A man walks away from 16 years of nonprofit leadership because he saw his future self check into a conference in Orlando and decided he'd rather smell like a swamp. Jeff "Bluey" Lewis lost a rock-paper-scissors tournament to an eight-year-old and has worn the consequences (a trail name he originally hated) with more grace than most people show their actual achievements. He hiked 340 miles before admitting trekking poles might be useful, leaked two separate types of bladders in the first fifteen minutes of the interview, and discovered that the only thing worse than post-trail depression is a Yelp review of modern society that he'd rate one star. Also: frog water. Don't ask. Actually, do ask — it's a whole thing. (This is Part I. Be sure to listen to Part II.)

Show Notes

Jeff "Bluey" Lewis joins Hiker Trash Radio to talk about walking away from over 16 years in nonprofit leadership and business strategy at age 40 to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 2025 — all 2,198 miles of it, Georgia to Maine, in five months. The experience became the basis for his upcoming memoir, Midlife Hike This: Walking Away from a Life That Worked to Find What Really Mattered.


Bluey explains the origin of his trail name — a rock-paper-scissors bet gone wrong with an eight-year-old at an outfitter in Franklin, North Carolina — and why he's stuck with it for life, win or lose. He talks gear: the trekking poles he refused to use for the first 340-plus miles of the trail until his knees gave him no choice, and the leaky water bladder that quietly ruined everything in his pack before he figured out the problem.


The conversation moves into the heart of his story — the moment in Orlando, watching colleagues file into a conference, when he saw a version of his own future he didn't want and decided to change course. He talks at length about his best friend Eric, whose sudden death from cancer at 43 became the foundation for the book's central idea: consulting your "Dead Self" before making big decisions. Bluey also opens up about his biggest on-trail mistake (not training before a 2,200-mile hike), the hiking partner whose knee injury ended his hike entirely, the philosophy of "packing your fears," and the brutal reality of post-trail depression and reintegration after the hike ended.


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