“All profound things are preceded and attended by Silence.” – Herman Melville

This week on the podcast we are honored to bring you wilderness survival expert Alan Kay.

Alan was the season one winner of Alone on the History Channel, which is probably the best (aka least reality showish) demonstration of wilderness survival on TV.  Ten people were dropped off in separate locations on northern Vancouver Island with minimal supplies, they could quit whenever they wanted, and whoever outlasted the rest was the winner.

After 56 days of remote survival; foraging for food, filtering water, building shelter and creating fire in one of more soggy and untamed wildernesses in North America, Alan was declared the winner.  More impressive than the physical aspect, he also managed to stave off loneliness as he faced what is a rarity for most of society these days, complete and utter isolation.

In this episode, Alan shares how to prioritize your needs in a survival situation, what his mindset was going into the challenge and how focusing only on what he could control led to his success.  We also spend a lot of time diving deep into the mindset of isolation.  This was a fascinating topic because most of us will never experience complete solitude, especially not for the length of time Alan did.

Alan is an educator in wilderness survival, so this podcast also covers various topics such as shelter construction for warmth, how to stay safe in mountain lion country, skills you should learn from previous generations and strategies to stay dry and warm in the wilderness.

I really want to thank Alan for chatting with me.  It was a fascinating conversation that I’m excited to share with you guys.  Also just wanted to give him props for being so open and raw about his experience.

How to contact Alan:

If you want to book Alan for a survival clinic you can reach him at his website http://alankaysurvival.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/alankaysurvival/.  He teaches everyone from beginners to more advanced wilderness folks.  I truly believe that the skills he promotes are essential skills every single person should have at least a basic understanding of.  Booking a class is something I am definitely interested in pursuing in the future.

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This week is all about long distance mountain biking as we chat with Scott Morris.  Scott and his girlfriend Eszter Horanyi live nomadically on public lands and spend their days working remotely and exploring beautiful areas on their mountain bikes.

Growing up in Utah he fell in love with mountain biking.  As his rides got longer and longer and he overcame the “limits of daylight”, he began “bikepacking”.

What in the world is bikepacking (besides a word that keeps trying to autocorrect….)???

Simple- It’s backpacking with a mountain bike…..or mountain biking with a backpack.

Essentially, you ride your mountain bike all day and then at night you throw out a sleeping bag and set up camp.  The next morning, you set back out down the trail on your bike.

Scott’s bikepacked the Continental Divide Trail (the parts he was allowed to), explored the “bikeable 14ers”, and started the first single track bikepacking event on the Arizona Trail, a journey from Mexico to Utah with a brief jaunt down and up some little geologic feature called the Grand Canyon.

In this episode we explore a bunch of different topics.  How did he get into this fringe sport, how did the AZT bikepacking race evolve, what life is like living nomadically from his camper van, how his GPS tracking software works (mentioned in episode #37 with Candice Burt), why public lands are so dang important, and which 14ers you can actually mountain bike up.

Oh yeah….we also have the same uncle but aren’t related.  How this math equation works is beyond my tiny brain…..  (My Uncle Joel Bown’s episode: https://soundcloud.com/chris-ward-126531464/16-joel-bown-1971-endless)

Enjoy guys! If one person out there listens to this episode and tries bikepacking I will count it as a victory!!

Learn More About Scott:

“Diary of Scott Morris”: http://topofusion.com/diary/

Bikepacking Resource he started: http://www.bikepacking.net

Arizona Trail Race Info: http://topofusion.com/azt/race.php

Topofusion GPS software: http://topofusion.com

Trackleaders SPOT tracking software: http://trackleaders.com

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This week we are chatting with Jason Sudduth about rediscovering health, having adventures, and creating positive routines.  Recently he’s lost 40 pounds in two months, started doing yoga, began running, and recently went on his first backpacking trip to the Linville Gorge in North Carolina.

I had Jason on specifically to nerd out about the Linville Gorge, one of the most remote wild places in the southeast, but upon seeing the strides he has made towards a healthier lifestyle the conversation turned into a much deeper more hilarious reflection on health and happiness.

He followed, what I believe to be, the time tested formula of success:

• CONSISTENT POSITIVE ACTION / TIME = SUCCESS

It’s nothing fancy, there is no shortcut or hack, and it sure isn’t pretty.

It IS just showing up day after day, week after week, and putting in the hard work.  Being cool with a little discomfort.  Being ok with “failure” and having the beginner’s attitude.

That’s it.

You have a goal?

Do a little bit each and every day to move towards that goal.

While most of us would prefer to go directly from point A to point Z.  You have to consciously travel all the steps along the journey A, B, C……until you eventually reach Z.  There’s no teleportation.  Like I said, it ain’t pretty.  But it’s necessary.

So do the work.

Be like Jason.

(Oh yeah….I might have convinced him to sign up for his first ultra marathon in October……and he’s only run 7 continuous miles up to this point.  But he understands this formula and realizes that if he puts the work in daily and remains motivated, he WILL reach his goal)

Hope you guys enjoy!  It’s an important message and an empowering one!

You can find the rest of our episodes here: https://soundcloud.com/chris-ward-126531464

Subscribe and Review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/like-a-bigfoot/id1160773293?mt=2

Calvin Johannsen’s Join 100 Club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/832978636814272/

Linville Gorge

This week we are honored to welcome endurance athlete, entrepreneur, and creator and star of the awesome endurance racing TV show Boundless, Simon Donato.  Recently he wrote a book called The Boundless Life: 13 Lessons Learned the Hard Way.  If you are like me and obsessed with endurance sports, wilderness exploration, and solid life advice, then definitely check it out! I finished it over the weekend and absolutely loved it!

You can find The Boundless Life here: https://www.amazon.com/Boundless-Simon-Donato/dp/1443446556

Simon is also the founder of the company Adventure Science (www.adventurescience.com) which partners field scientists with wilderness athletes in an attempt to explore and understand the wildest places in the world.

In this episode Simon shares stories and advice from his days as a world class adventure racer, explains the lessons he’s learned though endurance racing and how they have led to success in other aspects of life, and discusses various expeditions and challenges he has pursued through Adventure Science.

He’s an incredibly fascinating, driven, insightful person and I’m so excited for you to hear his stories and philosophies!

Enjoy!

Follow all of Simon’s various endeavors by checking out the following links:

His personal Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AdventureSimon/

Stoked Oats (His oatmeal company): http://www.stokedoats.com

Adventure Science Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AdventureScience/

Boundless (Endurance Racing TV show): http://tv.esquire.com/now/boundless

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Most importantly though….go out and find an adventure this week!

This week’s Like a Bigfoot episode is, fittingly enough, with the creator of the Bigfoot 200 mile endurance, Candice Burt.  In fact, she organizes, manages, and directs THREE 200 mile races: Bigfoot, Tahoe, and Moab (really 234 miles…but at that point what’s 34 more!)

Candice is a really thoughtful, funny, and happy person….for someone who jokingly received the moniker of “most masochistic race director in the world!”  I was so grateful get to speak with her before she takes off into the wilderness planning the next big race.

In this episode we talk about all the highs and lows of organizing such a gigantic event, how she keeps her runners safe, what people can expect from a 200 mile event, how to train for her races, and how 200 milers are a whole different BEAST than 100 milers.  She really gave me an idea of the massive amount of work involved in putting on a successful ultra.  Pretty amazing!

We also discuss what it’s like to ‘fastpack’ through isolated wilderness areas, what to do when you see mountain lions in the middle of nowhere, and how she handles running the brutal HURT 100 in Hawaii.

Hope y’all enjoy this episode!! (Heading to North Carolina for a wedding so I gotta get my southern back!)

Please check out all of her Destination Trail Races here: http://www.destinationtrailrun.com

Candice’s Blog: http://www.wilddefined.com

If you enjoyed this episode I would highly suggest our conversation with Melissa Sinclair about training and running Candice’s Tahoe 200: https://soundcloud.com/chris-ward-126531464/like-a-bigfoot-13-melissa-sinclair

You can help us by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the Like a Bigfoot Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/like-a-bigfoot/id1160773293?mt=2

Thanks guys!! You are the best!