EPISODE · Jun 15, 2026 · 35 MIN
The Full Traverse - Lady Unicorn
from Hiker Trash Radio · host Bleav + Doc
The Full Traverse is a new long-form narrative format on Hiker Trash Radio. Each episode draws from multiple years of conversations with a single guest to tell the complete story: where they started, what shaped them, and who they became. This is Episode 1. Guest: Christine Reed, trail name Lady Unicorn, author, thru-hiker, FKT holder, and founder of Rugged Outdoorswoman Publishing. Book: Alone in Wonderland: Longing for Connection and Adventure in the Shadow of Mount Rainier, Christine's debut memoir, originally self-published in 2021 and re-released in April 2026 through Rocky Mountain Books. The new edition includes an afterword written five years after the original. Available wherever books are sold. Also mentioned: Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Christine's anthology of women's outdoor stories, featuring 26 contributors. Winner of the BAMF Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. Bethany Adams: FKT holder and author of her own memoir published through Rugged Outdoorswoman Publishing in March 2026. Trails featured in this episode: Appalachian Trail Wonderland Trail, Mount Rainier National Park Colorado Trail Long Trail, Vermont Ouachita Trail, Arkansas Womble Trail, Arkansas Mount Whitney, California POTS: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. A form of dysautonomia affecting the autonomic nervous system. Christine was diagnosed in 2020 after living with symptoms her entire life. For more information: dysautonomia.org FKT: Fastest Known Time. An informal record-keeping system for completing trails or routes. Records are tracked at fastestknowntime.com and are open to anyone. Follow Christine: Instagram: @ruggedoutdoorswoman Website: aloneinwonderland.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
What this episode covers
Christine Reed found the Appalachian Trail on a blog she stumbled across at a desk job in Arkansas, and within minutes she'd walked into her mother's office to announce she was going to hike it. That impulsive act of imagination, deciding to become a certain someone before she had any evidence she could be one, turned out to be the defining philosophy of her life. In HTR's first-ever Full Traverse episode, Doc pulls from four years of conversations with Christine to tell the complete arc: the AT hike she started four days before her mother died, the self-published memoir that found its way to ten thousand readers, the POTS diagnosis that reframed every mile she'd ever struggled through, back-to-back FKT attempts in the Arkansas backcountry, a move to Taos to finally put down roots, and a new edition of Alone in Wonderland released five years after the first. It's the story of a woman who kept betting on a version of herself that didn't exist yet, and kept being right.
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The Full Traverse - Lady Unicorn
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