#227 | Brady Geilenfeldt on Hiking the Colorado Trail as a Deaf Person
In today’s episode of Backpacker Radio presented by The Trek, we are joined by Brady Geilenfeldt. Brady, known on trail as Undies, thru-hiked the Colorado Trail this year. What makes Undies story especially interesting is that he is deaf. We learn all about Brady’s inspiring story, the incredible technology that is cochlear implants, what challenges a deaf hiker has to overcome, Brady's highlights from the CT, some of the non-obvious benefits of being a deaf hiker, Brady’s future trail ambitions, and much more. Brady is an inspiring young man and we think you’ll really enjoy this chat.
We wrap the show with things we're convinced people pretend to enjoy, a triple crown of things that are the new black, some new poop news, and we finally have the details for our Denver holiday hiker meetup, and you are invited.
Vargo Outdoors: Use code “BACKPACKERRADIO” for 20% off at vargooutdoors.com.
RTIC Outdoors: Shop at rticoutdoors.com.
Darn Tough: Use code “DTLOVE-BACKPACKERRADIO” for 10% off plus free shipping at darntough.com.
Katabatic Gear: Use code “BPR15” for 15% off at katabaticgear.com.
[divider]
Interview with Brady Geilenfeldt
Time stamps & Questions
00:04:52 - Reminders: Join us at Improper City for the Hiker Meetup on December 1st! Apply to be a blogger or the Trek’s editorial intern. Check out our merch and support us on Patreon!
00:08:32 - Introducing Brady
00:12:40 - Tell us about your experience with deafness
00:15:10 - How did your mom get CMV?
00:16:50 - Were your parents on high alert knowing your mom had CMV?
00:17:55 - Would you trade being deaf for anything?
00:18:57 - How well does a cochlear implant approximate human hearing?
00:21:04 - How do the implants work?
00:24:10 - Did you ever learn American Sign Language?
00:26:00 - Are your other senses enhanced to make up for the loss of hearing?
00:27:10 - Does it help you sleep at night while backpacking?
00:28:14 - Are the implants comfortable to wear?
00:29:40 - Can you customize the volume based on different environments?
00:31:20 - Is it a satisfying feeling to take them off?
00:32:28 - Do the implants make hiking more interesting?
00:35:32 - What’s your hiking background and what made you decide to hike the CT?
00:37:18 - What was your longest backpacking trip prior to the Colorado Trail?
00:37:40 - What do you have to consider when planning for the CT?
00:40:28 - Is it disorienting to have only one implant in?
00:44:14 - Did you have any role models that inspired you beforehand?
00:46:20 - Do you have tips for making hiking more stimulating or being comfortable with yourself?
00:49:10 - Do you have to be concerned about the implants getting wet?
00:52:00 - Discussion about technological features or upgrades
00:53:40 - Do people ever use cochlear implants that aren’t deaf?
00:55:05 - Does the implant need to be replaced?
00:57:17 - Did deafness or CMV cause you to be immunocompromised?
00:58:30 - Discussion about losing balance and other impacts of deafness
01:01:18 - How did you handle the weather on the Colorado Trail?
01:04:38 - Did you have to be more careful when navigating while hiking?
01:07:00 - Do you want to do future hikes with a trail family?
01:08:03 - Do you have any standout stories from the CT?
01:10:09 - What’s the origin of your trail name?
01:14:54 - Would you do other things differently to prepare for a future hike?
01:17:50 - What ratio of rechargeable to disposable batteries did you use?
01:18:57 - How bad is it if you were to lose or break them?
01:21:22 - How did you handle health insurance?
01:23:55 - Have you had other people reach out since your hike?
01:25:00 - How does playing music interface with your deafness?
01:27:50 - Is there something to be done to make the outdoors more accessible for someone with implants?
01:30:41 - Are some insurance plans better than others?
01:32:33 - Is there an actionable step the listeners can take to improve the situation?
01:38:00 - Harvest General Store
01:40:15 - Brady’s parting words
Segments
Trek Propaganda: Broken on the AT: Gear That Breaks At 2,000 miles (And The Gear That Doesn’t) by Abby Evans
QOTD: What are you convinced people are pretending to enjoy?
Stupid Thing of the Week
Triple Crown of things that are the new black
Poop News
Mail Bag
5 Star Review
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[divider]
Transcript:
In today's episode of Backpacker Radio, presented by The Trek, we are joined by Brady Geilenfeld.
Brady, known on trail as Undies, through-hiked the Colorado Trail this year.
What makes Undies' story especially interesting is that he's deaf.
We learn all about Brady's inspiring story, the incredible technology that his cochlear
implants, what challenges a deaf hiker has to overcome, Brady's highlights from the
CT, some of the non-obvious benefits of being a deaf hiker, including a great night of sleep,
future trail ambitions, and much more. Brady is an inspiring young man, and we think you'll
really enjoy this chat. We wrap the show with things we're convinced people pretend to enjoy,
a triple crown of things that are the new black, some new hoop news, and we finally have the
details for our Denver Holiday Hiker Meetup, and you are invited. But first, I am thrilled
to introduce our next sponsor, which is a brand that has been a part of my pack and through hikes,
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innovative, and functional. The Vargo Bot 700 was with me every step of the way during my
through hike of the PCT and every backpacking trip since. The Vargo Bot is extremely lightweight,
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the ultralight cooler is 30% lighter compared to other premium hard-sided coolers, which means you
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Welcome to Backpacker Radio, presented by The Trek. Today is November 13th,
World Kindness Day. Aww, that's nice. I am your co-host Zach Badger-Davis, sitting to my right is...
Hi, I'm Juliana Chauncey, aka Chauncey... Reminders, yes. We have the deets, finally,
for our Hiker Holiday Meetup Extravaganza Palooza Supreme. A-thon. Yes. This will take place,
whatever I said previously, disregard that because I think a lot of the details have changed.
You guys don't care about the reasons why. But this is going down on December 1st
at Improper City in Denver, in Denver, not Golden, from 530 to 8 p.m. This will be
co-hosted by Backpacker Radio slash The Trek and the CDTC, which means it'll be a fundraiser for
them. We're going to have some sweet raffles, or as they say, door prizes. I had to look that up.
Apparently, that's the vernacular for raffle prizes nowadays. Good hangs, solid vibes,
memes. What else? Carnival barking. Carnival barking, yes. Sounds like there will be some
of that happening. Give at least four drinks a chance and she will stand on a chair and yell
at you. I haven't stood on a chair and yelled at Improper City yet, which is something that
I'm excited to do. Yeah, let's see if they welcome us back after December 1st at 530 p.m.
A couple other things quickly. One is if you're through hiking in 2024 and you want your journey
featured on The Trek, we are currently accepting blogger applications. I did a link in the show
notes. Lastly, this is the time of the year where we will likely be adding a new editorial intern
to the team. This is a highly coveted position. We get lots of people reaching out for this,
so if you're listening to this and you've got some serious editorial chops and you like long
distance backpacking, head to the link in the show notes. Oh, also we are still selling our awesome
vintage backpacker radio tees. We've gotten some nice compliments on them. Yes, we have. They look
like Saved by the Bell goes outdoors. Yeah, or if you're slightly older, Miami Vice, if you're
my age, both are sufficient. Yeah, I also think if you saw the Barbie movie, this would be like
that in the form of a shirt and blue. There is pink hints. There's flavors of pink in there,
but it's it's I could see it being worn as like a Ken costume. Yeah, I saw a couple people recommend
or ask for us to turn these into sun hoodies, which I got to figure out. Where do we find
a manufacturer? That's a good question, but maybe someday. OK, well, if you manufacture sun
hoodies and you're listening to this slide in our DMS. Yes. Last thing is if you want to support the
show and you want some additional backpacker radio content, head on over to our Patreon page,
patreon.com slash backpacker radio, where we release a new episode the first Wednesday of every
month. This current month's episode was a gift guide. We went through big ticket and small
ticket items that you can either gift or be gifted in the holiday season, things that we've loved
having as hikers and regular humans and as well as things that we wouldn't want or like, you know,
some things to avoid if you want to give that thoughtful gift to a hiker, but also don't want
to give them something that they're going to smile and say thank you for and then actually never use.
Yes. To the non-backpacking gift recommendations, I tried my hardest to not make it too dad-centric
and I think I failed. This will be a great one for anyone who wants to gift something to a hiker
or who really likes being in the kitchen. Yes. Leave it at that. Or is training to be the all-time
dad. Yeah. OK, we'll leave it at that. No more beating around the bush. Let's get right to today's
interview with Brady Gielenfeldt. We'll figure out how badly I butchered that pretty soon.
We are joined by today's guest, Brady Gielenfeldt, which I nailed the first time, I'm pretty sure.
I'm sure the tape will say otherwise, who hiked the Colorado Trail this year in part to inspire
people who are deaf or hard of hearing, that they are not limited by their abilities. Brady,
thank you so much for joining us here on Backpacker Radio. Hey, it's great to be here. Yeah. Can we
swing the mic a little bit closer your way? There we go. About that far from your mouth.
How does that sound? Good. That sounds awesome. The closer the better. You can't be too close.
Yeah. I would move yourself closer rather than close. Yeah. Typically, we do all this stuff
before we hit record, but we're winging it here today. He brought us food. We got distracted and
we brought him food. Yeah. It was a food exchange. Let's start there. Let's give a plug to this is
your folks place, the Harvest General Store in Iowa, right? Yes, in Iowa. Yeah, they just do
trade shows and stuff right now and they have a Facebook page. But I mean, really, yeah, they just
go around doing those trade shows. They love it. Yeah. So we're about to bust open. There was a
wide variety of goodies in this box. Chonce went with her top option, currently stabbing it open
with the edge of her glasses. What do we have here, Chonce? This seemed the most on-brand for us,
and this is freeze-dried gummy worms. I personally have been getting a lot of algorithm on socials
showing me people freeze-drying skittles, gummies, things like that. And so this is right up my
current algorithm. Yeah. They look like Cheetos. It looks unique. And I was unaware of freeze-drying
candy up until about 10 minutes ago. So very excited to learn about this wild world. I will
say the best part about this is seeing people's reaction, eating this for the first time.
ASMR.
Flavors. It tastes like, texture aside, it tastes just like a gummy worm.
Tastes like jello. This is very interesting. Push it against the top of your mouth. Like,
I don't like chewing these things. I like pushing them against the top of my mouth and letting them
melt. If you just push it with your tongue against the top of your mouth, it does taste a little bit
like jello. This is requiring a lot of unlearning because I'm expecting candy, but. All right. Take
the red and push it against the roof of your mouth. I still got this. It's red jello.
This is fantastic. Let me try the blue side now.
I think I'm liking it more with each bite. The first one was a little bit of an exploration
for me. I will say out of all the options, the gummy worms are not my favorite. What's your go-to?
My go-to is definitely the skittles. They do the wild berry skittles and those ones are really
good. The smoothie ones are awesome. Maybe we'll bust those out halfway through. Yeah, we could do
that. I don't hate this. I feel like this. Setting myself up here. I'll just follow through. It kind
of reminds me of corn dogs. Corn dogs? This is important. When I take a bite of a corn dog,
I don't know if I want to continue that journey, but then after it sits there for a moment, I'm
like, I need another bite. After you've sat there and you're like, where's that taste? I want that
taste back. I feel like I can get a lot of miles out of these. It's the perfect intersection between
candy and chips. It has a hearty chip texture to it. Very crunchy, as you could hear through the
mics, but still tastes exactly like the flavor is exactly what you'd expect from a gummy worm.
It's very interesting. I've never even had anything approximate to what I just put in my mouth. That's
what she said. I feel like these would be good in shots. Oh, sure. You want to get the party
started? Me saying shots are out for the last segment. Cool. These are fun. Okay. Let's talk
about some backpacking stuff. The intro is short because that is essentially what we know about
your journey. I'm assuming the bulk of the conversation for today. Give us the background
because we've been chatting here for the last 10, 15 minutes or so.
The conversation has been very easy. I wouldn't expect that you were hard of hearing.
Give us your level or introduce your level of deafness and maybe any tech that's involved.
I guess just give us the full background. Yeah, I can give you the full rundown. I was
born with CMV. That's a congenital men-something virus. It's a very long word. I always butcher it.
I was born with that. That basically meant that I could have been deaf, could have been blind,
could have been anything. It could have been missing a leg. It turns out that I was just
deaf. My mom, they knew what to look for since they had tested for CMV when my mom was pregnant
with me. She was a nurse and she got pregnant. Well, she didn't get pregnant by one of her
patients. She got CMV from one of her patients. She just kept on doing what she was doing.
They knew what to look for. I was born and I passed a newborn hearing screen. At the time,
the newborn hearing screen was just you look at the baby and you scream at it and see if it reacts.
Any baby's going to pass a newborn hearing screen. Is that because the volume is loud enough that
even if they are hard of hearing, it's still reaching a decibel that they can perceive?
Yeah, that they register it basically. That's what they were basing it off of at the time.
I was born in 2000. It was not that long ago. I slept through my first fireworks and my parents
were like, well, no newborn baby is going to sleep through fireworks. They brought me home
and sat me down in the living room and banged a bunch of pots and pans in front of my face. I
didn't do anything. Didn't react. They were like, yeah, we have a deaf baby. They brought me back.
Were they that calm about it?
No. Guaranteed not. I know my mom. They probably sprinted to the hospital.
Sure. They did that and then I did a couple of hearing screens and I would pass them again,
but then they finally did a sedated one where I was hooked up to a machine
and then that showed that I was fully deaf. I got my first cochlear implant when I was 13 months
old and my second one when I was five years old. Before you go too far, because I'm going to have
questions, cover my questions. I just know it. How did your mom get CMV? How does it get transmitted?
Just through contact. She was working on a patient. She's an ER nurse and yeah,
I think it was just through contact of, I think it was bodily fluids. So basically,
if you're pregnant and you get CMV, then it just goes directly to the child.
So she was pregnant when she got it?
Yeah.
It's not like she could get it and then she goes deaf?
Yeah.
That can happen?
No, no, no.
Oh, it can? Okay.
Thank God. Yeah, no, that would not be the case. So it just, it went directly to me
basically and she didn't see any of the repercussions of CMV. And so I still have it
and I still live with it, but I can't transmit it to anybody. And so it's dormant, I guess.
How did she know at the time that she contracted CMV?
She didn't know right away because the doctor came in and was like,
hey, this patient has CMV. And my mom was like, well, I guarantee I already have it
now since I've already been working with the patient. So.
How could the patient give it to your mom, but you can't give it to someone else?
That's a good question. I think it's because it really develops predominantly when you're in the
womb versus like, you know, you get it in the womb and it's in that development stages.
I'm not a doctor, so, but that's my interpretation of it, I guess.
And so, yeah, it just, that means I'm, you know, immunocompromised. I,
everything else that comes along with being deaf, I can get into that in a second. But yeah,
that's about it with CMV. Were your parents on the lookout for,
were they on high alert knowing that she had contracted CMV when she was pregnant,
thinking that there was a high likelihood that something could have gone awry?
Yeah. I mean, they, the doctors literally had like percentages of the different types of
disabilities that I could have. And so they had no idea. And so when I was born and I was just,
you know, looked normal, you know, they were like, wow, that's amazing. That's a miracle. And so
that was a really cool experience for them to go through. And then also, you know, in a way,
it was kind of one of the best of the worst situations.
Let me know if this sounds insensitive, because for me, it's purely curious, but I could see how
this might not come out how I want it to knowing the array of different things that could have
happened. Are you, would you trade being deaf for a different option? Or do you think that
like, it's a really manageable, like, I don't know, like, would you trade it?
I don't think so. I actually don't think I would trade it for anything. Because for one,
I take them out when I sleep, you know, like nothing wakes me up noise wise, you know, I mean,
I guess I'm sensitive to vibrations. That's actually how I wake up every day is my bed shakes
and it connects to my alarm. And yeah, when I have a headache, I can just take them out,
don't have to deal with anything, don't have to listen to anything. So I mean, there are some
perks of it. I wouldn't change it now. Have you ever taken them out in a relationship when
someone's mad at you? That didn't go over very well. That's amazing. That's the ultimate talk
to the hand. Notting along. Yeah. So you mentioned that you wake up to an alarm that vibrates. Is
this like an alarm specifically for people, for deaf people? Yeah. Yeah. Actually there's,
I've had friends buy it just because they're heavy sleepers. I am ahead. You caught my interest when
you said the bed vibrates. Yeah. It's just like a little toggle thing. I don't know. It's probably
like three and a half, four inches in diameter. And like, you just put it underneath your mattress
and it's just like, it's a sonic vibrator. Yeah. It's like a good April Fool's joke for Garrett.
I don't know how to phrase this question. So you got the, your first cochlear implant when you said
when you were 13 months old. Yes. And then the second one when you were five. Yes. Do you know
how well the implant approximates normal human hearing? Like are you functioning at a hundred
percent of what the average person functions at? Is it 75%? Can you, like, what is that,
what is it supposed to approximate? Yeah. I mean, they basically say that I hear 15,000 tones and
you guys hear 30,000 tones. So I guess that's more on a tonal level, but I don't even know.
What does that mean? Like just in terms of different arrays of frequencies. Yeah. If
you're listening to music, are you hearing half as much of the range as somebody else? Kind of,
it's more like along the lines of, you know, I can't hear like white noise or like the,
I guess it's the range of frequencies that I can hear. Okay. So like if it's super deep
or like a whale call, that's probably not in my range to be able to hear. Got it. Or if it's like
a dog whistle, I know most people can't hear that, but something along those high frequencies,
I can't hear. Got it. So there's like that specific range. We used to make that our cell phone ring
tone in I would say ninth grade because there was a dog whistle. It was a high pitched frequency
because the age that your teachers are, like you start to not be able to hear those high sounds,
but when you're super young, you can. I thought you were going to say you knew that the phone
was ringing because the dogs were barking. No, no, no. People would set their phones to it because
the teachers couldn't hear it. That's funny. Yeah. Okay. So, okay. So you hear at half the
frequencies of the average human hearing, but for like this conversation, are you hearing
everything perfectly normal? I mean, as normal as I can tell. I was going to say, because like I
said, I haven't missed a beat. The conversation hasn't missed a beat since you walked in here.
And I didn't know what to expect. And to see that your hearing functions at such a high level is
just such a pat on the back to what we're able to achieve with Western medicine and all the
technology and everything. If you take out the implants, can you like not hear at all? Zip,
nothing. How do they make that work? I know you're not a doctor. We've established this,
but how do they make that work? Like how do they just create something where there's nothing?
I know that people listening can't actually see this, but so, I mean, what I have here is
it's a cochlear implant. So I took my left side off. And so right now I can't hear anything on
my left side. And so this part that kind of twists off, that's the battery. And so there's
a processor that basically takes sound and it's basically like a camera microphone. And so you
know how, when you take a video and you like hear the wind, like it's like, and it's annoying,
right? I hear that. And so it's basically kind of like just a camera mic, but then this processor
basically transfers those sound waves into electrodes, which are just little electrical
pulses. And that goes through a magnet that's actually inside my head. And that magnet has
a coil that runs through the cochlea. And so since my deafness comes from like not being able to
hear, right? So basically what I'm getting at is I don't have the actual like hairs in the cochlea
that stimulate the auditory nerve like you guys do. And so that coil that runs through
the cochlea like stimulates it with those electrodes, like it would for you guys with those
hairs. Two part question. One, based on what you just said, if I were to put that on, it wouldn't,
like I wouldn't hear anything crazy because I don't have the part inside, right? Yeah,
nothing would happen. Do you watch Harry Potter? Oh, I love it. The second time I've done this,
Zach's out of this conversation. Is this like Fred's like extendable ears? Like could you take
the implant and put it under like a door somewhere and go away and it would still go to the part in
your head and you could hear really good? Like, can you eavesdrop on people with it? Yeah, actually,
if I click on my phone, it connects to my phone and I can turn on live listen and then it just
like connects right to my CIs and whatever's going through the microphone on the phone goes
directly to my CI. So I could set my phone on this table, go to the other room and I'd hear everything
you guys are saying. I feel like this is a superpower. Like this is like CIA shit. Yeah,
I do think that's a feature you could do with your phone as well. And that's not as cool. I'm
not hearing it in my head. True. You have to use the air pod. So yeah, I guess being able to disguise
it, but I am blown away by the tech of that. Just hearing your explanation of it and the fact that
you're able to function totally normally with it is amazing. Like, do you feel very blessed that
this technology? Because how long has this been around? I mean, there were people who were getting
implanted, you know, in the 80s and 90s, but you know, the technology just wasn't there.
You know, I was one of the youngest in Iowa to be implanted. And so this was it was basically right
when the FDA approved it. Like my mom was on the gun. She went for it. Yeah. Well, she sounds like
she's on top of her stuff based on the testing and everything alone. Yeah. And the dehydrated
candy. And the dehydrated candy. Wow. So did you ever have to learn ASL or was it just,
I'm good with these? Yeah, I did ASL for a little bit. I did it until, I don't know, probably I was
roughly kindergarten age and I stopped because I did auditory verbal therapy. And they actually
went to the level to where like my audiologist, my auditory verbal therapist, I guess, would make me
sit on my hands so that like I wouldn't use my hands to talk. And I just wanted to talk anyway.
Like I just stopped using sign language. And my parents were like, well, why are we going to invest
the time in learning sign language when he just wants to talk? Yeah. You know, so. So the videos
that everyone has seen via social media, always a tearjerker when deaf people get an operation
where they can hear like their spouse or their parent or whatever it might be for the first time,
is that the operation that they're getting the cochlear implant?
Yeah, most of the time. Yeah. So cochlear implant is that like cochlear is a brand.
There can be other brands that they do. So there's like Advanced Bionic and that's another popular
one. A few other ones that aren't as popular, but cochlear is definitely like the main brand.
If someone can't hear and they mainly communicate using ASL,
are they someone who hasn't tried a cochlear implant yet or do they not work on certain
types of deafness? Yeah, it depends on how you become deaf. That's kind of why I stuttered
there for a second when I said, you know, my deafness comes from CMB because if you have
damage of the auditory nerve, then the cochlear implant is not going to work at all because that
auditory nerve has to be able to sense that there's stuff in the cochlea. And so there's,
there are people who have damaged auditory nerves and they're just kind of out of luck.
So I don't know, I assume this is true, but this is something that I'm citing as an internet fact
that when somebody loses a sense or doesn't have a sense to start with, that the other senses are
enhanced. Is that one, an accurate description and two, do you feel like that's true for you?
Like, do you have a superior sense of smell or because that you've had the cochlear implant
at such a young age, do you feel like you haven't missed out in that capacity?
Yeah, that's a great question. I get that one a lot, actually. You know, I do have glasses. I
never wear them, but, and I don't think my sense of smell is supersonic or anything. You know,
yeah, I don't think my senses are really all that great, to be honest. But yeah, I think it has
something to do with the fact that I had my cochlear implants at such a young age.
And so I did mention earlier that I was like really sensitive to vibrations when I'm sleeping.
So that might be part of the sense that I'm gaining from losing my deafness.
Yeah.
So, but other than that, yeah, I mean, I don't think I really do.
Okay.
Does it pivot into backpacking quick? We're going to probably go on a lot of side tracks here,
but does it help you sleep at night when you're on trail to be able to take them out? Because
then you can't hear like the eerie sounds of nature, or does it make it worse because then
you can't hear the eerie sounds of nature?
A little bit of both. What I mean by that is because, you know, sometimes, okay,
I'll be camping by myself. I do a lot of that and I just take them out and, you know,
it just makes me not even think about it because, you know, if there's a bear outside my tent,
he just jumps on by. I'm not going to care unless he comes into my tent. That's the other thing that
kind of scares me is, you know, I'm in my tent and then a bear comes on in. I'm not going to know
until it's on top of me. So, yeah.
I think at that point, you're just like, well, God wanted me to go.
Yeah, I'd rather not know at that point, I think.
Yeah.
So I think I lean more on the side of like it helps because then I'm just not thinking about it.
Yeah.
I don't even like using earplugs because I'm so sensitive to having the feeling of
something in my ears, especially when I'm laying down on something. Do you actually feel like,
are the implants uncomfortable for you or have you been using them for so long that
it just feels second nature?
Yeah, it kind of feels second nature. You know, like when I don't wear them, I almost feel naked,
to be honest. It's like it's kind of the same concept of glasses.
Because I'd imagine it would be so nice to have the option to just turn off all,
especially on a windy night. It's not even necessarily the animal sounds, just like the
constant inconsistent, almost white noise. That's kept me up so many nights to have the option to
opt out of that. It sounds actually pretty sweet.
Well, when I camp, like a lot of the times at night, if I can't fall asleep, I'll put in my
earplugs and I'll just put them on noise canceling. Like I'm not even listening to music. I just use
the noise canceling to try to help with like the twig crack sounds.
Yeah.
You know, I had people tell me multiple times that they loved camping next to me because then
they could just roll around all they wanted in their tent and didn't have to worry about waking
anyone else up. That's a good point.
Yeah. I will say I can't, on the AT, I hiked for about 600 miles with someone who was deaf
and it was hilarious. Like we had a great time. A lot of times it was kind of that where it was
like, I know I'm not bothering you, but some of it was just like funny. Like he had a really
great sense of humor and I think it just added like an extra element for us.
Do you ever like go to a concert and turn the volume up? Because I'm getting to the age now
where concerts are too loud for me to be able to control that.
You're taking the baby headphones off the twins.
To be able to control the volume at a concert, to be like, yeah, turn this racket down a little bit.
Is that something that you ever do? I imagine you're controlling the volume on a regular basis.
Actually, there's a different settings I can use for different like actual environments. So like
when I'm on at a concert, there's a music setting that I can set it to.
Wow.
And then like if I'm, is that just turning the volume down or what other changes?
Yeah. It's just kind of like changing the EQ a little bit to like optimize for music, I guess.
Yeah. My audiologist loves it, but I will say the most tragic thing to happen
for me at a concert is they die.
Oh no. Has that happened?
Yeah. Multiple times. Yeah.
What concerts?
There was a Def Leppard concert I went to in high school.
That's a bad one to have. And so you haven't gotten to like the best songs yet because they're
not closing and you can see it happen. Oh no.
Yeah. At that point you're just people watching, huh?
Yeah. Just people watching and then like you're just standing there like, well, this is fun.
Do you keep like a set of spare batteries? Like can you, is that a thing?
Yeah. I typically bring a spare set, but those of course are the times that I forgot.
Yeah. Oh my God.
How does one charge get you?
Typically it'll get me like 15 hours.
Okay.
So it's just like, you know, if it's just been a long day,
it'll be towards the end of the day that they'll die.
Yeah.
Is it like, like, let's say you go home. Is it like taking your bra? I know you don't
probably take your bra off when you get home, but is it like taking your bra off to take them off?
And like, I would imagine probably speak ASL to the people like in your home life
to be able to not have to use them for a while. Or is it not like that kind of like,
feeling that I'm attributing to taking a bra off?
I will say that is something that I would do a lot towards like the first two weeks of school.
So like, because if you think about it throughout the summer,
you're not really intently listening. You're kind of just doing your own thing.
You're having fun, right? And so when you write, when you go back to school,
you have to like spend eight hours a day, like really trying to listen. And like for me to
actually listen to things and hear things, it takes a lot more effort because I have to like
differentiate between different sounds because a lot of the stuff comes in at the same volume.
So my brain is kind of adjusted to just kind of focusing in on what I wanted to focus in on.
By that, you mean like every background noise. Like if somebody shuffles their chair
or you can hear the wind or whatever, a fan blowing, like all that's coming in at the same volume.
So it's, you have to be able to discern what you're actually paying attention to.
Yeah, kind of. Yeah. I mean, more what I'm getting at is like, you know, fluorescent lights. If it's
like above me and it's like buzzing, this one's fine. But, and like someone's trying to talk to
me right here and they're both coming in at the same volume. It doesn't, my brain doesn't
differentiate it. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So does this make hiking like the Colorado trail
or any trail, does this make just like what might be a mundane making miles part of the hike,
like just super wild for you? Cause I imagine being able to hear the leaf cracks, the like tree
breeze, like every little thing at the same volume. I just watched all the twilights this
past weekend and when Bella got turned to a vampire, she was going through the woods and
she was seeing everything super hyper-focused and that was wild. Would it be like that where
you're just like hiking and you're just like, whoa, to everything? Cause it's all coming in louder.
Or is that just in my head? You know, I think that is, when I was younger, that was a thing.
Because then I was like experiencing things for the first time, you know, and being able to like
hear different sounds of nature when I was a lot younger was, you know, it was an experience,
you know, I wish I could do that again, you know, but yeah, I don't really think so anymore.
Just because, you know, I've had these for so long and I've been accustomed to it.
It's just, it's just my normal life now. Is there an auditory setting for something like being in
the wilderness? Like you mentioned how there's like a music setting. Is there something for
being outdoors? I could make a setting. Yeah, probably good. Just basically turn the, you know,
higher frequencies down a little bit on my phone and yeah, basically I could. I never have,
I usually typically just stay with my everyday setting just because I'm used to it and that's
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Okay let's talk hiking. Oh yeah. So when did the Colorado trail get put on your map?
How long have you been hiking? Give us the full like outdoors background. Yeah I've just grown up
being outdoors and my mom has taken me out on little day hikes when I was younger and growing
up camping. My dad always took me camping a lot when I was growing up and yeah I've always enjoyed
it and then I went to college and my buddies and I would go to the boundary waters every summer
for a canoe fishing trip and that was always really fun. Did you go to school in Iowa, Minnesota?
Yeah I went to school at Iowa State University. Go clones.
They've had some good running backs and you weren't there during the Brice Hall years were you?
Yes I was. Yeah he's killing it in the Jets. Yeah he's great. I'm watching the 49ers with Brock
Purdy right now. Iowa State as well? Yeah. Oh I didn't know that. Yeah that's why. Yeah 49ers
have a bad night yesterday or the day before. They've lost a couple games but they're still
really good. Just making myself feel better. It was not a good game yesterday. Anyway sorry.
Okay so boundary waters in college and then when did the CT get put on your map? Oh yeah so I had
a buddy I was just work so I'll back up a second here so I was working in Iowa and I was just I
was right after I had graduated college and I had a couple buddies who just went off and you know
took like a gap year or I even what really inspired me was I had a buddy who did the
PCT and I was like man yeah I really want to do something like that and that really is what
inspired me and so I was just like I just googled places in Colorado to go hiking and that's
literally all it was and then the Colorado trail came up. Colorado trails.
Yeah so what was your longest backpacking trip prior to this? Actual backpacking trip prior to
that one would have been like a week in the boundary waters but that was canoeing so I
wouldn't even consider that backpacking. Sure. I'd say it was probably just a weekend trip.
Okay. Like one or two weekend trips. So what considerations did you have to make for the
Colorado trail that maybe someone who didn't have deafness wouldn't have to consider? Like
what was it like for you to plan for this trip that set it apart from canoeing or anything
different? Yeah I think it was really the battery situation. Trying to figure out how I'm going to
keep these things charged because yeah because when I was in the boundary waters I had them
dug out because it was so cold and like I forgot to sleep with them. That was a rookie mistake.
Always sleep with your batteries. That's very important. Yeah. So is it like your phone where
if you are in like my phone it'll do it when I'm at too high of an elevation and it's like exposed
and there's cold the phone will just die even if it's fully charged. Yeah. Is it like that with
your batteries because they're not really protected much from the elements in your ears. Yeah no
that's totally that same thing. Yeah that same concept like I was talking more on like my
disposable batteries. The ones I have on right now are my rechargeable batteries. Oh. And so I had a
little fob that I could like connect to the portable battery charger and that's what I
predominantly used but it broke on me and so I had to use the actual batteries and they dutted
out in the boundary waters because it was so cold and that was one big thing that I was really
worried about for planning and then yeah it actually happened to me again on the Colorado
Trail and I just ended up having another resupply box that had extra batteries in it and so it
worked out but I almost went a week without being able to hear on trail. So it gets so cold that the
battery just breaks like it's not you can't warm it back up and recharge it. Yeah the so they're
like zinc air batteries is what they're called and like when they're exposed to a certain temperature
then it just like duds out. Hmm. Yeah it's super weird. When you're talking about disposable
batteries are you talking about just like our standard AAAs or are there like how you just
unclicked that battery from it? Is it that but you just toss it after each use? Yeah it's kind
of like that so there's like a little sheath that comes out and then it holds you know those little
like little little batteries. Yeah like the watch ones? Yeah kind of like those that's basically
what they're used. So the disposable parts that little circle battery. Yeah. Got it. Yep. So what was it
like you said it was a were you a week without proper battery for the? I almost was a week without
it but then. It happened to happen at the your resupply. Yeah then I happened to find them at
the bottom of my resupply box. Got it. Like thank you. Yeah so did you go imagine something like a
half day from the time that it broke to get to town to actually get your resupply? Yeah actually
one of them died and all the other so I had my right one which is my favorite one because I had
it first and so I favor that side more and so I had that one working and then no more batteries
left and then my left one was dead so I'm like well crap I know I have half a day before
I can't hear at all. Is it really disorienting for it to only work in one ear because uh you know
Apple AirPods sometimes the like the old ones like one of them just won't charge even if it's sitting
in the dock so I've been at the gym before where I'm listening to music through one AirPod and for
me it's really distracting like I feel like my workout sucks just because I'm so thrown off by
having the inconsistent audio is that I imagine for you it's significantly worse. Is it pretty
distracting for it only to be registering audio on one side? You know for like the first second
it is and then it kind of just goes back to just all right well I know that that's the only side
that sounds coming from so I got to tilt my head a little more that way and just kind of unconsciously
adjust but yeah I mean other than that yeah I mean it's it just really does suck when that
happens in inconvenient times like a concert. How do you handle that when it's on trail because
there's a quote I was trying to look it up quick enough but there's a quote from
a book I've mentioned on here countless times Spark the Revolutionary New Science Between
Exercise and the Brain I highly recommend it still great book but they talk about
people that are I think it was in this book they talked about it people that are left alone
like to their own thoughts and how a percentage that's higher than I would have expected of these
people would rather be like subjected to mild electric shocks than left alone with their own
thoughts and like no other noise for you know a day longer you know it was 15 minutes I think is
what the study was it was super small and it basically was just going to like back this
evidence that like people aren't comfortable spending time with themselves like in their
own thoughts that sort of thing to to lose hearing on a trail and to have to go like a day two days
even when you were talking about the canoeing trip however long that was before getting it back
how is your mental like overall wellness adjusting to I mean I assume in these settings
where they're doing these studies they have the choice like I can quit the study I can leave the
room I can go hear things and I've seen people on trail where they haven't talked to anyone in like
five days and they look different how how do you see that happen and take something like that that
happens to you on trail and a what does it do to you mentally and b how do you combat
not being able to flip that back on yeah it's a really interesting thing because you know there's
weekends that I'll go camping and I'll just not have messy eyes on and for me it's a place that
I can really just think things through and be by myself and so I actually do enjoy that time and
I you know I'm an introvert I'm an extrovert you know I guess I'm a little more of an introvert
now just since COVID and everything else you know I do like being on my own now and just kind of
taking them off and being in my own little world because that's really what it is I'm in my own
little world and so I guess like on a trail sense you know it does get a little scary at first
because then you're like when the first time that it happened where like they died on trail and I
was just like almost a day without being able to hear outside I was just constantly like panning
my surroundings just constantly because you know I don't know if there's another hiker coming along
I don't know if there's you know I'm gonna run come up on something that might not be very friendly
so yeah there's definitely times that it is a little scary but I've become accustomed to it.
To that question did you have anyone that you could reach out to as a resource prior to the CT
who was deaf that you could ask these questions to? I had nobody I just kind of figured it out
figured out as I went nobody I knew who was deaf had ever done anything like this I guess
and so I just I'm a big fan of just going for it. It's a good attitude. Is there any sort of
community Facebook group whatever platform it might be where you have access to other people
where you could ask this question and you're like hey has anyone done long-distance
backpacking and everyone's just crickets? Yeah I mean there's actually a couple different
Facebook groups where there's you know families who have cochlear implants they can like the
parents can talk on there and I actually grew up attending a cochlear implant family camp
and so I met a lot of people from all over the United States who also had cochlear implants
because you know growing up in Iowa small town Iowa you're not going to have anybody in a
100 mile radius who's also deaf. You mentioned before we hit record that your graduating class
was 23 people? 28. 28. No short you those five people yeah so you get a small town. What was
the population of your town? Oh probably like a thousand people okay yeah it's small yeah it's
pretty small I mean it was literally yeah like 30 minutes away from Des Moines. Are there any
trail specific groups like Facebook groups that are long-distance focused for people that have
like hearing disabilities? No not that I know of that's a good idea though I might do that tonight.
Well I mean I hiked with Mr Perfect and he was deaf and then he had a friend that we spoke to
several times that wasn't hiking but she came to trail day so I had met her too and I know there's
a few others that have like come across the radar but I think that would be a great resource for
like you guys to have with each other. Just before we move too far off the your your implants die
while hiking how do you handle that topic? A lot of things that you'll hear when people
aren't thriving at a long-distance hike like a lot of it comes down to all the alone time right
like there's so much time with your own mind there's so much time where you're not stimulated
by other things and I think when we're just constantly fed just like social feeds to scroll
through content here and there a tv on in the background that's where like you start to see
people like I mentioned the one who hadn't talked to someone for five days where they just seem
unwell right like they're not doing good and I know that can bring a lot of people off trail
as someone who will go weekends where you just take them out and actually enjoy it do you have
tips for people for hiking without sounds to keep them stimulated while hiking or to make it seem
less jarring for them like are there things they can do that make it better if they're not one that
usually thrives in that setting? Yeah I mean I would say first off you gotta like your inner
monologue you know you gotta be best friends with your inner monologue because otherwise it's gonna
be a battle you know because if you aren't best friends with your inner monologue then you're
gonna be just you know fighting each other and really what it comes down to is are you comfortable
by yourself and if you're kind of uncomfortable in those settings and you know you just kind of gotta
go back to you know why does it make you uncomfortable because there's probably a
reason and there's probably something deeper that stems from that. How did you get comfortable with
yourself? I assume based on my this is based on me but I assume not everyone's born comfortable
with themselves I assume it takes effort assuming you're not just naturally comfortable with yourself
how do you get there? Oh man that's a tough one. That's a deep question. That's very deep. Now you
have to give us therapy. Making it easy for Zach's follow-up. I don't know it just seems like you're
doing really well with it. Yeah well I appreciate it I appreciate it yeah I mean I um what I kind
of did was I just you know took it step by step you know because I first day that happened to me
and I just kind of you know I couldn't do anything about it you know I didn't have my garment yet
and so you know that would happen a lot growing up you know I'd be at school and they would die
and I wouldn't have batteries I have to go the rest of the day without being able to hear
and so I guess just that those little moments of exposure of you know have being forced to be by
yourself in your own little world that kind of culminated to an extended period of time that
can happen. So like doing a shakedown hike but like a quiet yeah shakedown like a yeah like do
do little shakedown hikes basically where you like maybe first day you go by yourself and then the
second day you have a friend that comes out and meets you um that's that'd be a good way to do it
or vice versa where you go out with two people and then you just you stay an extra day by yourself.
I was thinking even smaller like just sitting on the couch without using my you know like before
you even go outside just sit there and don't touch the phone for an hour you know yeah yeah
yeah definitely don't touch the phone. Do you have to worry about them getting wet like is it a
concern if it's raining outside? Oh yeah yeah yeah it's like they're more water resistant now
but yeah back in the day like you had to take them off like it was super sensitive to water
and one thing I'll say about that camp that I grew up going to is they had a pool party every year
and if you imagine this scenario where you put a bunch of deaf people into a pool and they don't
have waterproof stuff yet the lifeguards are gonna love you because they're blowing their whistles
they're doing all that they can and you no one in the pool is even listening to you they can't hear
you and so I mean like it's just crazy to see how technology has advanced because you know when you
go to that camp now everyone has their waterproof stuff on and so like yeah now it's a little more
waterproof or resistant than it was. What areas would you like to see improvement with the tech
like you mentioned that it's advanced from like a waterproofness standpoint what areas do you see
it could potentially still have room for improvement? Oh yeah I mean it's improving
every year there's another upgrade that I could get and so basically what they're doing with their
new upgrade now is you can go to an airport and it'll automatically connect to the bluetooth there
and they'll tell you like when you're boarding and all that and you can connect to any bluetooth
device basically. Can someone hack your mind then? I hope not. Can I just like how the airport would
bluetooth to your sounds can I bluetooth to it and be like I'm in your head you know like
is that a possibility? I'm not saying it's crazy I'm saying it's scary. I feel like that's very
possible. Yeah yeah that's definitely possible I don't know I hope not but uh that'd be scary.
Are you excited about those advancements or is that kind of like freaky because that kind of freaks me
out a bit? Yeah I mean I'm excited because I mean they're doing it in the right mind I hope so.
Yeah it seems out of kindness. Yeah I mean out of kindness I hope but yeah I mean other than that I
mean I don't know because like it seems like each model that they make it gets smaller and smaller
and they actually have one now where it's without the actual processor that goes on your head but
the magnet and it's just the little magnet it's like that big. That's interesting because I'm
thinking of this from the standpoint of like just getting you to the point where you can hear like
the normal person the person with normal hearing but what you're describing are enhancements that
are even beyond what somebody with that level of hearing has. I guess it opens up a whole train of
ideas for ways that it could you could be enhanced beyond you mentioned being able to know when you're
boarding but there's probably infinite possibilities in that standpoint. Yeah tons I mean like it would
be really cool to just have like a little like basically you don't even have to wear your
processor every day but it's like all internal then you like wear your processor to charge it
kind of like air charge or like you know you have your little pod that you set your phone on and it
automatically charges without having to plug in like that'd be kind of cool. Yeah because I remember
for a while sorry to cut you off Jones but you're probably more relevant than mine. For a while the
buzzword was augmented reality and we're seeing this now with like Google Glass and now Apple's
got this too about like the way that you visually interface with the world and it giving you more
context than you would otherwise have. From an auditory standpoint thinking of hiking like
if you heard like a bird call and that's what I was saying about nature being wild. Yeah being
able to have the implant be like oh that is the blue-footed booby. Oh that'd be so cool. That's
that goes back to your Tony Stark stuff where you wanted the Iron Man suit. Totally. That's a feature
the Iron Man suit. Well I was gonna ask on the same realm of wild like if there's any upgrades
that have been made yet where it can hear different languages and it still transmits English to you.
No there hasn't been one of those but there has been one I actually really don't like this setting.
I currently have it but I don't have it turned on and what it does is it's called like zoom
and so if there's like a crowd of people around me and I face this one person that I want to listen
to it'll like zoom in on that person that I want to listen to and it'll kind of cut everyone else
out but yeah it doesn't really work when you're like in a basement and like your mom or whoever
screams from the first floor then because then it's like well it's listening to the air conditioner
but then it doesn't quite know if that other sound coming from somewhere else. It doesn't know what to focus in on.
Yeah then it just kind of screws it up. Right. This is going to be probably my dumbest question
of the night. Yeah. I don't know it's hard to ever tell. The night is young. We got time. Do people ever use these
that don't need them like if you're not hard of hearing is because I feel like some of the stuff
you're saying sounds really like I'm kind of not like not jealous obviously I'
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