This week Clint and Dawson talk with Skyler Baker. Skyler was born and raised on Signal Mountain Tennessee and since he was a child he was immersed in the outdoor community and music scene of the Chattanooga area. Every spring and fall his family camped in a pop up trailer in the surrounding state parks. As a teenager that developed into hiking with friends and doing short overnight trips around Walden’s Ridge. His senior project included work with the Cumberland Trail Conference before setting off for the college of engineering at UT Knoxville. In his second year at UT he went on a whim of a day hike in the Smokies which sparked a love. In my third year he was invited to spend spring break backpacking on Cumberland Island, his first multiple night trip. While working a summer internship in Chattanooga he began to trail run every day after work. Once he graduated that became his hobby and it further developed in the Smokies. His approach to travel also changed as he took trips to South Africa, the Alps, Canada, and Alaska. After running a few ultra marathons he ticked off new trails in the Smokies one by one, eventually completing all of them in July 2020. Following the Smokies 900 he looked for new goals including the SCAR, R2R2R, the Art Loeb Trail, and he even got into gravel biking. Nothing was filling the void so he set his sights on the Pacific Crest Trail in April 2021. After completing the trail he spent a month seeing the National Parks before returning to Tennessee. Skyler shares his PCT experience with us and a few other stories from his adventures.
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