Trail Talk

Welcome back for the second episode. For your convenience, this show is now also distributed on most major podcasting platforms. Links are below the show notes and guest bio. Enjoy!

EP 02: Taylor Radigan, CFI Trail Crew

Welcome to the second episode of Trail Talk. This week, I’m taking you to base camp beneath the towering Grays and Torreys peaks. The leaves are golden. The autumn air is crisp.

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I’m sitting down with trail crew member Taylor Radigan, a hiker with an impressive resume of thru-hikes, treks, and backcountry stories.

Scroll down for some key interview notes:

Interview Notes

2:20 - Getting Interested in Long Thru-Hikes5:00 - On the Trail when bad Weather Comes10:00 - The Next Steps for Grays and Torreys13:30 - A Day in the Life Without Technology on the Trail16:00 - Returning to Civilization17:30 - Giving Back to the Great Outdoors19:00 - Fun Hikes to cut Your Teeth on Back East20:00 - Working Your way up to a Thru-Hike

About Taylor

You can follow Taylor’s adventures at Get There From Anywhere, where she shares trail journals, gear reviews, photos, and educational articles to help you prepare for your hikes.

My favorite is her backpacking menu guide, which helps ensure you’re getting enough calories on your trek.

Get Show on Spotify

…if that’s your preferred listening platform. Here’s a link to follow and listen there.

Next Time on Cole’s Climb

A relatively easy, planned hike turns into a trek through time and seasons, starting in crisp autumn, ending in snowy winter.

The trip made for some breathtaking pictures, video, and revelations about why time tends to slip away from us. You can ensure you don’t miss this one, by signing up for those free email updates:

I Want to Hear from You

What person or experience in your life first got you interested in the outdoors, or helped kindle your love for adventure?

Introducing “Trail Talk”

These interview podcast posts are a new addition to Cole’s Climb, where I share stories from other members of the outdoor community. Topics will range from wild adventures, to survival skills, conservation, and current events.

Soon they’ll be available on all major podcasting platforms.

For now: look for them in your mailbox on Sundays at 9 a.m., MST. The stories you’re used to seeing will still arrive at the usual time, Thursday mornings.

EP 01: Cheryl Spencer, Ranger at Katmai National Park and Preserve

To start the series, we’re headed all the way up to Alaska for the start of Fat Bear Week.

Fall is upon us. The Salmon are swimming. And the bears are hungry.

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Bears across North America are preparing to bed down for their 6-7 month hibernation. If they’re to endure into the spring, they need to consume a truly massive amount of calories each day. It truly is the survival of the fattest.

Fat Bear Basics

If you needed to eat 90 pounds of food per day to survive, you’d probably spend quite a bit of time hanging around your favorite restaurant, which is pretty much what the bears living in Katmai National Park and Preserve do, over at Brooks Falls.

For a few years now, rangers at Katmai have been putting together tournament brackets of the fattest bears at the falls. The public votes on which bear they think deserves to advance, and a winner is crowned.

If you’d like to cast your ballot, you can do so at this link. Voting occurs daily to determine which bear advances. Last year, more than 600,000 people participated.

You can learn more about each contender over on explore.org; they have a nifty meet-the-bears guide to provide a glimpse at their lives, strengths, and struggles.

Interview Notes

4:30 — Momma bear has mouths to feed9:00 — A great year for fishing10:40 — Bears Vs. Humans14:00 — Life as a ranger at Katmai16:30 — Romance brewing between competitors19:10 — Being good bear neighbors20:30 — Why food is banned in the park22:00 — Keeping bears wild24:00 — Giving back (links below!)

Know someone who loves fat bear week? Send this post their way!

“We Need to Control our Human Behavior, and not put the Expectation on Bears.”

This all may sound a bit ridiculous. But aside from providing a bit of good fun, the bigger point is bringing awareness to this critical part of the bear lifecycle, how we impact it, and how we can be good neighbors in the spaces we share with these animals.

This largely depends on whether you’re visiting in their home — out on a hike, or camping trip — or if their home happens to border yours. Colorado Parks & Wildlife has some helpful tips. But here’s a rundown of the more basic ones.

On the Trail

Bears have a natural fear of humans — at least, they should, provided no one has been giving them easy access to human food. Most of the time, that means the bears will do all the work for you, and keep away.

When you’re out in the wild:

* Ensure you’re not leaving food around designated camping areas.

* Secure your food and scent-carrying items in a bear bag or cannister

* Do not bring food or food-smelling items into your tent

* Scare away bears that enter designated campsites, then alert park officials

* Back away slowly if you encounter a bear on the trail. Make yourself look big or tall if they approach

* Beware bear cubs; an extremely protective mother bear is usually close

* Carry bear spray as a precaution

At Home

If you live somewhere remote, or in a neighborhood bordering a bear habitat, the rules are a bit different. We adopt a more “live and let live” policy in the woods.

Remember: bears are trying to eat as much as possible, on a tight schedule. They’re looking for easy sources of food. If they can find easy sources of nutrition near your home, they’ll keep coming back. Likewise, if they get nothing: they will move on.

* Secure your trash cans

* Remove bird feeders — bears will eat the seed

* Haze any bears that you catch hanging around your home. Do this safely, from a window. Don’t go out and confront the bear

* Report bears that have lost their natural fear of humans. They may need to be captured and relocated

By keeping bears wild, we can also help reduce conflicts that end poorly for both humans, and the bears themselves.

Fat Bear Links

* Donate to the Otis Fund

* Katmai Conservancy

* Choose your favorite fat bear

* Fat bear chat

* Learn more about the bears

* Teaching students about Fat Bear Week

What I’m Reading

I’ve recently encountered “That’s Philosophical,” an inspirational newsletter that covers psychology, mindfulness, and self-improvement.

A recent post called "Outwork Their Luck" spoke to me in particular. It offers fantastic perspective for anyone who feels they’re working hard without much to show for it quite yet.

Definitely worth a read to quiet the troubled mind.

I Want to Hear from You

Have you ever had a wild animal encounter out on the trail? How did you handle it? Do you have any tricks to share with fellow hikers?

Most importantly: which bear are you pulling for to win it all!?