Day Fire Podcast

This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Bill Hodge. Bill became the Montana State Director for The Wilderness Society in January of 2023 after serving four years as the Executive Director of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation. This role withThe Wilderness Society is his second tour with the organization. During Bill’s first term he started the ground-breaking organization Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards (AKA -SAWS).

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This week Clint and Dawson sit down with John Davis. John is a Master Scuba Diver trainer with the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) and is also an instructor for Scuba Schools International (SSI). John enjoys teaching people how to dive, and currently does instruction at Choo Choo Dive and Aquatic Center in Chattanooga Tennessee. He has organized and lead dive trips for the last thirty-five years all over the world. John is an avid underwater photographer. We tell stories, ask shark questions and get some details on how to get started in the sport.

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This week Dawson and :Clint go into the studio for some fun and stories! 'Did You Know' facts about animals AND stories/advice from Dawson! Trust me - this one is fun! Tune-in and play along! Share and Enjoy! By the way - do you know where otters store extra food? What do you call a group of crows?

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This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Matt Schweiker. Matt grew up in Memphis Tn and then went to College at University of Alabama. After college he moved West to Seattle, WA where he had his first real outdoor experiences climbing mountains and backcountry skiing in the Cascades.

In 2012, moved to Yangshuo China and worked seasonally guiding outdoor education trips. In the off-seasons, traveled and began bike touring. Completed bike touring trips in Western China, New Zealand, Africa and South America. Matt moved to Chattanooga in 2019 and began bikepack racing. Completed TNGA in 2020, Colorado Trail in 2021, Silk Road Mountain Race in 2022 to mention just a few races and events.

We could do 10 podcasts with Matt and still not have covered all his adventures and races. We focus on his 2021 Silk Road Race in Kyrgyzstan and his upcoming Great Divide race happening this June 2023.

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This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Chris Watford. Chris grew up in a very outdoors oriented family. His family owned an outdoor outfitting shop in Roswell, Georgia called Call Of The Wild. The business was established in 1978 by his father. He grew up in this family business and took it over after graduation from college and operated it until 2005. Chris's primary passion has always been rock climbing, having gone for the first time on a Boy Scout trip at 11 years old in 1976. He started in earnest in 1978 or 79.

Chris has authored and published 5 editions of a rock climbing guidebook series called the Dixie Cragger's Atlas, which cover climbing areas in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.

While operating the retail shop, he was also a vendor of climbing and safety equipment for industrial users, high rise window washers, Fire and Rescue departments as well as the film and video industry. This led to quite a bit of work on film, television and commercial sets, doing everything from camera safety to assisting with stunt rigging.

In 1996, he was fortunate to connect with the primary specialty television camera supplier for the Olympic Games in Atlanta Ga. That relationship exists to this day, and Chris has traveled the world working at large sporting events; World Cup soccer, European Cup soccer, Summer and Winter Olympics, The Summer and Winter Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and others. Chris leads a team of climbers that are responsible for setting up all of the high angle aerial cameras for broadcast.

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This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Sean Blanton. Sean is the owner/founder of Run Bum Races. In 16 years Sean has run over 300 ultra runs. Sean's company Run Bum hosts some of the most scenic, iconic, destination ultras/events in the country. Check out his events here. https://www.runbumtours.com . Sean is a true steward of the forest and while he is always giving back to the Parks and public lands he runs his events on, he also can be found out in the forest clearing and cutting down trees on trail systems he simply enjoys. Not to boast but I asked him how many hours he spends boots on the ground volunteering in the forest and the answer was around 300 hours with tools in hand. Bravo to Sean. He also holds the FKT for the Florida Trail which is 1108 miles. He is a paraglider, skydiver and speed flyer. He is the host of the Bend dont break podcast.

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This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Ben Friberg. Ben is an explorer, an adventurer, a paddle board racer, who has paddled from Cuba to Key West. He has raced down the Yukon river and traveled the world and has met 7 indigenous peoples; Lapps/Sami Sarek/Sweden, Bedouin Sinai/Egypt, Quechua (Ausengate/Peru), First Nations Alaska/Yukon Territory, Sepik/Crocodile Clan - Papua New Guinea, First Nations Bering Strait (Russia/Alaska), Achuar (Amazon). Ben shares his insights and travels with us. Some of Ben's journeys have included his family which includes two little ones who are 3 and 1. Ben's wife Kim is also the love of his life and a highly talented adventurer and athlete.

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This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Kim Smith. Kimberley Bodenhamer Smith’s Facebook Bio says: “Texan born in California and residing in Tennessee: Mudder, Author, unicyclist, Caver, Transhumanist, and an Episcopalian.” Many other labels and clubs could be added to the vast interests of this American TAG Caver. Kim, as she prefers to be called by friends and family (or Kimmie with an IE) is a typical Alpha female caver. "She states you either love me or hate me. I have a polarizing personality.

Kim bought Chilliheads a fleece product company, from Darrell and Susan Bryant in the winter of 2010. The company started on Signal Mountain, TN in 1991. Chilliheads was one of the first fleece hat and liner companies in the southwest and serviced mountaineers, rock climbers, skiers, kayakers and cavers just to name a few markets. This was a “golden ticket” into the caving community that is notoriously a very closed community for a number of very legitimate reasons which we discuss. Kim states; there are only 15,000 active NSS Cavers in the US.

Kimberley put the pleasure and service of the sport before her business, and became the secretary of Chattanooga Grotto and sat on the executive committee for three years. Finishing out her Geo-political contribution to the National Speleological Society, as the chairwoman of CG in 2014. The Chattanooga grotto is an elite group of big-name Cavers and has been in existence for over 50+years. Kim has also been a member of the Sewanee Mountain Grotto. Her cave mentors have been the late Moore J. Smith of Lookout Mountain, Page Ashwell of the TAG Grotto, Kelly Smallwood of the G-Spot Grotto, and the late Steve Hudson of PMI ropes.

Her love of adventure began by running away from ski school on Mammoth Mountain at five in 1981—to white water rafting the Zambezi river in August 1999, right after South Africa’s apartheid. She also built a cabin off grid at 10,000 feet in Park County Colorado, in South Park Ranches, during her early 20s. She is an avid skier/snowboarder. The snowboarder was retired in 2006 after having a level three spinal fusion at C-three, four and five.

Kim’s NSS number is RL63293. She’s waiting on that 15 year pin—it’s a year or two off from showing up in the mail. Kim is fiercely loyal and loving. Kim is proudest accomplishment in life is her son Bo, 19 and Burke who is a senior and 18. She believes deeply in manifestation and synchronicity.

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This week Dawson and Clint sit down with Catey McClary. Catey is President and CEO of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. Catey joined Tremont as President and CEO in the Fall of 2018. A Tennessee native, Catey formed an early connection to the outdoors and first attended Tremont Institute in the sixth grade with her school.

Inspired by her time in nature, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Environmental Biology from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. After graduation, she completed an internship with the Fisheries Department in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and then hiked 400+ miles of the Appalachian Trail through Virginia.

Catey has worked in non-profit administration for nearly 20 years, previously as SOAR’s Chief Financial Officer. She is strongly committed to conservation, having served on the Conservation Trust of North Carolina and their Future Leaders Conservancy advisory board. She has also served as a board member for Alliance For Better Nonprofits. She is currently serving as Board Treasurer for SOAR, Inc.

Her certifications include CPR, Wilderness First Aid, and PADI Open Water Diver. Catey enjoys climbing and paddling and is working on completing all 800 miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Catey shares with us the mission and programs of Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, stories, learnings and their partnership with the National Park. Clint even gets a few questions answered about Fireflies!!!

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This week Clint and Dawson sit down with Derick Lugo aka Mr. Fabulous. Derick is the author of the Unlikely Thru Hiker; "a must read for everyone". Derick in 2022 was back on the trail thru hiking the CDT. Derick is a natural storyteller and he shares his journey up the CDT. We also hear a little about future adventures up Mt. Shasta and there is a second book deal coming soon. You can buy Derick's book on Amazon so grab a copy. We look forward to his next book and all his future adventures.

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