In 2020, David Litt, former senior speech writer to President Obama, moved from Washington DC to the Jersey Shore, and felt the need for a jolt of life amidst the pandemic. So he did what anyone would do: David decided he needed to learn to surf. As a sensible Yale-educated, New York Times best selling author, David knew he needed help. And that’s how he ended up bobbing in the ocean with someone who could not be more dissimilar to him, his tattooed, truck driving, death metal enthusiast, Joe Rogan superfan, brother-in-law, Matt. The sea salt comedy of errors, became the basis of David's brand new book "It's Only Drowning: A true story of learning to surf and the pursuit of common ground." And while it hilariously recounts David’s learning process, the book is also a surprising investigation of the current American culture war, the roles David and his brother-in-law have been cast into, and how, as unlikely as it would seem, a sport like surfing can help bridge the fissures of class and culture.

Craig Mod may think in binary code, but he does so from the perspective of a visual artist. Mod is…well, a lot of things. He’s a writer, a photographer, and a digital media designer. And he’s likely influenced your life, even if you have never heard his name. Craig worked on massive digital platforms, like Medium and Flipboard, and has spent two decades as a tech start up consultant. But to make sure he can unplug from his computer-centric work, Craig walks. As in many, many, many kilometers-long multi-day walks, mostly on the ancient pilgrimage routes that crisscross his adopted home of Japan. Craig has turned these walks into several fascinating books. In his most recent book, Things Become Other Things, Craig took on a 300-mile trek through Japan’s ancient Kumano Kodō, which transformed into a meditation on his life, the forces that shape us all, and the power of slowly moving through nature in an increasingly distracting digital world.

Three comedians walk into a festival…no, this isn’t a joke set up. This is exactly what happened in Denver, Colorado, at the second Outside Festival. Professional giggle-makers Matt Lyons, Katie Burrell, and Eeland Stribling joined host PaddyO on stage to discuss how the outdoors are really just one big punchline. After all, we spend our hard-earned dough on gear to help us sleep in the dirt, run unreasonable distances, hike in brutal weather, and fall booty over tea kettle into snow. Comedy not only abounds, it also thrives in the outdoors. Whether it’s Matt Lyons’ gear jargon satire, Eland Stribling's fly-fishing observations, or Katie Burrell’s roasting of outdoorsy relationships, these folks are here to remind us: if you can’t laugh at yourself in the outdoors, you’re probably dehydrated.

If your father is like PaddyO’s dad, he probably likes to spin a yarn about his wild youth. Hearing about a father’s daring, scruffy, comedy-of-errors adventures is hilarious, but it also gives you a glimpse into how your old man became a man. And also old. And that winds up being a kind of crystal ball into your own past, present, and future, too. So, in honor of Father’s Day (it’s this week – you better get your dad something), we bring you a pod from the archives: The story of PaddyO’s dad, and what adventure looked like back when the shorts were short, the gear was not waterproof, and there weren’t that many guys from Chicago crawling around the Colorado Rockies.

Griff Wasburn, better known to the world as musical act Goth Babe, had a drive to create since he was a child. He grew up in Tennessee running wild in the woods, skateboarding, and riding bikes on self-built tracks in his backyard. He filmed and scored short films of his adventures, and transformed old cardboard boxes into whatever he dreamt up. At 16 years old, he picked up a guitar and so began Goth Babe. In adulthood, Griff DIY’d truck bed campers, tiny homes, and trailers, drove them all over the country seeking out adventure and space to create. But a brutal surfing accident and its lasting effects on Griff’s brain threatened to derail the expansion and evolution of his music career and creativity. Lucky for Griff, life and creativity cannot stay constrained and contained.

Melissa Arnot Reid’s mountaineering resume is a jaw dropping list of accomplishments; hundreds of summits of the world’s tallest, most dangerous peaks, including becoming the first American woman to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen. Melissa has an uncommon athletic prowess, but what truly fueled her mountain pursuits was a long held and long protected emotional emptiness. In a gut-wrenching new memoir, Enough, Melissa details the childhood abuse that created harmful adult behaviors, like pushing her body to dangerous physical limits and pushing her psyche into abusive relationships. Both her trauma and her mountaineering accomplishments are singular, but everyone can understand the challenge of grappling with your parents and your past.

In and around his home of Bozeman, Montana, Ranga Perera is highly sought after as a fly fishing pal and even more highly sought after as a personal chef. There’s nothing unusual about that combination, until you learn that his family came to the States in 1991 from Sri Lanka after a happy childhood was disrupted by a violent civil war. Less than a year after emigrating, Ranga’s father passed away and the event haunted him until his own brush with death years later. And yet Ranga lives life without a trace of cynicism or resentment, but rather with childlike wonder and excitement. How does he do it? Through fishing and cooking.

Everyone knows it’s important to try new things, but combating that internal voice, which begs us to stay within our comfort zone ain’t easy—even for a professional tryer of new things like Mirna Valerio. Known on the internet as The Mirnavator, Mirna knows what she’s talking about. She took up running in her late 30s, then road marathons, then trail marathons, then ultramarathons. Then she took up cycling. Then mountain biking. And, as she rounds in on 50, Mirna is committed to be coming an expert skier. And every step of the way, Mirna has faced the internal voice, and the external voices of internet trolls who find fault in how she does it and who she is. How Mirna learned to deal with these voices is a lot more interesting than simply silencing them, and it’s a good bit of inspiration for anyone looking to expand their experiences outside.

You probably know Katie Burrell from Instagram, where she’s built a sizeable following by skewering outdoor stereotypes and having World Cup race ski-sharp takes on how relationships live and die on trails of all sorts. But she’s also a seasoned standup comedian who wrote and starred in 2023’s homage to 80s ski comedies, “Weak Layers,” all of which is why you’ll find her at the Outside Festival’s Ideas stage, talking all things funny outdoors. So you’d think talking with her would be a nonstop train of giggles, but Katie takes her craft pretty seriously, as evidenced by her latest leap: starring in the dramatic short film “Bardo”. This kind of range requires a lot of emotional intelligence, and it turns out there’s no better place to develop that than on skis and mountain bikes.

Minnesota is not always top of mind when it comes to outdoor adventure, but it should be. Just ask lifelong “Land of 10,000 Lakes” local Dave Simonett, lead singer of Trampled By Turtles. Dave grew up in Mankato and spent his youth exploring its rolling woods. And when he formed Trampled in Duluth in 2003, something surprising happened. His love of fishing, hiking, skiing, and hunting combined with his musical influences to create a songwriting career based on a deep connection to the outdoors. And today, when Dave isn’t headlining hootenannys like The Outside Festival, he works diligently to protect beloved Minnesotan locales, like the Boundary Waters. Turns out, Minnesota’s woods and water are as integral to Dave’s life and music as a guitar pick.