Today we tackled Friday and Balsam Cap Mountains in the Catskills and boy was it awesome. A fun and challenging bushwhack for all levels, This is a perfect one to dip your toes in if you were thinking about trying out a bushwhack. Tumbles goes over the hike as well as has a mini TED talk on the importance of strength training. Enjoy!…

Hey R&R friends, we decided to head north this time and do a small section of Vermont! Were there rocks? Yes. Roots? Yes. MUD?! Oh hell yes. We also caught the thru hiker bubble and chatted with some awesome humans. Enjoy!By Team Tumbles

Hello intrepid listeners! A full report on the beauty of southern Virginia on the AT! We saw ponies, longhorns, highlands, untrained dogs, and much more on this episode!By Team Tumbles

Hi friends! We’re happy to be back and talking to you about the small but mighty Bull Hill Loop in Cold Spring, NY! A great after work uphill and downhill trail that has fun for everyone. Have you been here? Let us know!By Team Tumbles

Hey friends and a happy belated New Year. We missed you and hope you missed us. We have been working hard training for our redemption ultramarathon taking place in less than 2 weeks! Check out our adventure running Manhattan. Mucho mucho love.By Team Tumbles

Heyo! The duo discusses one of Tumbles’ favorite sections of the AT and its historic impact on the Appalachian Trail. Crank goes into an unknown trail near the Zoo and Tumbles tries to not get sick. Enjoy and thanks for listening!By Team Tumbles

Hey y’all! We got our booties out and traveled down to Virginia for some AT/Mau-Har Trail action! It’s the height of foliage in western Virginia and we were blessed with great weather and even a rainbow! Come check out the 3 Ridges Trail on this episode, known as one of the most difficult in Virginia!…

Barefoot Ken joins us once again for a fantastic chat on his Ultra/Half Marathon run, the Shawangunk Ridge Trail Run! We get into the logistics of this trail and what made him decide to co-race direct this awesome race! We also go into some of Ken’s recent and upcoming races as well as New York/New Jersey Trail Conference updates. Thanks, Ken, it w…

The lovely Tina Merritt joins us once again to talk all about her journey to the Grand Canyon. Not only that but Tina went to hike one of the most difficult trails out there, the R3 or Rim to Rim to Rim. That’s going from the south rim of the Canyon to the North Rim and back to the South Rim. Just shy of 50 miles, Tina talks about her experience wi…

And they said it wouldn’t last, but we’ve reached 100 proper episodes on the Rocks and Roots Podcast! We are thrilled to chat with ultrarunner and author Catra Corbett! We hear about Catra’s start in the ultra running world in the mid-90s after a battle with substance abuse. Her determination on the road and then trail gives her an edge that not ma…

What a fun chat we had with Kate Cloud (Feathers)! Kate has years of trail miles under her belt as she’s an AT alum class of 2018 and a PCT alum class of 2019. Her life took a fun turn with the adoption of her goat Little Leaf and her trail experiences in 2020-2022. The journey continues with Kate’s recent acquisition of a laundromat-turning-hostel…

We’re thrilled to welcome back 46 of 46 Podcast host James Appleton to the show to speak to us about his half marathon experience with minimal running training (but a bunch of hiking training). Along with that, we learn about James’ decade long passion for lifting and how the sport of Powerlifting has strengthened not only his body but his mind as …

We had the pleasure of chatting with Mike of the popular Adirondacks-based Instagram handle @ADKFunPolice. With a passion for the park and a sense of humor, Mike has made it one of his missions to bring up-to-date trail news and trail memes to his followers… with some light prodding in there too. We also spend some time talking about the ever popul…

The deluge hit the High Peaks with many hours of rain, thunderstorms, bugs and unnerving river crossings. Cranky and Tumbles took a few days to bag some peaks only to find that it wasn’t as easy as they thought. A trying expedition up to Nye Mountain would make or break the aspiring 46er along with bagging another orphaned peak we left behind a few…

Finally coming out of the busy season of spring, Cranky and Tumbles bring you the latest trail related news including…. FIRES, PRIDE MONTH, ESG SCORES, and more. We are going a bit out of order since we did do Whiteface in the ADK Memorial Day weekend but we figured this is current events and we’ll post the hike AAR next week. Enjoy the episode, de…

It’s Trail Talk day with Cranky and Tumbles! We catch you up on a couple of trail news reports as well as dive into the importance of resistance training and why we’ve been slacking. We’ll be back on Trail soon with a surprise trail coming up that we are excited to start. Stay tuned!By Team Tumbles

We have a very special guest who combines several of our passions,running, hiking, and books. Ken Posner is an ultra marathoner, hiker, and author. He has completed 100 marathons/ultras, the ADK 46, the Catskills Grid (35 peaks each month for 12 months for a total of 420 summits), he has hiked the Long Path in NY and John Muir Trail. Ken has also c…

We don’t know whether to call this a proper hike or just a jaunt in the woods (a la John Muir), but the Rocks and Roots crew have filled in their 3.16 mile section to connect their miles from central Virginia to Bennington, Vermont. It was a gentle start to the AT hiking season. From there, it all went to the #glamplyfe where there were cabins and …

We welcome back Frankie Wilde to continue talking about his 2022 bike tour of Colorado! While it has been a hot minute (5 months to be precise) since we last spoke to Frank, he jumped at the chance to relive his adventure once again. We covered the rest of his trek including visiting ancient Puebloan ruins at Mesa Verde, skinny dipping in hot sprin…

Well kids, another DNF in the books and I have to say we learned a lot about our training and endurance during our 50k attempt this past weekend. We both made it to mile 21. Cranky’s ankles literally seized up at 19 and Tumbles’ time was increasingly getting longer and longer where she would have definitely be DFL (dead freaking last, by a long tim…

As the title suggests, your esteemed hosts are attempting the Rat Race 50k in south Jersey. Crazy? Yes. Especially when we’re prepared-ish-maybe-sorta? Absolutely. Weeks (yeah, not months) of training with gradually upping mileage at weekends plus injury and rest time puts some doubts in our plan, but we’re still going to give it a go. Come along f…

We were thrilled to speak with Glowstick this week about her trail adventures on the AT, Foothills Trail, and the Colorado Trail! Coming off of a back injury and surgery, Glowstick’s motivation along with a bit of encouragement from Bill Bryson had her complete the AT in 2018. From there it was love as her move to Colorado afforded her peaks and tr…

We once again welcome to the show Greg Calabrese, owner of Rip Van Winkle Adventure Guides in the Catskills! (Tumbles apologizes for not getting this episode out last month). We were intrigued about Greg’s experience hiking the Catskill 9 and how it ranks with the notorious Devil’s Path. Greg also talks about his deer and turkey hunting experiences…

Mr O’Grady is back and doing better than ever! Always a pleasure to chat with him, Kyle dives into his Pacific Crest Trail thru hike and goes over the trials and tribulations of illnesses, fires, and (just one) video malfunction as well as meeting new friends and growing the bond with old friends. We also chat about what direction Kyle is going wit…

First off, forgive the background noise; Tumbles’ neighbors house was on fire. Secondly, we had an excellent talk with IBTAT, discussing his experience on the Scottish National Trail. Going 862 km from the England/Scotland border to Cape Wrath, he took in the castles, highlands, lochs, the ocean, and a good bit of rain. We also get into his vloggin…

Hey y’all, we opted outside or at least tried to this mild Black Friday. Alas it ended in a comedy of errors and a good meal in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Along with this, however, we are responding to a message we received from one of our listeners concerning our pandemic amnesty episode. We will return to our regularly scheduled outdoors episodes, …

You get a twofer from us this go around! We’re back with some Trail Talk in the Adirondacks! Cranky and Tumbles wanted to get in one last nice warm temp hike before the big freeze of winter set in and we were (mostly) successful! Tropical Storm Nicole was due to land in Northern New York State around 3pm that day so we were out at 4am to bag Algonq…

Cranky and Tumbles get a bit political in this episode as they are not talking trail per se but discussing an Atlantic article written by a Brown University professor. Do you remember when we were told by the ATC, the AMC, our governments not to go outside or hike? That we needed to stop our thru hikes because we would endanger the trail towns with…

We had the pleasure of speaking with Bionic Man Tony Montana! Tony, or Tex, has been hiking the High Peaks, Low Peaks and all peaks in between for over 10 years and has no plans of stopping. We talk about his Summer and Winter ADK 46s, the North East Ultra 8 and how an accident in between Marcy and Haystack resulted in an amazing helicopter tour of…

If you can imagine the sun hitting the vibrant foliage of the trees at dawn while you are standing encapsulated in snow and ice covered trees at elevation, that’s what we experienced in the Adirondacks. It was pure magic as we climbed Giant (of the Valley) Mountain and it topped the best hikes we’ve done. Full after action report of Giant mountain …

Mr. Frankie Wilde of Wilde Across America joins us once again to talk about his epic 1100 mile bike trip exploring Colorado! While a shorter trip compared to his 3 prior cross country jaunts, Frankie and his friend Mike were able to explore the Centennial State more off bike and get a few National park stamps as well. We talk about altitude woes an…

We welcome back the fall season with our first guest after a busy summer! Sean O’Dwyer is the boss man of Total Catskills, a fantastic Instagram page where you can find all the tips, tricks, and lovely photos of the Catskills as well as mountain-hiking.com where you can find more in-depth coverage of the park! Sean’s hiking journey has taken off in…

Hey y’all, we’re back at ya with the first episode since our epic western trip. Only two and a half weeks after we came back and we’re feeling it! Despite that, we had an absolutely EPIC morning exploring the crags and squeezes at Mohonk Mountain Preserve near New Paltz, NY. You’ll hear about the fortuitous empty trail, fire tower, and delicious br…

Cranky and a tired Tumbles do a redo of their play-by-play Half Dome hike in Yosemite and add their displeasure about Las Vegas. Culture shock from woods to urban sprawl is very real! The duo did manage to find an oasis in Spring Mountain Park, woods about an hour from Vegas and the Mojave heat! Check out the episode to find out about this little g…

We are so sorry that the Half Dome episode didn’t yield any audio! We will be re-recording this tomorrow, but for this episode we are bringing you highlights from our Wheeler Peak 13,000 ft climb and our experience at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! Tumbles and Cranky go over all the specs of these two amazing hikes and hope you will visit and e…

Team Tumbles including the lovely Mrs. Cranky talk about their final leg of their west trip, the Grand Canyon! We talk trails, temps, and gear and needless to say the excitement is building! The next time you’ll hear from us will be on trail in California! Enjoy!By Team Tumbles

Join the duo for 16 minutes of walking and talking about Great Basin National Park and Philadelphia and Wheeler Peak and carnivals. We’re giving you the skinny of the second leg of our western trip visiting eastern Nevada. Nothing more to say really. Enjoy the shit show and follow us on all the socials! ❤️❤️❤️…

Alright y’all, we’re mentally and physically prepping for perhaps one of the more epic hikes we’ve done in our tenure as Team Tumbles, HALF DOME. That’s right friends, in just 3 weeks time we will be out West and soaking in that dry heat all while conquering feats that no native east coaster has dreamt of conquering…the drama.. We talk stats and ge…

It is a momentous milestone for Team Tumbles as Tumbles and the Crank complete the AT section of Shenandoah National Park. It was a pretty anticlimactic ending view-wise as they finished in the middle of the park but 2+ years later, it was pretty exciting. A well deserved blackberry milkshake at Big Meadows Wayside and a trip to Luray Caverns round…

We welcome back IBTAT to the podcast for a life update; what and where is he hiking? After a fun weekend at AT Trail Days, he decided to continue hiking with Feathers, Roscoe, and Little Leaf Goat through the Shenandoah, the C&O Canal and beyond. We talk about how full time hiking is going for him and what the next great trip awaits. We hope that L…

Another Cranky solo episode. This week covering the Austin Mountain and Furnace Mountain Loop in the Shenandoah. Learn how to sneak into the park, step by step directions for this loop, and about two cool plants. Leash your damn dogs!By Team Tumbles

(“69, dudes!”) kidding kidding. We were joined by Tennessee’s Jess Lancaster for todays episode and we really want to explore that part of the US now! Jess goes into her love of the Cumberland Plateau and talks about some great sounding trails in Eastern TN! We also learn more about the Art Loeb Trail and hiking in Georgia in December. We finish of…

Another bonus episode! Cranky explored the Ice Caves and Verkeerder Kills Falls of Sam’s Point Preserve in the Shawangunk region of New York. Learn about these great sites and hear me bitch about the reservation system!By Team Tumbles

We are so pleased to have had author Brian Livingston (Mr. Frodo) on the show! Cranky, flying solo, talks to Brian about his 2013 Appalachian Trail thru-hike, goes into characters and character arches in the book, and the process of writing and self-publishing a book. Readers, and especially hikers, of ‘The Habits..’ will be able to identify with t…

Cranky and Tumbles are BACK! The duo finally started the Vermont section of the AT at the southern end. Covid, 95 degrees, ridge lines, and Bennington history phalluses await you this exciting episode. Enjoy, friends!By Team Tumbles

A bonus episode! Cranky argues with a parkie. He then hikes Gertrude’s Nose and Millbrook Mountain, in the Gunks, in New York. Learn all about this popular trail in Minnewaska State Park.By Team Tumbles

We’re back, friends! So sorry about the wee hiatus. Real work has heavily gotten in the way but have no fear! We won’t abandon you like that again… ANYWAY! We have the loveliest guest on this evening, none other than Cranky’s wife, Mrs. Cranky! Mrs. Crank is not a hiker, nor does she like hiking very much, however she tolerates it for her husband a…

We interview the hiking partner in crime and dear friend of Kyle’s, Flossy! Flossy has quite a couple of thrus and an ultra under his belt as he gets ready for his second long trail out west. He brings some perspective to our episode and reminds us not to take things for granted and someone always has it worse. We appreciate you, Flossy, and wish y…

We’re back with another episode with thru hiker, YouTuber, Podcast host, and all around good guy Kyle O’Grady! If you recall, our last episode was chatting about Kyle’s hiking history, starting Trail Tales, transitioning to YouTube and hints about an upcoming thru hike. Well friends, this episode is all about the countdown to the Pacific Crest Trai…

Cranky and Tumbles we’re all excited to finish the Shenandoah National Park section of the AT. Things were going according to plan, gear and food was dialed in, we only had 24 miles to go. Best laid plans….long story short, things didn’t go to plan at all but what we always learn is that once on trail, the frustration melts away. Despite it all, th…