July 1, 2009
Today on the show we have another edition of Trail Magic with Lorne Blagdon. A few years ago Lorne and his daughter Naomi walked the entire Appalachian Trail. He’s written an account of that adventure and joins us from time to time to talk about it. Today Lorne tells us about the 60 plus pound pack he carried around (why, he doesn’t know) and being sprayed with Skin-So-Soft to protect him from the bugs. Also fears of being eaten by a bear, hearing gunshots at night and enjoying espresso coffee by the campfire.
Also today we begin a new summer segment on DSO called Runners. Every runner has a story and we’re going to hear some of them beginning with Ken McIntosh, a new runner who just finished his second 5 km race. He started running a few months ago after giving up a 34 year smoking habit. He’s changing his life and running is a big part of that transition.
Music on the show from Josh Woodward of Ohio. Send in your summer outdoor adventures to doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca. Next time we’re going bass fishing in New Brunswick.
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Ken quit smoking and started running.
Today on the show we have another edition of Trail Magic with Lorne Blagdon. A few years ago Lorne and his daughter Naomi walked the entire Appalachian Trail. He’s written an account of that adventure and joins us from time to time to talk about it. Today Lorne tells us about the 60 plus pound pack he carried around (why, he doesn’t know) and being sprayed with Skin-So-Soft to protect him from the bugs. Also fears of being eaten by a bear, hearing gunshots at night and enjoying espresso coffee by the campfire.
Also today we begin a new summer segment on DSO called Runners. Every runner has a story and we’re going to hear some of them beginning with Ken McIntosh, a new runner who just finished his second 5 km race. He started running a few months ago after giving up a 34 year smoking habit. He’s changing his life and running is a big part of that transition.
Music on the show from Josh Woodward of Ohio. Send in your summer outdoor adventures to doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca. Next time we’re going bass fishing in New Brunswick.
June 23, 2009
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Our feature interview today is with Dan Coons of New Hampshire. This spring he and his wife spent a week in southwestern France. They rented bikes and toured the countryside, visiting medieval hilltop towns from the 13th century. They found that traveling around by bicycle opened up interaction with the locals that they would never have seen had they confined their traveling to rental cars and walking around the towns.
Music on the show from a French band called Fresh Body Shop and comments about climbing Maine’s Mount Katahdin in winter and spending time in the outdoors with your dog.
Send along your comments, story suggestions, outdoor adventures and favorite outdoor books to doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca
June 14, 2009
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Today on the show a feature interview with outdoor writer, consultant, wilderness guide and very nice guy Cliff Jacobson. Here’s his bio from his website:
Cliff Jacobson is one of North America’s most respected outdoors writers, wilderness guides, national and foreign consultants, and is the most published canoeing/camping writer of this century. He is a professional canoe guide and outfitter, a wilderness canoeing and camping consultant and the author of over a dozen top-selling books on camping and canoeing— numerous titles have been translated into Spanish, German, French and Turkish with sales approaching one million copies. His video, The Forgotten Skills, details the most important campcraft procedures.
Cliff’s methods are proven by the sweat of pack and paddle and are reminiscent of the days when skills were more important than things. A retired environmental science teacher (34 years!), Cliff is respected by educators for his backcountry ethics, water quality, and wilderness navigation curricula. The Wilderness Meal, an outdoor ethics unit he wrote for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNR), is among the most successful environmental education activities of all time. You’ll find a copy in his book, Boundary Waters Canoe Camping With Style.
Cliff Jacobson
The book entitled, The 20th Anniversary Edition: Expedition Canoeing is the authoritative resource for wilderness canoe expeditions. The map & compass curriculum developed for the MNR, and Water, Water, Everywhere, But…– an environmental education project was authored in cooperation with HACH chemical company–is used in hundreds of secondary schools and community colleges throughout North America. Contributing editor, Canoe & Kayak Magazine. Consultant to Eckerd Family Youth Services and the Boy Scouts of America (canoeing section, Scout Field Book). Cliff is also a national and foreign outdoor tactics and equipment consultant whose speaking and consulting expertise have brought him to the Canadian Arctic, Norway, Sweden, Costa Rica and many of the 50 states. Cliff has also been hired to render expert opinions. An accomplished canoeist in his own right, Cliff was recently recognized by the American Canoe Association (ACA) which presented him with the Legends of Paddling Award and inducted him into the ACA Hall of Fame.
Contact Gary by email at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca
June 6, 2009
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Today on DSO we join Adam Fox and his nephew Nate as they go tracking with members of the Portland Tracking Club. They get together on the last Sunday of every month. On this trip they met at Oxbow Park, just east of Gresham, Oregon and went tracking across the floodplain. Adam brought along a digital audio recorder and recorded the adventure for us. He also took some photos that are posted here and this is what he wrote about them.
As you listen to the MP3’s keep in mind that the same questioning process I use with Nate can be used by anyone to help figure out what made a certain track. Questions like, How many toes? Are there any claw marks? Do the tracks look like any other animal tracks I know? Having a copy of Peterson’s Field Guide to Tracking by Olas Mauree is also really handy. I did not have my copy with me on Sunday. The cougar track photo is really a nice one. In this picture you see the left front track has been stepped into almost but not quite perfectly by the left rear foot. The cougar jumped up onto a log, looked around and jumped back down. This picture is of the jumping up track. There are claw marks in this picture. Cougars rarely show their claws but it used them in this case because it wanted extra traction for the jump. Note the slight amount of sand pushed back at the rear of the track, that indicates the cat pushing off to jump. Also note the AA battery used to indicate scale, keep in mind most cougars have front feet that are almost 1/2 an inch larger than the rear. That’s a rear track you’re looking at, get a battery and do the math. Here kitty kitty, nice kitty. The Blacktailed deer track is nice too because it was just an hour or so old. Note that it shows the dew claws at the back, something you don’t always get to see in a deer track.
We have some music on the show from a German band called Loudog and a comment about Canine Search and Rescue Teams. Contact us a doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca
May 29, 2009
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photo by Ceci Flanagan-Snow
In this edition we finish a story we started last year. We first spoke with Kimber Sider on DSO-45.
On April 28, 2008 Kimber and her horse Kat rode west from Trenton, Nova Scotia with a goal of the Pacific Coast of Canada, 6,000+km and 5-6 months down the road. Her driving inspiration is Barbara Kingscote’s 1949 journey from Mascouche, Quebec to Vancouver, British Columbia. Is it still possible for a lone woman in her twenties and her horse to make it across Canada almost purely on character and the hospitality of the Canadian spirit?
On October 4, 2008 Kimber and Kat found themselves facing west with their feet salty and wet. They had made it to the Pacific. And more importantly they had found not only the “generous heart of my country” that Barb had found, but also an inspiring pioneering spirit. It had taken them 160 days, during which they had been taken in by 112 families and been supported by hundreds of Canadians coast to coast.
“Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History” is two Canadian women, two generations apart, going against convention with a unique, yet shared sense of adventure, a simple equine mode of transportation and, most importantly, a desire to discover the Canada of their day.
Our feature interview today is with Kimber Sider. Also on the show comments about snow in Alberta in May and the joys of longboarding and freebording. Music by the The Acousticals. Contact us at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca
May 17, 2009
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We’re going kayaking with Bob Collins of Delaware on this edition of DSO. Bob brought his audio recorder along with him as he went for a spring paddle on the Pocomoke River in Maryland, near Snow Hill. He did some flat-water paddling for almost 20 miles on this cypress lined river, all the while telling us about the vegetation and wildlife he encountered along the way. The “Poke-Moke” starts in Delaware, in the Great Cypress Swamp, and flows almost due south for some 40-50 miles into the Chesapeake Bay.
We have music on the show from Allison Crowe and more of your outdoor comments about tour skating and cycling in France. Contact Gary by email at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca
May 7, 2009
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Today on the show we’ll experience Paddle Boarding, the YOLO way. Our feature interview is with Jeff Archer, the co-founder of paddle board manufacturer YOLO which stands for “You Only Live Once”. After extensive research and development, they determined that there was a need for more of a hybrid style stand-up paddle board–one that not only has its roots in traditional surfing but also in other related paddle sports such as canoeing and kayaking. Standing up and paddling offers a whole new point of view: from paddling with dolphins, to sneaking up on blue crabs, to dropping in at your favorite surf-break, the act of YOLO-ing or stand up paddling has evolved from its surfing roots to a far more extensive means to enjoy time on the water from a new perspective—anywhere—anytime.
We also have more of your comments including an outdoor adventure tale of fossil hunting in Alabama. Music this week from Alexander Blu and the Verandas from Germany. Contact Gary at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca.
April 29, 2009
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Today another episode of Trail Magic with Lorne Blagdon. We’ll hear about an AT tradition where thru hikers hike naked on the first day of summer. So did Lorne shed his clothes? You’ll have to listen to find out. He also has encounters with a horse on the trail, a horse that kept following him. Also the joys of Tennessee whiskey, sleeping in the highest shelter on the trail and how to hang your pack to keep the mice away.
The Canyon Man shares a recent family adventure to the Buffalo National River in Ponca, Arizona. Gidds scolds Gary about his tendency to enjoy ‘little beers’ while he tries to shed the fat. We’ll look at a theory on why cross country skiing isn’t more popular and a family from Maine tells us about a 7-day, backcountry spring skiing trip in Gaspe, where the snow is still deep.
Music on the show from the Skating Teenagers and Sean Fournier. Email Gary with your outdoor adventures at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca
April 21, 2009
Bengt and his daughter Hilda
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Photos by Bengt Furenäs
It’s our last kick at the winter can this week on DSO. We’re going to take you Nordic Skating in Sweden. It’s like cross country skiing on these special skates that allow you to travel long distances over frozen lakes and rivers. There are many names for the sport including tour-skating, trip-skating, cross-country-skating, backcountry skating, nordic skating, long distance skating and even wild skating. It’s hugely popular in Scandinavia, especially Sweden. Gary first heard about the sport through an email from Stephanie, a listener in Sweden who skates. Stephanie introduced Gary to her skating neighbour, Bengt Furenäs. He’s a tour leader, ‘ice reporter’ and has been skating for many years. Our feature interview is all about Nordic Skating with Bengt, who just hung up his skates for the season.
We also have more of your comments about trail food, hiking and facebook. And some fun surf music from Sweden by The Great Pharaos. doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca
April 14, 2009
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Today Bob Collins of Bethany Beach in Delaware takes us along for a paddle. He was supposed to go on an outdoor adventure in search of a wild horse called ‘Charcoal’ in Assateague National Seashore in Maryland. (That’s another story that hasn’t happened yet but will soon) Instead Bob put his kayak on the truck and went for a mid winter paddle in Trussom Pond just outside of Laurel, Delaware. Laurel is well-known for its water recreation opportunities including Trussom Pond which is home to the northernmost natural stand of bald cypress trees in North America.
Also on the show, Gary brings us up to date on his struggle with the P90X extreme home fitness program and trying to set up a DSO account on facebook. We have comments from listeners about kayaking, hiking to the top of mountain peaks and using signal mirrors to flash signals from one peak to another, the fun of Urban Scavenger Hunts and much more. Plus music from All Mankind of Sydney, Australia.
Contact Gary by email at doingstuffoutdoors@yahoo.ca and check us out on facebook and twitter.
