Deaf hiker makes final trek on Appalachian Trail

Julio Rodriguez finally made it at the end of the Appalachian Trail ending on Mt. Katadin in Maine. Check out his Facebook photo.  Be sure to check out his backpacking Facebook page, too. Congrats, Julio!

Video: Julio on the Appalachian Trail and UbiDuo

Here is our UbiDuo user, Julio Rodriguez, Appalachian Trail backpacking star who went into the Sundog store in Kent, CT to buy some new boots. In this video he explains how he is amazed how much freedom he is able to have with the hearing clerk with the UbiDuo. He shows how flawless it was for him and the clerk to cover so much ground in their conversation on the UbiDuo. In his words he stated he doesn't have to explain he is deaf anymore and can just simply say hi and flip the UbiDuo open and snap up a conversation. He repeats over and over how the UbiDuo is making his life much easier and most importantly making his Appalachian trail venture an exciting one!

The reward of unimpeded communication on the Appalachian Trail

Emma Curry is the mother of Jason Curry, CEO and co-founder of sComm, shared her thoughts with Jason and many other people in an email about Julio Rodriguez who is currently hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

On Facebook, Jason has been following the "posts" of a young man who is deaf who lives in Florida.   This young man decided to WALK the Appalachian Trail this summer from Florida to Maine.  His name is Julio Rodriguez.  As Jason watched the "posts" and saw that Julio was truly walking "alone" and missing the broad experience and fun of talking to people along the way -- Jason contacted Julio.  Jason offered to send Julio a loaner UbiDuo for the rest of his walk.   Julio was in a little tiny town.  He went to 5 businesses and asked them if they would allow an overnight mail shipment to come to their business.   4 of them refused.  The 5th one - a little tiny cafe owned by the man that Julio wrote his note to -- said:  "Sure,."   This is a picture of what happened the very afternoon that Julio picked up the UbiDuo.  

Another man -- who is hearing -- walked into the little cafe.  This man was clearly walking the trail also.  Julio started talking to him on the UbiDuo.   They decided to camp together that night and talked for 2 hours on the UbiDuo.

Now Julio is talking to lots of people that he is meeting along the Appalachian Trail.  Changed his entire trip - ultimately will change his life!!!!   He has now asked Jason if he might sell the Ubi in the South.  His Facebook posts are being read all over the United States.........

This story does make me have tears.   Takes lots of courage to be deaf......and often be isolated from everyone around you who is hearing.......but to see the difference that this Ubi makes in anyone's life brings me up straight in my seat with thankfulness.  A great device.   Good for David.   Good for Jason.

A summary of one of Julio's private texts to Jason said this:           

"So many of us who are deaf didn't even realize how hard we were making it on our lives by not taking advantage of this new tool."       

That's the difference between choosing pen and paper, gesturing, and/or lip-reading in the effort to try and get the full interactive and unimpeded communication with a hearing person that will ultimately fail each and every time. This sleek next generation UbiDuo solves that. No bluffing. No guessing. No embarrassment. Just real time conversation in a language that both people can understand and enjoy in a face to face communication environment. It's the exact same communication environment seen between two deaf persons signing to each other or two hearing persons talking to each other. But what about between a deaf and hearing person? The UbiDuo offers that real time communication environment between deaf and hearing persons.

If you have any questions about Julio Rodriguez hiking the Appalachian Trail or using the UbiDuo  please visit his personal Facebook page and ask. I'm sure he's more than happy to answer your questions.

Deaf Hiker and the Appalachian Trail

Julio Rodriguez has an ambitious goal of hiking the 3/4 length of the Appalachian Trail from Harper Ferry, West Virginia to Maine.  A travel that is planned to take 4 months traversing part of the 2,146 miles of trails covering in 11 states. It's a test of endurance as well as the mental challenge in hiking alone in total silence with his dog as his only companion makes his hike the more isolating because of his deafness.  Lacking the full communication with hearing people he'll meet along the way will only temporarily break the monotony and solitude of his hike. This is where communication technology comes in handy that breaks the usual surficial but limited chit-chat communication in meeting new people along the way.

His hike began on May 24, 2013 but officially it was May 26 when he finally got going. He is now 2/3 of the way through his hike to Maine with 500 miles to go. You can follow Julio's Appalachian Trail Facebook and see the sights he recorded along the way and the people he met.  For the first 40 days of his hike he communicated using pen and paper the people he met along the way. Though handy but not quite the same communication experience as in communicating with people in real time.  On Day 39 he received a message from Jason Curry, CEO and co-founder of sComm, that he would be sending Julio a new 2nd generation UbiDuo.

Day 39

Arrived Pawling, NY, sleep overnight on the sidewalk by the train- because it was night time when I arrived there. Next day, Jason Curry asked me if we can Skype and he got me a sweet surprise, that he’d send me Ubi Duo 2 that I can use to chat with anyone, oh man, sweet! So, I stayed one more night to pick up my Ubi Duo 2. I washed my clothes and sleep on the bench- by the Laundromat.

On Day 40 he finally got his UbiDuo

Ubi Duo 2 arrived! Yay, I used it to talk to a store- just to show him what Ubi Duo is, wow, it did make him want to chat me more- it really did make everything easier! We chatted very smooth and just wow, I will post video of me using Ubi Duo 2 sometime soon too. You definitely gonna buy one for yourself too, it is not just good for at work or stuff like that, it is our another tool. Something that we must have and carry everyday. You can type your Ubi Duo 2 up to 300 feet in radius. For more info, check it at www.scomm.com. Again, I will video telling you why you need it! Can’t wait to use it to chat with thru hikers by the campfire tonight. Now head back to the trail. Holla

As of today, July 15, he is in his 43rd day of his hike. He's currently near Salisbury, CT with some 500 miles to go.  He has gotten so much use out of his new 2nd generation UbiDuo he was able to chat longer in real time communication, just like talking or signing, with new people he met. He even chatted 4 hours straight with one person only to fall asleep with the UbiDuo on his lap. More on that later.

Be sure to follow Julio's latest adventure and stories of generous people along the way on his Appalachian Facebook page or his personal Facebook page.  And be sure to check out my blog for more stories about Julio and his communication adventures! And check out his first story on his journey with his UbiDuo chatting with a new person he met along the way recently a few days ago.

Deaf and blind hiker on Appalachian Trail

Here is something you don't see. A deaf and blind hiker on the Appalachian Trail in his attempt to hike the full length of the trail.

The 2,160-plus-mile Appalachian Trail is daunting enough for most hikers. For Roni Lepore and Roger Poulin, the trail presents extra challenges.

Lepore, who is deaf, and Poulin, who both deaf and blind in one eye and has tunnel vision in the other, talked about their special relationship with the trail when they spent several nights with Carol and Ron Baker at the Huffman House Bed and Breakfast at Creekside Farm near Newport, which is half a mile off the trail.

The hikers had accomplished more than 600 miles by the time they stayed with the Bakers, after starting their adventure in early April from Springer Mountain, Ga., on the trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.

The Bakers, who thru-hiked the AT – from end to end – in 1999 and said they found it “extremely difficult.” They noted Lepore and Poulin “hike faster than we ever could. They managed around our house and ‘talked’ to us by writing things in a notebook.

“Roni is very patient and loving and really cares that Roger makes it all the way to Katahdin, Maine. Roger is determined to hike through ‘thick or thin’! He gets banged up a lot, but trudges on! He generally comes in to the pick up site (I shuttled them) after Roni. She whoops and hollers and jumps up and down and claps for him. She is truly glad that he has made it,” said Carol Baker. “We can’t fathom how either of them is doing this!”

Lepore’s trail name is “Ram Sham” for Rambling Shamrock. The New Jersey resident holds bachelor and master’s degrees from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York in the area of Information Technology.

Maine resident Poulin’s trail name is Adventurous Cane. He was born with Usher Syndrome, the most common condition that affects both hearing and vision, which also comes with balance problems – not able to walk steady.

Read the rest here.

And here's a story about a hiker's dream to hike the 100 mile Wilderness Trail where he met a deaf hiker.

I also met a deaf hiker named Caribou and his dog, who had flipped from New Jersey and was now hiking south to there going 20 miles per day. Don’t think he’s quite on that pace though, as I just saw him at breakfast in Monson this morning a week after we met.

Deaf hikers on the Appalachian Trail? How often does that happen?

Anyway, if you live in the Northwest and like to hike then check out my next hike if you want to join and perhaps start the first get together of Deaf and HH Hikers of the Northwest.

See ya.