Last Empty Places

By Peter Stark and Jimmy Mac

Exploration writer and historian Peter Stark revisits out of the way places in America that many listeners have driven through but may not have fully appreciated, understood, or contemplated. A pod

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FAQs about Last Empty Places:

How many episodes does Last Empty Places have?

The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.

Last Empty Places episodes:

August 21, 2026 Rules of the Road
Peter and Jimmy catch their breath between guests to discuss essential precautions to take before heading off into the wilderness. This spins off into a wild story about Soviet vehicles on Icelandic backroads and a musing on the necessary elements to creating a great road movie.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
Find Jimmy Mac at gaugeilluminations.substack.com
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
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38min
August 14, 2026 Statistically Rare
Part two of Peter and Jimmy's conversation with author, carpenter, and adventurer Malcolm Brooks focuses almost exclusively on the tragic story of Brooks' nephews Taylen and Wyatt’s deadly encounter with a mountain lion. In the aftermath of the only recorded big cat attack on two males in North America, Taylen was left gravely injured and Wyatt lost his life.The young men were not lost, not novices, not disrespectful of their surroundings, nor did they make any mistakes. They simply serve as a reminder that the wilderness is a dangerous place for even the most experienced of explorers.
Find Malcom at https://substack.com/@malcolmbrooks.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
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39min
August 07, 2026 Losing the Empty
In the first of two conversations, author, carpenter, and adventurer Malcolm Brooks joins Jimmy and Peter to discuss the dilemma of discovering those Last Empty Places knowing the precious solitude they offer slips away the moment you enter them.
Find Malcom at https://substack.com/@malcolmbrooks.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
...more
41min
July 30, 2026 Reflexive Vulnerability
Peter and Jimmy use a particularly obnoxious social media post about the pointlessness of travel as a springboard to give examples of how even the most innocuous of trips becomes a genuine opportunity not to just learn, but understand. That is what makes it life-affirming or genuinely transformative.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
...more
38min
June 14, 2026 A Clock in the Wilderness
Everybody is a little lost this week. With Clare Marie gearing up for a performance, Peter searches for a clear signal in the Puget Sound while Jimmy Mac takes a break from broadcasting at The American Truck Historical Society's truck show in Missouri. This brings up the topic of getting lost while on a schedule. Late for work, expected at an important event, or any time people are counting on you to arrive on time adds the additional anxiety of not only not knowing where you are but also the prospect of letting yourself or others down. Somehow this throws our adventurous podcasters into the sea, with Peter lost in a fog bank off the shores of Nantucket. And in the midst of it all, a young lady named Lilly ends up at Jimmy's conference booth looking for a little swag.
If you're lost, listening will clarify everything.
Visit the American Truck Historical Society at aths.org.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
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25min
May 31, 2026 The Dogs of Kilimanjaro
Fresh off a Kilimanjaro hike for a worthy cause, veteran and Sierra Delta founder BJ Ganem joins Peter and Jimmy for a conversation about adventure, purpose, and the strange ways we find our bearings in life. Drawing on his deep passion for our four-legged companions, BJ explores how man’s best friend may also be the best safeguard against ever truly getting lost. Along the way, Peter travels across Canada with a dog sled team, while Jimmy reflects on why sharing your life with a pet might be the closest thing we get to a preview of heaven.
Learn more about Sierra Delta at sierradelta.com and find the Waterboys at waterboys.org.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
...more
34min
May 24, 2026 You May Find Yourself...
From “The D.H. Lawrence Room” in a New Mexico hotel, Peter joins Jimmy for a conversation that begins as a continuation of their discussion about contingencies for getting lost, before drifting somewhere stranger and more transcendent—into the idea of abandoning past and future entirely in order to exist fully within the immediate wilderness.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
...more
41min
May 13, 2026 Lost Contingencies
It isn't an adventure without the risk of being lost. Accepting that reality could be the difference between life and death. Peter and Jimmy discuss the difference between being lost with a plan versus the terror that comes with realizing you have no way home.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
...more
41min
April 26, 2026 We Lost It at the Movies
Jimmy and Peter head into Hollywood’s treacherous development hell with returning guest Michael Punke, author of The Revenant, and celebrated screenwriter Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist). What begins as a conversation about screenwriting and adaptation opens into something deeper: mountain men, Jeremiah Johnson, the creative power of empty places, and the value of stripping a story down to its bare essentials. Along the way, they kick around the question of whether's America’s independent spirit began with a man in buckskins trying to sell a beaver pelt?
Follow Tab Murphy @talbotmurphy on Instagram.
Follow Michael Punke at @mwpunke on Instagram and @MPunke on Twitter.
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
...more
46min
April 19, 2026 Revenants and Mountain Men
Peter and Jimmy discuss being lost, the art of historical fiction, and getting lost in Hollywood development with Michael Punke, author of "The Revenant." While in their conversational wanderings, they find time to reflect on how physical ailments, injuries, and mental health issues amplify what it means to be without a map. Michael also takes a moment to describe building a rifle.
Follow Michael Punke at @mwpunke on Instagram and @MPunke on Twitter
Visit us at peterstarkauthor.com, and on YouTube.
Follow us @lastemptyplaces on Instagram
A Planet Clare Production | planetclareproductions.com
...more
40min

FAQs about Last Empty Places:

How many episodes does Last Empty Places have?

The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.