AdventureStalk

In this episode I walk you through our first time hiking Half Dome! Gear, timing, fear of falling, and HOLY CROWDS BATMAN! I hope you enjoy this talk-through on our Half Dome experience, and find it helpful if you are planning your Half Dome experience! Best Time to hike: April through OctoberType of hike: Rigorous day-hike, or adventurous overnight with backcountry permit; out and back from Happy Isles trailheadDistance / Elevation Gain: 14-17 miles (depending on route) / ~5,200 ft (1,585 meters)Our Excursion: Out and back overnight at Little Yosemite Valley in early August of 2022 with clear skies day one and afternoon thunderstorms day two; ~16 miles on AllTrails app, leisurely ~11 hours hiking and rest time plus overnight; ~5,250 feet elevation gain on Garmin GPS; cables in good condition with uncrowded ascent at sunrise; fear of heights/falling overcome with minimal whimpering.

Have you ever hiked in the pitch black night with nothing to guide you but your headlamp and a somewhat reliable GPS?  We've done more than our fair share of night hiking, but Whitney wins for being the most impressive, oppressive, and exhilarating! We scored a single-day permit for Mt. Whitney for July 31st of 2022! Now, what this means is that we were blessed with a 24-hour period in which to hike the tallest peak in the contiguous U.S.A., 14,505 ft of forests, creeks, and granite over ~23.5 miles up and back down with ~6,400 ft of total hiked ascent (according to my Garmin; 20.9 miles, 6,600ft according to AllTrails).  This trip was made extra-special by some dramatic weather that opened up on us with ~5 miles to go in our hike, resulting in washed out trails, washed out selves, and rockfalls booming down the mountain as though Thor was having a temper-tantrum. We loved a lot, learned a lot, and lucked out a LOT on this trip! We hope you enjoy hearing about our experience!Gear List - a lot of this is our tried-and-true standards:Osprey Tempest 20 & 22L daypacks (his & hers) with hip beltPlatypus 2.5L bladder with hose and Camelbak bite-valveGregory 2L bladder/hose/valveel-cheapo trekking poles off Amazon (we will be replacing after this trip, but they've lasted 10+ years)T-shirt-turned bandana from our church (gotta represent!)Amanda:Danner Trail 2650 Gore-Tex boots (LOVE!)L.L.Bean hiking zip-off pants and anorak Mountain Hardwear tank top and Ghost Whisperer packable down coatMammut med-weight jacketEx-Officio undersVS wireless medium-impact sports braSmartWool Liner socks and Merrell wool-blend hiking socks (extras packed for wet feet)Dan:Asolo Agent Gore-Tex (his go-to boots)Mountain Hardwear hiking zip-off pants Mountain Hardwear Gore-Tex raincoat Mountain Hardwear buton-down and med-weight jacketSmartWool liner and hiking socksEx-Officio boxer-briefsFood:Stinger Waffles, Clif Bars, Clif Blox, Quest bars, some gross high-protein cookie Dan got excited about, Kind bars, dried fruit, candied nuts, Stinger Gels, candied ginger (for the win!), Justin's Nut Butter individual packs, bagels

 Part 2 of our chat with Lance - his time in Cali on his Jeep journey, musings on healing in nature and how it ties to faith, and what's happening next with his backyard biking ventures.  Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get you podcasts, and to check out Lance's Instagram @lance_rk

 We were super excited to sit down and chat with our friend Lance Kriesch, a fellow outdoor enthusiast who is passionate about encouraging people to experience the outdoors and adventure. He recently went on a Kerouac-inspired jalopy road trip with his brother in his Jeep Cherokee dubbed "Black Betty," and has some fantastic reels you can view on his Instagram @lance_rk while you listen to his stories here! 

We are hoping to get permits to hike Mount Whitney this year, revisiting a place where Dan had a fantastic experience back in 2008!  We will likely have a few episodes this season as we prep for this trip, and we wanted to start out with a revisit of Dan's '08 trek.  We are working with a new setup in our recently renovated basement, and are finally on dual mikes, so please bear with us as we work to reconfigure our audio (a new mixer program and I'm learning the tech!), but the content will continue to flow as we get into 2022!

This is part 2 of our coverage of Glacier National Park!  Bears, Whistle Pigs, and more epic hikes!  We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed our trip to Big Sky Country!

Our 2019 trip to Glacier National Park was AMAZING!  We hope you enjoy hearing about our time in Big Sky Country, and that maybe you learn something useful for your next outdoor adventure. Amazing geology, glaciers, wildlife, and hiking await you in the Crown of the Continent, as well as a deep feeling of appreciation for the ancestors who settled this area thousands of years before we got here. 

In this episode we document our hike out of the canyon, the gorgeous North Rim Lodge, and gear, food, clothing for the trail.  We started this day with an AWESOME breakfast at the ranch, followed by an even more AWESOME dinner at the Lodge after some hot, sweaty mileage.  We seriously want to go back and do it again, this experience was so challenging and rewarding!  

We did rim-to-rim South to North, with a full day down in the canyon at Phantom Ranch to explore and enjoy!  Our adventure started with a long shuttle ride from the North Rim, where we staged our car (and a well-insulated cooler of frosty beverages), and ended with amazing views of the canyon from the North Rim Lodge whilst sipping a Prickly Pear Margarita at sunset.  Part One covers the start of our adventure and our hike into the canyon down the South Kaibab trail, as well as our day of exploring from Phantom Ranch - including scorpion hunting, tales of tragedy, the importance of hydration, a hidden waterfall, and a unique Civilian Conservation Corps installation.  Part Two will get into our hike out and enjoying the North Rim Lodge.  Hope you enjoy joining us on this adventure!References:Fedarko, K. 2008. They Call Me Groover Boy. Original from Outside Magazine, Jul 2008. I read it in this awesome book - Out There: The Wildest Stories from Outside Magazine. Falcon Press Publishing. April 2018.National Parks Service site for the Grand Canyon: https://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htmXanterra for Phantom Ranch lottery: https://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/lodging/phantom-ranch/Correction: In reference to scorpions, I say "keratin," I meant "chitin," this is what happens when you're used to talking about mammals... reference for scorpions lighting up under UV light here! https://www.terminix.com/blog/bug-facts/why-do-scorpions-glow-under-ultraviolet-light/ 

Hi Everyone!  We are back after a trip to explore New Orleans!  This isn't our typical, outdoors/hiking type trip, but was an exploration into the culture of New Orleans, especially the food!  The history and beauty of the area are enough of a draw for most folks, but the food and music should keep people coming back.  We found a lot of places still shut down due to COVID, but we were able to find some great live music and still enjoy a lot of what the city had to offer - on a positive note for us, it was much less crowded in the city than normal, according to the locals.  We did take an awesome kayaking tour with Wild Louisiana Tours - lots of natural and cultural history learnings, as well as gators, snakes, and birds of all kinds!We are looking forward to going back someday, to explore more of the city and surrounding area when more things are opened up, and hopefully, we can catch more live music.  

Flexibility is key when planning your adventures!  We had to analyze and adjust our plans on the fly during our trip through Bryce Canyon due to the low availability of water along the trail.  We planned on spending two nights down in the canyon to enjoy extra time away from the crowds (some serious social distancing), but due to drought conditions water was unreliable.  This was an amazing experience though, and one of the most rewarding canyon hikes we've done!  Bryce Canyon is a unique experience in so many ways!

We had an awesome couple of hikes at Arches National Park - we did Delicate arch the day before recording our Devil's Garden hike, and while we don't talk much about it, it was still also an awesome hike. Delicate Arch was a fairly intense uphill, but totally doable in sneakers and with plenty of water - fair warning, you're in the sun the WHOLE time, so don't underestimate your water intake, and keep up on those electrolytes! Devil's Garden was just an all-around fun hike. Technical enough to be challenging, but beautiful with the constantly-changing terrain and gorgeous views of the arches. Recommend 10/10! Again, make sure you bring water and nutrients. If you decide to do the whole loop it does get very remote. There were a lot of people near the entrance and exit, but not so many on the primitive trails. Shoutout to our new friend @Pawan_g_photography who we met on the trail and joined us for the scrambles! Cheers to more adventures Pawan!Our time in camp was very interesting - from a crazy windstorm on our first night, to swooping bats our second, Arches offers constant adventure! We loved this park, and look forward to exploring it again someday! P.S. Sorry not sorry for nerding out on the bats, it brought back fond memories of the summer we spent near Carlsbad Caverns, seeing the bats swoop out at sundown. Incredible animals, probably worthy of a Nature Nerd episode... 

Hi Everyone!  This is the first part of our Four Corners series, and in this episode we spend a few minutes of our drive time discussing our adventure in Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado, as well as discussing fire restrictions and the importance of following park service requirements around fire.  The sound is a little rough on this one (due to the audio recording on our drive), but we hope you enjoy the content! 

So, we love Jeeps. At one point, we owned four Jeeps, but we recently sold the GC.  I've (Manda) been driving Jeeps since my Dad bought one in 1998, and we now own that beloved blue Wrangler that was so lovingly abused by my brother, Matt, and myself growing up.  Jeeps are a mechanical path-maker into the wild, allowing an adventurer to drive further into the wilderness and explore in places where most vehicles can't go.  A stock Wrangler is a pretty beastly little vehicle on its own, but with a few modifications it can be a true trail warrior.  In this episode, we meet up in the Shop to give a quick overview of our Jeeps and what we are working on right now.  We'll touch back on the progress with the Critter and Bison bison in the near future!Our Jeeps:Un-named "Blue Jeep" '99 TJ Wrangler Sport - Gunmetal Blue (my first Jeep!) - My Dad taught me to drive a manual on this Jeep, and we bought it off of my parents a few years back. We did an engine rebuild, lift, suspension mods, and wheels/tires. Blue Jeep still needs some work, but runs well and is tons of fun to drive!"Bison bison" '99 TJ Wrangler Sahara - Landrunner Body Mod - ugly beautiful, low $ find! We bought this intending to use the parts for the Scrambler rebuild, but decided to fix her up once we saw how easy the necessary repairs were. Re-built transmission, new suspension/lift, wheels and tires, wheel-carriers bumper mod, and lots of cosmetic work in progress. "The Critter" '83 CJ8 Scrambler - Barn find from our buddy, she's in pieces but will come together as a piece of art when we're done! New frame to replace the rusted out one, body cleanup and repair, new engine, pretty much new everything but the VIN...Our Jeep theory: We sold our 2011 Jeep GC WK2 and traded "down" to using the '99 Wranglers as our daily drivers and keeping our Toyota Tundra truck for big events. Doing this removes the complications of all the "bells and whistles" of a modern vehicle, which we've found to be comforting for a while, but just more stuff to break in the long run (and more expensive to fix based on the computerized components). We love wrenching on our Jeeps, and enjoy building out a vehicle that is capable of tackling any off-road hurdle. We are planning on building out the Scrambler to be a bit of an "off-road-rod," big engine, big axles, but probably more for show than for true off-roading - we feel like she's an important piece of Jeep history and don't want to risk rolling her over. 

...Because I just can't stop with Bison...This episode dives a bit more into bison as a keystone species, and some of our experiences with bison in the wild - including an overlay of "bellowing" from our 2017 road trip and our morning sitting by the Yellowstone River, watching the bison come in to cross. I can't express how magical that morning was!If you have had or have seen an interesting experience with bison, please email me and we can start a compilation of bison stories to share with the world. I'd love to hear about your experience!Resources:https://www.americanprairie.org/project/bison-restorationhttps://www.fws.gov/refuge/national_bison_range/ESRI Map: http://bisonstory.wcs.org/https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/bison.htmhttps://www.nps.gov/subjects/bison/protecting-bison.htmPunke, M. (2007). Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West. Smithsonian.

What did the buffalo say to his son when he left for college? BYE-SON! BISON...Get it...? Lame jokes aside, Bison bison, or The American "Buffalo" is not really a buffalo. Water Buffalo are known for their milk (and cheese) - please don't EVER try to milk a bison, you'll end up as a National Parks Service cover story or winning a Darwin award. Bison are my FAVORITE animal - which is saying something, as I've spent my life studying animals of all sorts. They have an incredible conservation story, and are the perfect story-teller of the U.S.A through its settlement, Westward expansion, the atrocities of the treatment of Native Americans, and the desire of modern Americans to preserve our natural history and repair the damage of past generations. Their story is a perfect combination of natural history, political history, current science, and future conservation. My passion for bison started when I did some research on conservation practices during my Master's work. The more I learned about them, the more fascinated I became - these seemingly peaceful, gentle, motherly animals turn fierce when threatened, using their massive size and unbelievable quickness to avoid predation. Their immense population in North America - estimated at upwards of 60 million at one point - fell to less than 1,000 individuals after the settlers and US Government were done with them. They were brought back from the brink of extinction by the passionate work of a few incredible people who respected the animal not only as a valuable natural resource, but as a symbol of their Nation. Amazing people took the project in hand to save this incredible species for future generations, and for the future of our land. "So for several minutes I watched the great beasts as they grazed...mixed with the eager excitement of the hunter was a certain half-melancholy feeling as I gazed on these bison, themselves part of the last remnant of a doomed and nearly vanished race. Few indeed are the men who now have or evermore shall have, the chance of seeing the mightiest of American beasts, in all his wild vigor, surrounded by the tremendous desolation of his far-off mountain home..." - Teddy Roosevelt, on the occasion of his second bison hunt in 1889I hope you enjoy this two-part  exploration of Bison bison!

A follow-up we just recorded, looking back at our 2020 Four Corners Road Trip.  I'm sure we'll have more stories to tell from this trip in later episodes, but for now, please enjoy this ramble on how things went - what worked, what didn't, what we might do in the future.  We also go into some detail on our backcountry experience in Bryce Canyon, which was incredible!  We hope you enjoy this chat about our trip!

This was recorded prior to our 2020 road trip to the Four Corners region.  We will be doing a follow-up of our trip-prep plans - what worked out, what changed, how we traveled safely during COVID, etc.  Prep is part of the fun of any trip, and we hope you enjoy our banter about this adventure!  It's a little lengthy, we'll be working to keep our episodes a bit shorter in the future.  ;-)

This is a  segment we call "Nature Nerd," which focuses on better understanding details of the natural world.  For our first subject, we've chosen BEARS!I find bears fascinating, and because we love to hike in places that are home to these amazing animals, we've gathered knowledge and resources to guide our treks and develop some best practices in bear country!  I defer to the greater knowledge of the National Park Service for their detailed and scientific approach to bear behavior and safely travelling in bear territory, and have pulled together some nerdy knowledge and fun facts about these incredible animals! Web References: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/index.htmhttps://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/north-american-mammals/educator-resourcesBooks:Olsen, J. (1969). Night of the Grizzlies. G.P.Putnam's Sons. DisclaimerThe information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, Adventurestalk  does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of Adventurestalk. Adventurestalk  assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, Adventurestalk  makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.Adventurestalk  EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.

Welcome to our inaugural episode, where we talk first time hiking, trail prep, and feeding the beast (yay, food!)!  Check it out for our take on hiking, gear, and getting into getting out!  **Dan and MandaG are experienced hikers and outdoors-people; however, all of our recommendations come from our own personal experience unless otherwise stated.  What worked for us might work for you, or it might not - please remember to follow all local rules and regulations when you get into the outdoors, and use your head!  DisclaimerThe information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, Adventurestalk  does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of Adventurestalk. Adventurestalk  assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, Adventurestalk  makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.Adventurestalk  EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.