20 Minutes with Bronwyn

Hiking, Adventure, and Embodied Writing: My Conversation with Carrot Quinn

Dec 13, 2023

Carrot Quinn, adventure writer and author of Thru Hiking Will Break Your Heart, discusses her immersive writing style, finding solace in nature, and the potential adaptation of her story into a movie or TV show. She also shares details about her writing retreats, the types of retreats available, and the significance of names and normalizing name changes.

31:48

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Episode guests

Carrot Quinn

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Quick takeaways

Carrot Quinn's memoir 'Thru Hiking Will Break Your Heart' explores her transformative experience on the Pacific Crest Trail, delving into her upbringing and experiences with straight-edged anarchists in Portland.

Carrot Quinn describes the concept of time as an experiential construct, using her experiences on the trail and her embodied relationship with nature to transcend its limitations.

Deep dives

Overview of the Book and the Author

The podcast episode introduces Carrot Quinn, a long-distance hiker and writer, and discusses her book 'Through Hiking Will Break Your Heart.' The book is a memoir about Carrot's first time hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). It delves into her upbringing in Alaska, being raised by a schizophrenic single mother, being adopted by her conservative Catholic grandparents, and her experiences with straight-edged anarchists in Portland. Carrot's writing style is described as grounded and present-moment focused.

Introduction

5min

The Immersive and Captivating Writing Style

11min

Finding Solace in Nature

10min

Discussion on Turning the Story into a Movie/TV Show and the Inclusion of Romance

2min

Types of Retreats and Benefits for Beginners

2min

The Significance of Names and Normalizing Name Changes

2min

I bring you this week a completely different type of guest than I normally have on my show.

If you’re a regular reader of my newsletters, you’ll recognize the name of said guest, because I gushed about her memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail - Thru Hiking Will Break Your Heart in a recent Monday morning missive.

As luck would have it, she actually agreed to let me interview her.

My friends, get ready to meet Carrot Quinn.

Here’s the short version of her bio:

Carrot Quinn is a long-distance hiker and writer. She splits her time between Alaska and the open spaces of the western United States. She is the author of the book Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail and The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails of the American West.

But the deeper story? Carrot was raised in Alaska on welfare by a schizophrenic single mother who thought that she was the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary. At fourteen Carrot was adopted by her conservative catholic grandparents, and went to highschool in a small Colorado town near the Utah border. She spent years writing and nomading all over the U.S. before hiking the Pacific Crest Trail - all 2,650 miles of it twice.

Her writing is fresh and immediate, and I enjoyed every second of this conversation.