EPISODE · Jul 15, 2026 · 40 MIN
The Full Traverse - Mr. Fabulous is Everyone
from Hiker Trash Radio · host Bleav + Doc
The Full Traverse is Hiker Trash Radio's narrative documentary series, drawing from years of conversations with a single guest to tell their complete story. This episode: Derick "Fab" Lugo — author, speaker, and Triple Crowner. From zero experience in 2012 to the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Long Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail. Derick's books: The Unlikely Thru-Hiker (2019) — his AT memoir. Made-up curse words included; safe to read to your kids. A Fabulous Thru Hike (Mountaineers Books, 2026) — his CDT memoir, out now. Available wherever books are sold; ordering through his website supports him most directly while he's on tour. Also featuring Derick's writing: Campfire Stories, Volume II — includes his first published fiction, a spooky short called "Vertigo" Stories from the Trail — includes "Trail Brothers," about hiking from New York City to Bear Mountain with his brother (also an ATC short film of the same name) Derick's podcast: Unlikely Stories, produced with the Appalachian Mountain Club — 12 episodes featuring different voices of the outdoors, including the first African to summit Everest and record-setting AT hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis. Trails featured in this episode: Appalachian Trail (2012) Long Trail, Vermont (2021 attempt; 2023 completion with Christine Reed) Continental Divide Trail (2022) Pacific Crest Trail (2025) People mentioned: Christine "Lady Unicorn" Reed — author of Alone in Wonderland; Fab's Long Trail hiking partner and subject of her own Full Traverse episode Nature, Buck Wild, and Pirate — Fab's CDT trail family J.R. Harris — explorer and author of Way Out There, Fab's hero and fellow New Yorker Cutie — remembered with love by the CDT class of 2022 Book tour: Derick is on the road through spring and summer 2026, starting in Colorado, running up and down the East Coast, and working west. Dates at his website. Follow Derick: Instagram / Facebook / TikTok: @dericklugo (that's D-E-R-I-C-K — he will notice if you spell it wrong) Website: dericklugo.com — signed copies available The Full Traverse is produced by Hiker Trash Radio, a member of the BLEAV Podcast Network. 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
In 2012, the most metrosexual Black man in New York City packed a razor blade, 42 pounds of gear he didn't know how to use, and zero experience — and got on a train to Georgia to hike the Appalachian Trail. His first overnight hike ever was a thru-hike. He shaved every three days for six months. And somewhere in the first week, a woman older than the trail itself kissed him on the cheek and made him keep a trail name he never wanted. Drawn from four years of conversations on Hiker Trash Radio, this episode of The Full Traverse follows Derick "Fab" Lugo across the whole arc: the AT rookie who once carried five books at a time, the author who "couldn't hold it in" and wrote The Unlikely Thru-Hiker, the voice of the outdoors telling seventh graders and skeptical New Yorkers to get rid of the just, the Long Trail failure that nearly ended everything at a beaver dam, and the 10-years-later return on the Continental Divide Trail — heat sickness, 249 river crossings, and one storm at 13,000 feet where the funniest man on the trail stopped laughing and thought, "I gotta keep moving or I'm done." It ends where nobody, least of all Fab, expected: a Triple Crown he swore he'd never chase, a trail family won over one "love you, man" at a time, a pair of Crocs on the bottom of the Gila River, and a new book — A Fabulous Thru Hike — that proves what the old woman in Georgia somehow knew all along. Mr. Fabulous was never just one man.
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The Full Traverse - Mr. Fabulous is Everyone
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