Monarch was born out of 5+ years of long-distance backpacking and a lifetime of fascination with adventurous stories starring complicated heroes.
Laura Munsil (trail name Phantom) dreamt up Monarch while hiking 6000 mostly solo backcountry miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, Colorado Trail, Continental Divide Trail and Arizona Trail.
This podcast is an excision of many of those memories.
Hallie Halprin (trail name Monarch) is far from perfect. The perils she encounters on the Continental Divide Trail, real and imagined, mirror a complicated, optimistic and doomed attempt to use adventure as a way to be reborn.
Happy trails.
