Andrew Skurka is a long-distance backpacker, guide, and writer, who lives in Boulder, CO. As a twenty-something he hiked three notable long-distance trips including the Alaska-Yukon Expedition (6 months, 4,700 miles),Great Western Loop (7 months, 6,875 miles), and the Sea-to-Sea Route (11 months, 7,775 miles). Only one of these has been repeated, and only once. For these trips, Andrew was named “Adventurer of the Year” by both Outside and National Geographic, as well as “Pers

Mia Svenson joins the show to discuss the exponential increase of women who are hitting the trailhead in their local parks. Mia is the National Director of Girls Who Hike, an organization that creates communities of women that can connect, network, and discover together through local hiking trails. On the podcast, Mia talks about the history of Girls Who Hike and what the future entails. Feature Trail: Parker Mesa Overlook Trail via Los Leones trail Miles: 6.5 miles, out-an

Marcia Argust directs Pew’s efforts to restore America’s parks, working with a team of data and policy experts to address the deferred maintenance backlog plaguing the National Park Service. Argust was previously a project director with Pew’s U.S. public lands program and senior legislative representative for the Campaign for America’s Wilderness. She guided policy on Pew’s land protection efforts, and coordinated diverse stakeholders in campaigns in several states, and helpe

After visiting many local breweries and always having a love for the Pacific Northwest outdoors, Rachel Wood and Brandon Fralic, like many others, started to witness the two cultures that often go hand in hand. After dabbling in some local publications and in the online-blogosphere, they realized there was no local book that married their two interests. Soon enough, their book, Beer Hiking Pacific Northwest was in the works and the "beer hiker" was newly defined! Rachel and B

One hike is not enough per podcast. That's why Broken Laces has organized its own team of hiker correspondents ("news team assemble!). Thomas - an Alaskan native - resides in the northeast and was a hiking partner of Riley's for several years in North Carolina. And Mike, whose gait rivals that of an Avatar, is a runner first, hiker second, but has hiked many trails in the Pacific Northwest. They share some local parks in their communities that have multiple uses, are kid and

Today's youth will define how our communities shape our public lands going forward. Two friends of the podcast, Tigran Nahabedian and Anna Gibbons, discuss their experiences as ambassadors of our State and National Parks. Tigran is a NPS Junior Ranger program and National Park Trust's Student Buddy Bison Ambassador and Anna (13:00) has spent two summers as a Park Ranger in various Oregon State Parks. Both talk about how they came to love their local parks, why they serve park

Steve Iobst, former Deputy Superintendent of Yellowstone NP and Grand Tetons NP, shares his personal story of how he began with the National Park Service (NPS) while providing a unique perspective of the future of the NPS. Topics include ongoing challenges the NPS faces, his favorite park stories, and of course, our recurring segment of Trails and Ales (see below). Feature Trail: Teton Canyon (read recap here) - Trailhead: Alaska Basin Trailhead (Teton Canyon Road, Alta, WY 8

Bernadette Murray first through-rode the PCT in 1969 with her family as a 10-year old. Bernadette joins the podcast to talk about how their family tackled and prepared for the trail, the numerous adventures one encounters when the trail is very undeveloped, and some funny and painful moments on trail. Having finished after two seasons of hiking on October 7, 1970, Bernadette is gearing up one more time to through-ride the PCT in the summer of 2020, 50 years after she first d

6,000 feet elevation gain in 9 miles as a reintroduction to backpacking? It was a great idea. I talk with my friend, Jeremy Jones, on his reentry into backpacking as an adult of two sons and business owner. Topics include what it takes to get into physical and mental backpacking shape as well as advice on how to introduce backpacking to your kids. Our new segment "Trails and Ales" features Kiitos Brewing, which makes me want to fly back to SLC to try them out. Featured Trai