Get away without leaving your home with new podcast, Away Message, from ‘Our State’

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - While you cannot go on North Carolina’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail due to the measures put in place in the state to stop the spread of the coronavirus, listeners can escape to the trail without leaving their homes.

Our State launched its Away Message podcast this week. Jeremy Markovich, of Our State, said this season of the podcast takes listeners on the adventure.

“In the past, we’ve always taken you to remote places,” Markovich said of the podcast. “We have been to the most remote places in North Carolina. We have gone to the top of a television tower; we have gone to ship wrecks. This is a little bit different because we are taking the entire fourth season and dedicating it to one topic which is the Mountains-To-Sea Trail, which is interesting because I think a lot of us would like to be out on the trail right now to get away and it’s the ultimate social distancing but it’s not actually a thing you can do right now it’s not open right now because of social distancing and a lot of the parks are closed.”

He said the podcast follows hikers who go on the 1,200 mile adventure, which goes from the mountains to the Outer Banks.

“The idea was to see what they saw but also see if they could do it,” he said. "This is like a two month process of being outside and walking and kayaking and biking across the entire state. So, it’s this experience that I got to live through them vicariously to see what they were experiencing, the hardships, the joys and the amazing amount of people they met out on the trail and it was really great and eye-opening."

He said going on the trail takes a lot of preparation.

“You are constantly looking for food shelter and water,” he said. “There are maps and apps for your phone that will tell you what to do and where things are and you also rely on the generosity of people who live near the trail who you can call out of the middle of nowhere and say, ‘I need a ride into town and the strangers come and pick you up out of the goodness out of their heart.’”

The podcast can be found wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple podcasts and Spotify or find it at ourstate.com/podcast.

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