This interview was recorded last week in northern California with Anthropologist and Archaeologist, Dr. Jaime Bach. From 2005-2006, Jaime served in Peace Corps in the island nation of Kiribati. Since then, she has returned multiple times conducting research and visiting her friends and family on the islands. Jaime's focus is studying locals perceptions and reactions to environmental changes on the islands. Dr. Bach graduated from the University of Montana with a doctorate in Anthropology in 2017 & her focus now is testing the hypotheses of Amelia Earhart landing on the island of Nikumaroro when she went missing in 1937. Dr. Bach's research along with the The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery could solve the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance. 

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This episode in particular was recorded on the edge of the Colorado River at Pipe Springs, where the Bright Angel Trail meets the Colorado River. Mandela sits with her main river guide mentor, Glenn Goodrich, to talk to him about running over 450+ rivers of the world since 1977. Glenn has been guiding since 1977 & when he is not guiding on the river... he is thoughtfully running rivers all over the world just for fun! Glenn has made multiple first descents around the world and doesn't have any plans for slowing down. Glenn's personal goal is to run 500 rivers before he retires.

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This episode in particular was recorded on a raft while floating down the Colorado River in the heart of Grand Canyon National Park. We attached our rafts together & captured the human history from rim to river in various sections of the river. Learn about Georgie White, the original river rat & woman who first started running the river commercially. Listen to stories about John Wesley Powell's expeditions in 1869 & 1871. Get the full story on the original river running badass, George Flavell and Ramon Montez who arrived in Needles in their handmade wooden boat in 1897. This episode features Glenn Goodrich, a man who has run over 450 rivers of the world since 1977. Glenn has been guiding since 1977 & when he is not guiding on the river... he is thoughtfully running rivers all over the world just for fun! Glenn has made multiple first descents around the world and doesn't have any plans for slowing down. Glenn's personal goal is to run 500 rivers before he retires.

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Buffalo Child is a member of the North American Plains Cree Indian nation & speaks Cree fluently. Buffalo grew up in a mud/straw home & started riding horse at a young age. Buffalo Child is a professional stunt man & actor who has starred in: Dances with Wolves, Cowboys & Aliens, Crazy Horse, Call of the Wild & dozens of other movies & television series. Buffalo Child is also skilled in horsemanship, martial arts, boxing, canoeing, motorcycling, firearms, Hoop Dancing, singing & drumming. Buffalo is a keynote speaker, writer & educator who currently resides & rides horses on a ranch outside Sedona, Arizona.

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Recorded on horseback in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. Clayton is a cowboy and wrangler for the K bar L Ranch (established in 1927) located where the North and South Fork of the Sun River meet. Clayton holds the microphone in the same hand holding the reins of his horse as the other holds a pack mule carrying fly fishing gear & cold beer. Clayton talks about why he is an advocate for bear spray, why it's important to spend time outside, why mules are amazing creatures & why he lives everyday to its fullest potential. Clayton was born blind and after four surgeries and daily eye drops and medication he can see again but doctors tell him that by the time he is in his 50s he will go blind. Clayton is a beautiful soul who encourages everyone to be kind to one another & never take vision or your health for granted. This is a great interview recorded on the back of a horse and in the tall grass on the edge of the river in the hear of the "Bob". Yeeehaw!

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This interview was recorded while floating down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park last summer. It was a challenge to edit due to extremely windy conditions, alas, attached you will find the final product ready to air. This episode features an interview with Christian Wright, a park ranger at Arches National Park in Utah. Christian helps visitors to Arches National Park embrace the difference between looking and seeing. Christian is also a historian with a focus on The United Mine Workers of America and the transformation of Utah's coal industry between 1966–1985. Christian wrote the book: For this Union to Survive, Miners for Democracy in Utah and the West. Christine asks the important question, "What does it mean to have no power and to fight for it?"

Christian will also describe what it was like to do a solo inflatable kayak expedition of the Grand Canyon his first time running the Colorado River... 

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This show was recorded on the veranda of a 130+ year old Victorian home near the salt marshes on the southern coast of Georgia. Featuring, Tim Keyes, an ornithologist and wildlife biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Tim's focus is coastal non-game birds. Tim will elaborate deeply on how dinosaurs evolved into birds, physiological aspects of birds in terms of why they are able to fly & sometimes swim underwater. Tim talks about eggs & their various shapes and colors in terms of how they differ from species to species and why. In addition, Tim talks about bird's eye sight, feather makeup & we take an in depth look at massive migration and how birds are able to fly across oceans without stopping to destinations they have never been to before. Did you know that birds use celestial navigation? The knowledge embedded in this show will blow your mind. 

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Andy was born and raised in Hamilton, MT and from a young age he would solo hike with his dog in the Bitterroots. Andy started rafting when he was 16 and guiding on the Middle Fork of the Salmon when he was 18. Andy has 12 seasons under his belt & now guides primarily on the Grand Canyon, Middle Fork of the Salmon and Selway. In the fall of 2017, Andy completed one and a half expeditions on the blue nile in Ethiopia. The Blue Nile is in its final stages of being fully dammed much like many of our beautiful free flowing rivers around the world. Therefore, Andy was one of the last river runners to experience the Class V+ whitewater and pre-dam ecosystems of the Blue Nile before it is flooded. Andy truly experienced the Blue Nile with everything from being chased by enormous man eating crocodiles to the water level raising 2-meters overnight & losing rafts only to find them completely looted downstream. Andy is an avid adventurer and one of the most humble humans you will ever meet. Andy is known by many on the Grand Canyon as a "Guide's Guide". The next adventure Andy has planned is to drive his 1967 split window VW bus from Missoula to the very tip of South America. 

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I invite you to listen to stories from our local living cowboy legend, Smoke Elser. Smoke has spent the past 56 years living in the Bob Marshall wilderness packing mules and horses. This unique interview was recorded in Smoke’s 113+ year old historic barn in the Rattlesnake wearing cowboy boots next to a crackling fire drinking muddy black coffee surrounded by thick snow & retired mules. This is a unique opportunity to pass down knowledge from a historic figure who arrived in Montana in 1955. Learn about the history of the Bob Marshall wilderness and some of Smoke’s favorite places to camp after exploring over 55,000 miles of trail within the Bob. Learn about the first man who developed a map of the roadless land in the United States. Smoke is now 84 years old and he is currently teaching his 56th annual mule packing course in his barn right here in Missoula.

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Recorded in Smoke Elser's 113 year old historic barn on the edge of the Rattlesnake Wilderness. Mandela sits next to a crackling fire with professional packer & saddle maker, Jordan Knudsen.

After moving to Montana in 2001, Jordan Knudsen rapidly grew a passion for horses, mules and back country travel. After a few years of experience in self-taught techniques, he completed Smoke’s packing course in 2004. Since then, not only did Jordan take the time to become proficient in the techniques of decker packing, but he also took it upon himself to improve the equipment he was working with. In 2006 he started a business, now called Sun River Saddlery, that is devoted to building equipment that carries on the traditions of decker packing and back country travel.

To date, Jordan also spends his fall season as a Licensed Backcountry Hunting Guide, contract packs through the summer season and enjoys as much personal and family time in the mountains as time allows.

Jordan has been instructing alongside Smoke Elser going on four years now in the classroom, the field and other public demonstrations.​

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