6 Podcasts About the Joys and Perils of the Great Outdoors

Starter episode: “The Worst Black Bear Assault in Historical past: Half 1”

Matt Pycroft, a filmmaker who makes a speciality of documenting far-flung and hostile outside places, delivers interviews with friends who share his thirst for exploration. One’s definition of an journey can fluctuate dramatically, and that’s mirrored within the broad vary of topics right here. Many episodes deal with mountaineering, polar expeditions and base leaping, however there are additionally closer-to-home choices like cold-water swimming and mudlarking, the custom of attempting to find hidden treasures alongside the banks of the River Thames in London. Interspersed with the inspiring interviews is recommendation, just like the current “Discover: How To Plan An Expedition” mini-season.

Starter episode: “Mark Agnew, An Adventurous Thoughts”

Exterior journal has been a go-to supply for classy journey journey writing for greater than 4 many years, and its podcast expands on that custom, utilizing sound results and first-person narration to inform immersive, gripping tales about endurance in nature. The podcast, which started in 2016, chronicles tales of survival within the wilderness in opposition to extraordinary odds; there’s an episode masking nearly any terrifying situation you possibly can think about — what it feels wish to be buried alive in an avalanche or paralyzed by a scorpion within the Grand Canyon. In recent times the present has expanded its horizons, providing interviews with public figures about their excessive sports activities of alternative — cave diving for the actor Viggo Mortensen, ultramarathons for the musician Ben Gibbard — in addition to science-based deep dives into the perfect coaching plans and diet for athletes.

Starter episode: “Approach, Approach Too Near a Whale”

This NPR staple explores tales in regards to the pure world and our interactions with it, hosted by Nate Hegyi, a reporter with New Hampshire Public Radio. One of many present’s common segments, “This, That, or the Different Factor,” focuses on methods to make extra sustainable decisions relating to consuming out, shopping for garments and even planning funerals. Different episodes use a popular culture hook, like final summer time’s installment pegged to “Oppenheimer.” After the atomic bomb take a look at at Los Alamos in the summertime of 1945, the downwind rural city of Carrizozo was blanketed by radioactive fallout, making its water undrinkable and soil barren, and precipitating a spike in radiogenic most cancers charges. Hegyi’s on-the-ground interviews with these “downwinders” about their battle for presidency compensation make for unnerving listening, exemplifying the sort of reporting “Exterior/In” does finest.

Starter episode: “What’s probably the most profitable species on Earth?”

Hosted by two longtime pals, this amiable present for “morbid outside fans” delves into tales of when issues go very, very incorrect within the nation’s most picturesque places. In each episode of “Nationwide Park After Darkish,” Danielle LaRock and Cassandra Yahnian element a dramatic incident at nationwide parks throughout the nation (and past), discussing the placement’s historical past in addition to its perils. Some are well-known cautionary tales like that of Timothy Treadwell, the bear fanatic who lived amongst grizzlies for 13 years earlier than being mauled to loss of life by certainly one of them, whereas others are pure true crime, just like the still-unsolved Crater Lake murders. The nice and cozy rapport between the hosts, balanced by inspirational survival tales, makes this a pleasant hear irrespective of how darkish the topic.

Starter episode: “A Lightning Strike Rescue, Yosemite Nationwide Park”