Jack Mountain Bushcraft Podcast

It’s near the end of the fall semester, so we invited some of the current Wilderness Bushcraft Semester students into the Guide Shack so you could hear directly from them about their thoughts about the course. Listen in as they describe their experience and answer a few questions about it.

PHOTO: Spring semester students at sunset on the Allagash.

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 97 | The Student’s Perspective

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We offer several different types of programs, and in this episode of the podcast we describe and define what they are and who they’re for. Two weeks to go in the fall, 2020 Wilderness Bushcraft Semester.

PHOTO: Big breakfast in camp.

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 96 | Differentiating Professional Training Programs

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Minimalism in the wild. In episode 95 of the JMB Podcast Christopher and I discuss the idea of minimalism as compared and contrasted with ultralight in the backcountry.

We often discuss our traditional approach to camping, characterized by heavy gear and lots of it. But we also enjoy going light with improvised gear. Going light with homemade gear will recalibrate your baseline. Too much stuff gets in the way and becomes the focus. It hinders, rather than helps, to build your relationship with the land. Our discussion is about the benefits of going minimalist from time to time.

PHOTO: First light on a lake in the North Maine Woods, photo by Christopher Russell and his fancy new camera.

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 95 | Minimalism In The Wild

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In episode 94 of the JMB Podcast Christopher and I discuss the concept of transference; where lessons learned in one space are applied in a different space, in a different way. Sometimes called lateral thinking, it’s about developing deep knowledge. It’s also about developing deep knowledge of problems to be solved.

PHOTO: Frost on the red clover

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 94 | Transference Or Lateral Thinking

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In episode 93 we get listeners caught up with current events, then discuss how in bushcraft (and many other aspects of life), the advanced skills are the basics mastered; there is not a separate set of skills for advanced practitioners. It’s all about depth of knowledge.

PHOTO: Canoeing on a northern Maine lake

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 93 | Advanced Skills Are The Basics Mastered

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We welcomed Ryan Holt into the studio for episode 92. Ryan is a Jack Mountain Bushcraft School alum and has completed 4 challenges on the television show Naked & Afraid. He is the owner of the Human-Nature Hostel in Roxbury, Maine. We talk about his time on tv, his work running a hostel for Appalachian Trail hikers, and the new direction he’s heading in as a result of the Covid.

PHOTO: Ryan Holt on Naked & Afraid

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 92 | Ryan Holt

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Recorded on September 8th at the new Jack Mountain Bushcraft School hq studio, episode 90 features Tim Smith and Colin Clifford talking about Colin’s recent 10-day Allagash solo canoe trip.

PHOTO: Tim Cole coming into Round Pond on the Allagash from a few years back.

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 91 | 10-Day Allagash Solo

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Recorded on July 2nd by a very tired Tim Smith and Christopher Russell, episode 90 is about the challenges faced in participating in, as well as running, our semester courses. It was hot and buggy and we were tired from a long semester, but we talked about events that were current and prognosticated on some things that have since come to pass. After a summer off the grid we’re back, with a new office that’s on the grid. More coming soon.

PHOTO: Paradise cove from the fall of 2019. Headed back there tomorrow.

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 90 | 2020 Spring Semester Wrap-Up

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In episode 89 Christopher and I discuss the philosophy of friluftsliv, a traditional Scandinavian approach to the natural world. Loosely translated, it means “open air life”. It’s different than how most people see nature in the USA, and is the basis for the part-time, yearlong immersion program we’re currently developing, to be run in southern Vermont, as well as our field school programs in northern Maine.

In a nutshell, it’s all about the experience of being out on the land, and developing a personal relationship with it. My apologies to our friends in Scandinavia if we’ve missed the mark on some of the aspects; we’re still learning.

PHOTO: Snowshoe bindings drying by the fire after a warm, wet day.

Show Notes: JMB Podcast Episode 89 | Friluftsliv Philosophy & Bushcraft

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We just wrapped up week 7 of the Wilderness Guide Training Semester. Weeks 6 and 7 were spent on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, and it’s appropriate that during a guide training semester we had to do some guide stuff. Specifically, we had to medically evacuate a participant on the trip. For the story, listen to the episode.

PHOTO: Participants of the spring, 2020 Wilderness Guide Training Semester enjoying the sunset from a beach on Chamberlain Lake, Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

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