Outside Podcast

Backpacker editor Zoe Gates sets off to discover if chatbots are the solution to our trip-planning woes. Preparing for wilderness excursions can be frustrating, even for seasoned adventurers. Tsunamis of online information—conflicting top ten lists, distracting ads, and trip reports of varying quality—can stand between you and getting out the door. Artificial intelligence tools claim to deliver detailed travel itineraries in response to just a single question, but can a robot really design a safe, worthwhile adventure? In an effort to simplify her weekend excursions, Zoe experiments with Outside’s in-development chatbot, Scout—and is totally at the whims of her computer.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn more about all the benefits of a subscription and subscribe now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

There are passionate birders and then there’s Peter Kaestner, whose devotion has him traveling the globe in pursuit of the ultimate record. Fewer than 20 people have seen more than 9,000 species, and nobody has reached 10,000, though Kaestner is closing in on it. For this episode of our Summer Read series, Ornithologist and writer Jessie Williamson tags along with him on a rollicking South American adventure.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn more about all the benefits of a subscription and subscribe now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

After years of pushing himself to go as big and far as he could, Alastair Humphreys realized that the most valuable trips we take are usually the ones right out our doors. Back in 2011, he coined the term “micro adventure” and ever since he’s been extolling the many upsides of doing things that we can squeeze in around the margins of real life: biking to a nearby hill and sleeping there for a night, an afternoon creek hike, even just climbing a tree. The point is to embrace simple, pure outdoor fun wherever we can find it, which can do wonders for us.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn more about all the benefits of a subscription and subscribe now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

Your head is pounding, your muscles are cramping, and your heart is racing. And that’s just the start of it. Heatstroke kills thousands of people every year, including extremely fit outdoor athletes, who can be overcome quickly and with little warning. In the first episode of our 2023 Summer Read series, we hear a story about that demonstrates just how easy it is to get overheated—and what science tells us about how we can keep our cool.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn more about all the benefits of a subscription and subscribe now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

If you want to know what it was like to travel this legendary trail, there’s only one way: get on a horse and follow all 2,000 miles of it. That’s what writer Will Grant did, retracing the route from Missouri to California over four and half months. He cooked his own meals and never knew where he’d end up camping on a given night. It was a grueling feat of endurance and logistical fortitude, but it gave him exactly what he was after—the chance to truly understand the people, land, and history of the American West.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn more about all the benefits of a subscription and subscribe now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

Studies show that astonishing experiences in nature can have life-changing benefits, and that even small everyday doses of time outdoors can have immediate impacts. Those are two of many revelations Outside contributing editor Florence Williams uncovered during her investigation into the latest research around awe. Informed by conversations with leading awe experts, Williams guides us through the emerging understanding of what awe does for us—and how being open-minded can better facilitate experiences of this singular emotion.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

The actor’s flight into space in 2021 left him with an urgent desire to make us aware of the fragility of our home—a feeling that has yet to fade away. Media reports at the time, as well as Shatner’s own writing about his voyage with Blue Origin, focused on the grief he experienced looking into the blackness of space. But there was always much more to it. As part of an exploration into the power of awe for Outside, contributing editor Florence Williams spoke to Shatner, now 92, about how confronting forces larger than ourselves—be that beauty and wonder or horror and sadness—can be overwhelming yet ultimately transformative.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

There’s a reason the acclaimed author wrote his latest book in the voice of a dog: it enabled him to run free all over an imagined seaside park. Eggers has always been a writer compelled to break boundaries, and in The Eyes and the Impossible he’s at it again, crafting an all-ages story about a brave mutt named Johannes and his crew of committed friends: a seagull, a pelican, a racoon, and a one-eyed squirrel. Together they hatch a plan to free the park’s bison from their pens so that they, too, can roam where they will. For Eggers, who writes on a sailboat in San Francisco Bay and has a passion for unique flying experiences (old planes, ultralights, jet packs), the book was a chance to delight in a simple and pure kind of adventure storytelling.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

When veteran climber Mark Jenkins came up with a plan to witness a solar spectacle from the summit of a 20,000-foot peak, he had little idea what he was getting himself into. The fact that the obscure mountain in Argentina he’d targeted was extremely difficult to access was just the start of his challenges. After recruiting an old climbing buddy to join him, and arriving safely in South America, the duo ran into trouble at every stage of their mission. And yet their bold and bumbling quest delivered an unexpected triumph. Just in time for the summer solstice, we’re bringing back this classic adventure from our archives.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.

Working the front lines of America’s wildfires is a difficult and dangerous job, but that doesn’t mean everyone who signs up is chasing adventure. While physical and mental challenges are part of the attraction, what draws many to the field is the camaraderie that comes with working in an unpredictable environment alongside a committed crew. And what makes a great firefighter isn’t a high tolerance for risk so much as the ability to be calm and assertive no matter what the day brings. In this episode, we speak to a trio of firefighters about how and why they fell in love with one of the most demanding jobs out there.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by Outside+ subscribers. Learn about the many benefits of a subscription and sign up now at outsideonline.com/podplus.