“Thru-hiking started to feel like a compulsion: I had to hike the same way I had to breathe,” writes Eloise Robbins. After she fell in love with another thru-hiker on the PCT, she uprooted her life to be with him in Canada. Deprived of a job, a community, and most of all--mountains, Eloise wondered if the sacrifice for love was worth it.

“There should be no friction in the system. If someone wants to come and climb, they should be able to come and climb,” says Abby Dione, owner of Coral Cliffs in Florida. When Abby had to close her doors in March 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions, she wasn’t sure how long she could keep the business afloat. Faced with losing its only climbing gym, and fueled by a spark of ingenuity, the community had to consider how much they valued the gym beyond the climbing holds.

When Doug Barclift decided to start a business, he headed to an untraditional spot to buy his real estate-- a junkyard. There he found the school bus, wedged between a trailer and a stack of cars, that he would transform into his own paddleboard company. And when a pandemic, civil unrest, and forest fires all threatened to thwart him, Doug kept paddling out to stay positive in a difficult year. 

And friends and previous contributors share their goals to keep you dreaming and scheming, even when it feels like we’re just trying to get through another year. 

“No one is going to talk me out of doing this because this is a great idea,” says Becca Skinner. “I just gave the best Christmas gift and everyone is going to thank me later.” When Becca surprised her family with an overnight stay in a fire lookout cabin, she expected their holiday vacation to be a little more cozy than it turned out to be. In this episode, we follow the Skinner family through a frozen holiday and are reminded sometimes misadventures bring us closer together. 

In 2019, Will Dunlap began having existential questions about his place in the world. So he bought a plane ticket to Alaska, rented a kayak, and set out for the Taku Inlet. Through bitter rains and long days of paddling, Will experienced an inner journey he would never forget.

Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, Fernanda Rodriguez had never heard of “climbing” until she stumbled across a group of boulderers in the forest. That day, she remembers feeling “like a flame was lit inside my heart.” At 15, despite the tide of economic and cultural challenge that faced her, Fernanda made up her mind to become one of the best climbers in her country. 

When Carmen Kuntz thinks “adventure,” it doesn’t always mean a mega-trip many miles from home. Instead, she challenged herself and her friends to invent an adventure just out the backdoor. With skis, skins and paddles, they rediscover a familiar landscape in the Coastal Mountains of British Columbia.

Bloody tracks on a dark road. Hooded figures juggling lights. Eerie handprints appearing. We hope you’re ready to get spooky with our annual Tales of Terror! We have three stories from the backcountry that will send chills down your spine. Turn down the lights and grab your teddy bear. Happy Halloween!

“Everything that we love is affected by politics for better or worse, and we can't afford to not be engaged with it,” says Canyon Woodward. 

Today we hear stories from two people who’ve leaned in and worked directly with elected leaders to have a say in the future of the places we love. Canyon Woodward explains how trail running is a lot like running for office, and Kareemah Batts shares what it’s like to Climb The Hill on behalf of public lands and the outdoor community. We also hear from a broad set of voices across our country about why participation in the democratic process matters. We’re all in this together.

“I'm stubborn,” reflects Steve Baskis. “When my mind tells me not to do something because I'm afraid or nervous, I tend to tell myself to do it.” What happens when you lose something fundamental to how you function in the world in a single second? For ex-infantryman Steve Baskis wounded in Iraq, it meant staying on the bright side, looking forward, and never giving up.