The Scenic Route Podcast

Sebastian Kennerknecht grew up in Munich Germany and is now one of the world's leading wildlife and conservation photographers. He's photographed 35 of the 40 wild felid species on Earth, builds his own camera traps from scratch, and holds a distinction shared by no other photographer alive, the only high-resolution image of a wild Borneo Bay Cat in existence. A cat so rare that most biologists wh...

Aaron Davies is a conservationist and mammal ecologist from the United Kingdom currently working in the Peruvian Amazon as an Assistant Mammal Coordinator with Fauna Forever. He holds a degree in Geography with Applied GIS from the University of Exeter and an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity. Aaron’s research has focused on ecological change, biodiversity monitoring, and carnivore ecology, inc...

Riley McClaughry is a wildlife filmmaker, cameraman, and editor who grew up in Sacramento before moving to Lake Tahoe after high school, trading a conventional path for van life and a camera. Starting out filming adventure sports at age 14, he eventually turned his lens toward wildlife, spending six months tracking black bears across the Tahoe basin to produce The Backyard Bear, a self-funded docu...

Salem and Soleil are a brother-sister duo from Northern California who grew up homeschooled in the Colorado mountains before relocating with their family to Sandpoint, Idaho in 2024, the same year they launched Steez Fish, an outdoor apparel brand rooted in skate, snow, and fishing culture that started with handmade fleece beanies and has grown into a full gear line. Together they're building a br...

Jon Hall is a dedicated mammal watcher and the founder of MammalWatching.com. He is one of the most active explorers in the quest to find and protect the world's most elusive species. For 20+ years, Jon worked on different ways of measuring wellbeing and progress, most recently with the United Nations' Human Development Index, the global measure of how countries are developing beyond just economic...

Kayla Shepherd is a wildlife ecologist, conservationist, photographer, and storyteller based in Alaska. Through her work as both a field biologist and content creator, she documents the wildlife and ecosystems of one of the most remote and rapidly changing landscapes in North America. She now focuses on connecting people with nature through her role as a communication specialist with the Southeast...

Desmond McCaffrey is a self-taught wildlife artist from northern Alberta whose work is deeply rooted in a lifelong connection to the outdoors. Born in Saskatchewan and raised exploring the forests and waterways of Alberta, he developed his artistic ability by sketching wildlife and landscapes from memory after hunting and fishing trips with his father. His career path included work in the oil indu...

Abbie Martin is a wildlife ecologist, conservationist, and founder of the Jaguar Identification Project, a long-term research initiative dedicated to studying and protecting jaguars in Brazil’s Pantanal. Her work combines science, citizen participation, and story telling to better understand jaguar population dynamics and promote sustainable conservation strategies. Splitting her year between hemi...

Oliver Starr is a wolf conservationist, author, and Executive Director of the Tahoe Wolf Center, a federally licensed nonprofit dedicated to wolf conservation and public education. His work focuses on closing the gap between myth and reality, helping people understand wolves not as symbols of dominance, but as complex, cooperative animals with lessons that extend far beyond the wild. He is the aut...

Jack Schonhoff is a wildlife content creator, filmmaker, and on-screen host best known for Jack’s World of Wildlife , a documentary-style series he launched in 2018. He works as a writer, producer, and presenter on his own projects, focusing on hands-on experiences with wildlife, particularly dangerous and misunderstood species like spiders and scorpions. His content is defined by direct interacti...

Morgan Treni is a singer, songwriter, and the Founder of Golden Estate Entertainment, a boutique agency specializing in live music for luxury events, weddings, and corporate gatherings. She leads the Golden Estate House Band and performs a mix of jazz standards, Broadway, and contemporary music, influenced by Golden Age Hollywood and early American song traditions. She has released original projec...

Jack Kadis is a 22-year-old content creator attempting to walk the entire perimeter of the United States. He began the journey in January and has been heading south with everything he owns on his back, documenting the experience as he goes. Without a strict plan, deadline, or support crew, Kadis approaches the journey one day at a time, finding places to sleep, meeting people along the way, and tu...

Rick Szabo is the creator of Birding with Rick , a rapidly growing birding platform, with more than 200,000 followers. There he teaches people how to find, identify, and truly enjoy birds in the wild. Rick leads small-group birding retreats across North America and Costa Rica, publishes the popular newsletter The 3-Minute Birder , and has helped thousands of people experience the thrill of seeing...

Asher Wild is one of the four brothers behind The Wild Brothers, a group of missionary-raised filmmakers known for their adventurous storytelling, wildlife encounters, and faith-driven content. The brothers grew up deep in the rainforests of West Papua in Indonesia, where their parents worked as missionaries among remote tribes. Living in such an isolated and wild place shaped their curiosity for...

Lauren Dahl is the Programs and Operations Director at Green Door Folk School, a folk school based in northern Michigan focused on hands-on, community-centered learning. Folk schools began in Denmark in the mid-1800s, inspired by educator N. F. S. Grundtvig, who believed education should focus on personal growth, cultural identity, and civic engagement rather than exams or degrees. The movement sp...

Atherium Bommarito is a former firefighter and paramedic who spent a decade serving his community in high-intensity medical and emergency response roles before making a bold life shift. After ten years of emotionally and physically demanding work, including time working in hospital settings in Detroit and front-line emergency service, he chose to resign in late 2025 and pursue a new chapter focuse...

Titus Humphreys is an outdoor filmmaker and storyteller based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Originally from Papua New Guinea and Australia, he brings a unique, global perspective to the rugged landscapes he documents. After five years working as a ski technician and bike mechanic, Titus is currently transitioning into full-time content creation, building a dedicated following through his signature blen...

Christopher Mickens is the Director of the Department of Public Safety at Ohio Wesleyan University and has worked at the university since 1999. Over more than two decades on campus, he has become a familiar presence to students, faculty, staff, and alumni. In addition to overseeing public safety operations, Christopher has been involved in various campus programs and service initiatives and has su...

Max Sauerbrey and Juliette Benedetto are filmmakers and the co-founders of Quickdraw Films. They directed The Way It Was , a documentary built from archival footage shot in 1970s Alaska by Max’s grandfather, Chuck Wirschem, and brought the project to completion decades after it was originally filmed. Watch The Way it Was and Subscribe to Quick Draw Films on YT Now: https://youtu.be/-YRXMgKMlWY?si=...

Stephan Kesting is a lifelong martial artist, outdoor expeditionary, and educator. Stephan is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt with more than 30 years of training across multiple martial arts systems, he is also a veteran firefighter of over 25 years and a recipient of the Canadian National Medal for Bravery. He is the founder of Grapplearts.com and host of  The Strenuous Life  podcast,...

Kehinde McComb is a content entrepreneur who built his way out of hourly work by learning how attention really works online. Raised by a single mother, he worked 22 different jobs before turning 18, from warehouses and restaurants to delivery apps, before discovering online business. After nearly 20 failed attempts in e-commerce and a period of serious financial stress, Kehinde broke through by us...

David Easterbrook is a bonsai artist with over 55 years of experience and a central figure in the development of North American bonsai. He served for more than three decades as curator of the Montreal Botanical Gardens Bonsai Collection, where he helped build one of the most respected public collections on the continent. Trained through early mentorships in the U.S. and a formal apprenticeship in...

Ciaran Brayboy is the Co-founder of Skye Performance and a former Harvard basketball player who received over 30 Division I offers. Ciaran credits much of his competitive edge to the clean nutrition habits he grew up with in a functional-medicine household. When he arrived at Harvard, he was surprised by how processed and sugar-heavy most “performance” snacks were, which led him and fellow student...

Dr. Dimitri Deheyn is a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. He leads the Deheyn Lab, where his work focuses on marine biology, environmental health, and materials in the natural world. Dimitri studies how organisms interact with light and color, and he also researches the spread of microplastics and synthetic fibers through oceans, air, and food systems. Keep Up W...

Grace Keilbach, along with her sister Aria, founded Boonie Babies, a nonprofit rescue based on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands archipelago. Together, they document, coordinate, and lead the organization’s efforts to rescue, rehabilitate, and relocate the island’s boonie dogs, descendants of WWII combat dogs that still roam Saipan today. What began as a small, two-person effort has grow...