Wild Ideas Worth Living

Cheyenne Smith is a multifaceted, adventurer and outdoor guide. She skis, rock climbs, highlines, and leads climbing trips for women of color with a nonprofit called Women's Wilderness. Her guiding style focuses on building community and teaching others to be present and intentional when they're in the wild. Connect with Cheyenne:  Website  Instagram Women's Wilderness  If you enjoyed this episode...

Rose McAdoo is trained baker and culinary artist who makes “science desserts” — four tiered cakes or sparkling lollipops that she uses to explain complex environmental concepts. The best part, Rose creates these culinary masterpieces in the wild. She has whipped up desserts at the edges of glaciers, on volcanoes, and in caves and deserts. Each sweet is an educational work of art that tells a story...

Molly Cupka is a climber and founder of the organization Up Ending Parkinson's, a nonprofit that teaches people with Parkinson's disease to rock climb. Parkinson's is the second most common neurological disease behind Alzheimer's and rock climbing provides a ton of health benefits including balance, grip strength, and mental acuity. For the climbers who Molly trains, there's another benefit that i...

Kait Boyle is an elite adventure cyclist who bikes over mountains, across deserts, and through canyons. Early on in her cycling career, Kait found her niche, falling in love with races in the 24 hour 300 mile range. In 2018, a serious accident turned Kait's life upside down and changed her perspective on the path she's carved. Connect with Kait:  Instagram   Website  Bikepacking Roots website & In...

Kristine Tompkins is one of the world's most successful conservationists. She's the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, which is a non-profit that purchases land in South America, largely in Patagonia to create national parks, boost regenerative economies, and bring back missing species through rewilding. Before dedicating her life to land preservation, Kris spent 25 years working f...

Zach Friedley is a professional athlete who is changing the sport of trail running. Zach was born without most of his right leg, and is often the only adaptive athlete at the starting line of some of the world’s hardest races. There aren’t a lot of running events with categories specifically for adaptive athletes, but Zach is on a mission to change that. Connect with Zach:  Instagram  Born to Adap...

Lestarya Molloy is the founder of Fridie Outdoors, an app that has easy, digestible camping tips that you can access from anywhere.  In this episode, Lestarya is joined by REI's Green Vests and Experience Guides to share the best tips for your upcoming camping adventure.  Connect with Lestarya:  Fridie Outdoors website & Instagram  Download the Fridie Outdoors app Resources and products mentioned...

Chev Dixon is a skilled outdoor athlete whose life changed when he learned to kayak. He is the director of an organization called the Hudson River Riders and the founder of the Hudson Valley Challenge, a 685-mile paddling, hiking, running, and cycling event that crosses the state of New York.  Connect with Chev:  Instagram  Hudson River Riders website & Instagram If you enjoyed this episode:  List...

Galen Kirkpatrick is a world class paraglider - in 2022 she was the FAI Women’s Pan-American Paragliding Champion, and in 2023 she became the overall US National Champion. Paragliding has become a vehicle for Galen to get in touch with herself and see the world from a new perspective. Connect with Galen:  Instagram Thank you to our sponsors:  Capital One:  Check out the REI Co-op Mastercard progra...

Mario Ordoñez-Caldéron is a Mayan-American storyteller, surfer, and adventurer committed to pursuing a deeper connection with his Indigenous roots, the natural world, and helping San Diego local youth foster their own relationships with the outdoors through his nonprofit, Un Mar de Colores.  Connect with Mario:  Website Instagram Un Mar de Colores website & Instagram WATCH Cycle of Ancestry If y...

Alexi Pappas is a wildly talented, multi-faceted athlete. She’s a professional runner, an author, a champion for mental health, a guide runner for blind athletes, a filmmaker, and an entrepreneur. When she runs, Alexi is often wearing a huge smile on her face and a healthy dusting of glitter across her cheeks. Alexi’s running journey has taken her to through peaks and valleys and she’s using her s...

Sasha DiGiulian is one of the best female rock climbers in the world. She's spent over a decade competing internationally, she’s a three-time US National Champion, a World Champion, and she’s had over 30 first female ascents. Sasha is also the founder and CEO of the superfood protein bar company, Send Bars.  Connect with Sasha:   Website  Instagram Send Bars website Send Bars Instagram Thank you t...

Thruhikers, Tim Beissinger and Renee Miller started dating in college and have always been active people. Tim grew up hiking and camping with his family, and Renee was a runner. The two dragged each other along on their respective outdoor outings. Eventually they worked their way up to thru-hiking, a sport that they've fallen in love with and built a life around. Connect with Renee & Tim:  Website...

Sarah Swallow is a professional adventure cyclist who develops bike packing routes around the country. When she creates a route, she takes the history, geography, and the biodiversity of an area into account. Her routes are often hundreds of miles long and lead riders past historical sites, landmarks, and diverse landscapes. In 2019, Sarah took her route crafting to the next level when she created...

Isabel Cautivo has become one of the most prominent solo women backpackers on the internet. She has gone viral for making vulnerable and educational videos about her day trip and her most popular TikTok is about how she got into solo backpacking.  Connect with Isabel:  Instagram  TikTok Check out: Sign up for  Hipcamp and REI’s “Summer of Magic Campout Series”  Thank you to our sponsors:  Capital...

Five years ago, Jeff Jenkins decided he wanted to become a professional traveler. His goal was to make a living traveling around the world and helping people. Today he's doing exactly that. After years of hard work building an online platform called Chubby Diaries, Jeff is now the host of National Geographic's TV show, Never Say Never. Connect with Jeff:  Chubby Diaries website  Instagram  TikTok...

Oriana Poindexter is a professional artist whose work weaves together photography, science, and marine life. Her art is very unique. Oriana uses seaweed and light-sensitive chemicals to make stunning, almost haunting prints. She lives in San Diego where she free dives in kelp forests for inspiration, and to harvest materials for her art. Connect with Oriana:  Website   Instagam   If you enjoyed th...

In 2013, Thor Pedersen left his home in Denmark for the trip of a lifetime. His goal was to travel to every country in the world. He had three rules for his journey. He had to spend at least 24 hours in each country. He couldn't return to Denmark until he had crossed off every nation on the list. And last but not least, no air travel. Connect with Thor: Website  Instagram Check out: Take the Wild...

Lael Wilcox is known as one of the world's best ultra-endurance cyclists. She's ridden over 150,000 miles in more than 50 countries. Now, Lael is going after her wildest idea yet: to break the record for cycling around the world. Her goal is to ride more than 18,000 miles in 110 days. Connect with Lael: Website  Instagram Check out: Take the Wild Ideas Listener Survey!!  Sign up for  Hipcamp and R...

Glen Van Peski is known as the king of ultralight backpacking. While backpackers will hit the trails with a pack that weighs upwards of 20 pounds, sometimes even up to 50 or more, Glen's pack usually only weighs around 12 pounds. Glen is also the founder of the functional lightweight backpacking and hiking gear company, Gossamer Gear, and the author of Take Less. Do More.: Surprising Life Lessons...

At the age of 50, Ruby Gates left her career and home to get on a sailboat for seven months. At the time, she knew nothing about sailing, but the trip changed her life. Now, nine years later, Ruby has decided to go after the wildest idea she's ever had. She's circumnavigating the world by sailboat. Connect with Ruby:  Sail with Ruby Instagram  Thank you to our sponsors:  Capital One:  Check out th...

What if your wild idea no longer brings you joy? Retired pro skier, Grace Miller, is intimately familiar with a change of course. Grace grew up in Alaska and started skiing at a young age. Before she was out of high school, she was recruited to compete at the highest level, but at age 23 after competing on the world stage, Grace decided to leave skiing behind to pursue some new wild ideas. Connect...

Alastair Humphreys is an author and adventurer who has walked 600 miles across Southern India, ran an ultra marathon through the Sahara Desert, and hiked and rafted across Iceland. Alastair's newest wild idea is to embrace the concept of "microadventures," an adventure that is short, easily accessible, and affordable while still being fun, challenging, refreshing, and rewarding.  Connect with Alas...

What if you had an opportunity to travel around the moon? Christina Koch has worked at NASA for the last 10 years, and has been a part of groundbreaking missions in outer space. In 2019, Christina embarked on a 328-day stay on the International Space Station, setting a record for the longest single space flight by a woman. Now Christina has a new assignment on the horizon. She was selected to join...

Travis Rice has been pushing the envelope of what's possible in snowboarding for over 20 years. He has won prestigious awards for his riding, and completely recreated what it means to host a winter sports competition. Travis has also built new businesses like Sendy and changed the way action sports films are made. Connect with Travis:  Instagram SENDY Natural Selection Tour Thank you to our sponso...