The WildeBeatThe audio journal about getting into the wilderness.
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ABOUTThe WildeBeat The outdoor recreation and adventure radio show and podcast about backcountry news and activities, like camping, backpacking, skiing, and snowshoeing. MORE... CONTRIBUTEYou can contribute reports about your own outings, local wilderness areas, and conditions. Find out how. Listener comment line: SUPPORTHelp us help more people to discover our wild public lands. The WildeBeat is a public benefit project of the Earth Island Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. ARCHIVES
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RECOGNITIONThe directories, review sites, or other podcasters listed below have recognized The WildeBeat for its quality of content and production.
As featured in an interview on the main page of |
Thu, Apr 27, 2006Listen now:
This skills program is an introduction to birdwatching. The wildlife you're most likely to see on any wilderness outing are birds, and they're certainly more interesting if you can tell them apart. In this edition, we hear from Shana Stearn of BirderBabes.com. Shana taught Birdwatching 101 at the Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Festival in Arcata, California. Arcata can claim to be one of the top birding locations in the country. Shana talks about her Seven S's of bird identification: Shade, shape, silhouette, signs, sounds, sweep, and surroundings. She explains the gear you need to get started, and some other tips for beginning birdwatchers. Shana's web site, BirderBabes.com has large collection of bird watching reference information. Thu, Apr 20, 2006Listen now:
This wild places program explores an alternative to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a 1,300 mile route called The Desert Trail. This trail runs roughly parallel to the PCT, through the high desert of California, Nevada, and Oregon, and is eventually planned to continue through Idaho and Montana. Ross Edgington of The Desert Trail Association talks about the history of the trail, the development of the route in Oregon, and the current progress toward the trail's completion. Steve Tabor of The Desert Survivors talks about the development of the California and Nevada sections. He describes their 2005 relay hike of the entire trail. He contemplates the prospects of someone doing a through hike of the trail. Maps and guides for The Desert Trail are available for the sections that are already established. The Desert Trail Association sells maps and guides for the Oregon section. The Desert Survivors sell guide and map books for the California and Nevada sections. Both organizations are looking for volunteers to support their efforts to complete the trail. Now that the rain has subsided in Northern California, we're ready to wrap up our desert features for the season. Thu, Apr 13, 2006Listen now:
This skills program is an overview of some of the ways you can call for help from the wilderness. Have you ever thought about how you'd get help if you needed it? Out of all the different ways you could let somebody know about your situation, some of them work better than others. Steve talks about simple signaling techniques, like whistles, signal mirrors, and smoke signals, and then discusses various phones and radio technologies. He talks to Caroline Semerdjian at Sprint-Nextel. She mentions a page to find out their network coverage by zip-code. We replay a comment by Sgt. Phil Caporale of the Fresno County Sheriff's search and rescue unit from A Winter Storm Warning (our editions #15 & #16), where he talks about problems with satellite phones. Steve talks to Bill Jeffrey about amateur (or "ham") radio. Bill created and maintains a web site called the Pacific Crest Trail Repeater Guide. Bill talks about a time when amateur radio communications saved him from a difficult situation in Kings Canyon National Park. Thu, Apr 06, 2006Listen now:
This outings program completes our report of our trip with the Desert Survivors. We camped for two nights in the Sheep Hole Valley Wilderness, in the southern Mojave desert. In this part, leader Dave Halligan leads Steve and the group to the top of the Sheep Hole Mountains, and back out the next day. The show ends with a conversation on the hike-out about the desert experience.
Fri, Mar 31, 2006The March 18th issue of Science News Magazine included a story titled Night Light. This article includes interviews with Chad Moore of the National Park Service's Night Sky Team, and Dr. Travis Longcore of USC and the Urban Wildlands Group. The article also includes pictures taken by Chad Moore of the distant sky glow from cities, as seen from some of our most remote national parks. We interviewed Chad Moore and Dr. Travis Longcore last September for two of our earlier editions:
We also posted our complete interview [MP3 format; length 31:14; 3,749,849 bytes] with Dr. Longcore, discussing the contents of his book The Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting. Thu, Mar 30, 2006Listen now:
This outings program takes us on a backpacking trip with The Desert Survivors. We camped for two nights in the Sheep Hole Valley Wilderness, in the southern Mojave Desert. In this part, leader Dave Halligan leads Steve and his group into a camp site and begins a peak climb the next day. In part two, you'll hear the rest of the outing report. Thu, Mar 23, 2006Listen now:
This skills program is an introduction to desert backpacking skills. Steve talks to Steve Tabor of the Berkeley, California based group, The Desert Survivors. Steve Tabor dispels some of the fears people have about desert wilderness travel. He shares his considerable experience about gear, water management, and plants and animals in the desert. We'll hear more from Steve Tabor in a future program. Thu, Mar 16, 2006Listen now:
This skills program explores opportunities to volunteer as a wilderness search and rescue responder. Steve interviews John Chang of BAMRU, Tim Kovacs of MRA, and Kathy Miller of NASAR. They talk about how you can make a rescuer's job easier if you should ever need them. They talk about the challenges and rewards of joining a search and rescue team. (Hint: There are few better ways to build your wilderness skills.) If you're curious about technical mountain rescue, take a look at the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA). Their Team Information page lists all of their affiliated teams. If you're not in a mountainous area or are curious about less technical search and rescue teams, take a look at the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR). Many of their affiliated units are listed on their Links page. In our edition #16, there's an interview with Sergeant Phil Caporale of the Fresno Country Sheriff's search and rescue unit. He gives some additional advice on being better prepared in case you ever need to be rescued. Sat, Mar 11, 2006For a future story we're working on, we'd like to hear about your experiences with dogs in the wilderness:
If you have an experience to share, please call our comment line at 866-590-7373. Thu, Mar 09, 2006Listen now:
This outings program takes us to a training exercise of the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit (BAMRU). The rescuers practice their winter alpine rescue skills in the Carson Pass area, just south of Lake Tahoe, California. Most search and rescue teams in the U.S. are all-volunteer. BAMRU is just one example. To find out about the mountain rescue teams near you, you can look at the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA). In next week's show, we'll talk more to John Chang of BAMRU and Tim Kovacs of MRA about how you can get involved and volunteer for mountain and wilderness rescues.
Fri, Feb 24, 2006Listen now:
This outings program takes us to the Bear Valley Telemark Festival (you might need to turn off Javascript to see this page). One of the key skills for backcountry ski touring is the telemark turn. It's a way to descend larger, steeper hills on skis that are more like cross-country skis. Festival events like the Bear Valley Tele Fest help you get a jump-start on the skills. Steve gives a history of telemark skiing. He talks to a couple of people about their experience at the festival, visits some of the events at the show, and attends a lesson. There's a history of telemark skiing on the site, TelemarkTips.com. They also have an online "lesson" and many other articles about getting started. There's a magazine devoted to Telemark skiing. Telemark skiing gear and technique is also frequently covered in the backcountry skiing magazine Couloir.
Thu, Feb 16, 2006Listen now:
This gear program is a report on the Winter 2006 Outdoor Retailer's Expo. Jerry Goller, Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd, and Steven Nelson of Backpack Gear Test report on the show in general, and the gear they saw there in particular. They commented on gear made by Heat Factory, Jetboil, Arc'teryx, Osprey, Mountain Hardware, Pacific Outdoor Equipment, Kahtoola, Java Juice, Ursack, Icebreaker Merino, and Injinji. Backpack Gear Test has more gear to review than reviewers. You can start out by reviewing gear you already own, and then you might be able to get other free gear to review. Read: How to become a tester. Thu, Feb 09, 2006Listen now:
This skills program is a mini wilderness first aid class. Bobbie Foster of Foster Calm is a wilderness EMT and professional first aid trainer. She talks us through the most common health problems people encounter on backcountry trips, and what to do about them. She explains the different levels of wilderness first-aid training of interest to non-medical professionals. Standards for wilderness first aid courses is established by the Wilderness Medical Society. To find wilderness first aid training near you, look for wilderness first aid or wilderness first responder using your favorite search engine. Although there are a lot of good books on wilderness first aid, the most up-to-date volume we know about for non-professional users is Wilderness 911 by Eric Weiss, M.D. Thu, Feb 02, 2006Listen now:
This skills program is an introduction to avalanche safety. Gary Bard, an avalanche safety instructor for Mountain Adventure Seminars, talks about easy ways to stay out of avalanches, and describes a rescue. Brandon Schwartz of the Sierra Avalanche Center talks about avalanche forecasting and the Snow Condition Report. Tom Murphy, of the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE), talks about avalanche safety education. There's a lot of additonal information about avalanche-related organizations, and avalanche safety, under the To find out more... link, below.
Sun, Jan 29, 2006Listen now:
Rebecca Sowards-Emmerd of Backpack Gear Test called-in to report new gear that she saw on her first day at the Winter 2006 Outdoor Retailer's show. Thu, Jan 26, 2006Listen now:
This skills program is an introduction to snow camping by Mike Clelland. Mike is a winter camping instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School. He's also the illustrator and co-author of Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book. In this part, Mike talks about kitchens, cooking and nutrition, and staying warm at night. Ben Lawhon from the Leave No Trace Center gives some additional tips for low-impact snow camping. Thu, Jan 19, 2006Listen now:
This skills program is an introduction to snow camping by Mike Clelland. Mike is a winter camping instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School. He's also the illustrator and co-author of Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book. In this part, Mike talks about clothing, camp site selection, and shelter. Next week in part two, he'll tell you the rest you need to know to get started. Thu, Jan 12, 2006Listen now:
This outings program is an interview with Tim Bui, the founder of the online social network for outdoors activities called, The Outdoors Club. Long before the current craze of web sites called social networks, the web site outdoorsclub.org was connecting climbers, hikers, and other wilderness travelers. There's a wide range of outdoor activities in their calendar, from beginner classes to major expeditions, and they were doing it back when final vowels were still in fashion. Wed, Jan 11, 2006Listen now:
This is an introduction to Vox WildeBeat, a new companion podcast feed that's all about your participation. After you listen to what it's about, it's your turn to talk! Listen now:
This is an introduction to Vox WildeBeat, a new companion podcast feed that's all about your participation. After you listen to what it's about, it's your turn to talk! |
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