The thru-hiking season has officially begun, which also signals the start of season 4 of Trail Correspondents. Yes, you heard us correctly! After a brief hiatus, we are stoked to announce that Trail Correspondents is making its official comeback.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Trail Correspondents, it’s essentially a teleportation machine to the trail. We have hand selected a stellar line-up of thru-hikers who will be giving us regular audio updates throughout their hikes. From first-time thru-hikers and semi-professional dungeon masters, to Alaskan journalists and adventurers hailing from the UK, our team of trail correspondents will keep you update on a range of thru-hiking related topics.

New episodes of Trail Correspondents will drop every other week, with our first episode launching this Wednesday, April 12th. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast and follow Trail Correspondents on Instagram to ensure you don’t miss any episodes (and trust us, you don’t want to miss out!).

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Meet the Team!

Jake Landgraf

Trail: Appalachian Trail

David “Good Soup” Firari

Trail: Appalachian Trail

David “Good Soup” is excited to be sharing their northbound Appalachian Trail with you! This is their first ever backpacking trip and they hope all the reading and shakedown hikes they did pay off. In addition to being a novice backpacker, Good Soup is also managing a schedule of recurring medical treatments back home in Wisconsin in order to make this trip happen.

Elke & Tilli

Trail: Appalachian Trail

Abby Evans

Trail: Appalachian Trail

Abby Evans (she/they) has a hankering to shave their head and hike the AT and now they will get to do both! They will be fulfilling their vagabond-dirtbag-poet dreams and aspire to one day become a creative writing professor. They’ll be listening to seventies folk music and reflecting on their life as they wander through all the states they grew up in: they were born in Maryland, grew up in New Jersey and went to college at Virginia Tech. Abby is excited for this Bildungsroman and hopes to celebrate their 23rd birthday (August 24) near Maine.

Aly Pagano

Trail: Appalachian Trail

Aly is local to the southern Appalachians in western North Carolina. She has spent her life hiking, trail running, fishing, foraging, and farming; she aspires to increase her own knowledge and awareness of traditional Appalachian folk medicine, music, and skills as in an effort to live harmoniously with the mountains around her. With a degree in Ecology, Aly focuses on seasonal changes, flora, and fauna while hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Emily Russo Miller

Trail: Appalachian Trail

Dreaming of being on trail is Emily’s favorite pastime. A 37-year-old journalist from Juneau, Alaska, she risked it all a few years ago (left her job, sold all her belongings and moved to the Lower 48) in pursuit of something new and beautiful. She found it in thru-hiking and hasn’t looked back since. You may know her as “Bear Spray Girl” from her LASH on the AT in 2021, or “Legs” from her PCT thru in 2022.

Derek Witteman

Trail: Appalachian Trail

Summer Midyett

Trail: Pacific Crest Trail

Summer has had an adventurous spirit since she was young, having spent her most of her childhood traveling around the world with her family. She’s been dreaming of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail since 2020, when she moved to Oregon and fell in love with the mountains of the PNW. While it’s certainly shaping up to be an interesting year for the PCT, she’s excited to see whatever the trail has in store.

Eddie Arriola

Trail: Pacific Crest Trail

Eddie is a travel PTA, physical therapist assistant, who’s been dreaming of the PCT for four years. In his spare time he enjoys photography, karaoke, and has other eclectic hobbies. He’s originally from southern Arizona, Tucson, and is excited to get back to his primary partner and dogs after the trail.

Abbey Turnbull

Trail: Pacific Crest Trail

Harking from the South Coast of the UK, Abbey, aged 26, is swapping the rolling hills of the South Downs for the mountains of the Pacific Crest. A thru-hike of the JMT last year confirmed what she thought to be true – hiking from Mexico to Canada was her destiny for 2023. Loves good food and wine, Taylor Swift, American hospitality, and mountain vistas. Hates steep downhill slopes, her own unfortunate susceptibility to altitude sickness, and oatmeal.

Mary Garcia

Trail: Pacific Crest Trail

Mary is a boring woman who likes to make various things, especially her hiking gear. She also has problems completing a thru hike. She did half the PCT in 2017 and a month on the CDT in 2022.

*Her words, not ours! ?

Iris “Panther” Hartshorn

Trail: Pacific Crest Trail

Angelique “Perky”Krohn

Trail: Continental Divide Trail

Angelique (she/her) is a children’s librarian, artist, and semi-professional dungeon master, currently residing with her partner and their cat in New Jersey. She thru hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2018, and has been dreaming about hiking the Continental Divide Trail ever since. She is especially looking forward to exploring the different landscapes along the CDT and learning more about the plants and animals that call them home. It is rumored she might finally break the world record for “World’s Dirtiest Pair of Glasses” along this trek.

Kenneth “Moron” Pararo AKA Your Season 4 Host

Kenneth “moron” Pararo caught the adventure bug in 2019 during his first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Since then he’s biked and hiked tens-of-thousands of miles all over the country. He’s always created podcasts during his journeys in order to document them and so he’s a natural fit to take the helm of this season’s Trail Correspondents podcast. You can find the record of his 2022 adventure from Alabama to Canada and back by searching Book of Moron on your favorite podcast app. But beware: as the self-proclaimed “pied piper of vinegaphilic flies” his show is a bit of an acquired taste – he doesn’t even like it from time to time!