Moto Gypsy
“I’m in this weird reality where I’m using my voice and my status as a woman traveling alone on a motorcycle as a way to talk about conservation to people who otherwise might not care or listen,” says Janelle Kaz.
For the past five years, Janelle has traveled on her motorcycle fighting against the worldwide problem of wildlife trafficking. This journey has brought her from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the mountains of Colombia. Although this massive problem can be overwhelming at times, Janelle has found ways to stay positive and in the process built an unlikely bridge between the conservation and motorcycle culture. Travel along, as she follows jungle roads into the incredible indigenous culture of the Kogi.
Follow Janelle on Instagram @motogypsy to keep up with her work.
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Beg Me to Stay by Hopeless Jack • The Deal by Hopeless Jack • 1_4 by The F*cked Up Beat • Snowmen by Kai Engel • Night Without Sleep by David Mumford • Daemons by Kai Engel • Nogales by Cleod9
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive or with permission from the artists.
Anti-Gravity
“I have really good reason to believe that if I hadn’t have been walking down the strip and found that 72-foot tower to climb, that I would be dead or in prison. I have no doubts about that,” says Juan Rodriguez.
Juan is an American citizen, an immigrant and a climber. Today, we follow Juan’s journey from Mexico to climbing shop owner, through illegal border crossings and to the first rock wall he ever climbed on the Las Vegas strip–a chance encounter that altered the trajectory of his life.
Check out Juan’s climbing shop, AntiGravity Equipment.
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Nogales by Cleod9 • Slum Canto by Kai Engel • Manly Nunn Steps Out by Doctor Turtle • The Deal by Hopeless Jack • Oh Josephine by Vienna Ditto • Conviction by Little Glass Men • I Dare You by Little Glass Men • The Undefeated by Vienna Ditto
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
Hootin’ & Hollerin’
“I was certain I was paralyzed. My legs were totally limp, I was hanging upside down and the only thing stopping me from falling 160-feet headfirst into the talus below, was this rope that was wrapped around my foot,” remembers Craig Gorder. In November, 2016, Craig took a fall in Indian Creek that injured him badly, and dramatically altered the course of his life. “But I don’t really identify with the story of the accident. As intense as it was, it’s just this thing that happened. What does matter is: what happens after you get hurt? What happens after you lose your identity and your sense of self?” In this episode, we follow Craig through the first year of his recovery through a series of updates and reflections that document the day to day questions and decisions, setbacks and victories, mini-crises and mini-epiphanies that really make up the recovery process.
Note: In the credits, we asked you to consider donating to Craig’s GoFundMe. Craig contacted us after the episode came out to say that he’s currently caught up on his medical bills and to ask that that people not donate to his GoFundMe, but save their money for some more urgent cause. Thanks!
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • sleep! by The F*cked Up Beat • Live at Bazillus by Aidan Baker • Monsanto Fields II by The F*cked Up Beat • Manly Nunn Steps Out by Doctor Turtle • Your Ghost by Richard Smith • Save My Soul by MC Cullah • Long Way Down by Vienna Ditto • Whatever Comes My Way by Vienna Ditto • Prowl by Hopeless Jack • Moontime by The IMG • nostalgia! by The F*cked Up Beat • Conviction by Little Glass Men • Lau by Richard Smith
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
Ethan and G-Pop
“I have a pretty young grandfather, but he was starting to get old and knew he had one or two more big expeditions in him,” says Ethan Roebuck. “He wanted to put together a big trip, because he’s getting older, but also because I’m getting older, these are skills that he thinks are important, and he wants to make sure I have them too–a handing off of the baton, I suppose.”
So when Ethan’s grandfather proposed that they go on a two-month, five-hundred mile, tandem kayaking expedition along the Canadian coast the summer before Ethan’s senior year of high school, Ethan was onboard.
Producer Cordelia Zars brings you the story of a wild adventure, a passing of the torch, and the special bond that emerges and evades the constraints of words.
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • A Language of It’s Own by Publish the Quest • Kelp Grooves by Little Glass Men • The Waltz by Jason Tyler Burton • On the Road by Amy Stolzenbach • Ghost Dance by Ken Christianson • Firediary5 by Ken Christianson • Daemons by Kai Engel • The Next Ones to Come by Publish the Quest • The Architect by Cleod9
Tracks provided by Free Music Archive and with permission from the artists.
The Glacier Project
“Any time I ski a steep line, I’ve done it hundreds of times, and still every time for me there is that moment of fear on top, where I am like, ‘Do I really want to do this?’,” says Jason Hummel. “But, also, anytime you do anything scary, it really ties you down to the moment, the instant, to that second, and all that matters is the next turn.” That feeling of complete presence when you drop into a committing line for the first time has driven Jason’s life. It’s guided decisions about his career, about the structure of his life, and, for the past three decades, it has pulled him up all of the major peaks of the Pacific Northwest, and many of the more obscure, remote and committing mountains of the Cascades and Olympics. But, just as Jason had started to feel like he knew what his home mountains had to offer, he stumbled into this idea that made him reconsider how much he still had to explore.
Today, producer Matt Martin brings you, “The Glacier Project,” the story of Jason’s journey to ski all of the glaciers in Washington, and how placing a constraint on adventure can deepen the relationship with the places we consider most familiar.
Read more about Jason’s Glacier glacier project and check out his photographs at myadventurecrusade.com
Music: If Walls Could Talk by Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto • Manly Nunn Steps Out by Doctor Turtle • Oxygen Mask by Andy G. Cohen • Blowback Blues by Canyon Kids • Roswell by Fog Lake Tracks provided by Free Music Archive or with direct permission from the artists.
