Doing Stuff Outdoors

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

What’s that they say about the family that rock climbs together… stays together? This week on DSO-55 Gary meets Greg Hughes and Stacy Couturier and their young daughters Megan and Emily. This family lives the outdoors lifestyle and we’ll meet them as they get ready to do some climbing.

On Trail Magic Lorne Blagdon takes us into the Smoky Mountains where the rains were torrential. He has encounters with wild boars, black bears and sees a wild turkey while climbing to the peak of Rocky Top in Tennessee, made famous by the song. Also on this leg of the hike they climb the highest peak on the Appalachian Trail, Klingman’s Dome at 6,643 feet.

Enjoy some podsafe music from The Ones and we’ll hear some of your comments on the outdoors, recording audio in the field and a tv show and video podcast about California Gold. Next time on DSO our final segment on rock climbing and some thoughts on why we shouldn’t listen to our mp3 players in the outdoors.

Call in your comments, suggestions and outdoor adventures to the comments line at 206-600-4557. Email Gary at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca and subscribe to DSO in iTunes.

LISTEN TO DSO-54

Many years ago Gary was introduced to rock climbing by a climber named Steve Adamson. He’s climbed mountains all over the world including the Himalayas and he’s organizing a trip to Everest. He still does rock climbing and ice climbing and is still introducing new people to the sport he loves. On this edition of Doing Stuff Outdoors we meet up with Steve at one of the best rock climbing sites in the maritimes as he takes a group of scouts up the rock face for the first time.

A former guest on Doing Stuff Outdoors who produces a TV show called The Fishing Musicians is doing a new HD program about outdoor adventures in New Brunswick. We’ll get a sneak peak at the new show and some of the outdoor delights to be found in Gary’s home province.

Also on the show… podsafe music from the Great Bloomers and some comments about recording audio in the great outdoors. Call in your comments at 206.600.4557. Email Gary at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca or leave a comment on the webpage at doingstuffoutdoors.com.

Next time…more rock climbing. We’ll meet a family with young children who all climb together and we head back to the Appalachian Trail with Lorne Blagdon.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM

On June 1, 2002, sixty-eight after-work athletes and other “weekend warriors” set off from Saint John, New Brunswick, for a sweaty day of competitive adventure: 15 kilometres of trail running, 40K of mountain biking, and 12 kilometres of sea kayaking on the legendary Bay of Fundy. However, as a storm swept across the final paddling section, what began as a fun introduction to the sport of adventure racing soon turned into a tragedy that would haunt many of the participants for years to come.

That’s the summary of a new book by David Leach called Fatal Tide: When the Race of a Lifetime Goes Wrong. It tells the story of the first death of an adventure racer in North America and the impact this tragedy has had on the sport and even on reality TV. Our feature interview on this edition of DSO is with investigative journalist, author and assistant professor of writing at the University of Victoria, David Leach.

Also on the show podsafe music from Denis Kitchen and more of your comments about your longest paddle ever. We’ll hear about a difficult trip in low water in a wilderness area of New Brunswick, a three day trip to the Assateague National Seashore in Maryland and a week long kayaking/camping trip to Barkley Sound on the west coast of BC.

Call in your comments to 206.600.4557. Email me at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca or leave a comment on the webpage at doingstuffoutdoors.com.

Next time on DSO… we’ll take you rock climbing.

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM

On this edition of DSO we meet best selling author, founder and CEO of the Running Room, John Stanton. He’s written four books on running, run more than 60 marathons, hundreds of road races and numerous triathlons. Stanton was introduced to running as an overweight, out of shape, smoker who then went on to start a chain of running and walking specialty retail stores across Canada and in the U.S. His goal is to encourage others to get active and he’s helped thousands of people to lose weight, improve their health and fitness level and truly change their lives. In just a few minutes he diagnosed and fixed a running problem that had plagued Gary for a long time. John Stanton is our feature interview today on Doing Stuff Outdoors.

Also on the show, a great podsafe tune from a band called Sunspot and more of your comments. Gord writes about a race to the top of Whiteface Mountain, Lloyd tells us about a blog that focuses on relevant events and issues that impact wildlife and their habitat and Warren says goodbye, at least for a while.

Next time on DSO a feature interview with the author of a book about an Adventure Race that went terribly wrong. A young participant died of exposure while kayaking in the race. David Leach covered the tragedy for an outdoor magazine and has written a book about it called, “Fatal Tide: When the Race of a Lifetime Goes Wrong”. He says the accident has had a major impact on adventure racing ever since.

Also on the show we’ll have more stories of your longest paddle ever. Call in your comments to 206.600.4557 or email doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca or leave a comment at doingstuffoutdoors.com

LISTEN TO THE PROGRAM

Photo by Alison Wiley

Last January world-class Canadian runner Alison Wiley and 11 other women in their 40’s from the Toronto area stood on the summit of Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro. Their six day climb was an adventure of a lifetime for all of them. It was also a way for Alison to help street kids in the nearby town of Moshi, Tanzania. The women used their climb to raise money for Amani Children’s Home, a facility that offers local kids food, clothing, love and hope. Our feature interview on this edition of DSO is with Alison Wiley.

If you’re interested in learning more about climbing Kilimanjaro check out this video
from Tusker Trail. We have some great podsafe music on the show from Africa by African Cream Kids. Also some comments from Amy and Warren. And Gary talks about his longest paddle ever, three days on the St John River. If you want to tell us about your longest paddle or your latest climb up a mountain call out comments line at 206.600.4557, email us at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca or leave a comment on our webpage at doingstuffoutdoors.com.

Next time on DSO, a feature interview with John Stanton, author and founder of the Running Room.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Our feature interview this week is with Patrick Stark of Toronto.  On July 1st he’s beginning a challenging solo expedition in his kayak.  Pat is circumnavigating Georgian Bay.  The bay is an incredibly beautiful and environmentally sensitive part of Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes.  Patrick will paddle his kayak over 1,000 km in a trip that’s expected to last about 40 days.  He’ll experience some of the best kayaking to be found anywhere but at the same time he’ll have to be prepared for storms and crashing waves along a coastline that has claimed many ships over the years.  He’s paddling to raise money for the Georgian Bay Land Trust, an organization dedicated to preserving and protecting this important body of water.

Lorne Blagdon returns with another edition of ‘Trail Magic’, his journal about hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.  We pick up the story in North Carolina at Fontana Dam, one of the few places on the trail where you can get a nice hot shower. Lorne tells us about a legendary, twisty road in the mountains called the ‘Dragon’.  Also a hiking tip on how to use the US Postal Service to carry some of the load by sending a ‘Bump Box’ along the trail.

Also on the show some podsafe music from Youth Reference and more of your comments.  Don’t forget to call in and tell us about your longest paddle. Call in your comments, suggestions and outdoor adventures to the comments line at 206-600-4557. Email Gary at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca and subscribe to DSO in iTunes.  Check us out on twitter at ‘doingstuff’.  Next time we’ll climb Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

I’m sure all lovers of the outdoors would agree we need to protect and preserve as much of the wilderness as we can.  Wilderness areas everywhere in the world are being threatened by development and even sometimes by recreational use.  Our feature story on today’s program is about a unique initiative underway in Canada to protect wilderness areas.  It’s called ‘The Big Wild‘ and the goal is is to keep at least half of Canada’s public land and water wild forever. We talk to Roberta Clowater of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in New Brunswick about the program, how it works and how you can get involved.

We have some podsafe music from Dave McCormick of West Virginia questioning where all the trees have gone.  And more of your comments about the outdoors and the program.  We’ll hear from a listener in Texas who thinks we should do something on mp3 players and what people listen to in the outdoors.  Good idea!  And we’ll hear from another listener in New Hampshire who loves hiking, camping and canoeing but also likes ATV’s and 4X4’s and believes an outdoors person can enjoy both.  Also a DSO anniversary message.

Contact us by email at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca or call the comments line at 206.600.4557.  Leave a comment at doingstuffoutdoors.com or on outdoorzy.com.  And help me figure out how Twitter works by contacting me there at ‘doingstuff’ and telling me what you’re doing in the outdoors.  Next time on the show more Trail Magic with Lorne Blagdon and we’ll climb Kilimanjaro.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

We’re going to take you paragliding on this edition of DSO. I know I said I was finished with snow for a while but I couldn’t resist running this feature. When I was skiing at Panorama Mountain in British Columbia back in March I came across a group of paragliders. They were holding their annual Easter Paragliding Festival. I hung around and watched for a while and got talking to the organizer Max Fanderl. He was born in Germany and came to Canada in 1992. This guy lives for flying and he flies everything… airplanes, gliders, ultra-lights, hang gliders and of course paragliders. They’re those things that look like a cross between a parachute and a kite. In the winter they take off on skis and in the summer they just run and jump off mountains. I had an interesting conversation with Max at the launch site on the mountain, about the sport, the appeal and the risks involved. We also talked to Max about his upcoming participation in the X-Alps, said to be one of the toughest Adventure Races in the world. (Look for this paragliding feature as an HD Video segment of Doing Stuff Outdoors in the fall)

We’ll also have more of your comments about the program and about outdoor things. Roman from the Lighthiker’s World blog sends along a nice note and Anthony Jones of Anthony’s Audio Journal sends us an audio comment. We’ve thrown in a great cut of podsafe music from Blake Morgan. I’ve also started a Twitter account. It’s called ‘doingstuff’. I couldn’t fit the word ‘Outdoors’ into the title. Anyway… don’t know much about all this social networking stuff but I though Twitter might be a good way to keep in touch with listeners and a way for you to let me know what you’re up to in the outdoors. So follow me and I’d like to follow you on Twitter.

You can also call your comments in to the comments line at 206.600.4557. Email me at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca or leave a comment on the webpage at doingstuffoutdoors.com. Next time on the show we’ll tell you about a new program designed to protect and preserve wilderness areas called ‘The Big Wild’.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

In this edition of Doing Stuff Outdoors we’re going sailing….or at least we’ll talk to a man who lives and breathes the sea. It took him three years but he built his own day-sailor out of wood following traditional boat building plans.  We’ll talk about the joy you get from sailing in a wooden boat that you built yourself.

And we all have visions of the mighty Nile River.  Thanks to our friends at the Outdoors Station we’ll hear about a tour operator who organizes amazing kayaking expeditions along the Nile.

Also today… more of your comments including a look at a new product that allows you to create your own 3D trail maps of routes in the Canadian Rockies.  And we’ll talk a little about getting outdoors with kids.  Plus more podsafe music from Great Big Sea.

Call in your comments, suggestions and outdoor adventures to the comments line at 206-600-4557. Email Gary at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca and subscribe to DSO in iTunes.
Next week we’ll take you paragliding in the mountains…..

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

We take one last look at skiing and snow on this episode. Gary and a group of his regular gang of backcountry skiers sneak away for a late season weekend of skiing in the Chic Choc Mountains of the Gaspe Peninsula in the province of Quebec. This area and these mountains are a hidden gem. They’re a continuation of the Appalachian Range with the highest peak a little over 4,000 feet in elevation. But these hills have a big mountain feel to them. Much of the terrain is above tree line and the area is known for it’s abundant snow and fabulous backcounty skiing and hiking. But the secret is getting out, especially the popular hut to hut ski treks. Gary ran into a group of mainly first time Chic Choc skiers from New England. They talk about their adventures in the area and late season skiing, not just in Gaspe but also the legendary Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington in New Hampshire.

Lone Blagdon has more Trail Magic for us. He picks up his Appalachian Trail adventure at the Nantahala Outdoor Centre in North Carolina where he meets a thru hiker who has to quit the trail and passes on some goodies to Lorne and his daughter. Also in this account… revenge of the chili dogs, dry beans for breakfast, the luxury of a hot shower and beware of falling trees.

We’ll also feature some of your feedback including another ‘Where To Get Stuff’ suggestion… Campmor. Podsafe music from the popular Atlantic Canadian band Great Big Sea.

If you’d like to recommend your favorite place to get outdoor gear or your favorite trail or place to hike contact us by email at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca or call our comments line at 206.600.4557.