Joe Rogan talks to Chris Cage about Wanderlust, Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Hello freak bitches. But it is interesting. I mean, it's like, it's the good aspects of it are, I'm sure far outweigh the negatives. You know, most people are just enjoying themselves, meeting nice people, meeting like minded people, traveling around. Like my fear, obviously humor aside, but my fears are probably fairly unfounded. Right? But isn't that kind of how it is with life? Most people that you meet, like the vast majority of people are really pretty nice. Well intentioned. Yeah. It's a really safe time to be a person. You know, I mean, almost all interactions you have with people on a daily basis are safe and fairly friendly. Even like rude people are like, what's the big deal? They say a word. You know, like most... They're not going to harm you. Yeah. Almost nothing happens most of the time. But we're so obsessed with the news where you tune into any news channel, all you're getting is the collective bad news of seven billion people, because that's what sells. If it bleeds, it leads. Run with it, Mike. And Mike runs with it. Yeah, you know, I mean, this is, it's actually very, when you really look at it that way, that's a very positive trend that people are doing this and hosting people. Shared economy. Yeah. What's this? That's really nice. You know, it's nice that people will offer up their couch for free. Yeah. It's good stuff. It is good stuff. So do you ever stop and think like, what if I hadn't gone on this journey of exploration and I stayed an accountant and you would be living that life of the droning existence where every day you just fucking show them the same place and crunching numbers and hating life and wishing for some kind of adventure or something different? No, I can't relate to that. I think no matter what, whether it's AT or something, I think I would have, I'm too impatient. You know, I get bored too easily. I would have done something. But a lot of people don't. A lot of people are like you and they just never make that move. They never take that chance. So yeah, I think when I talk to even a lot of my friends that are still doing, I'm not going to call them crappy jobs, but I think they do provide a lot of things that they like. Security, you can't ... Some people love that security, like getting a paycheck. But I don't think they view it like that. It's not like, oh, this may not be the best thing, but I like it. It's not like ... I don't know. Some people think this is so bad or I just can't. I just have to. I just don't think that threshold ever crosses most people. Yeah. People vary. The personality types that go on that trail, I mean, that's a very, very extreme personality type. But I think most people have a certain amount of, if not wanderlust, at least curiosity. It's just a matter of how much of it do you nurture? How much of that needed to ... Defeat. Right. There's also a real problem than not recognizing the finite nature of existence. When you're 20 especially, or 21, or whatever it is, when you enter into these jobs, you don't realize, hey man, you've only got a few decades of good times. You could do this for 40 years easily. Oh, easily. Easily. And then we've all met those people that have done it for 40 years and they're just beaten down by life and they have that dull, desperate look in their eyes. It's just this sadness in their eyes where their life is just ... it's not good. It hasn't turned out well. There's not a lot of joy there. Yeah. And hold on to the vacations big time. Oh, you're scaring the shit out of me, Chris. Scaring the shit out of me. So in the middle of doing all this, right, so you do this, you go on this crazy seven month adventure and when it's over, what was that like? When you hit the end and you realize ... is there a bell you ring or anything like that? I should put a bell up there. So I mean, going north, there's this epic mountain katata and it's a beautiful big mountain. One of the most epic climbs that's in Maine, so if you go south, you end in Georgia and you end on Springer Mountain, which is just not as ... Not as epic? Not as dramatic, you know. You're right. But yeah, I mean, you finish it, there's just a plaque and it's like, dude, you finished. Really? And you touch the plaque? Do you have to touch it? What did you get right before it and you quit? Right before, like a foot before ... fuck this. Just collapse. Yeah, like two feet before the plaque. Yeah, no, I'm good. Does it count? That's it? So that's in Maine. That's the finish in ... That's the finish. Yeah, northbounders. How many people fake it and take a picture of that? Dude. You can go hike that in one day, yeah, for sure. At least I would probably do that. I'd go hike it in a day and then get that weird feeling of watching these people that are covered in two inches of grime climb up that hill. Can you pull up Springer? That guy. That motherfucker, look at that guy. That guy looks like he's been hiking for seven months. Hiker. What's it called? Spring. Springer Mountain? Springer Mountain, yeah. Look at that guy's face, Jesus Christ. He's just all hair and ... So ... There you go, yeah. That's where it starts? Is that the gateway? That's what's called the approach trail. It's not the ... It's like ... I like how it has an awning. That's the actual plaque on the end, but that's not a great shot of it. There you go. That's it. So that's where it starts? Yep. That's it? National Scenic Trail. Now, who established this? So there's a guy named Bitten Makai. Imagine trying to talk people into doing that with you. When you first started doing that, what year did this guy do this? I know these dates, but I don't ... I think it was 30s? 30s? So imagine, 1930s, fucking Great Depression, that old deal. Those are the people back then, and this guy says, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to walk all the way up to Maine, and I'm going to start a whole movement. A bunch of other people are going to do it as well. They're going to be like, fuck you, dude. Get a job, hippie. Yeah, the CCC at the time was helping construct all the trails. Look at that. Springer Mountain, Georgia, 8.5 miles. Mount ... how do you say it? Katahdin. Katahdin, Maine, 2,108.5 miles. Those .5 are a motherfucker. That last .5, oh. So when you did it, and you touched the sign, and you're like, all right, I did it. I cried. Did you? I did. I literally collapsed. Wow. Did you fall to your knees? It was seriously one of the most emotional times of my life. I can imagine. I was just ... yeah, even that morning I woke up, and I was just like, oh my gosh, this is ending. It was so much, just so long. I'd been thinking about it from ... yeah, childhood. Then it was not only thinking about it for a decade, but then it was actually hiking the darn thing for six months. It was just getting there. By that time, I had stress fractures forming in my feet. Really? Yeah, I was just in bad shape. I wasn't sleeping well, because at night, it was getting down to zero degrees every night, and my sleeping bag was not cutting it. So it was just like ... it was just a lot, man. Stress fractures in your feet, huh? Yeah, yeah. I've had stress fractures from cross-country in high school, so I knew what they felt like. I'm like, oh, this is coming. It's just a matter of time.