy us a coffee? Support Us

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