The Trail Less Traveled

Elizabeth Unger is a Missoula based Nat Geo explorer, Sundance supported film maker and activist, who finds herself drawn to challenging, immersive, and impact-driven projects that can break through the boundaries set in her own mind. Elizabeth has worked and traveled across all seven continents. Her award-winning feature directorial debut, TIGRE GENTE, world premiered at Tribeca in 2021, screened...

Serena Early is one of Missoula's first Yoga teachers. She has been a student of Yoga for 40 years. She has studied with Geeta and BKS Iyengar in India, George Purvis in Dallas TX, as well as Judith Lasater, Ramanand Patel, Angela Farmer, and Victor van Kooten. Serena has taught Yoga for over 35 years and has developed her own style of teaching. Her approach allows each to "be" where they are in p...

Michael Kroon was born and raised as a farmer in the Karoo. In the language of the Bushmen, "Karoo" means "Dry Place" and the main threat to farmers and their livestock is drought. During this episode, Michael talks about the importance of conserving the "Veld" plantlife on the landscape and how he helps people ethically hunt kudu, springbok and blesbok.  Michael's son loved planting trees in...

This week we sit down with a raptor ecologist who is informing the nation through his in depth research regarding the demographic implications of lead poisoning for eagles. Over the past year, his paper has been featured in National Geographic, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Wall Street Journal, and many more.  Mandela recently collaborated with him on...

This show was recorded on the veranda of a 130+ year old Victorian home near the salt marshes on the southern coast of Georgia. Featuring, Tim Keyes, an ornithologist and wildlife biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Tim's focus is coastal non-game birds.  Tim will elaborate deeply on how dinosaurs evolved into birds, physiological aspects of birds in...

Raymond Gildenhuys grew up in South Africa on a farm 20 kilometers from the Indian Ocean. From a young age, his grandfather helped inspire his passion for old Land Rovers, honey farming and the utter joy of living a simple life by the sea. When he isn't spearfishing, you might find him volunteering in Zambia or installing Toyota Hilux engines into old Land Rovers. Over a period of 80 days,&nb...

Ester Van Der Merwe is a Black Rhino Monitor for South African National Parks. Ester grew up on a diary farm located near Kruger National Park. She has been passionate about wildlife and conservation for as long as she can remember. With a lengthy history in monitoring large predators she has extensive experience exclusively focused on Black Rhino. Ester does most of her work on the grou...

Orea Roussis is originally from Connecticut and has been running rivers all over the world for over 35 years. She is one of the most experienced yet humble guides who will ever meet and loves sharing the wilderness experience with her guests. Orea often lives a nomadic life for half the year driving around rivers in California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and the Grand Canyon. When she is not in the U....

Jenna Lyons is a paraglider, long distance runner, kite boarder and whitewater kayaker based in Missoula. During this episode she reflects on the meditation of running long distances in the mountains and the joy of learning to paraglide above Missoula, Montana. Jenna also shares some lessons learned from law school, injuries and the life long journey of paragliding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...

Mike McTee shot his first weapon before he could recite the alphabet. Now, understanding weapons is part of his job. His career took this trajectory after Mike gained a B.S. in Environmental Chemistry. Curious about potential pollution at a historic shooting range at MPG Ranch, he earned an M.S. in Geosciences studying the site. Strangely, the sulfur inside the trap and skeet targets posed the mai...

Ceilidh O'Sullivan was born and raised on the Eastern Coast of Australia in a little town known for its delicious ginger beer and all inclusive schools for the disabled. Ceilidh was born profoundly deaf and with the help of her mother, she learned to speak well. At a young age she became obsessed with "Bush Tucker" which is a reference to edible wild foods in Australia. To this day she can go out...

Zoe Mavis is originally from Boulder, Colorado and has been skiing her entire life. She now works as a ski instructor in Big Sky Montana during the winter and as a river guide based out of Missoula. Zoe is on the national team of The Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors. The PSIA-AASI is the world’s largest organization dedicated to teaching...

John Kanter is the senior wildlife biologist for the National Wildlife Federation. John has been hooked on wildlife since he was, as they say, knee-high to a grasshopper. As a child, he loved African animals, especially elephants, and got to watch his pediatrician mother take care of the first eight gorillas born at the Cincinnati Zoo. From there his interest grew from taking care of animals ...

Dan Baird is one of the world’s leading Back-country Primitive Survival Experts and Guides. Dan regularly travels and lead’s survival training and exploration trips to some of the most remote and hostile places on earth. As Head Instructor of the largest survival training school in the U.S., the California Survival School. Dan is responsible for programs training an average of 4k+ person...

Join us on the edge of the river next to the prairie under the Mission Mountains of Northwestern Montana for an episode with Steve McCoy. Steve is joined by his good friend and adventure companion, Gary Steele, for plenty of hearty laughs, storytelling and a look into their conservation work that made national headlines for Earth First 40 years ago. Steve moved to Montana in 1976 to fly fish and l...

Recorded in the forested mountains just outside Missoula featuring Alec Underwood, the federal conservation campaigns manager for the Montana Wildlife Federation. In this episode we learn about cold water fish species of concern here in Montana as well as climate change and good ole' fashioned elk hunting stories as well as a deep dive into the world and history of wildlife conservation here in Mo...

Arturo Ramirez is a Southwestern Artist who found his niche painting on Gourds. Growing up on the banks of the Cimmaron River in Northern New Mexico, Arturo is the epitome of the South West. Arturo is inspired by ancient symbolism, especially Mesoamerican symbols. He now focuses his energy on making rattles which incorporate animal, mineral and plant. The rocks inside his rattles come from ant hil...

Mike Thompson is the region two wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Mike has had a 40-year commitment to managing and conserving the wildlife resources of Montana. Mike’s incredible work ethic, communication skills and unfailing ability to guide discussions and decisions concerning controversial wildlife issues and land acquisitions, is a true gift. Mike continues to bridge th...

Dr. Tyler Eugene Nordgren is an artist, author, astronomer, dark skies ambassador and professor of physics at the University of Redlands. Nordgren earned a B.A. in physics from Reed College and an M.S. and Ph. D. in astronomy from Cornell University. Before joining the University of Redlands in 2001, Nordgren was an astronomer at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station and Lowell Obs...

Since 1985, the Clark Fork Coalition has worked to restore and protect the Clark Fork River basin, a 22,000 square mile area draining western Montana and northern Idaho. The Coalition's work is science-based and results oriented, and the organization strives to connect communities to the recovery of the Clark Fork River and its tributaries. Get involved as a volunteer with the Coalition at  c...

Recorded inside a short bus home in the Sonoran Desert with Tamra, a nomadic minimalist. Tamra shares her heartfelt journey of recovery from a shopping addiction and her transformation into a nomadic minimalist who lives in a short bus and teaches survival skills and wilderness therapy. You will get an introduction into how to convert a bus into a home, how important it is to connect with the natu...

Recorded recently at Lake Missoula Tea Company in the heart of downtown Missoula, Montana. This episode features Jake Kreilick who reflects on talks about environmental activism and conservation in addition to the wonders of tea and the travels it has taken him on through China, Japan and Colombia. Jake moved to Missoula in 1985 to attend graduate school. He has a long history of involvement in fo...

In this episode, we travel around the world with Lake Missoula Tea Company owner, Heather Kreilick. Heather is a native Montanan who grew up in the Bitterroot Valley before leaving to attend college in Arizona. She was a hotshot forest firefighter before teaching on the Navajo Reservation. She returned to Montana in 1999, completed a Geography masters in 2006, and has worked in the GIS field ever...

Blade Elliot was born and raised in rural Alabama and knew from a young age that he wanted to be a pro rodeo cowboy. He almost stopped when his father threatened to burn his gear but in his heart he knew he was meant to ride. Blade trained in his uncle's backyard on (stolen) mules and eventually went on to be awarded a full ride scholarship for his rodeo skills. Blade has competed in bare back pro...

“Within a day's drive of Missoula you will find some of the best ice climbing... in the world,” says Missoula's legendary alpinist Gray Thompson. Gray Thompson is a legendary climber and Geology Professor Emeritus at the University of Montana. Gray has been climbing since the mid 1960s and it's easier for him to think of the places he hasn't been rather then the places he has climbed. Gray has don...