Whether you known him as Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Yeti, Thla'Thla, Sninik, or something else, you've heard the legends - the stories of the hairy mountain man who lives, as writer John Zada says, "in primeval nature and collective memory." And today, we're plunging deep into Canada's ancient forests to find him.

But make no mistake - this isn't Bigfoot searching like you've seen before. There are no infrared cameras, scanners, or traps. Instead, we'll follow John as he listens and learns from Canada's First Nations peoples, framing his investigation within a greater story of indigenous myth, community, and sacred land.

When John first began hearing about a flurry of Sasquatch sightings, he was visiting the Heiltsuk Nation in British Columbia on an unrelated assignment. But he couldn't shake the stories from his mind. Intrigued, he decided to embark on a trip dedicated entirely to following these stories to their roots. And in so doing, he uncovered something that goes much deeper than footprints or rumors.

This is a story about monsters - but it's also one that tells us about ourselves. And along the way, it's about the power of myth, the need for environmental activism, and the tangled webs of our own psyches.

FIND JOHN

Get a copy of John's book, In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch, online or from your local bookstore. Connect with John and see more of his work, including his photography, at his website johnzada.com, and follow him on Instagram @JohnZada.

SOCIAL

Share the show with your friends! Subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening, follow @armchairexplorerpodcast on Instagram and Facebook, check out Armchair Explorer's website, and learn more about APT Podcast Studios on their website.

CREDITS

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions. Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com. Jenny Allison wrote and produced this episode, along with host and producer Aaron Millar. Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Theme music written by the artist Sweet Chap.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

Estes Park was founded more than 100 years ago, and of course it was inhabited for thousands of years before then by the Ute and Arapaho Native American tribes. You don’t get that kind of history without a few tall tales building up along the way; legends and ghost stories retold through generations.

But myths are more than just tales. They are a part of living history, part of the fabric of a place passed from campfire to campfire, woven through the land in the invisible threads of our imagination. And by following those threads, we’ll not only have some fun, but we’ll also see a side to these Rocky Mountains that most people don’t even know exist.

This episode follows three different stories: the Earl of Dunraven, the legend of the blue mist and the story behind the keys at the Seven Keys Lodge, which historically was called the Baldpate Inn.

Two of these stories are told by Estes Park’s professional storyteller, Kurtis Kelly. Learn more about historic characters from Estes Park through Kurtis’ upcoming events or book a private show.

Learn more about the Earl of Dunraven here.

Learn more about the haunted sides of the Seven Keys Lodge and the blue mist here. 

The Seven Keys Lodge opened their tasting room this past summer in their famous key room marveled about in this episode. Here you will find handcrafted cocktails and a variety of an ever-changing menu of food.

Armchair Explorer is produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

“Those are my heroes, those guys paved the way for me to be able to travel through this country, free, and they're almost superhuman to me.”  

-        - Erick Cedeño, Bicycle Nomad

In 2013, Erick Cedeño, aka. Bicycle Nomad, came across an old photograph that changed his life. Taken in 1897, it showed 20 black soldiers riding bicycles across the American West. As he dug deeper, he learned that these were the Buffalo Soldiers, an all-black infantry regiment formed after the civil war. The photo was taken during a grueling 1,900-mile journey, in which they traveled by bike from Montana to Missouri in order to test the efficacy of the bicycle as a form of military transport. To this day, it is one of the most difficult bike trips ever undertaken. 

As a black man, growing up in America, Erick had never seen people that looked like him riding bikes. It changed his life, and he knew he had to bring their story back to life. But he did it not by telling it, but by living it - pedaling every mile that they did, sleeping where they slept, eating where they ate, taking the hard roads where modern paved highways do not go. And in doing so he invites us to live it too.

“Curiosity drives me. It fuels my insatiable desire to know what’s beyond the next bend of the road, to discover what’s there beyond the edges of the map. If it is my muscles that propel me forward physically, it is curiosity that propels me mentally.”

FIND ERICK CEDEÑO

Follow all Erick’s adventures at iambicyclenomad.com, Instagram: @bicycle_nomad, and Facebook:@bicyclenomad

SOCIAL

If you enjoy this show, please take a minute to leave a review, it makes a huge difference and enables us to keep brining these stories to you. Remember also to subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening, follow @armchairexplorerpodcast on Instagram and Facebook, check out Armchair Explorer's website, and learn more about our network partner, APT Podcast Studios, on their website.

CREDITS

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions. Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com. Jenny Allison wrote and produced this episode, along with host and producer Aaron Millar. Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Theme music written by the artist Sweet Chap.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

Armchair Explorer goes on-location!

"Whiskey is a combination of fire, water, wood, time - and feelings."

Join host Aaron Millar as he samples a recipe as old as the Revolutionary War; visits a haunted prison that distills one-of-a-kind moonshine; meets a mad scientist blending chemistry and artistry in the glass; and learns the untold tale of the legendary whiskey maker that the world never got to meet.

Spanning 600 miles across the state of Tennessee, the Tennessee Whiskey Trail takes visitors through dozens of craft distilleries where no sip is like the last. Along the way, distillers share the inspiring - and often grisly - stories behind whiskey production in Tennessee, illustrate the process of creating a unique flavor, and of course, offer some delicious pours. Whether or not you're already a whiskey drinker, this episode will have you ready to pour a glass!

How about a musical chaser with that glass?

The Whiskey Trail has a sister series exploring the soundtrack of America, made in Tennessee! Produced in a documentary style, the Tennessee Music Pathways series takes listeners on a more than 1,000-mile road trip, from Bristol and the birth of country music to Memphis and the start of rock n’ roll. Along the way, listeners will hear bluegrass played fast as lightning and traditional Appalachian music performed live in the Great Smoky Mountains. Follow along as host Aaron Millar shops in Elvis’ favorite clothing store, bangs drums in the studio that made Uptown Funk, learns to play the spoons and drinks whiskey in a distillery housed in a more than 100-year-old former prison.

The Tennessee Whiskey Trail knits together 25 distilleries across the state, offering visitors an immersive experience rich with history, culture, and taste. Learn more and plan your visit at TNWhiskeyTrail.com.

The Tennessee Music Pathways is a guide that connects visitors to the rich musical heritage of our state. Visitors can curate their own path based on interests using an interactive guide at TNmusicpathways.com. Follow the conversation on social media using or searching hashtag #tnmusicpathways.

TNvacation.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Thank you to our guests:

Share the show with your friends! Subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening, follow @armchairexplorerpodcast on Instagram and Facebook, check out Armchair Explorer's website, and learn more about APT Podcast Studios on their website.

This series was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Aaron Millar wrote and presented it, Jason Paton did the field recording and production. Theme music by the artist Sweet Chap

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

“When I first decided to do these pilgrimages, I told myself I'm doing this as an investigative reporter. I'm doing it as an observer, and as an outsider … and in the end, that isn't what happened.”

• Rosemary Mahoney, author The Singular Pilgrim: Travels on Sacred Ground

When Rosemary Mahoney got off the ferry at the tiny island of Tinos, in Greece, she witnessed something extraordinary. Pilgrims dressed in black exited the boat and immediately flung themselves to the ground, crawling on hands and knees to worship at a shrine at the top of a nearby hill. 

Watching these men and women rolling in the dirt, sweating beneath a scorching sun, she asked herself a simple question. Every human culture that has ever existed has had some concept of the divine, however you define that. She wanted to understand why.

Her search for an answer began a remarkable journey to undertake six of the world’s most prominent religious pilgrimages. Her journey would take her from the Way of St James, trekking hundreds of miles across the Pyrenees of southern France and Spain, to the burning ghats of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River, in India, and beyond.

This isn’t a story about religion, or faith. It is an investigation into one of the most fundamental, but little understood, aspects of humanity. It is a quest to discover the roots of belief itself. And to find it, she will have to travel to six countries, walk hundreds of miles, and stare death in the face. 

Insightful, evocative, and inspiring. Rosemary’s story is an adventure into the heart of what it means to be human.

FIND ROSEMARY

Get a copy of Rosemary’s book The Singular Pilgrim: Travels on Sacred Ground, online or from your local bookstore. Find out more about her work at rosemarymahoney.net. Facebook: @RosemaryMahoneyWriter

SOCIAL

Share the show with your friends! Subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening, follow @armchairexplorerpodcast on Instagram and Facebook, check out Armchair Explorer's website, and learn more about APT Podcast Studios on their website.

CREDITS

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions. Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com. Jenny Allison wrote and produced this episode, along with host and producer Aaron Millar. Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Theme music written by the artist Sweet Chap.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

“You’re experiencing what you see on TV and the old western movies, the buffalo roaming across the prairie like that. It's that old west tradition that you don't see anywhere else in the world.”

– Matt Snyder, Superintendent of Custer State Park 

Feel the ground rumble and the dust fly as sixty cowboys and cowgirls saddle up to bring in a thundering herd of 1,300 buffalo at the 57th Annual Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup. But we’re not just watching it, we are in the thick of it as we get thrown around on the back of a truck chasing the herd across the wide-open plains. Listen to one of the riders Molly as she cracks her whip and corals the galloping beasts.

We also meet Lakota rider and manager of Bear Butte State Park, Jim Jandreau, who tells us what the buffalo means to the Lakota people, and Molly’s 87-year-old dad, who had just taken part in his 53rd roundup.

Along the way we discover that although the roundup harks back to a different time, the adventurous spirit of South Dakotans that has been a way of life for centuries still lives on. And that spirit is infectious.

Recorded on-location, this audio adventure is designed to do more than just let you hear what it’s like to be there; it’s designed to let you feel what it’s like for real.

Find out more at www.travelsouthdakota.com where you'll find lots of inspiration, ideas and everything else you need to know to plan your great South Dakota adventure.

Thank you to everyone who featured on this show:

-   Jim Jandreau, Bear Butte State Park

-   Molly Olivia, Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup

-   Bob Lantis, Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup

-   Matt Snyder, Custer State Park

-   Kobee Stalder, Custer State Park

-   Lydia Austin, Custer State Park

Produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry www.armchair-productions.com. Written and presented by Brian Thacker. Field recording and audio production by Jason Paton. Executive Producer Aaron Millar. Theme music by the artist Sweet Chap

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

"Half of planet Earth is still completely unexplored...and nobody seems to be paying attention."

When Victor Vescovo learned in 2016 that nobody had been to the deepest point of four of the five's oceans, he was flabbergasted...and he was up for the challenge.

Victor had earned his pilot's license at only nineteen, and he had spent much of his life pursuing adventure. He was one of the only people in the world to complete the Explorer's Grand Slam, during which he climbed to the highest peak on every continent and skied to both Poles. But he had never been far below the surface - and he quickly became obsessed with the idea.

He assembled a world class crew and tasked them with an extremely ambitious mission: Build a deep-sea submersible more durable, safe, and sturdy than anything in existence. Previously, subs had been built to survive one deep-sea dive. But Victor's team needed to figure out a way to replicate it - for at least five dives - if they wanted a shot at breaking this record.

And the mission wasn't purely adventure for adventure's sake. The ocean's depths are quickly becoming more and more critical for climate change science, species conservation, and more, and Victor knew that the science to be found under the surface was something that could be life-changing for the entire globe.

Riveting, inspiring, and terrifying all at once, Victor's story will take you deeper into the truth about our planet than anybody has ever been.

FIND VICTOR

Get a copy of Victor's book Expedition Deep Ocean, written by Josh Young, online or from your local bookstore. You can also catch the docu-series of the same title on Amazon Prime. Learn more about the Five Deeps Expedition at FiveDeeps.com, learn more about Victor's aquatic pursuits at his Caladan Oceanic website.

SOCIAL

Share the show with your friends! Subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening, follow @armchairexplorerpodcast on Instagram and Facebook, check out Armchair Explorer's website, and learn more about APT Podcast Studios on their website.

CREDITS

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions. Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com. Jenny Allison wrote and produced this episode, along with host and producer Aaron Millar. Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Theme music written by the artist Sweet Chap.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

For today's 'On Location' episode, we're exploring San Francisco in the most iconic way possible. San Francisco’s cable cars are not only the first in the world – invented here in 1873 – they are also the last. And though they travel at a mere 9.5mph, with the wind in your hair, the bells ringing and track rattling, it feels more like a roller coaster tour of the city than anything else on the road. 

Join us for a whirlwind journey, recorded on location, celebrating 150 years and counting of San Francisco’s cable cars. As we travel, we’re going to stop off at the highlights along the line, revealing the story of the city from its Gold Rush roots to the creativity and diversity that defines it to this day.

We’ll meet Val Lupiz, a legendary ‘gripman’, or cable car operator, for a lesson on what it takes to drive an actual 150-year-old antique. We’ll find a hidden music studio above a gift shop in Chinatown, and listen to a performance of a GuZheng, a more than 2,000-year-old traditional Chinese instrument. We’ll eat fresh seafood in one of the oldest restaurants in Fisherman’s Wharf, drink Mai Tai’s during an indoor monsoon at the Tonga Room, listen to an impromptu poetry recital about cable cars, on the cable car itself, and lots more.

Recorded on-location, this audio adventure is designed to do more than just let you hear what it’s like to be there; it’s designed to let you feel what it’s like for real.

For more information on how you can explore San Francisco for yourself, visit sftravel.com.

Thank you to everyone who featured on this show:

-       Val Lupiz, Cable Car Museum

-       Gimmy Park Li, Wok Wiz Walking Tours

-       Fang-Li (and students Katie and Catherine), Shangri-La Gifts

-       Josh and Michelle, Fairmont Hotel and Tonga Room

-       Tom Creedon, Scomas Restaurant

-       James Morehead, Viewless Wings, Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast

This show was produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry. Find out about all our shows at armchair-productions.com

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

What constitutes a life well lived?

When Darcy Gaechter turned 35, her life was everything she had hoped it would be. She had a loving partner, a rewarding job as a kayak expedition guide, and hard-won fame within the competitive world of whitewater kayaking. By her own measures, she was living the dream. And yet, many of her friends and family looked at her life and saw only what she did not have - a husband, children, a traditional high-paying office job.

Listening to them, doubts began to take root in Darcy's mind. Maybe, she decided, it was finally time to surrender her wild lifestyle and join the more stable - if not more boring - upper crusts of well-behaved society. But before she could do that...she had one final adventure to take.

It was an adventure so ambitious, so wild and deadly and unprecedented, that she believed it could cure her of her seemingly bottomless desire to tackle these quests, to chase the next horizon. And thus, mere months after her birthday, she found herself dipping her paddle into the frigid source waters of the Amazon, ready to kayak through its innumerable dangers - natural and manmade - in the following months.

Whether you're interested in kayaking, Amazonian culture and indigenous history, the interpersonal dynamics of expeditions, or all of the above, this episode is sure to engross you - from beginning to end.

FIND DARCY

Follow Darcy on Instagram @darcygaechter, and hear about her latest projects, events, and more on her website. The book she wrote about her Amazonian adventure is called Amazon Woman: Facing Fears, Chasing Dreams, and a Quest to Kayak the Longest River From Source to Sea. Get your copy today online or at your favorite bookstore (we especially love local bookstores)! Want to kayak with Darcy? Book a trip with her adventure company, Small World Adventures, and enjoy some of the best paddling Ecuador has to offer.

SOCIAL

Share the show with your friends! Subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening, follow @armchairexplorerpodcast on Instagram and Facebook, check out Armchair Explorer's website, and learn more about APT Podcast Studios on their website.

CREDITS

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions. Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com. Jenny Allison wrote and produced this episode, along with host and producer Aaron Millar. Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Theme music written by the artist Sweet Chap.

Mentioned in this episode:

Check out the Smart Travel Podcast

This week's show is supported by the new Smart Travel Podcast. Travel smarter — and spend less — with help from NerdWallet. Check out Smart Travel at the Link below:

Smart Travel Podcast

Check out all of our other travel podcasts from around the world

This podcast is part of the Voyascape Network, a collection of some of the world’s best travel podcasts. Explore more at Voyascape.com.

Voyascape Podcast Network

For this ‘On Location’ episode, we are going to get our boots on and do some hiking. There are 124 named peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park, with most of them over 10,000-feet. When you stand on the summit of one, a sea of peaks surrounds you on all sides. There are few things more exhilarating in life. And for many of us, it’s why we come here.

But it hasn’t always been that way. For thousands of years, mountains were the abode of Gods and monsters, places to be feared and avoided. They became challenges, a piece of indomitable nature that only the bravest of us would dare to tame. Now, perhaps, they are transforming again, from something to subdue to somewhere to escape from the confines of our modern world. 

Today, we’re going to climb a mountain that very few visitors ever do. It’s called Estes Cone. It’s 11,006 feet tall. But this story is about more than just getting our boots in the dirt. It’s about learning to see these Rocky summits with fresh eyes, whether you’re climbing to the top or enjoying the view from afar.

John Muir famously said, "The mountains are calling, and I must go.” We’re going to heed those words, reach for that summit, and listen for the Call of the Mountains.

--

Our ‘On Location’ episodes are funded by destination partnerships. Thank you to Visit Estes Park for making this one happen. They help with production costs, but the storytelling is all ours, and we only ever showcase content we love and think you will too. For more information on how you can experience everything that we did in this episode go to visitestespark.com

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions’ producers Aaron Millar and Jason Paton in conjunction with the creative team at House of Pod.