Walking the Portuguese Camino with Her Parents to Honor Her Late Brother with Elise "Sauce" Ott (BPR #361)

In today's episode of Backpacker Radio presented by The Trek, brought to you by LMNT, we are joined by our pal Elise Ott, aka Sauce, who gives us a play by play of her recent hike on Portuguese Camino coastal route along with her parents.

SOS walks us through doing the Camino as a tribute to her late brother Curtis, who passed away in February of 2025 after years of living with schizoaffective disorder. She shares his story with honesty and humor, including the time he stole a county parks truck in a three-piece suit, drove it across state lines, and complimented the cop who tackled him, and gets into what it's like to love someone whose illness made them impossible to help, why she doesn't know exactly how he died, and what it meant to scatter his ashes along the coast of Portugal with her parents.

Elise also shares what the Portuguese Camino coastal route is actually like, the food situation (and why it was mas o menos), how it was to hike the trail through a  tour operator, navigating language barriers with limited Spanish, and what it's like to hike 13 days with your parents and come out closer on the other side. 

We wrap the show with 2026 hiking trends and whether they're actually worth it, debating the classic debate of raccoon-who-knows-your-secrets versus the goose-who-overreacts-to-everything, the triple crown of girly gear, I am very dumb and pulled my hamstring, and we cover a mailbag about wearing contacts on trail.

Warning: this episode contains candid discussion of mental illness, substance abuse, family trauma, and the death of a loved one.

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Interview with Elise "SOS" Ott

• Elise's Instagram
• Elise's Website
• Elise's Youtube

Time stamps & Questions

00:05:35 - Reminders: Join us for Chaunce's live podcast sendoff, submit your favorite Chaunce moments or a voicemail for Chaunce, calling all CDT hikers - suggest yourself as a guest, sign up for the Trek's newsletter, and listen to our episodes ad-free on Patreon!

00:12:30 - Introducing Elise

00:14:00 - What does a running coach do?

00:19:01 - How do you handle the social pressure of running on Strava?

00:23:09 - How did you end up choosing the Portuguese Camino Coastal Route?

00:26:06 - What are the daily miles, pace, and logistics like on the Camino?

00:29:04 - What was the food like in Portugal and Spain?

00:35:05 - What was the cost of using a tour service, and was it worth it?

00:38:59 - What are the highlights of the towns along the route?

00:45:00 - Discussion about Curtis and the reason for the hike

00:46:18 - What is schizoaffective disorder, and how did Curtis's illness develop?

00:55:51 - What's the story of Curtis stealing the county truck in a three-piece suit?

01:03:10 - Were rehab stints ever helpful for Curtis?

01:18:39 - What was it like fearing for your parents' safety?

01:28:35 - How are your parents doing, and was the hike a positive grieving exercise?

01:32:13 - What do you know about how Curtis died?

01:41:12 - What advice do you have for people loving someone with severe mental illness?

01:45:15 - What were the highlights and best moments of the Camino?

01:46:53 - How did you navigate language barriers in Portugal and Spain?

01:48:24 - What are the funniest parent quirks you discovered on the hike?

01:57:03 - What gear do you recommend for the Camino?

02:07:15 - What was the funniest thing that happened on the trail?

02:10:01 - What is it like managing sleep apnea with a CPAP while backpacking?

02:23:04 - What are your top recovery tips for ultrarunning?

02:27:54 - Discussion about 2026 hiking trends: sleeping pad inflators and Alpha Direct

Segments

Trek Propaganda: 2026 Hiking Gear Trends, And Whether I Think They're Actually Worth It by Livvy Weld

QOTD: Would you rather have one raccoon know all your secrets and occasionally hint at them or one goose publicly overreact to everything you do?

Stupid Thing of the Week

Triple Crown of gear you can find that's girly

Mail Bag

5 Star Review

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