The WALKING podcast

By Jon Mooallem

Religion & Spirituality Spirituality Fitness & Nutrition

What's The WALKING podcast about?

Come along as acclaimed journalist and author Jon Mooallem takes a walk through tranquil woodlands of the Pacific Northwest. No talking; just walking. Ambient. Pleasing. Unusual.

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The WALKING podcast episodes:

12.18.2020
REBROADCAST: Holiday Special!
Here, in the darkest, dourest, deadliest, bleakest doldrums of Winter 2020, I don't feel like making any more podcasts, because what's the point, but I thought I'd slip last year's holiday extravaganza episode back into your feeds, in which we...
11.24.2020
A Minefield
Walking on the beach, in a contemplative mood, I gaze out on what used to be an undersea minefield and discover an atrocious-looking jelly fish, oozed haphazardly over the rocks at my feet. This week's walk is sponsored by The...
11.17.2020
Step Into Liquid
I accidentally walked into a creek. This week's walk is sponsored by Chris Funk's new solo record, "Songs for Dog Fitness." Pandemic music for walking your dog, or for not walking your dog. (You may know Chris as the creator...
11.10.2020
Coffee Regular
I see many funguses. I encounter a massive buck hopping improbably high out of the ferns. Isaac tells me about someone he just met while walking, and I tell him about my imaginary friends. I walk home, in a tiny...
11.03.2020
Election Night Special Coverage Special
Four hours, 10.4 miles. I had to stop at a bakery in the middle. This election night special coverage special is, as always, just a recording of me walking. I hope you'll come along as a way to relax or...
10.27.2020
Dolphins!
While investigating mushrooms at Yucky Pond, I lean over, somehow unleashing the voice of Matthew McConaughey from the phone in my pocket. Then: off to the harbor, where I confront two of life's awe-inspiring and unknowable phenomena: marine mammals and...
10.20.2020
Walk of Shame
I put the word out on social media that if people made a donation to a cause they believed in, and sent me the receipt, they would be entitled to one (1) classified ad--a message about absolutely anything--which I'd during...
05.19.2020
The GOATs
Missing one cohost (medically excused from action; foot injury) the two of us soldier on, and decide to visit the neighbors' goats. Will they bleat? Will we get some bleating on tape? They do not bleat. And they are far...
05.12.2020
A Bad Case of the Downhill Giggles
This is the second episode of the third season of The WALKING Podcast, a special pandemic mini-season where I am walking with my daughters and giving them the revenue from your classified ads, because my children won't go on a...
05.05.2020
Dad, What Does 'Trespassing' Mean?
Welcome to the first episode of this special pandemic mini-season of The WALKING Podcast. And this time, it’s a family affair! I’ve hired my two daughters as co-hosts because I can’t figure out what else to do with them. That’s...
03.31.2020
SEASON FINALE: You're All WALKING Now!
There is a season--turn, turn, turn. A time to listen to someone else take a walk, a time to take a walk yourself. We are now in the latter. As I took this walk out to the harbor the...
03.24.2020
Please buy my book THIS IS CHANCE!
I'm sorry but you can't come along on this walk. This one's just for me. My new book is out today. It's called THIS IS CHANCE! You can buy it here on Amazon or support your local shop if...
03.18.2020
America's Designated Walker
Nothing much to say here. This--as always--is a recording of me walking in the woods. Maybe it's helpful to you. Maybe you'd like to take a walk but can't. I feel lucky that I can, so I feel obligated to...
03.11.2020
Let Me Take You Safely Outside
I never knew what this podcast was for; I was always surprised that people listen to it. Maybe it has a purpose now? Maybe it has something small of value to offer? Wouldn't that be strange? This week's walk is...
03.03.2020
Forest Quarantine
Not a very relaxing moment here in Washington State. And yet, thankfully, the trails feel (and sound) exactly the same. This week's walk is sponsored by Ann Friedman, journalist, newsletter-er, and co-host of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast. Ann stands...
02.25.2020
Who Else is Gonna Bring You a Bow and Arrow?
Off we go: into the woods, toward the harbor, up the hill, through the old cemetery, and onto my newish pal Berg's house--or, his "almost-house," as he's not quite done building it. Berg needed to set up a rope swing...
02.18.2020
Straightforward-Forward
Not much to say about this walk: just putting one foot in front of the other. Particularly after the accursed misadventures of last week, this walk was a welcome, uncomplicated delight. It's a walk that unabashedly puts simplicity first: the...
02.11.2020
Dive-bombed by Bats!
THIS IS NOT A VERY GOOD EPISODE OF THE WALKING PODCAST. A few weeks ago, for reasons I explain in this episode’s ad break, I decided to try something new: instead of a traditional sponsor for each episode, I’d start...
01.14.2020
Snow Falling on Seavers
I was thinking about Growing Pains on this walk--the old TV show. I was thinking about how the dad, Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke), worked at home; he was a psychologist with a private practice in an office right off the...
01.07.2020
Grief Mistaken for Joy
Sometimes you're walking in the woods and stumble upon a wedding. Sometimes what looks like a wedding is a memorial service. This week's walk is brought to you by our friends at North Light, the friendliest all-day bar and kitchen,...
12.17.2019
BONUS: Holiday Special!
Exploding the usual format of the show to bring you a star-studded, Yuletide spectacular that harkens back to the homespun, holiday podcast specials of days gone by! With special guest appearances by: Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk, fine arts photographer Meghann...
12.10.2019
Put 'Em In a Tree Museum
The school carpool collapses last minute, scrambling my morning agenda, but I manage to sneak in a walk anyhow before getting in the car and journeying down to Portland for a meeting. Sometimes you have to walk before you can...
12.02.2019
Cold Open
Welcome back! It's Season 2 of The WALKING Podcast. Brrrrrr. The theme of Season 2 will be BUILDING BRIDGES (SEO interlude: Jeff Bridges, Phoebe Bridgers, Phoebe Waller-Bridge,) so let's bundle up and take a walk to an actual, new bridge,...
06.12.2019
BONUS: Scary Crossover Episode
I'm proud to present this very special crossover episode of the WALKING podcast, in collaboration with 10 Things That Scare Me from WNYC Studios. Well, I am proud and also mildly mortified. Our most vulnerable episode to date! I took a...
03.22.2019
"Things Have an End, But Feeling is Infinite"
This is the Season 1 Finale of the WALKING podcast, and possibly the last one period. I read some prepared remarks at the ad break, while sitting on a stump, on a cliff, as the sun went down. This week's...
03.19.2019
Bottle Episode! Road trip!
"Sometimes finding a key is not the start of a grand adventure, but the end of one." - Jon Mooallem, right now. Friends, I bumbled my way into a high-intensity snafu while recording the walk this morning. A boatload of...
03.12.2019
Mr. Cool
It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at Mooallem SuperValue™ (That’s my private nickname for myself when I’m working hard to meet deadlines, and when I feel less like a human writer than a scrupulously-optimized, prose-production corporation—you know, checking facts...
03.05.2019
Hearts and Thoughts They Fade
I continue to be confused as to whether anyone reads these summaries. Anyway: It’s been almost four years since we moved to the island from San Francisco. Two or three nights after we moved, my wife and I took the...
02.26.2019
You Like Me? You Really Like Me?
Busy week here on the Internet, with a sterling write-up of the show on Vulture and oodles of new listeners. Meanwhile, in real life, the same old silent trees and trails. I mean, wow: it took walking alone in the...
02.19.2019
The Snowy Day, by Ezra Walk Feets
We had tremendous snow. Historic snow! A back-to-back-to-back #snowmageddon scenario. School was cancelled, life was disrupted, the power went out and everything was white. Finally, I put on my big honking duck boots and noisy nylon pants and went for...
02.12.2019
I Fell Down
It was bound to happen. In 1864, Captain William Renton arrived on Bainbridge Island and built what would soon be lauded as the largest sawmill in the world. A town blossomed around it, with churches, a school and a 75-room...
02.05.2019
Walk of the Rising Sun
It was one of those Saturday mornings when the wide, blue sky begged to be walked under. So out I went. And I wasn’t alone. This episode features several salutary exchanges with other walkers—or, as I like to call them,...
01.27.2019
"What's Sour in the House a Bracing Walk Makes Sweet"
The quote is taken from Thoreau. The walk was taken out of stress. I took this walk after getting an email from my editor which (long story) made my work life (which is a big chunk of my total life)...

What's The WALKING podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The WALKING podcast episodes:

REBROADCAST: Holiday Special!

A Minefield

Step Into Liquid

Coffee Regular

Election Night Special Coverage Special

Dolphins!

Walk of Shame

The GOATs

A Bad Case of the Downhill Giggles

Dad, What Does 'Trespassing' Mean?

SEASON FINALE: You're All WALKING Now!

Please buy my book THIS IS CHANCE!

America's Designated Walker

Let Me Take You Safely Outside

Forest Quarantine

Who Else is Gonna Bring You a Bow and Arrow?

Straightforward-Forward

Dive-bombed by Bats!

Snow Falling on Seavers

Grief Mistaken for Joy

BONUS: Holiday Special!

Put 'Em In a Tree Museum

Cold Open

BONUS: Scary Crossover Episode

"Things Have an End, But Feeling is Infinite"

Bottle Episode! Road trip!

Mr. Cool

Hearts and Thoughts They Fade

You Like Me? You Really Like Me?

The Snowy Day, by Ezra Walk Feets

I Fell Down

Walk of the Rising Sun

"What's Sour in the House a Bracing Walk Makes Sweet"