Mountains of Learning: Interview with Stephanie Langner on Long-Distance Backpacking, Mindset Shifts, and Spirituality
On Episode 35 of the Get the F*ck Off Podcast, I am so excited to bring on a friend of mine, Stephanie Langner, who sold her house, left her job of 11 years as a Middle School teacher, and is one month away from flying west to begin her trek from Canada to Mexico on the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail.
This is not her first long-distance backpacking adventure, having hiked the Appalachian Trail back in 2016.
Much of this episode focuses on the powerful mindset shifts that had to take place for Stephanie to complete such an incredible feat.
Episode Notes:
We begin the episode with the origins of how Stephanie got into long-distance backpacking, and the way the universe greeted her during her first moments on trail. She chose to hike southbound (not the traditional way many hikers choose to go because of the difficulty of the terrain) and spent her first day hiking to summit Maine’s Mount Katahdin in a severe thunderstorm, where she ended up climbing up rocks as water torrented down upon her and aiding an injured vcamp counselor.
She didn’t reach the summit the first day, and on day two, headed back again, 210 lbs, in the worst physical shape she’d be over the entire five months, attacking the most difficult of terrain. She reached the summit, and ended up getting lost on her way down, and rolling her ankle. Many people would just give up, but Stephanie and her friend “True Friend” instead began a practice called “the River of Gratitude” to reframe all of her negative thoughts. She also insisted to practice gratitude when she was “at her most crankiest.”
23:20
Stephanie talks about “learning to love an uphill climb,” as she says it lets her know exactly where she is with her mindset.
“If there’s any place my inner critic is going to come out, it’s on an uphill climb.”
24:30
We talked about Stephanie’s long-time searching for some semblance of spirituality. At 25, she went to a 200-hour Yoga training in Costa Rica, and she says that while she is still in the process of defining spirituality, there are two places she feels it the most: on her Yoga mat and out in nature.
26:25
There’s a beautiful culture that exists on the AT. She talks about the kindness and propensity for helping one another.
We talk about “trail angels” which are townspeople who “pop up exactly when you need them and offer exactly what you need that you didn’t know you needed.”
When burning thousands of calories a day and living out of a backpack, they’re true angels indeed.
31:00
If anyone is seeking less in their lives and looking to move into a more minimalistic way of life, at this part of the episode Stephanie talks about letting go of a lifetime of learning to hoard, as she finds she is the happiest when out in nature living out of a backpack.
34:39
Upon completing the AT, Stephanie knew immediately she wanted to hike the PCT, and 2020 was the year she decided. When the COVID-19 pandemic started, the PCT Association asked permit holders to consider staying home.
Having neglected her hip injury for many years (she even ran the brutal 2019 Marine Corps Marathon with the hip injury in some of the most adverse conditions one can experience,) she decided to go to the doctor and let what she found out make her decision.
…she needed hip surgery.
She had to make many difficult decisions, also, in addition to putting off her hike. She had the option to stay with family, but she knew that environment would not be the most conducive to her full recovery. After all, as she mentions, she didn’t even acknowledge how seriously hurt she was due to having her pain minimized throughout her life by loved ones.
As she says at 36:42, “how fucked up in the head am I if I can tear things off the bone and tell myself it’s OK.”
Having already sold her house, she moved into a small apartment and made recovery her full-time job.
41:00
Stephanie talks about how part of her first hike on the AT was learning how to get unstuck, because she was stuck in a lot of heavy emotions. She also gives listeners of the Get the F*ck Off Podcast suggestions for getting unstuck.
45:00
If you want to know about peeing, pooping, or getting your period while hiking for months on end, we get into it at this point of the podcast.
1:00
We end the podcast on a note about spirituality and long-distance backpacking. In her beautiful words, “I feel insignificant, but in a really reassuring way.”
I loved this entire conversation and I hope you all will leave it feeling as inspired and awake as I did.
If you’re looking to follow Stephanie’s adventure on the PCT over the next few months, she can be found on Instagram @mountainsoflearning, and at http://www.mountainsoflearning.com/
