Blame Serial听(I do), but podcasting has changed the way a lot of us hear and tell stories. Audio that you can take anywhere is intimate in a way that almost no other media is, and there are more quality shows than ever doing just that, from big sweeping mysteries to drilled-down interviews. The outdoor world is no different. These are all the best podcasts about nature, public lands, and adventure鈥攖he ones that have held up to the ebb and flow of the podcasting trend, that teach us something new about the outdoor world听and the people in it.听
Dirtbag Diaries
This is the OG of outdoor-storytelling podcasts. Fitz Cahall started the in 2007 as a digital representation of campfire tales about backcountry adventures. More than a decade later, that鈥檚 included river trips gone wrong, treks on endangered land, and finding clarity on solo horse-packing adventures. The outdoors can inspire all kinds of feelings, and Dirtbag Diaries has covered an astounding amount of them.
She Explores
In 2014, Gale Straub started telling stories of women outside to amplify the voices of people who weren鈥檛 being heard. Ever since, she鈥檚 been asking incisive, thoughtful questions about diversity, bodies, and unspoken challenges in the outdoors鈥攁nd has turned into a community and connection point.
Bundyville
In this 2017 seven-part series, Leah Sotille takes a balanced look at the with federal land managers听and its听ultimately fatal occupation of Oregon鈥檚听Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. In the process, she illuminates the complicated history and charged future of public-land management in the American West. And it鈥檚听back with seven more episodes as of July 15.听
Wild Thing
Why is it so hard to prove that Bigfoot exists鈥 or doesn鈥檛? After discovering a relative who was obsessed with just that, Laura Krantz 听asking Sasquatch experts and hunters about the myth of the woods. In the process, she stumbles onto some surprisingly deep questions about why we want to believe in the unknown, especially in a world where you can answer almost any question by asking the internet.
国产吃瓜黑料/In
describes itself as 鈥渁 show about the natural world and how we use it.鈥 Host Sam Evans-Brown and the folks at New Hampshire Public Radio cover that in all sorts of surprising and delightful ways, including the validity of ghosts, the challenges of storm chasing, and the importance of being outdoorsy while online dating.
Enormocast
Are climbers the nerdiest of outdoor nerds? That point is (only a little) debatable, but is a safe space to dork out about hand jams, the home lives of dirtbags, and all kinds听of other topics. Host Chris Kalous goes down a wormhole with your favorite climbers鈥听favorite climbers,听like Adam Ondra and Alex Honnold鈥檚 mom,听and the results are insidery and gossipy in the best sense.
The Firn Line
Just kidding, climbers aren鈥檛 the nerdiest of outdoor nerds鈥攎ountaineers are the ultimate dorks. In , Evan Phillips talks about why people are drawn to the brutal beauty of high peaks听and what they give up to get there. Through interviews with people like Conrad Anker and the late David Lama, he looks at obsession, creativity, and risk.
30 for 30
Like the in-depth ESPN documentaries that gave way to this spin-off series, goes deep into the untold backstories of sports. We particularly love 鈥淥n Thin Ice,鈥 an episode about the first all-female attempt at the North Pole, and 鈥淵ankees Suck,鈥 about the eponymous, scandalous T-shirts of Red Sox fandom (so, not adventure sports, but a masterful piece of storytelling), both from season one.
The Powell Movement
The comedy world has Marc Maron as bombastic, . We have Mike Powell, a former action-sports athlete manager who鈥檚 a lovable loudmouth. He also has a talent for asking tricky questions to luminaries, like mountain biker Casey Brown, skier Glen Plake, and skater John Cardiel.
Ultrarunner
One of the best things about podcasting is that it self-sorts the audience, giving the host agency to outline the minutiae of a sport or pastime. (Apparently people listen to hours of talk about the NBA draft?)听Nowhere is that clearer than on the , which covers the nutrition, gear, racing, and athletes of ultrarunning in hyperspecific detail.
The Tim Ferriss Show
We鈥檒l be there when life hacking听is canceled, but until then, Tim Ferriss will continue to be the . He鈥檚 gotten as famous听as he is because he鈥檚 not scared to ask people who are the best at things鈥擫eBron James, for instance鈥攚eird, probing questions about how they got to be as good as they are.
The First 40 Miles
It鈥檚 been off-line since the end of 2018, but is a long-standing resource for anyone who wants to get into backpacking (or really any kind of hiking). It鈥檚 full of tips, stories, and secrets that are never pedantic and always surprising, from inspiration for backcountry pizza parties,听to ideas on听how to fight posthike ennui,听to flat-out basics like how to pack your bag.听
The Habitat
What is the wilderness, really? And how do we survive when we鈥檙e in confined, stressful environments? Those were questions that NASA was asking when it听put six volunteers on a remote Hawaiian island. And the fallout might feel familiar if you鈥檝e been trapped in a bad backcountry situation before.
Safety Third
Podcasts often succeed on the charisma and chemistry of their hosts.听 certainly does. The show pings between Elizabeth Nakano鈥檚 straight-faced sarcasm and Paddy O鈥機onnell鈥檚 giggles听during interviews with people like fishing-boat captain McKenna Peterson and Aspen鈥檚 vice president听of sustainability, Auden Schendler. It鈥檚 a funny, not-too-earnest platform to get into the reasons why those people have shaped their lives around adventure听and what they ultimately learn from it.
国产吃瓜黑料 Podcast
We may be biased, but we can鈥檛 help including this one鈥攖he听国产吃瓜黑料 Podcast is听right up our alley in every way. Listen if you鈥檙e looking for variety of topics鈥攐n any given week, we鈥檒l be talking about the brain benefits of nature, investigating the science behind听snake venom, or imagining in excruciating narrative detail what it would be like to get attacked by a relentless swarm of bees.听听
Lead photo: Getty Images/REDA&CO/Peter Dazeley/Art by Petra Zeiler