The Dirtbag Diaries

In 2019, Will Dunlap began having existential questions about his place in the world. So he bought a plane ticket to Alaska, rented a kayak, and set out for the Taku Inlet. Through bitter rains and long days of paddling, Will experienced an inner journey he would never forget.

Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, Fernanda Rodriguez had never heard of “climbing” until she stumbled across a group of boulderers in the forest. That day, she remembers feeling “like a flame was lit inside my heart.” At 15, despite the tide of economic and cultural challenge that faced her, Fernanda made up her mind to become one of the best climbers in her country. 

When Carmen Kuntz thinks “adventure,” it doesn’t always mean a mega-trip many miles from home. Instead, she challenged herself and her friends to invent an adventure just out the backdoor. With skis, skins and paddles, they rediscover a familiar landscape in the Coastal Mountains of British Columbia.

Bloody tracks on a dark road. Hooded figures juggling lights. Eerie handprints appearing. We hope you’re ready to get spooky with our annual Tales of Terror! We have three stories from the backcountry that will send chills down your spine. Turn down the lights and grab your teddy bear. Happy Halloween!

“Everything that we love is affected by politics for better or worse, and we can't afford to not be engaged with it,” says Canyon Woodward. Today we hear stories from two people who’ve leaned in and worked directly with elected leaders to have a say in the future of the places we love. Canyon Woodward explains how trail running is a lot like running for office, and Kareemah Batts shares what it’s like to Climb The Hill on behalf of public lands and the outdoor community. We also hear from a broad set of voices across our country about why participation in the democratic process matters. We’re all in this together.

“I'm stubborn,” reflects Steve Baskis. “When my mind tells me not to do something because I'm afraid or nervous, I tend to tell myself to do it.” What happens when you lose something fundamental to how you function in the world in a single second? For ex-infantryman Steve Baskis wounded in Iraq, it meant staying on the bright side, looking forward, and never giving up.

Today, we are sharing one of our favorite podcasts-- Scene on Radio. Over the course of twelve episodes, host John Biewen and collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika explore a theme both evergreen and immediately urgent: democracy in America. Fitz talks with John about the recent season and shares the trailer.From Scene On Radio: “Our season-long series will touch on concerns like authoritarianism, voter suppression and gerrymandering, foreign intervention, and the role of money in politics, but we’ll go much deeper, effectively retelling the story of the United States from its beginnings up to the present. Through field recordings and interviews with leading thinkers, we’ll tell under-told stories and explore critical questions like—How democratic was the U.S. ever meant to be, anyway? American democracy is clearly in crisis today, but . . . when was it not? Along the way, there’s a good chance that we’ll complicate, maybe upend, our listeners’ understanding of American history.”

“I do not remember the ‘first time’ we played hide-n-seek in the barn,” recalls producer Cordelia Zars, “it just always happened.” How do you stay positive when you’re hiding from a pandemic and wildfire smoke with no end in sight? For Cordelia, reflecting on her favorite childhood game brought her some perspective.

Bailey, Colorado is a rural town in the Rocky Mountains. “Bailey is boating hell. There is no water around us at all,” says high school teacher Steve Hanford. Now, imagine 13 high school students building a triple-hulled canoe from scratch and racing it on the ocean. Despite the critics who said they couldn’t, the students and teachers believed in their own power to succeed.