I followed Appalachian Adventurista her whole hike. One of my favorite. It was organized and well done. She’s very interesting and shared great content. I still look forward to her posts.
I respect how careful you are about talking about depression. I wasnt always depressed, its from my life experience. I suffer and my husband does not. It's hard for him to help me and I can tell he struggles to understand completely. It's the one thing that scares me about going on trail. It will be a battle, one day I hope I'm ready for it.
45:21 I SO appreciate that you didn't totally edit this section! I think it's incredible and exactly what the people need to see.. Someone modeling working through difficult subjects and changing opinions. I'm sure it can't be easy to be so vulnerable, but thank you Kyle for doing some good where you can with your platform ♡
As a silver-haired hopeful AT hiker I want to thank you both for your stories which I find encouraging re my own goals. Deep hearted gratitude to you both for the honest discussion regarding depression and how it affected you leaving the trail. Thank you 🙏🏻 I am grateful
I ran into Ali in NJ when we both picked the same stealth camp site last June. She and her friends we all super friendly. Love her videos! Great guest Kyle!
GREAT interview. There are so many good discussions here. I did not follow you, Appalachian Adventurista....wish I had! I'm getting ready for my 3rd attempt to actually finish hiking the AT from the beginning to the end. I've hiked about 3500 AT miles. I have faced, dealt with and pondered so many of these things you've talked about. About Post Trail Depression...(I was hospitalized for major depression in the 90's) and it was an issue for me for a good chunk of my life...and I never started to win the battle with depression until I started supplementing with Vitamin D3 (WE GET IT NATURALLY FROM THE SUN!) Many thru hikers go from hiking 8 hours a day soaking up Vitamin D3 on their thru hike, to being inside all day and going off D3 'cold turkey' when they come home. I know...the green tunnel...but you are still getting some D3 through the trees, and you are not in the trees all day on the trail. . Most American's are already D3 deficient. When a thru hiker comes home, they're also not getting the endorphins they were getting from all that exercise in green spaces...which has been proven to help depression, also. I just wish more people would consider this aspect of 'Post Trail Depression'. I think people also need to consider that it's difficult to get the proper nutrition on trail. After 6 months of abusing the body nutrtionally, it can't help but start breaking down. There really is something to the 'gut-brain' connection. Anyway..just my 'old fart' two cents on that subject. If anyone stumbles upon this comment, and you are suffering depression, please consider getting your Vitamin D3 levels checked. I appreciated the discussion on hiking partners. I hiked alone on attempt 1 and 2 by choice, but am considering hiking with a partner this time if the right one comes along. You brought up a lot of great points and things to think about as far as how the social aspect of the trail affects you mentally. Also appreciated the discussion on filming the hike. This will be my first time to film a hike, and I'm nervous about it and worried about the time it will take, and how much it might possibly take away from the hiking experience. Thanks for a great interview.
I could really relate saying goodbye to your loved one a second time after being gone. My first experience was attending Army basic training and my wife came out to my graduation and then having to say goodbye for the second time and still having to finish another six months of training. That second goodbye was super tough. Since then I’ve been deployed overseas multiple times and it’s still never easy saying goodbyes to family and friends . Kudos to you for staying strong and finishing your hike.
I'm turning 44 next week and I have been obsessed with thru hiking the AT for years now. I have a career. I have a family. 1 kid still at home and very involved in sports. I keep telling myself to stop obsessing because it's never gonna happen. Obviously can't take 5 months off work. I so admire these younger people that accomplish this dream that seems so inaccessible for me. Keep hiking!
Same here. I took 3 weeks off a couple times. It gave me a taste of through hiking. Just long enough to get trail legs. It was a bit tough re adjusting when I got back.
Thank you, both of you. I am feeling a little down after a whole 9 months of hiking every weekend in preparation for the AT in 2025 and now, waiting for the winter weather to dissipate, I can’t help but think there is a physical withdrawal that happens from the physical aspects of the trail. Even if not, it the depression is real. Feel better and thanks for the great content. You are amazing!
You probably are having seasonal affective disorder induced by the huge shift in exercise and light. Get some cross country skis, snowshoes, or microspikes / shoe grippy things like yaktrax but not the springs kind because those suck, so you can safely do outdoors stuff in winter. You probably already have trekking poles and with a few bucks, or a couple of nutella lids and a drill, you can put snowbaskets on them and use them for winter activities. (I'm only half kidding about the nutella lids...they do work, but they crack in the drill hole easily, but you could duct tape them and they would seriously actually do the trick in a pinch.) You could try renting gear from any number of places to hopefully get an idea of what kind of features work for you or not in snowshoes or skis before you invest in some, or you could just start out with cheapies. If you hate falling, then maybe go for snowshoes, but if gliding along sounds fun and you don't mind falling, then you might like skis instead. It just depends on where you want to go and what you want to do. If you want to be able to go up hill in skis, you can do that with skins. They give you traction uphill but let you slide downhill. Or you could just drop 500 on fatty backcountry skis that have traction built-in. I think skins would even make it easier on the flat, and I wish I knew about such things years ago. I might have actually liked cross country skiing. If you want to just walk- As far as traction for shoes- just avoid the kind with springs wrapped around the rubber. Those suck, but the kind with little cleats are good. I walked about a half mile on an entirely iced sidewalk in alaska last spring with the kind with little spikes, and they worked BEAUTIFULLY. I always use them around town in winter anyway, but that iced sidewalk along a highway on the way to a frozen lake was a good test, and they were awesome. For iced up trails, you'll need something more aggressive, like borderline crampons, but with not much money, except the skis, you could be out doing stuff in the winter. Just don't try to wear them into stores because you'll be in danger of slipping on the hard floors, and stay off linoleum or softwood floors...best to just stay off wood floors entirely. I get away with walking on our wood floors carefully without damaging them, but softwood can be damaged, and probably some laminates.
I found (Aly's) Appalachian Adventurista's vlog on YT around the time she made her announcement that she was going to thru hike the AT. She seems very authentic/real and It was such a joy to follow her journey. Watching her vlog became the thing that I looked forward to on Saturday mornings. She really has inspired me to try longer hikes myself. I am looking forward to seeing what adventures she will get into in the future.
Love this episode. Two REAL people having a great conversation. Thank you both for your openness and honesty. Also, north easterner here so I grew up saying appa-lay-shun.
I really don't care how the AT is pronounced correctly. I'm from germany, listening and enjoying this podcast when commuting to my office by bike. So just wanted to say thx for the entertainment and information i get from this great podcast. Do have some german trails in the planning, but the big ones in the US seem to be what i am looking for on long perspective. Ok, the french Hexatrek also seems promising - maybe you'll find someone who did it to interview in your podcast :).
If you're from Appalachian North where linguistically we use the long A in speech, it's Apple aye chan. If you're from Appalachian South it's ah pull ah shun. The mountains go through multiple regions with multiple speech quarks. North Appalachian is old England and old France. Speech pronunciations stem mostly from those two demographics. Southern Appalachia stems from Scots and Scots Irish. Just call it the Central Pangean Highlands, that will throw them off.
@@findingmyway2788 ok..... Not sure what that was all about. I'm mostly talking about groups of European occupying certain regions and pronunciation stemming from it. Thing with a lot of native language and history and those languages being extinct, no one knows. Here's a good example as to why different areas bordering different tribes who have their own name for said group can be different. Ethnographer John Reed Swanton wrote that Apalachee may have come from the Hitchiti language term for "people on the other side" or the Choctaw language word apelachi meaning "a helper."[4] It has sometimes been spelled Abalache, Abalachi, or Abolachi.[5] Who's to say when some French or Spanish explorer asked for a name and the language given was E'kptlakquiea and that explorer said "We don't put those sounds together in my language. Appalacee is the closest I can come up with, so that's who you are now. There's hundreds of examples of that in historical North America and thousands around the world. Like how we'd say "German" when they'd say "Deutsch" or we say Japan when they say Nippon. So you're 100% correct, it isn't an English word. It's a word that could be from the tribe, it could be from their neighbors and translated badly to French or Spanish.
Thank you both, especially Appalachian Adventurista, for talking about depression, but also about the social aspects of the AT. I wonder if I could lobby for a bubble start date just for introverts….
I am from north Georgia but I pronounce it like the northerners . I got the pronunciation from my mom who is from Pittsburg PA . They also pronounce it that way on National Geographic so that is good enough for me !
Appalachian State University is pronounced apple latch un. But, those mountains run up north, too, so pronounce it however you want. Loo a vul, pee can; keep all the fun varieties of language! Great video. Thanks!
12:45 "..the biggest thing I was afraid of was that I wasn't gonna like it.." That's real talk right there. I had a bit an "edge" you could say over the first time AT hikers, and hikers taking on long trails like the AT. Really, I had an edge over most very experienced. I began my AT thru-hike in March 2012, and had just gotten out of the Army in November 2011, where I had spent 12 in the infantry. Rucking long distances with a heavy load on my back was nothing to me. Walking for 12 or 13, or even 14 or 15 hours, carrying usually around 100 pounds of kit, was like just another casual Tuesday for me. After 12 years of it, I came to enjoy it quite a bit. People would tell that my pack was way too heavy, and I couldn't help but to hold back laughter and feel like they were joking. To be fair..most of the weight was food. Simply because if I'm going on a long thru-hike like the AT, I WILL be seeing to it that i eat good. I absolutely WILL be enjoying a hot and satisfying breakfast with hot coffee every morning before breaking down camp and heading out on the trail. And likewise, at the end of the day, i absolutely WILL also be enjoying a hot and full filling meal in the evening time, where ever i decide to set my camp up at for the evening. There are some things that are non negotiable for me, and that i will outright refuse to compromise on. And those things are two of them (anongst others). And if that means that my ruck is going to be heavier than it could be, or heavier than recommended..then so be it. You don't have to carry it, so its not your problem. That's a burden I am more than willing to endure so that I may enjoy my few comforts on the trail. Not to mention that when it comes to food, your rucksack naturally gets lighter and lighter every day as you eat. But not knowing whether or not you will like thru-hiking a long trail like the AT, PCT, CDT, etc, id a very understandable thing to be nervous and concerned about. You may really enjoy overnight hikes, and weekend hikes. But spending months and months at a time on a trail that's over 2000 miles long is whole different thing entirely. It really wears on you pretty badly. And not just physically either. It will break you down physically, and leave you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained amd exhausted. And that part is not talked about nearly enough. It will take you to your breaking point and back several times, and then past your breaking point to a point you didn't even know you had. It doesn't matter how much you love it. It doesn't matter how long you been doing it. Or how much you love being out in the wilderness. It will wear on you, just like everyone else. Everyone has their limit, and it will find that limit, and start to wear you down little by little at first. And then an little more. And then a little more still. Then before you know it, you will be burdened with that tiny little straw that will "break the camel"s back" as they like to say. And it happens ro everyone sooner or later. The truth is that giving the AT from on end to the other, all in one go, is not easy. And it's not for everyone. And many people find that out during their time on that trail. It's a whole different level of hiking that is nothing like the overnighter loop trails, weekend trips you may be used to. One of the first things that you will learn, and have to get used to, is that it's rains....ALOT. Usually a minimum of 3 days a week. Minimum. Meaning, sometimes, many times, more than that. Sometimes it's steady drizzle that's over in an hour or two. Other times it's a downpour that lasts all goddamn day. And sometimes that downpour may last all day, and all night too. Hell, it may last into the next day even. Amd the next night. You spend 3 or 4 days and nights in a row getting rained on like that. You might be enjoying an easy hiking day, ,with beautiful weather@ and a beautiful clear blue sky on minute, and the next you are diggingbthru you rucksack and scrambling to get your rain gear on as the thunder clouds and rain starts rolling in. One of the first things you get used to is being wet miserable, because that's how you are going to spend at least a good 45-50% of your hike if you stick the whole thing out and hike the whole 2000+ mile trail. And it's going to suck, any you are just going to have to learn how to accept it, live with it, and make the most of it. Don't get me wrong. Hiking the AT is an amazing experience, and you will experience plenty of amazing things, and get to share them with some awesome and amazing people. But there's definitely going to be just as many shit sandwiches to eat as there are amazing experiences with amazing people. And you either learn to take the bad with the good, or you end up quitting early like a people do. Believe me, there will be plenty of time when you are cold, wet, miserable, tired, exhausted both mentally and emotionally, and wishing you were any place other than that goddamn trail, and you will kick yourself for even thinking that taking on such an endeavor was somehow a good idea. But the good news is that it passes. It all passes. The good times pass and give way to the bad times. And the bad times pass and give way to the good times. And life goes on, and begin cherish every moment you have on that trail, and you end up wishing that you would have figured it out sooner. If there's one piece of advice I can give..that a hike I met on the trail gave me (he had hiked the AT twice, the CDT, and the PCT twice, along with about a half dozen other fairly long trails) HE said, "If you are going to quit, ALWAYS eat something and then sleep on it. And if you still want to quit, then quit on a good day. Never quit on a bad day. Always quit on a good day." I wish there were more videos out there that discussed these kinds of things about thru-hiking. Instead of making it seem like it's all sunshine rainbows good times and good friends. Because it's not. Can be just as much of a nightmare as a dream trip of a lifetime. And that's a reality that needs to be understood if you plan on spending months at a time living in the wilderness out of a backpack.
This was a great interview! You guys are great!! Just wondering if anybody has heard from badbat hikes? I'm binge watching her journey now, a year later. Such a bright spirit. Yea.. I'm just hoping she's ok.
21:35 here in NC we say Appalachian, with the "l-a" being pronounced like the "l-a" in "laugh" or "lacquer", but there's a town in NY spelled Appalachin and for some reason they pronounce it "Appalakin", which makes absolutely no sense to me lol
Followed Ali the whole trail. I was so happy she discussed several different things throughout her blog that I had not watched on any other hiking channel. I will say that Summit Sam also fit into that category.
Great topics! Allie is so open ❤ take care hun! Kyle, heavens you rambled! Pause, formulate the question or sentence in your mind and then say it. We all know she is a very pretty girl… 💕😄
I grew up in Maryland and it was App uh lay shun. I moved away and after 25 years moved to North East West Virginia and found out it’s App uh latchun. It was almost easier to learn to pronounce new words in Hawaii.
When I moved to Maryland, I became friends with West Virginia folks, so I picked up the West Virginia pronunciation. I still have no idea what the "right" way to say it is
Reading her perspectives was definitely a treat!!! Not sure I should tag her site here, but if you’re lucky enough to find them… 💗💗💗 She’s a pretty rad human.
I’m from TN 24:57 and I say it with the ch like chuck, either way it is said, as long as we know what your saying, how it is said isn’t important. IMHO
I’m a Vermonter too. I also say it like Kyle. It’s definitely regional. And you explained it well because Appalachia is a region of the country with a strong cultural identity and for those of us in Vermont it’s a mountain range/orogeny that extends into our neck of the woods and a trail that goes through our small state. Aly didn’t mention if she had gone to a counselor or sought professional help for her depression. I’m sure it’s something others have dealt with.
I hiked 1,000 miles of the AT in 2003. I was so thrilled to stumble upon your channel today. It was the hardest, and coolest thing I've ever done. I did GA-Harpers Ferry. I was done at that point. 😂 I flew home back to Orlando, then drove up to NH a month later to meet my guy who kept hiking from HF. I will say hiking the Presidential Range and Mr. Washington was very hard, and humbling.
I’m From CA., near Yosemite and went to AT trail days in 2023 and backpacked a teeny part of the trail., etc., for 1st time and learned about the IMPORTANCE of saying Appalachia correctly…depending. I understand a bit about this: San Francisco for instance if coming from Southern CA., you say, frisco or San Fran. In Northern CA., they’d tease you and say Bay Area and closer in you’d just say the city. I live in Tuolumne County. Pronounce that? 😊 I won’t judge.
I’ve definitely heard the word adventurista before. Not sure where I first heard it but surely somewhere on social media. There are a bunch of Instagram handles with that word in it. One is from 2013. Not sure if that one was the first though. It’s so funny how mad people can get about the pronunciation of Appalachian. It’s totally a regional thing. I used to use the long A before I researched the origin of the name, and now I use the short A.
I see the word "turista" in there which is Spanish for tourist (sort of) so a little word play to be sure but it makes sense, a person who engages in adventure touring.
I grew up calling it Appalachia (big "A" sound)... then I found an area in Florida called Apalachicola (Little "a/e" sound)... now, I go back and forth depending on who I'm talking to.. but I secretly know that it is the latter that is correct.
That latter is correct because that word is an AmerIndian Muskogean dialect and as far as I can tell they did not use long "A"s. It's an agglutinative language so all those morphenes have individual meanings Apalachicola means something like "people on the other side" and you could correlate each one of those sounds ie A pa la cha to the meaning of those English words.. I suspect some academic gave Appalachian a Latinized pronunciation to fit in with other scientific naming of things. He who writes the books can choose the names.
I do think it is interesting that the pronunciation is so different from region to region, here in southern Ohio I find most people are with Kyle, but as soon as I cross into Kentucky with some of my “southern” friends, they look at you like you’re crazy. Especially because I technically live in the Appalachia
What helped significantly reduce my depression was eating keto and then carnivore. High saturated fat in a diet actually isn't bad for you (as opposed to popular belief) and better regulates a person's hormones.
The pronunciation really is regional and neither is wrong. In the southern Appalachians there is a culture that doesn’t exist in the North. Sadly, many people who embrace it as a culture think that saying it App-a-lay-shun is a slight on them and some get very angry about it. I grew up in the Appalachian range, above the Mason/Dixon, so it is my home too and I say it App-a-lay-shun. I won’t correct others about how they pronounce the name of their home and I’ll thank others to not correct me on how I pronounce mine.
For myself, as I aged I learned to handle depression. Old people always say "I wish I was young again", but you will never hear me say that! Once I went through a couple real traumas I got way better at handling my depression. To be honest , what helped me was to realize my whole world revolved around how I felt. When all that really mattered ( to me) was how others felt, and how my depression effected them. I play the "what am I thankful for game" this truly helped me, I may feel a bit low, but I have not suffered clinical, I want to kill myself, depression in almost 20 years. I live one day at a time. I swear by my little game. I eat healthy and get help for my insomnia. All of that really helps.
To be fair, Ive heard it discussed that the Apalachee people for whom the mountains are named, don't have a hard "a" sound in their language. Therefore, the correct pronunciation would be a soft "a" Also, its a ''ch'', not a ''sh"' like some folks use.
Thinking abt the pronunciation it's weird i pronounce it the northern way as it applies to the trail but the southern way when describing yhe people who live there...
Hahaha, AppaLATCHian vs AppalaCHIAN. Our channel is still new, but I’ve gotten a number of comments on the way I’ve always said it. I’ve tried to correct it so it’s said “right,” 😂 I don’t know what to do. I’m realizing I can’t please everyone. 🤪
Appalayshin north of the Mason/Dixon. Appalahchin south of the Mason/Dixon. General speaking. Mostly everyone in the world says Appalayshin except the few southern states that were of the original 13 😉 I'm Canadian, from Ontario. I knew of the Appalchian mountain range pretty much my whole life, and always pronounced it Appalayshin. Then I moved to the foothills of North Carolina in 2003, where they say Appalahchin, and I think my head just about spun off my shoulders like Linda Blair in the Exorcist 😂 They sure pronounce A LOT of things differently than folks do everywhere else! It's like a whole different language. I lived there 7 years and became quite fluent and had to re-learn my native Canadian when I moved back home 😂 Pronounce it however you want. We all know what you're talking about. 😁
As a kid I an Appalachian story teller came to my school. Once I grew up and had kids of my own they also heard the same story teller perform. She always started every performance telling the audience that Appalachia is pronounced like "throw an 'apple at-cha'". I feel like I'd be letting Kathy Coleman down if I pronounced it any other way.
Growing up in Tennessee, near the Smokies, only northern transplants pronounced it App- A-Lay-chan. My best friend, a transplant from Long Island, New York, insisted it was pronounced that way. I always replyed "Not by East Tennesseeans. Sorry. You can pronounce anyway you want but don't be surprised when locals respond...Where are you from? Your were obviously not born here." Haha We are in our 50's now and he still tells people that he is from New York and never mentions that he's lived the majority of his life in Tennessee. Afraid they'll think he's a hillbilly. What's wrong with being a hillbilly? 😊
I don’t know why this book didn’t gain traction like say, Wild, but though it is PCT based, the book, “the cactus eater” is an excellent read for anyone who hikes, backpacked, has thru hiked or attempted. Thru hike.
So as someone who suspects they may have the capital D Depression..i see you stumbling over, and being careful with that word. And its something ive struggled with too, but really what I believe is happening is that there are different applications for this word, when it comes to mood One is the common, short term depression. you get this when youre grieving or going through a difficult transition. This is depression. But it occurs as a matter of circumstance, and I personally would not say that its any less difficult when youre in the thick of it ...and then you have what you called 'actual' depression, also known as Clinical Depression...which, you know...is the form thats NOT temporary and not brought about only through circumstance. The kind that brough about through brain chemistry and is life long. So, similar feelings but one is a temporary state while the other is a medically chronic state. and again, i appreciate how careful youre being. I just want to affirm that both versions are 'actual' and real depression.
I live in the Appalachian Mountains in the South. Basically people that live here in the mountains pronounce it. “Appa-latchin”. I have noticed outsiders and Yankees pronounce it Appalachian. Either way is fine though. Just depends on your culture.
Kyle, newly subbed to both your channels. Thanks for all the great content. Let me just say, as a Bostonian and a Masshole, you're saying "Appalachian" correctly. Period. And everyone else is saying it WRONG. Furthermore, when people claim that a "Boston accent" exists, they're proving their own ignorance. FACT: an "accent" is a variation in how a language is pronounced. FACT: Massachusetts Bay Colony was the site of the first successful permanent English settlement in New England. (Stay with me, Kyle) Therefore, EVERY OTHER place in the U.S. and every other regional "accent" came AFTER. And so, we may conclude that Boston is the ONLY place in the United States where people DO NOT speak with an accent. (mic. drop) 😎 HA!
I think that both are fine, but when I learned that locals say it with the short A I figured they get to decide what the right way to say it. I mean, that is kinda how it goes. Say however you want, but don’t correct the folks who live there. And don’t make fun of how they say it. If they correct you, don’t argue, just smile and go on with your day.
A) Spelling is a relatively new invention. B) The two p's in Appalachain would indicate to me a deliberate attempt to break up the affect of the a's in the pronunciation. To me, the Southern pronunciation seems to be what is written. C) Language is an ever shifting construct that will always be a matter of politics, loyalties, and tribes. Which isn't to say that cultural erasure, or the passing of a language into the land of the dead, is not a tragedy. However, to imagine that language can continue without the pollution of power struggles, must be taken as a very fond, very idealized, dream, most often encouraged as a power play, or as a sweet display of loyalty to the same political ends, and not as an innocent reflection of base reality. D) Why is it important that we police the structure of words as others speak them, when the chief characteristic of note is a kind of mood evoked by the way of telling? What is it about words that has the power to feel like a spell cast upon all and sundry, when spoken? Why is the instinctive response to deviation so often some form of rule making?
It's an AmerIndian agglutinative word, that is, each syllable used to be it's own word - or still is if you speak the language - Apalachicola basically means "other side of the river" and each one of those syllables/words means something equivalent in the English.
I don’t care about the pronunciation of Appalachian but for some reason it bothers me when people pronounce cairn like Karen. Cairn is one syllable not two.
Cairn is 1 syllable and the Appalachian mountains were named after a NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE-The Appalachee. It’s incredibly disrespectful to their language and people not to pronounce it correctly.
Wow. Good point. I have never seen it with the apostrophe before the decade. Never seen anyone point this out before. And I have spent much of my life mildly annoyed by the nearly universal misuse of apostrophes with plurals.
@@thefisherking78 Correct! “The 70's are my favorite decade.” or “The '70s are my favorite decade.” If you guessed the latter, you are correct. The apostrophe in '70s is forming a contraction for the numbers you are replacing in the spelled out version “1970s.”
Pecan broke me. 😀 Kidding, not kidding. Everyone knows how to say it but everyone knows something different. And they are so passionate. So now I don't care about any of that. Mostly.
I say App-ah-LATCH-a (you’ve probably heard the “throw an ‘apple at ya’” phrase) and I’m from western NC. I do think that some people from the southern end of the mountains do have far too much experience with negative stigma based on assumptions and stereotypes of the region and so to be told that you’re pronouncing the name of the land you know and love intimately “incorrectly” is one insult too many. I love regionalisms and I have no problem with how anyone says it…assuming they are respectful in return. It’s like someone having the nerve to correct the way you say your own name. It’s that presumption, and the stink of judgement that comes with it, of someone feeling they are entitled to correct you. Btw, in all your shows I’ve seen or heard, you are respectful and I love hearing the perspective of someone who knows the other end of the mountain range. If you ever look into folk traditions in the Appalachians, it is fascinating to discover that they can vary from one side of a single mountain to the other, or from one valley to another. Many people underestimate the complexity of Appalachian history.
The girl you’re talking about on the AT (59:06) is actually a really nice person who deals with their trauma in a different way than most people. Reducing what she writes to smut is quite sad to me, honestly…
I followed Appalachian Adventurista her whole hike. One of my favorite. It was organized and well done. She’s very interesting and shared
great content. I still look forward to her posts.
I respect how careful you are about talking about depression. I wasnt always depressed, its from my life experience. I suffer and my husband does not. It's hard for him to help me and I can tell he struggles to understand completely. It's the one thing that scares me about going on trail. It will be a battle, one day I hope I'm ready for it.
Please talk to your doctor about your depression.
Depression is such a debilitating illness. Folks who don’t have it and can’t imagine it don’t relate. As much as they may try.
Professional treatment can turn things around.
I'm at 53:00 minutes so far. They are on this topic. She just described an everyday feeling. Get over it. It's not real.
45:21 I SO appreciate that you didn't totally edit this section! I think it's incredible and exactly what the people need to see.. Someone modeling working through difficult subjects and changing opinions. I'm sure it can't be easy to be so vulnerable, but thank you Kyle for doing some good where you can with your platform ♡
As a silver-haired hopeful AT hiker I want to thank you both for your stories which I find encouraging re my own goals. Deep hearted gratitude to you both for the honest discussion regarding depression and how it affected you leaving the trail. Thank you 🙏🏻 I am grateful
I ran into Ali in NJ when we both picked the same stealth camp site last June. She and her friends we all super friendly. Love her videos! Great guest Kyle!
GREAT interview. There are so many good discussions here. I did not follow you, Appalachian Adventurista....wish I had! I'm getting ready for my 3rd attempt to actually finish hiking the AT from the beginning to the end. I've hiked about 3500 AT miles. I have faced, dealt with and pondered so many of these things you've talked about. About Post Trail Depression...(I was hospitalized for major depression in the 90's) and it was an issue for me for a good chunk of my life...and I never started to win the battle with depression until I started supplementing with Vitamin D3 (WE GET IT NATURALLY FROM THE SUN!) Many thru hikers go from hiking 8 hours a day soaking up Vitamin D3 on their thru hike, to being inside all day and going off D3 'cold turkey' when they come home. I know...the green tunnel...but you are still getting some D3 through the trees, and you are not in the trees all day on the trail. . Most American's are already D3 deficient. When a thru hiker comes home, they're also not getting the endorphins they were getting from all that exercise in green spaces...which has been proven to help depression, also. I just wish more people would consider this aspect of 'Post Trail Depression'. I think people also need to consider that it's difficult to get the proper nutrition on trail. After 6 months of abusing the body nutrtionally, it can't help but start breaking down. There really is something to the 'gut-brain' connection. Anyway..just my 'old fart' two cents on that subject. If anyone stumbles upon this comment, and you are suffering depression, please consider getting your Vitamin D3 levels checked. I appreciated the discussion on hiking partners. I hiked alone on attempt 1 and 2 by choice, but am considering hiking with a partner this time if the right one comes along. You brought up a lot of great points and things to think about as far as how the social aspect of the trail affects you mentally. Also appreciated the discussion on filming the hike. This will be my first time to film a hike, and I'm nervous about it and worried about the time it will take, and how much it might possibly take away from the hiking experience. Thanks for a great interview.
I could really relate saying goodbye to your loved one a second time after being gone. My first experience was attending Army basic training and my wife came out to my graduation and then having to say goodbye for the second time and still having to finish another six months of training. That second goodbye was super tough. Since then I’ve been deployed overseas multiple times and it’s still never easy saying goodbyes to family and friends . Kudos to you for staying strong and finishing your hike.
I'm turning 44 next week and I have been obsessed with thru hiking the AT for years now. I have a career. I have a family. 1 kid still at home and very involved in sports. I keep telling myself to stop obsessing because it's never gonna happen. Obviously can't take 5 months off work. I so admire these younger people that accomplish this dream that seems so inaccessible for me. Keep hiking!
Same here. I took 3 weeks off a couple times. It gave me a taste of through hiking. Just long enough to get trail legs. It was a bit tough re adjusting when I got back.
If you really want to do it you can for sure make it happen. Shift your mindset and make it happen.
Thank you, both of you. I am feeling a little down after a whole 9 months of hiking every weekend in preparation for the AT in 2025 and now, waiting for the winter weather to dissipate, I can’t help but think there is a physical withdrawal that happens from the physical aspects of the trail. Even if not, it the depression is real. Feel better and thanks for the great content. You are amazing!
You probably are having seasonal affective disorder induced by the huge shift in exercise and light. Get some cross country skis, snowshoes, or microspikes / shoe grippy things like yaktrax but not the springs kind because those suck, so you can safely do outdoors stuff in winter. You probably already have trekking poles and with a few bucks, or a couple of nutella lids and a drill, you can put snowbaskets on them and use them for winter activities. (I'm only half kidding about the nutella lids...they do work, but they crack in the drill hole easily, but you could duct tape them and they would seriously actually do the trick in a pinch.) You could try renting gear from any number of places to hopefully get an idea of what kind of features work for you or not in snowshoes or skis before you invest in some, or you could just start out with cheapies. If you hate falling, then maybe go for snowshoes, but if gliding along sounds fun and you don't mind falling, then you might like skis instead. It just depends on where you want to go and what you want to do. If you want to be able to go up hill in skis, you can do that with skins. They give you traction uphill but let you slide downhill. Or you could just drop 500 on fatty backcountry skis that have traction built-in. I think skins would even make it easier on the flat, and I wish I knew about such things years ago. I might have actually liked cross country skiing.
If you want to just walk- As far as traction for shoes- just avoid the kind with springs wrapped around the rubber. Those suck, but the kind with little cleats are good. I walked about a half mile on an entirely iced sidewalk in alaska last spring with the kind with little spikes, and they worked BEAUTIFULLY. I always use them around town in winter anyway, but that iced sidewalk along a highway on the way to a frozen lake was a good test, and they were awesome. For iced up trails, you'll need something more aggressive, like borderline crampons, but with not much money, except the skis, you could be out doing stuff in the winter. Just don't try to wear them into stores because you'll be in danger of slipping on the hard floors, and stay off linoleum or softwood floors...best to just stay off wood floors entirely. I get away with walking on our wood floors carefully without damaging them, but softwood can be damaged, and probably some laminates.
I found (Aly's) Appalachian Adventurista's vlog on YT around the time she made her announcement that she was going to thru hike the AT. She seems very authentic/real and It was such a joy to follow her journey. Watching her vlog became the thing that I looked forward to on Saturday mornings. She really has inspired me to try longer hikes myself. I am looking forward to seeing what adventures she will get into in the future.
My favorite thru hiker :) Appalachian Adventurists... Loved her thru hiking videos
Good stuff here! Have watched your TH-cam (KHH) grow, and I love it! Happy Hiking ✌️
Love this episode. Two REAL people having a great conversation. Thank you both for your openness and honesty. Also, north easterner here so I grew up saying appa-lay-shun.
🎉 Southern Ohio here and I have always heard it as "Ap ah lay shun" Also agree that it's a regional pronunciation thing and people care too much! Lol
But it’s not. They are named for the Appalachee people. There’s a correct way to pronounce them and it’s not App ah LAY shun.
I really don't care how the AT is pronounced correctly. I'm from germany, listening and enjoying this podcast when commuting to my office by bike. So just wanted to say thx for the entertainment and information i get from this great podcast. Do have some german trails in the planning, but the big ones in the US seem to be what i am looking for on long perspective. Ok, the french Hexatrek also seems promising - maybe you'll find someone who did it to interview in your podcast :).
I've been hearing more about the Hexatrek lately! Seems cool
If you're from Appalachian North where linguistically we use the long A in speech, it's Apple aye chan. If you're from Appalachian South it's ah pull ah shun. The mountains go through multiple regions with multiple speech quarks. North Appalachian is old England and old France. Speech pronunciations stem mostly from those two demographics. Southern Appalachia stems from Scots and Scots Irish. Just call it the Central Pangean Highlands, that will throw them off.
Hahaha, this may be the way!! I’m going to try it and see how that’s received in my channel. 😂
@@wildflowersadventures go for it. I plan on using it on my second channel when the trek is rolling.
I’m from north Georgia and we use the long A and chun.
The mountains are named by Native Americans. It’s not an “English” word. They are named after the Appalachee tribe.
@@findingmyway2788 ok..... Not sure what that was all about. I'm mostly talking about groups of European occupying certain regions and pronunciation stemming from it. Thing with a lot of native language and history and those languages being extinct, no one knows. Here's a good example as to why different areas bordering different tribes who have their own name for said group can be different.
Ethnographer John Reed Swanton wrote that Apalachee may have come from the Hitchiti language term for "people on the other side" or the Choctaw language word apelachi meaning "a helper."[4] It has sometimes been spelled Abalache, Abalachi, or Abolachi.[5]
Who's to say when some French or Spanish explorer asked for a name and the language given was E'kptlakquiea and that explorer said "We don't put those sounds together in my language. Appalacee is the closest I can come up with, so that's who you are now. There's hundreds of examples of that in historical North America and thousands around the world. Like how we'd say "German" when they'd say "Deutsch" or we say Japan when they say Nippon.
So you're 100% correct, it isn't an English word. It's a word that could be from the tribe, it could be from their neighbors and translated badly to French or Spanish.
Thank you both, especially Appalachian Adventurista, for talking about depression, but also about the social aspects of the AT. I wonder if I could lobby for a bubble start date just for introverts….
Absolutely fantastic listen, covering some really important (and close to heart) subjects.
I am from north Georgia but I pronounce it like the northerners . I got the pronunciation from my mom who is from Pittsburg PA . They also pronounce it that way on National Geographic so that is good enough for me !
Same here but I relocated here from NY lol
Loved seeing TC on this episode!
I really appreciate Adventurista opening up about depression. I related to a lot of the things she described.
I stay out of trouble by saying AT Trail. Whoever I’m talking to say “oh ok”. Everyone says CDT or PCT so say it like a triple crowne. Hahaha 🤣
You keep shouting out my home yo, Asheville NC!. Grew up in Madison which has Hotsprings where the AT goes through.
Appalachian State University is pronounced apple latch un. But, those mountains run up north, too, so pronounce it however you want. Loo a vul, pee can; keep all the fun varieties of language! Great video. Thanks!
Hi there! I don’t hike, but I listen to you every night- such interesting stories and info. Thanks for your content!
12:45 "..the biggest thing I was afraid of was that I wasn't gonna like it.."
That's real talk right there. I had a bit an "edge" you could say over the first time AT hikers, and hikers taking on long trails like the AT. Really, I had an edge over most very experienced. I began my AT thru-hike in March 2012, and had just gotten out of the Army in November 2011, where I had spent 12 in the infantry. Rucking long distances with a heavy load on my back was nothing to me. Walking for 12 or 13, or even 14 or 15 hours, carrying usually around 100 pounds of kit, was like just another casual Tuesday for me. After 12 years of it, I came to enjoy it quite a bit.
People would tell that my pack was way too heavy, and I couldn't help but to hold back laughter and feel like they were joking.
To be fair..most of the weight was food. Simply because if I'm going on a long thru-hike like the AT, I WILL be seeing to it that i eat good. I absolutely WILL be enjoying a hot and satisfying breakfast with hot coffee every morning before breaking down camp and heading out on the trail. And likewise, at the end of the day, i absolutely WILL also be enjoying a hot and full filling meal in the evening time, where ever i decide to set my camp up at for the evening. There are some things that are non negotiable for me, and that i will outright refuse to compromise on. And those things are two of them (anongst others).
And if that means that my ruck is going to be heavier than it could be, or heavier than recommended..then so be it. You don't have to carry it, so its not your problem. That's a burden I am more than willing to endure so that I may enjoy my few comforts on the trail. Not to mention that when it comes to food, your rucksack naturally gets lighter and lighter every day as you eat.
But not knowing whether or not you will like thru-hiking a long trail like the AT, PCT, CDT, etc, id a very understandable thing to be nervous and concerned about. You may really enjoy overnight hikes, and weekend hikes. But spending months and months at a time on a trail that's over 2000 miles long is whole different thing entirely. It really wears on you pretty badly. And not just physically either. It will break you down physically, and leave you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained amd exhausted. And that part is not talked about nearly enough.
It will take you to your breaking point and back several times, and then past your breaking point to a point you didn't even know you had.
It doesn't matter how much you love it. It doesn't matter how long you been doing it. Or how much you love being out in the wilderness. It will wear on you, just like everyone else. Everyone has their limit, and it will find that limit, and start to wear you down little by little at first. And then an little more. And then a little more still. Then before you know it, you will be burdened with that tiny little straw that will "break the camel"s back" as they like to say. And it happens ro everyone sooner or later.
The truth is that giving the AT from on end to the other, all in one go, is not easy. And it's not for everyone. And many people find that out during their time on that trail. It's a whole different level of hiking that is nothing like the overnighter loop trails, weekend trips you may be used to.
One of the first things that you will learn, and have to get used to, is that it's rains....ALOT. Usually a minimum of 3 days a week. Minimum. Meaning, sometimes, many times, more than that. Sometimes it's steady drizzle that's over in an hour or two. Other times it's a downpour that lasts all goddamn day. And sometimes that downpour may last all day, and all night too. Hell, it may last into the next day even. Amd the next night. You spend 3 or 4 days and nights in a row getting rained on like that. You might be enjoying an easy hiking day, ,with beautiful weather@ and a beautiful clear blue sky on minute, and the next you are diggingbthru you rucksack and scrambling to get your rain gear on as the thunder clouds and rain starts rolling in.
One of the first things you get used to is being wet miserable, because that's how you are going to spend at least a good 45-50% of your hike if you stick the whole thing out and hike the whole 2000+ mile trail. And it's going to suck, any you are just going to have to learn how to accept it, live with it, and make the most of it.
Don't get me wrong. Hiking the AT is an amazing experience, and you will experience plenty of amazing things, and get to share them with some awesome and amazing people. But there's definitely going to be just as many shit sandwiches to eat as there are amazing experiences with amazing people. And you either learn to take the bad with the good, or you end up quitting early like a people do.
Believe me, there will be plenty of time when you are cold, wet, miserable, tired, exhausted both mentally and emotionally, and wishing you were any place other than that goddamn trail, and you will kick yourself for even thinking that taking on such an endeavor was somehow a good idea.
But the good news is that it passes. It all passes. The good times pass and give way to the bad times. And the bad times pass and give way to the good times. And life goes on, and begin cherish every moment you have on that trail, and you end up wishing that you would have figured it out sooner.
If there's one piece of advice I can give..that a hike I met on the trail gave me (he had hiked the AT twice, the CDT, and the PCT twice, along with about a half dozen other fairly long trails) HE said, "If you are going to quit, ALWAYS eat something and then sleep on it. And if you still want to quit, then quit on a good day. Never quit on a bad day. Always quit on a good day."
I wish there were more videos out there that discussed these kinds of things about thru-hiking. Instead of making it seem like it's all sunshine rainbows good times and good friends. Because it's not. Can be just as much of a nightmare as a dream trip of a lifetime. And that's a reality that needs to be understood if you plan on spending months at a time living in the wilderness out of a backpack.
You don't only say it wrong, you say it wrong both ways! I'm gonna throw an "Apple atcha"! 😆
the name comes from Spanish, and they would have pronounced as Apalache, just like it's originally written
I spent much of my life thinking about hiking and did not even know it. A thru hike is the crowning acheivement of every obsessed hiker.
This was a great interview! You guys are great!! Just wondering if anybody has heard from badbat hikes? I'm binge watching her journey now, a year later. Such a bright spirit. Yea.. I'm just hoping she's ok.
21:35 here in NC we say Appalachian, with the "l-a" being pronounced like the "l-a" in "laugh" or "lacquer", but there's a town in NY spelled Appalachin and for some reason they pronounce it "Appalakin", which makes absolutely no sense to me lol
Followed Ali the whole trail. I was so happy she discussed several different things throughout her blog that I had not watched on any other hiking channel.
I will say that Summit Sam also fit into that category.
Great guest! Very open and honest. ❤
Great show! 👍
Great Episode! Thank You!
Yo Kyle! Didn't realize you were in Asheville! Hit me up if you want a local to go for a hike or grab a beer with, or both!
Great topics!
Allie is so open ❤ take care hun!
Kyle, heavens you rambled! Pause, formulate the question or sentence in your mind and then say it. We all know she is a very pretty girl… 💕😄
I grew up in Maryland and it was App uh lay shun. I moved away and after 25 years moved to North East West Virginia and found out it’s App uh latchun. It was almost easier to learn to pronounce new words in Hawaii.
When I moved to Maryland, I became friends with West Virginia folks, so I picked up the West Virginia pronunciation. I still have no idea what the "right" way to say it is
Love your show
appreciate you watching!
She's really interesting. This is the first time I actually get through one of your pod casts to the end.
Stepping off mid March to hopefully change lives where it’s needed.
Someones gotta tell me where these stories are lol
Reading her perspectives was definitely a treat!!! Not sure I should tag her site here, but if you’re lucky enough to find them… 💗💗💗 She’s a pretty rad human.
@@tartar3756 i couldnt find anything when i looked, sounded interesting
@@tartar3756 i do t see a problem saying the name though
Pretty certain it's goodvibegoda. The dates of her blog seem to correspond with the dates Adventurisa's hike.
8:20 I think those people you're talking about are a lot of the same ones that quit at the first town after 30 mi
I’m from TN 24:57 and I say it with the ch like chuck, either way it is said, as long as we know what your saying, how it is said isn’t important. IMHO
I’m a Vermonter too. I also say it like Kyle. It’s definitely regional. And you explained it well because Appalachia is a region of the country with a strong cultural identity and for those of us in Vermont it’s a mountain range/orogeny that extends into our neck of the woods and a trail that goes through our small state.
Aly didn’t mention if she had gone to a counselor or sought professional help for her depression. I’m sure it’s something others have dealt with.
during covid i went to see my parents but i couldn't hug them and that hurt
Kyle - would love it if you used an episode on your platform to boost women-specific experiences with hiking!
I'll have to do this episode with the right guest!
I hiked 1,000 miles of the AT in 2003. I was so thrilled to stumble upon your channel today. It was the hardest, and coolest thing I've ever done. I did GA-Harpers Ferry. I was done at that point. 😂 I flew home back to Orlando, then drove up to NH a month later to meet my guy who kept hiking from HF. I will say hiking the Presidential Range and Mr. Washington was very hard, and humbling.
Me explaining to my wife: “Look, I know you want to stick together the whole time on trail. But Kyle says…” 41:53
It is regional and it shouldn’t be shamed by anyone no matter how you say it. I’m from NH and say it the way you do Kyle.
I’m From CA., near Yosemite and went to AT trail days in 2023 and backpacked a teeny part of the trail., etc., for 1st time and learned about the IMPORTANCE of saying Appalachia correctly…depending. I understand a bit about this: San Francisco for instance if coming from Southern CA., you say, frisco or San Fran. In Northern CA., they’d tease you and say Bay Area and closer in you’d just say the city. I live in Tuolumne County. Pronounce that? 😊 I won’t judge.
heh, heh, I'll keep that in mind if I ever get back out there.
I’m in Calaveras . U nailed it !! 👍🏼
I’ve definitely heard the word adventurista before. Not sure where I first heard it but surely somewhere on social media. There are a bunch of Instagram handles with that word in it. One is from 2013. Not sure if that one was the first though. It’s so funny how mad people can get about the pronunciation of Appalachian. It’s totally a regional thing. I used to use the long A before I researched the origin of the name, and now I use the short A.
I see the word "turista" in there which is Spanish for tourist (sort of) so a little word play to be sure but it makes sense, a person who engages in adventure touring.
I grew up calling it Appalachia (big "A" sound)... then I found an area in Florida called Apalachicola (Little "a/e" sound)... now, I go back and forth depending on who I'm talking to.. but I secretly know that it is the latter that is correct.
That latter is correct because that word is an AmerIndian Muskogean dialect and as far as I can tell they did not use long "A"s. It's an agglutinative language so all those morphenes have individual meanings Apalachicola means something like "people on the other side" and you could correlate each one of those sounds ie A pa la cha to the meaning of those English words.. I suspect some academic gave Appalachian a Latinized pronunciation to fit in with other scientific naming of things. He who writes the books can choose the names.
Okay what about how do you pronounce Caribbean?
Just a reminder. AT completed in 1937. First recorded thru hike 1948.
Where’s the orange camo hat from?
I do think it is interesting that the pronunciation is so different from region to region, here in southern Ohio I find most people are with Kyle, but as soon as I cross into Kentucky with some of my “southern” friends, they look at you like you’re crazy. Especially because I technically live in the Appalachia
What helped significantly reduce my depression was eating keto and then carnivore. High saturated fat in a diet actually isn't bad for you (as opposed to popular belief) and better regulates a person's hormones.
tbf I get up at 4 to lift before work and I still feel like shit at 9 lol
I say long A. I'm from NY. Doesnt feel comfortable for me to use the short a. Is it an east coast thing? 🤔😊
OMG she is so cute. We've seen your female counterpart!
Trail Tales merch?
The pronunciation really is regional and neither is wrong. In the southern Appalachians there is a culture that doesn’t exist in the North. Sadly, many people who embrace it as a culture think that saying it App-a-lay-shun is a slight on them and some get very angry about it. I grew up in the Appalachian range, above the Mason/Dixon, so it is my home too and I say it App-a-lay-shun. I won’t correct others about how they pronounce the name of their home and I’ll thank others to not correct me on how I pronounce mine.
For myself, as I aged I learned to handle depression. Old people always say "I wish I was young again", but you will never hear me say that!
Once I went through a couple real traumas I got way better at handling my depression. To be honest , what helped me was to realize my whole world revolved around how I felt. When all that really mattered ( to me) was how others felt, and how my depression effected them.
I play the "what am I thankful for game" this truly helped me, I may feel a bit low, but I have not suffered clinical, I want to kill myself, depression in almost 20 years. I live one day at a time. I swear by my little game. I eat healthy and get help for my insomnia. All of that really helps.
I catch myself saying it both ways depends what mood I’m in 😂😂
Just here to say, it would be awesome if you got Bryce Newbold from TH-cam on for an episode. Y'all would work well together.
From western PA where all the vowels are hard. I say Appalachian with the hard A. Eh!
To be fair, Ive heard it discussed that the Apalachee people for whom the mountains are named, don't have a hard "a" sound in their language. Therefore, the correct pronunciation would be a soft "a" Also, its a ''ch'', not a ''sh"' like some folks use.
I am that person. I am up at 3:45am... to run. 🤦♀
Thinking abt the pronunciation it's weird i pronounce it the northern way as it applies to the trail but the southern way when describing yhe people who live there...
Really good segment. Just subscribed to @appalachianadventurista, too.
It’s like the argument of how you pronounce pileated woodpecker. Ornithologists still don’t know if it’s pill or pile
Hahaha, AppaLATCHian vs AppalaCHIAN. Our channel is still new, but I’ve gotten a number of comments on the way I’ve always said it. I’ve tried to correct it so it’s said “right,” 😂 I don’t know what to do. I’m realizing I can’t please everyone. 🤪
Don’t sweat it! It’s really a regional difference; they are both correct.
I like your channel and I wonder if our paths may cross on the AT this year! (I love to just refer to it as the AT lol)
What a beautiful and hot woman 😉 Lovely lady and personality!
Cheers from Norway 🇳🇴
ADVENTURISTA is actually a word in the Urban Dictionary....😊
22:08
kyle’s pronunciation is wrong. She is correct,
lifelong North Carolinian here.
WV girl here. We say Appa-latch-an. Lately though, it’s just easier to say AT.
I just say AT solves the entire problem!
haha FACTS
Legit haha
Appalayshin north of the Mason/Dixon. Appalahchin south of the Mason/Dixon. General speaking.
Mostly everyone in the world says Appalayshin except the few southern states that were of the original 13 😉
I'm Canadian, from Ontario. I knew of the Appalchian mountain range pretty much my whole life, and always pronounced it Appalayshin. Then I moved to the foothills of North Carolina in 2003, where they say Appalahchin, and I think my head just about spun off my shoulders like Linda Blair in the Exorcist 😂 They sure pronounce A LOT of things differently than folks do everywhere else! It's like a whole different language. I lived there 7 years and became quite fluent and had to re-learn my native Canadian when I moved back home 😂
Pronounce it however you want. We all know what you're talking about. 😁
Appalachian IS a word from a whole different language, it's a Muskegon AmerIndian word.
As a kid I an Appalachian story teller came to my school. Once I grew up and had kids of my own they also heard the same story teller perform. She always started every performance telling the audience that Appalachia is pronounced like "throw an 'apple at-cha'". I feel like I'd be letting Kathy Coleman down if I pronounced it any other way.
Growing up in Tennessee, near the Smokies, only northern transplants pronounced it App- A-Lay-chan. My best friend, a transplant from Long Island, New York, insisted it was pronounced that way. I always replyed "Not by East Tennesseeans. Sorry. You can pronounce anyway you want but don't be surprised when locals respond...Where are you from? Your were obviously not born here." Haha We are in our 50's now and he still tells people that he is from New York and never mentions that he's lived the majority of his life in Tennessee. Afraid they'll think he's a hillbilly. What's wrong with being a hillbilly? 😊
Key point, where did the name "Appalachian" originate ?
Muskogean AmerIndian word
Hi kyle, I enjoyed the video today. It's better to say that you do not know a word then to go on as if you know the meaning of it.
I don’t know why this book didn’t gain traction like say, Wild, but though it is PCT based, the book, “the cactus eater” is an excellent read for anyone who hikes, backpacked, has thru hiked or attempted. Thru hike.
AppaLAYchian is the right way to say it in New England (MA perspective).
I am not even from the states I am from Manchester UK and I know Kyle pronounces Appalachian trailk correctly and Mancunians are always right!
Appalachian… I say it like app-a-lay-shin but I’m from MA 😂, but I love hearing people say app-a-lasha !
So as someone who suspects they may have the capital D Depression..i see you stumbling over, and being careful with that word. And its something ive struggled with too, but really what I believe is happening is that there are different applications for this word, when it comes to mood
One is the common, short term depression. you get this when youre grieving or going through a difficult transition. This is depression. But it occurs as a matter of circumstance, and I personally would not say that its any less difficult when youre in the thick of it
...and then you have what you called 'actual' depression, also known as Clinical Depression...which, you know...is the form thats NOT temporary and not brought about only through circumstance. The kind that brough about through brain chemistry and is life long.
So, similar feelings but one is a temporary state while the other is a medically chronic state.
and again, i appreciate how careful youre being. I just want to affirm that both versions are 'actual' and real depression.
My friend who grew up there constantly corrects my pronunciation of those mountains. I’m trying to retrain my brain to pronounce it correctly.
I live in the Appalachian Mountains in the South. Basically people that live here in the mountains pronounce it.
“Appa-latchin”. I have noticed outsiders and Yankees pronounce it Appalachian. Either way is fine though. Just depends on your culture.
❤
Kyle, newly subbed to both your channels. Thanks for all the great content. Let me just say, as a Bostonian and a Masshole, you're saying "Appalachian" correctly. Period. And everyone else is saying it WRONG. Furthermore, when people claim that a "Boston accent" exists, they're proving their own ignorance. FACT: an "accent" is a variation in how a language is pronounced. FACT: Massachusetts Bay Colony was the site of the first successful permanent English settlement in New England. (Stay with me, Kyle) Therefore, EVERY OTHER place in the U.S. and every other regional "accent" came AFTER. And so, we may conclude that Boston is the ONLY place in the United States where people DO NOT speak with an accent. (mic. drop) 😎 HA!
I think that both are fine, but when I learned that locals say it with the short A I figured they get to decide what the right way to say it. I mean, that is kinda how it goes. Say however you want, but don’t correct the folks who live there. And don’t make fun of how they say it. If they correct you, don’t argue, just smile and go on with your day.
App-ah-LATCH-un. 😊 (but definitely not app-ah-LASH-un….😂😂😂)
A) Spelling is a relatively new invention.
B) The two p's in Appalachain would indicate to me a deliberate attempt to break up the affect of the a's in the pronunciation. To me, the Southern pronunciation seems to be what is written.
C) Language is an ever shifting construct that will always be a matter of politics, loyalties, and tribes. Which isn't to say that cultural erasure, or the passing of a language into the land of the dead, is not a tragedy. However, to imagine that language can continue without the pollution of power struggles, must be taken as a very fond, very idealized, dream, most often encouraged as a power play, or as a sweet display of loyalty to the same political ends, and not as an innocent reflection of base reality.
D) Why is it important that we police the structure of words as others speak them, when the chief characteristic of note is a kind of mood evoked by the way of telling? What is it about words that has the power to feel like a spell cast upon all and sundry, when spoken? Why is the instinctive response to deviation so often some form of rule making?
It's an AmerIndian agglutinative word, that is, each syllable used to be it's own word - or still is if you speak the language - Apalachicola basically means "other side of the river" and each one of those syllables/words means something equivalent in the English.
@@TheJhtlagThank you! I would love to know more! This is very interesting!
I don’t care about the pronunciation of Appalachian but for some reason it bothers me when people pronounce cairn like Karen. Cairn is one syllable not two.
Yes! CAIRN in Alabama and I said it with the one syllable.
Cairn is 1 syllable and the Appalachian mountains were named after a NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE-The Appalachee. It’s incredibly disrespectful to their language and people not to pronounce it correctly.
Being from Washington State and attending High School in the 70's, I pronounced it appa-latchen. No one stuggles pronouncing cascades.
The apostrophe goes before the 70 though 😁
Wow. Good point. I have never seen it with the apostrophe before the decade. Never seen anyone point this out before.
And I have spent much of my life mildly annoyed by the nearly universal misuse of apostrophes with plurals.
@@thefisherking78 Correct!
“The 70's are my favorite decade.” or “The '70s are my favorite decade.” If you guessed the latter, you are correct.
The apostrophe in '70s is forming a contraction for the numbers you are replacing in the spelled out version “1970s.”
Pecan broke me. 😀 Kidding, not kidding. Everyone knows how to say it but everyone knows something different. And they are so passionate. So now I don't care about any of that. Mostly.
It's definitely regional; App-uh-latch-an.
RI and MA is App-ah-lay-shen, but to be fair, car is cah, and chowder is chowda
I say App-ah-LATCH-a (you’ve probably heard the “throw an ‘apple at ya’” phrase) and I’m from western NC. I do think that some people from the southern end of the mountains do have far too much experience with negative stigma based on assumptions and stereotypes of the region and so to be told that you’re pronouncing the name of the land you know and love intimately “incorrectly” is one insult too many. I love regionalisms and I have no problem with how anyone says it…assuming they are respectful in return. It’s like someone having the nerve to correct the way you say your own name. It’s that presumption, and the stink of judgement that comes with it, of someone feeling they are entitled to correct you.
Btw, in all your shows I’ve seen or heard, you are respectful and I love hearing the perspective of someone who knows the other end of the mountain range. If you ever look into folk traditions in the Appalachians, it is fascinating to discover that they can vary from one side of a single mountain to the other, or from one valley to another. Many people underestimate the complexity of Appalachian history.
The girl you’re talking about on the AT (59:06) is actually a really nice person who deals with their trauma in a different way than most people. Reducing what she writes to smut is quite sad to me, honestly…
Appalachian.I say it like I'm from the North.