Wayward Stories

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!   This week we’re trying on a new pair of boots…we’re bringing back one of our earliest episodes as a “classic”.  This episode looks back on a night I spent on the face of Big Bluff overlooking the Buffalo National River, chasing after an elusive Long exposure of the Milky Way. Not only did I get that picture, but also front row seats to a raccoon cage match, a fer...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories! After an unexpected dark week due to personal reasons, we’re back with a brand episode. This week we add to our on-going search and rescue series with some fresh tales from the field. As a matter of fact, search and rescue is part of the reason I couldn’t get an episode out last week. Tonight we talk about two different searches we executed recently, talk about joi...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!   This week we explore one of, what is in my opinion, Arkansas’ best state parks.  Petit Jean State Park offers a literal crap-ton of hiking, an impressive 90 ft waterfall, a beautiful lodge, and some of the best sunrise/sunset views in the entire state.  We also talk at length about getting our children engaged and involved with the great outdoors, as well as Peti...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week we take a look back at 2022 for me personally, and explore what it means to build a foundation to prepare to challenge big goals in our lives. As always, my hope is that you might hear something tonight that will inspire you to challenge your own personal summits.  thanks for listening!  check out www.waywardstories.com  or send me an email at my wayward...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week we pick up where we left off when we last met…exploring Southern New Mexico.  In part 2 of this 2 part series, we’ll talk about hiking to an abandoned tuberculosis sanatorium high in the Organ Mountains, White Sands National Monument and much more!  I hope you’ll join us tonight for an adventure in the high deserts of New Mexico.    Thanks for listening!...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week is part one of a two part series in which I tell you all about my very recent birthday/thanksgiving road-trip to explore southern New Mexico. This week we talk about Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Three Rivers Petroglyph site, Lake Valley Historic Site (an abandoned mining town) and National Backcountry Scenic Byway, plus so much more!  It was a...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week’s show was inspired by the many amazing guides and outfitters I spent 3 days hanging out with at the 2022 Ozark’s Outdoor Recreation Expo.  If you are one of the many people for whom the planning and hassle that goes into getting out and exploring the world is something you simply don’t have the time or energy for, guided adventures might be the answer t...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories, my spooky Wayward Souls!  This week’s episode is getting a special early drop, so you guys can listen over your spooky holiday weekend!  This week I tell some stories from my past about some really creepy encounters I’ve had while out exploring the world.  I was legend tripping before legend tripping was cool 😂 Let me just say this: every story in this nearly 2 ho...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  It’s time once again to embrace spooky season!  This week we talk about a virtual cornucopia of road trip ideas that will get you out of the house and boots on the ground at some of America’s legendary haunts. Any reason for a road trip is a good one, but spooky reasons for a ghost trip?  My favorite. If you like the mysterious and unexplained, this weeks show is...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  We explore some life perspectives, say goodbye to the Xterra, and discuss choosing the right adventure rig for you!  This episode does wander about a bit, kind of a potpourri of topics, but you guys know me well enough by now to know that’s what exactly how I like to roll through this life 😂   Listen in to check it out!   #waywardstories #podcasts #storytelling #...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  Back by popular demand, this week we delve into some more Search and Rescue stories and give you fine folks a peek behind the curtain. We will discuss a recent overnight stay in the Poteau Mountain wilderness where we preplanned a trail and spent the night enjoying a deep dark backcountry night!  Tune in to hear all about it!   To see more check out www.waywardsto...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week we explore the concept of day trips based on my personal adventures this past Labor Day weekend. For those of us who really utilize our adventures as a therapeutic device to combat various anxiety disorders, the rising cost of gasoline (and everything else) fueled by super charged inflation has really put us in a bind.  Day trips can be a great compromis...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!   This week we take a look at a recent hike I did in the Ouachita Mountains of SW Arkansas to a cave reportedly visited by the infamous outlaw Belle Starr. It’s more of a scramble than hike, but the cave itself is pretty incredible to check out. And for those of you who are more backcountry than bougie, more trekker than tourist, this is the hike for you!  The Ouac...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  In this week’s episode, we combine an idea I’ve had on the back burner for awhile now, an episode about the art of the road trip, and an actual, impromptu, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants  road-trip to good old Tejás last weekend. It was a great trip, and hopefully it will make for a good episode!  Listen in to find out! See more at www.waywardstories.com   Thanks f...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week we dive into some tips and tricks to help lessen the squeeze of skyrocketing inflation and possibly give you some solid ideas to help keep you on the road!  For many of us, our adventures are a key component of our anxiety relief strategies.  I know from personal experience, as well as talking to some of our listeners, that the steep rise in prices is ke...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week we explore a hidden gem of paddling in the Ozarks!  War Eagle Creek is known mostly for passing through the famous water wheel at War Eagle Mill, but not a lot of folks know that it’s an absolutely prime creek for a backcountry excursion in the Arkansas Ozarks.   The smallmouth fishing is prime, the water cool and clear, and the best part?  You won’t see...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This week’s episode is, at its heart, my love letter to the Buffalo River.  2022 marks the 50 year anniversary of this incredible sacred place being protected and preserved by our National Park Service. Perhaps you were unaware, but this magnificent piece of American wilderness nearly became a lake before conservationists and activists alike helped to secure its p...

This weeks episode is, at it's heart, a travelogue spanning the last 5 years of my life. A significant life change has occurred, and the time has come for me to say goodbye to big purple.  This episode is a little bit of a walk down memory lane for me as I reminisce on the many cities and regions I’ve gotten the opportunity to explore in my time with Big Purple.  What’s in it for you?  A whooooool...

Welcome to Wayward Stories!  In this episode we continue the last episode’s theme of gear selection.  We cover several topics and just have a kind of open discussion about the current gear decisions I’ve been faced with and some good practices when trying to make those tough decisions.  Join us and join the conversation! To see more visit www.waywardstories.com or email your thoughts/stories to my...

Welcome to Wayward Stories!  This week’s episode is really just an open-ended discussion of the thought processes behind the way we choose and utilize our gear to chase our passion for adventure. I talk at length about some of my current gear quandaries and how I arrive at a decision through research, trial and error. Listen in this week and head over to our FB group to join the discussion!   To s...

How many of you have heard of Platt National Park?  How many of you even KNEW Oklahoma HAD a National Park?  Show of hands…be honest!   As it turns out, Oklahoma had one of America’s earliest established National Parks and it maintained that status until 1976 when it was absorbed into two other properties to become the Chickasaw National Recreation Area. While still administered by the NPS, it no...

Welcome Back to Wayward Stories!  Join me this week as I reminisce about a time when my film crew and I spent weeks working and exploring the Texas Hill Country.  We’ll talk extensively about Enchanted Rock, an incredibly beautiful and sacred place as well as a few other incredible locations deep in the heart of Texas.  visit www.waywardstories.com  for more info and links to all of my social acco...

Hey guys, welcome back to Wayward Stories!   This week we talk about an ancient mountain range deep in SW Oklahoma filled with mysterious tales of Spanish miners, notorious outlaws…and, more to the point…hiking gold. The Kiamichi Mountain range is a true wilderness area, preserved as a game reserve for American Buffalo, Elk, deer and many more native species.  It is truly rugged backcountry, fille...

Welcome back to Wayward Stories!  This weeks episode is a bit of a rambler, following along a theme of sometimes having to find the good within the bad.  We talk a bit about my story of the last few years and what good came from some of the bad situations I faced. If you’d like to submit a story of your own, email us at mywaywardstory@gmail.com or visit our website at www.waywardstories.com

Welcome to the Wayward Stories Podcast!  This week we step into the way-back machine and tell a story of this one time, when I was just a kid…that I decided to drive to Canada…. I hope you’ll take the time to listen in tonight and enjoy the foibles of my youth, when I was already filled with young (wander) lust. Send *your* stories of adventure to mywaywardstory@gmail.com  and check out everything...