“If you add deli mustard and yellow mustard you get a bomb sandwich… If you subtract deli mustard from a yellow mustard you get a weird hot dog.” Welcome back to Off Trail Podcast! This week we sit down with co-hosts Constantine and Magpie to chat all things “butterflies.” How do butterflies apply to anything hiking related? Well, just like a caterpillar that goes into its cocoon to blossom a colorful and wonderful butterfly, we to as hikers go through a transformational stage. Huh… we actually meant the above as a joke, but re-reading our edit, it weirdly makes sense? Anyway, welcome to the show! We begin the show with what you all demand, an energy drink review. This week we taste test “Guru” and well let us tell you just like hiking it transports you to a wonderful mountain top of flavor. Take in that deep breath and find your inner wise old sage, take a sip of Guru and who knows you may just become one… We then chat about worlds of pain and goblets of grief, about belly pillows and the mysterious “upper bellular region.” We chat about shoving and burying emotions, streams of consciousness, and Constantine’s inner “basic white gurl.” We chat coping mechanisms, Magpie makes a cringy math joke, and we compare the pre-trail jitters or “butterflies” to the first day of a new school. We chat pumpkin spice lattes, the emotional state inside of perpetual motion, and reflect on “wasted time.” We chat mustard equations, goals narrowed and the relief it can bring, and the power in the palm of your hand. We chat getting out of trail shape, excruciating knee pain, and the “David Goggins mentality.” We chat neck pillows, first step peace of mind, and passports being flagged. We chat about excitement vs. all consuming emotion. We chat what happens if you lose the pre trail jitters and if it means you no longer care. We chat edges and the bluntness. We chat ratios and express feelings (that we should have clutched and buried). We chat when hiking becomes life, when looking at a dream glossing over the realities inside of it, and criticizing someone for owning both an umbrella and a shower. It’s not the being wet, it’s the choice. We chat active choice of white picket fences, we chat treading proverbial water, and we chat how comfort can be a weakness but also a strength. We try our very best to tangent and joke away our feelings, yet it seems that some do come through. The butterflies experienced here allow us to understand what hiking is and has become to us. Lastly we chat rationalizing choices and what happens when you consume a tube of cookie dough per day. After all it is less calories than baking said cookie, alright time to eat a: “A regular cookie, cookie dough, cookie.” To learn more about who we are click below: Website: www.ElevenSkys.com