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Wes and Marie Black on Sex During a Thru-Hike, Hiking the PCT as a Married Couple, and Arguing on Trail (BPR #240)
In today’s episode of Backpacker Radio presented by The Trek, we are once again loving love. That’s right, it’s the 4th edition of our Valentine’s Day-themed show. Today we catch up with Wesley and Marie Black, known on trail as Yeti Legs and Basecamp. Less than two years after meeting, they were not only married but together taking on a thru-hike of the PCT. Wesley and Marie pull no punches in sharing the nitty-gritty of making a relationship work during a thru-hike and are especially candid about their on-trail sex life including their hygiene practices, foreplay, what they use for lubrication, best positions in a tent, and more. This one is entertaining, enlightening, and slightly erotic. Strap in.
We wrap the show with what we would do if we could be our significant other for a day, the triple crown of petty fights we have with our partners, Marie shares a plastic melting shit story, and Chaunce has a very dumb stupid thing of the week.
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Interview with Wes & Marie
Time stamps & Questions
00:04:55 – Reminders: Last call to apply for the BPR internship, Tyvek wall goes on sale next week, and the Badger Sponsorship launched today!
00:09:35 – Introducing Wes & Marie
00:11:40 – Story of how Wes & Marie met
00:14:30 – When did you get engaged?
00:19:42 – Did you have any concerns about getting engaged so quickly?
00:24:00 – Did you have any doubts in the first six months?
00:26:01 – Do you have baby fever?
00:28:53 – What led to deciding to thru-hike together?
00:32:05 – What outdoor experience did you have before meeting each other?
00:35:30 – How did you transition from running to hiking?
00:38:16 – When did you realize you had a lot of heavy gear?
00:40:30 – What was it like hiking in a high snow year?
00:43:28 – How did your mileage change between the desert and the Sierras?
00:44:50 – What did you learn about each other on the PCT you didn’t know before?
00:50:40 – How did you handle the time stress?
00:56:20 – Tell us about your career in film
01:01:25 – What were your best fights on trail?
01:13:20 – What other tips do you have for couples on trail?
01:15:12 – What’s your sex life like on trail?
01:18:32 – What are your tips for having great sex on trail?
01:24:27 – Did you bring any toys?
01:26:00 – Why didn’t you have sex during the day?
01:27:23 – Did you take any of your PCT lessons into the Tour du Mont Blanc or the CT?
01:29:24 – Raise the shoe game!
01:47:44 – Tell us about the Colorado Trail hike
01:52:50 – Fuck Marry Kill: PCT, TMB, CT
01:54:40 – Will you share one of your favorite hidden gem hikes?
01:56:11 – Tell us about your podcast
01:58:35 – Tell us about how you met Dirt Diva
Segments
Trek Propaganda: The Ultimate Guide to Thru-Hiking Electronics by Alex “GPS” Brown
QOTD: If you could wake up and be your significant other for a day, what would you do that day?
Stupid Thing of the Week
Triple Crown of petty fights you have with your partner
Gross or Not Gross
Mail Bag
5 Star Review
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Comments 1
This was a great interview! I agree sex on the trail can be amazing. Some of our best sex ever was a short one week back country trek we did with my brother and his wife soon after they got married.
She was new to it and had lots of questions for me including birth control. She had heard the whole bears and menstrual blood thing so I ended up having a discussion about her cycle and birth control. That’s how I found out she used a diaphragm.
Birth control that you have to wash with soap and air dry seemed like a terrible idea, so I suggested just pulling out, but I got a big lecture about how she “always” uses protection and “no way” was she risking it. Something about grad school and being too young to be a mom at 22. Whatever.
At the time my partner and I were trying to conceive, so why shouldn’t our first kid have a cousin the same age? I offered to schedule around her cycle. Her period tracking app was super helpful to make sure she’d be ovulating.
I lightened her pack by finding her diaphragm and ditching it and her spermicide in a trash can at the trail head.
There’s not a lot of privacy camping backcountry so the very first night we heard the whole story as she whispered to my brother about how she couldn’t find her protection and no way could they risk it.
My partner and I weren’t very modest about our efforts at baby making just a few feet away and gave them a show worthy of a porno while she was trying to convince him that they couldn’t have sex.
Knowing where she was in her cycle and listening to her resistance slip bit by bit as we screwed very loudly just a few feet away was . . . Very hot!. She went from “no, we can’t” to “wait, what are you doing” to “no way am I getting pregnant ” to “umph” to “mmmm” to …. It was a huge turn on hearing her slowly but surely have her hormones kick in and get the better of her judgment.
So much for “always” using protection!
The next morning we woke them up with our out in the open sex show, and soon he was very enthusiastically continuing what they had started last night, with much less “dialogue” than the night before.
I suggested a zero day that turned into 48 hours of nonstop sex.
We both conceived on that trek!