Most people who hike the Pacific Crest Trail ditch the heavy stuff after the first week. Eddie "Bard" Janicki ditched the harmonica and the neck stand and most of his 40-pound starting load — but the guitar stayed. It stayed for four months, through every pass and desert section and Sierra snow year, because some things earn their weight differently. He got his trail name two days in from a fellow hiker who first tried One Man Band (too long), then landed on Bard (good enough to stick). What followed was a Triple Crown nobody planned: PCT with his best friend in 2018, CDT solo in 2020 during the height of the pandemic when he counted maybe twelve other northbounders the entire time, and then the AT in 2022 — done out of obligation more than love, confirmed in every way to be the least wild of the three. In this Full Traverse episode, Doc draws from two conversations — one fresh off Katahdin in 2022, one three years later — to trace the arc of a civil engineer from Seattle who goes slow on purpose, swam across a Colorado river alone after the bridge washed out, spider-crawled a snow traverse on all fours in the San Juans because that's the only way to stay alive when you've punched through to your waist, proposed to his girlfriend on Cadillac Mountain, made an album, and then got on with the rest of his life. The album is called Thoughts on a Zero Day. It's on Spotify. This episode is the long version.

Show Notes

The Full Traverse is HTR's long-form narrative format, drawing from multiple years of conversations with a single guest to tell the complete story. This is Episode 4.


Guest: Eddie Janicki, trail name Bard — Triple Crowner, civil engineer, amateur musician, and the only known person to hike the full PCT with a guitar.


Trail name origin: Given two days into the PCT in 2018 by a fellow hiker after Eddie arrived on trail carrying a guitar, a harmonica on a neck stand, and various other items that did not survive the first week. The trail name One Man Band was floated and rejected (too long). Bard was accepted. He has since encountered other Bards on trail, which he says makes him like the name less — but he kept it.


The album: Thoughts on a Zero Day by Eddie Janicki. Available on Spotify. Twelve tracks recorded over approximately two months in the fall/winter of 2022, between finishing the AT and returning to work. Songs include "Deli Deli" (positive AT experience), "Rain Dodging" (negative AT experience), and older material dating to 2014–2015. Lo-fi home recording. Trail-related throughout.


Trails completed:



  • Pacific Crest Trail (northbound, 2018) — with best friend Eric and Eric's brother Marshall. 40-pound starting pack including a guitar and a hatchet that did not survive the first week.

  • Continental Divide Trail (northbound, 2020) — during the pandemic; approximately 10–12 other northbounders encountered the entire trip. Met Ginger Ballz at Toaster House in Pie Town, New Mexico. Considered his best trail; the one he looks back on with the most pride.

  • Appalachian Trail (northbound, 2022) — completed in fall 2022. Described as the least wild of the three; never felt the "I'm really out here doing it" feeling that the CDT provided consistently. Confirmed personal suspicions that the AT would be his least favorite going in.


Notable CDT moments referenced in this episode:



  • San Juan Mountains snow traverse, Colorado — post-holed to the waist, pack caught on the hole, sheer drop below; crawled the rest on all fours

  • Colorado river crossing — washed-out bridge; threw pack and phone across, swam approximately 15–20 feet through cold snowmelt


Personal context (2025):



  • Married; wife is Mrs. Janicki (formerly his girlfriend who visited him in the CDT at Yellowstone and experienced an August snowstorm)

  • Purchased house in Seattle

  • Dog: Berkeley, Australian Shepherd mix

  • Baby expected


The Enchantments: A wilderness area near Leavenworth, Washington, in the North Cascades. Highly permit-controlled due to demand. Features numerous alpine lakes at elevation. Eddie completed a 19-mile traverse in a single day in 2025 with his twin brother Luke and his cousin Joe.


Peru trip (2025): Eddie and his wife visited Cusco and hiked to Machu Picchu via the Inca Trail route. Acclimatized at 11,500 feet in Cusco before beginning the hike. Reached the first ruin site Wiñay Wayna approximately four miles in; crested the Sun Gate for the first view of Machu Picchu. Described as the most historically immersive hiking experience of his life.


Twin brother: Luke Janicki — identical twin, highly athletic, has hiked short sections of all three long trails with Eddie. Ran marathons. Not a thru-hike aspirant as of this recording.


Friends referenced:



  • Eric — college best friend who got Eddie into thru-hiking; brother Marshall is also a Triple Crowner

  • Ginger Ballz (Ben Vaughan) — CDT trail companion, shared multiple Full Traverse episode; now working for Dallas Seavey's Iditarod operation. Eddie describes him as "one of the best guys I've ever met."


Follow Eddie: Instagram: @EddieJanicky Music: Search Thoughts on a Zero Day by Eddie Janicki on Spotify



The Full Traverse is produced by Hiker Trash Radio, a member of the BLEAV Podcast Network.


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