Dark Miles - Larry and the Long Way Back (with Shawn Mahoney)
· 27 min · Bonus
Episode Dark Miles - Larry and the Long Way Back (with Shawn Mahoney)
About Shawn
• Air Force veteran and former Air Force medic (medical technician) • New Hampshire-based thru-hiker, endurance athlete, and fundraiser • Triple Crown finisher (AT 2022, PCT 2023, CDT 2024) in three consecutive years • Also completed Te Araroa (length of New Zealand, 2025) for Make-A-Wish New Zealand • Has raised funds for veterans organizations, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Alzheimer's research, and cancer causes • Has carried a log on every significant hike for 22-plus years
About Larry
• What began as a military training tool (Shawn ran with weighted logs before boot camp) became something else after his 2019 hospitalization • The log was named Larry by the New Hampshire hiking community when he started doing the high peaks • Every log is Larry, even as they are replaced, including a 2,500-year-old swamp kauri from New Zealand's North Island • Sea Dog Brewing Company brewed Larry the Lager in the original Larry's honor; both kegs were tapped out at the event • Larry has raised tens of thousands of dollars in charitable giving across multiple causes
The Crisis
• October 2019: Shawn was living with his cousin when the alarm he set for work kept ringing. His cousin came in to turn it off and found him unresponsive. Started CPR. Called 911. • In the ICU he was, per the attending physicians, the sickest patient in the hospital. His parents were told he had a 50/50 chance of survival. • He woke up with a breathing tube, his hands in restraints, and a catheter, with no memory of the preceding day • He had been suffering from an undiagnosed chronic skin condition for years (75 VA and specialist visits, white blood cell counts of nearly 3,000 against a normal range of 0-100) which progressed to endocarditis (infection of the heart) • He was embarrassed by his skin condition for years, wearing long sleeves and leggings even in desert heat on trail
The Rebuild
• Goal one in the hospital: breathing tube out. Goal two: pass the speech therapist. Goal three: walk the hallway. He broke the return into the smallest possible pieces. • First completed the NE111 (actually 115 peaks across NH, VT, ME, and the Adirondacks) in thirteen weeks, driving four and a half hours to trailheads, sleeping in his Honda Civic, repeating • Mid-AT (2022), left trail to complete a 12-hour Tough Mudder in Pennsylvania. While other hikers went to hotels and recovered at Trail Days, he raced obstacle courses. • PCT (2023) was the hardest -- a high snow year, and he hiked southbound after flipping with no other thru-hikers around for days at a time; dealt with back and shoulder injuries from the body mechanics of hiking in deep snow with a log • Moment on the Marble Mountains, PCT: the log slid off his shoulder and rolled down the mountain. He left all his gear, climbed down, retrieved Larry, climbed back up.
Causes Supported
• AT: Veterans organizations ($10,000 raised) • PCT: St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital • CDT: Alzheimer's research (in honor of his grandmother) • Te Araroa: Make-A-Wish New Zealand • Colorado Trail: Cancer causes
Links
Instagram: @larry.the.log
Hiker Trash Radio: hikertrashradio.com
Dark Miles: hikertrashradio.com/dark-miles
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Links in the notes 1
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