The Joy Trip Project

In March 2016 a group of environmental activists came together to share a vision. Gathered from across the country this eclectic mix of men and women came to Washington D.C. in order to  collaborate on the creation of a plan to protect and preserve the natural spaces of the United States for future generations. As our National Park Service celebrates its 100th anniversary the group aims to make it possible for those in our society least likely to spend time in the outdoors to become passionate stewards of our public land well into the 21st century and beyond. Called the Next 100 Coalition this dynamic assembly of leaders is telling the stories of African-American, Latino, Asian and Native American people of color who have long enjoyed a history and legacy of conservation. As a member of the Next 100 Coalition, Dr. Carolyn Finney is helping to define a new vision of conservation that will carry us into the future. In the sincere belief that sustainable land management requires the cooperation and participation of all the American people Dr. Finney has crafted a compelling narrative that details the rich cultural heritage of our past while celebrating the great opportunities we enjoy today to build a brighter tomorrow. In this moment she wants us to realize that now is the time to set aside all that had divided us in the past in order to make a better world for the millions of children who will one day inherit the land we leave behind. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Finney recently in Washington D.C. and she shared with me her wonderful vision of the future in an essay called This Moment. Addressing the potential lives of children born eight years ago at the begining of the administration of President Barack Obama, Finney details a series of challenges and opportunities to make proactive change in the decades which still lie before us. "What we can do in this moment is work to change the nature of the next moment. What we can do in this moment is to remember, learn, fight, stand and expand who we are and who we might become," she said. "In 2008, 4,247,694 babies were born (in the U.S.). And no matter the color of their hands, they will be reaching for grass, dirt and dreams and we will need all their love and fight and possibility." Dr. Finney is the author of the book Black Faces White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors. She is a professor geography at the University of Kentucky and you can follow her work online at CarloynFinney.com This edition of the Joy Trip Project Podcast is part of the New Century Vision Project and is made possible with the support of our partner Choose Outdoors. Find out how you can get connected to our public lands through outdoor recreation at ChooseOutdoors.org. #inclusivevision4next100

Sometimes, when we’re talking about environmental conservation it’s difficult to know or even imagine exactly what really mean. That’s especially true when we’re asked care, I mean really care about remote areas thousands of miles away from where we live work and play. One such place is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In a region of Alaska so remote that it is only accessible by small charter airplane the Arctic Refuge is perhaps the most geographically isolated wilderness area in the continental United States. Very few people will ever visit there, but as the home many different plant and animal species including caribou and grizzly bears this remarkable ecosystem on the shores of the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean is at the forefront of the modern conservation movement. And as a bellwether of the global impacts of climate change the protection of the Arctic Refuge is a major priority for conservation groups like the Sierra Club and many other environmentally focused community outreach organizations. José Gonzalez is the founder of Latino Outdoors. His group aims to help members of the Latino community to become engaged in efforts to protect the natural environment. Along with a leader from Outdoor Afro, a group dedicated to helping African American families forge a bond with the natural world,  José and I had the rare opportunity to travel through the Arctic Refuge. Over the span of seven days we paddled more than 50 miles  along the course of the HulaHula river to experience for ourselves the unique beauty of this vast yet fragile natural habitat. In the hopes raising awareness for the importance of this and other distant wilderness areas this trip was organized to help make a connection with emerging communities of color who will one day be called upon to save them. The purpose of this trip was to help define a new vision of environmental protection, one that includes the participation of all the American people. That means people of color. As the National Park Service celebrates it’s 100th anniversary in 2016 we look forward to a new century of conservation that is more diverse and inclusive. You can get involved. Just follow the hashtag inclusivevision4next100 on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. This edition of the Joy Trip Project Podcast is part of the New Century Vision Project and was made possible with the support of our partner Choose Outdoors. Find out how you can get connected to our public lands through outdoor recreation at ChooseOutdoors.org. #inclusivevision4next100 And special thanks to the Sierra Club for making this Joy Trip possible. Learn more about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge at 

If you've been following the news recently you probably heard that there was a startling discovery in the mountains of Tibet. The bodies of climber Alex Lowe and filmmaker David Bridges were discovered near the sight of a tragic 1999 avalanch at the base of Mt Shishapangma. After 17 years the legacy of Alex Lowe is continues through the lives his surviving climbing parnter Conrad Anker, his wife Jennifer and his sons Max, Sam and Issac. In his name the Alex Lowe Foundation works support and improve the lives of indigenous people throughout the Himalayan region as well as raise awareness for the importance of avalanche safety and prevention. In memory of Alex Lowe the Joy Trip Project is reposting an interview with Jennifer Lowe-Anker recorded in 2009. Her memoir  Forget Me Not shares the intimate details of her life after having tragically lost her husband, a climber, only to fall in love all over again with another one. Have you have ever thought about why you love the things you love most? And not just things, what about people? How do we come to discover those with whom we fall in love? Through the course of our lives I believe we drawn without even realizing it to things, places and people that are important to us, that make us happy. We bring them into our lives and with them comes great joy. But sometimes, actually more often than not, the thing that you love most is what keeps you apart. Jenny: I think from the beginning I knew Alex was one of those guys that was kind of like a wild bird that you might entice to hold in your hand but you could never really hold on to him. And that was part of his appeal to me. JTP: Jennifer Lowe-Anker was in love with professional climber Alex Lowe. Each with a passion for the outdoors and the wild scenic places of the world, they built a life together of adventure and travel. But with separate careers, Jenny as fine artist, there were many times when the two were apart for long stretches of time while Alex explored Jenny: Interestingly enough that’s what I thought of book from the very beginning. I thought this was not going to be the average climbing story. And I’m not going to be doing a biography but what I really wanted was to show people the person that they loved from the most intimate perspective that I could give away of him because there was such an outpouring of grief and love for Alex at his death. Jenny: Very soon after we got married I decided to leave him and go off in pursuit of a better job because I didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t making good money and I felt like I was spinning my wheels. It was just a situation we were in and I kind of learned from him that time was precious and I wanting to make good use of my time and thinking when we’re together we could do something fun once we made our money and earned it. So I took off and chose to spend a couple of months apart from him working so that we could have a different dream. JTP: Do you have any idea what it was like for him without you? Jenny: I certainly do through his letters. He missed me. We missed each other. And we wrote each other a lot. And some of those letters you get to read. He wrote very avidly. I literally have over a thousand letter from Alex through the time we were together. Jenny: We were together through our letters a lot. He sat down and wrote me nearly every night when were apart. And sometime it was in a journal form and he would spend me like 5 sheets you know over a period of a week or two weeks and little bits of writing that he did everyday to tell me little p...

One of the things I love most about this podcast is the ability to tell amazing stories. And in the process I also help to raise awareness for some very important causes. With your support the Joy Trip Project has been able to back more than few Kickstarter campaigns as well as provide financial support to folks in need through Indie-Go-Go. And it was just such a request that reminded me of a story I did in 2008 when I met my good friend Chad Jukes. He's currently looking for support to climb the highest mountainin the world Mount Everest. "I’m a staff sergeant in the army," Jukes had told me. "Back in 2006 I was running convoy security operations over in Iraq and my truck hit an anti-tank mine and ended up shattering my heel bone and breaking my femur." Recorded at during the time of the Irag War this interview aimed to explore how soldiers like Jukes were dealing with the aftermath of devasting injuries received in combat. "After a few months I ended up contracting an infection a fairly serious infection in my heel," Jukes said. "And when they went in to repair that they discovered that the infection had done a lot of damage to the bone. At that point they gave me a few options. And one of them was amputation." At the time Jukes was only 22-years-old and he was faced with one of hardest decisions anyone would ever have to make. Should he abandon the hope of recovering his damaged foot or allow the doctors to remove his leg from below the knee? At that point I went online and started doing some research and ended up finding a web site called the adaptive climbers organization.com," Jukes said. "And I went in there and posted on the forums with my situation. Within the day I received responses from Malcolm Daly, Pete Davis, Craig DeMartino and a number of others with advice for me, and just telling me what I could expect if I chose the amputee route." The guys who responded to Jukes’ post were all climbers, including my old boss and long-time friend Malcolm Daly. Each of them had opted for amputation rather than preserve a damaged foot or leg. In the hopes of continuing their lives in the most active ways possible these injured athletes provide inspiring role models for wounded soldiers to recover from the tragic circumstance of war to ascend to unimaginable heights. And in this flashback edition of the podcast we're revisiting the process Jukes endured to put him on track toward an Everest summit. Our theme music is by Jake Shimabukuro. The Joy Trip Project is made possible thanks to fans like you on Patreon. For as little as a dollar month you can support this podcast and many adventure media initiatives covered here. For details visit patreon.com/joytripproject. Thanks for listening, but as always I want to hear from you. So please write to me with your questions comments and criticisms to info@joytriproproject.com

Journalist and author John Vaillant began his career with a profound interest in connecting stories of adventure with complex social issues. And it was on a reporting assignment to the remote regions North Western Canada that put him on the path of a remarkable narrative steeped in both ancient mythology and a modern controversy at the heart of the environmental movement. "It was thanks to Outside Magazine that I got up there. I was doing a paddling story for them in Haida Gwaii, which is this remote archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia, an extraordinary place, home of the Haida Nation," Vaillant said. "One way to understand them is the Vikings of the North Pacific. Huge canoes, but they are also a great political force, very powerful environmental advocates. It was also the home of this botanically unique tree, this Golden Spruce. It was 165 feet tall, seven feet across at the base and had golden needles. Every tree from Mendocino to Anchorage, growing in that rainforest band has green needles. And there was one coming up out of that forest. You could see it from 20,000 feet in the air in a plane. There was one golden spire and it was that tree." Sitting at the MacLab Bistro at the Banff Center in Alberta Canada, Vaillant and I had the opportunity to talk about this incredible tree. The Golden Spruce is at the center of a film which appeared at the 2015 Banff Mountain Film Festival and sets the stage for a very complicated discussion on the importance of wildlife conservation and the sustainable management of public land. In the film Vaillant helps frame the story behind why this particular tree means so much to the Haida People and their forest home. The story of the Golden Spruce begins in a village long since reclaimed by the shadows of the forest. It was a time of plenty, but the people were taking too much from the land. A long winter came. The village was decimated by hunger and only two people survived, a little boy and his grandfather. As they fled the village the man warned the boy not to look back. But the boy could not resist. As he turned back to take one last look his feet became rooted to the earth. The spirits transformed the boy into a tree in protest at the ways of the people. And there on the banks of Yakoun is the rare and beautiful tree with yellow needle that shine like gold in the sun. "It was a unique quirk of nature," Vaillant said. "The Golden Spruce did actually have a golden aura, a radiance that was derived from a genetic mutation of its needle’s coloring. But for the Hida, what really makes the Golden Spruce stand out is it is the only living being that connects back to that myth time." The Golden Spruce was sacred to the Haida People. It was a botanical mystery that was glorious to behold and as an economic driver to the region it was a much beloved tourist destination. Not unlike our own icon National Parks its location and the surrounding area were set aside to be protected and preserved. The Golden Spruce also stood as a living reminder to never again take so much from the land that we might put it at risk. Tragically though on forest land nearby on Haida Gwaii and on public land throughout North America others trees were being cut down by the tens of thousands in industrial logging operations. Through the devastating practice of clear cutting these ancient forests were...

From the opening  frames of the latest film by Sweetgrass Productions the monumental scale of the subject fills the screen. In concert with vocals and orchestra the images swell with the music in pace with the magnitude of a very controversial issue and the mountain wilderness which surrounds it. Never one to shy from the dramatic filmmaker Nick Waggoner sets the stage with meticulous care, like the conductor of a great opera. At the heart of this wonderful documentary is the age-old question: Do we develop the natural world for our own purposes, for commerce and recreation or do we keep it wild? This debate which rages in the halls of the Canadian parliament pits the interests of ski resort developers against the opposition of environmental activists and in the balance lies the fate of an ancient alpine ecosystem called Jumbo Mountain. A significant departure from his usual role as a maker of big mountain ski films Waggoner is plying his cinematic skills to tell a different kind of story. Unlike the "ski porn" movies that feature gratutitous action sequences of steep downhill descents through deep powder snow, Jumbo Wild is a film with a mission. Hoping to raise the consciousness of viewers to recognize the importance of conserving the habitat of grizzly bear and the protecting of scared land of native people Waggoner uses own passion for backcountry skiing to illustrate the intricate details of a political fight that has endured through much of his lifetime. Jumbo Wild offers up a candid view into the controversy that has divided this mountain community in the Canadian Rockies for more than two decades. After a screening at the 2015 Banff Mountain Film in Alberta Waggoner sat down with me at the MacLab Bistro at the famous Banff Centre to share a bit of the story behind this beautifully crafted documentary. The film Jumbo Wild from Sweetgrass Productions is now available on iTunes and Vimeo on Demand. You can learn more about Jumbo Mountain and this continuing controversy online at sweetgrass-productions.com/jumbo-wild Our theme music is by Jake Shimabukuro. The Joy Trip Project is made possible thanks to fans like you on Patreon. For as little as a dollar month you can support this podcast and many adventure media initiatives covered here. For details visit patreon.com/joytripproject. Thanks for listening, but as always I want to hear from you. So please write to me with your questions comments and criticisms to info@joytriproproject.com

In 2009 professional sport climber David Lama declared that he would summit the great mountain in Patagonia called Cerro Torre. Known around the world as one of the most difficult alpine ascents Lama proposed to make the climb up the 3128 meter spire via the infamous and highly controversial Compressor Route. But unlike those who had successfully reached the top this young athlete then only 19 years old planed to climb using just the rock’s natural features and aided by bolts and ropes only for protection in case of a fall, a technique known as free climbing. But veteran Patagonia climbers like Jim Bridwell believed that free climbing Cerro Torre was impossible. But undeterred by skeptics Lama would spend the next three years in pursuit of his goal. Having achieved a free climb ascent of the summit in 2012 his story is now the subject of a new film that premiered at the 2014 Banff Mountain Film Festival called Cerro Torre: A Snowball’s Chance in Hell. Theme music by Jake Shimabukuro This edition the Joy Trip Project was made possible thanks to the support of the Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival at the Banff Centre, inspiring creativity . You can support future episodes of this podcast through our crowd sourcing website at patreon.com For as little as a dollar a month, just 12 bucks a year you can keep the Joy Trip Project on the road. To find out how just visit patreon.com/joytripproject

    Adventure photographers and filmmakers give us a unique view of the world. And throughout his long career taking pictures and telling stories for major magazines Peter McBride has offered up an exciting perspective, most often from the air. When he was in his 20s he flew a World War I biplane called the Vickers Vimy from London to Cape Town to reenact the first time an airplane traveled across Africa in 1920. "I think that really gave me an interest in the aerial perspective," he said in an interview with the Joy Trip Project. "I was able to sell it to National Geographic with some good luck and that led me into a decade of doing work for Geographic and other magazines." Through his camera McBride has shown us images of the planet most of us can only dream of. Having chosen a profession suited to his nature he admits that his work fulfills a selfish desire. "I guess I became a photographer more because I had an interest in seeing the world to be honest," he said. "I love photography, but I love adventures. I love exploring and I love going into the unknown." McBride’s work in photography provides us with an eye-opening look at the planet. He gives his viewers and readers the opportunity to see the place they call home in a different way. From the high mountains of the Himalaya to the jungles of the Amazon McBride has made it possible for to people to see how they and others interact with their environment and to observe their role in the natural order of things. But it’s in his most recent body of work that McBride turns his lens back toward the place where HE grew up. Flying high above the Rocky Mountains to Sea of Cortez he has been following the course of the great North American river, The Colorado. In a series of photo essays and feature films McBride now tells the story of the river that provides food and water for more than 10 percent of the U.S. population. The hardest working river in the world Colorado has flowed for more than 6 million years. But in the span of just a few decades its precious resources have been tapped to the breaking point. Returning to his home in Colorado Peter McBride is raising awareness for the importance of conserving water in the west. Through his films and still photographs he illustrates the plight of the Colorado and demonstrates the impact of over development and the abuse of our most precious natural resource. JTP: So I think it’s fair to suggest that you have been involved in different types of photo capturing all over the world, specifically what is it that made you come back to the United States and put so much effort into telling the story of the Colorado River?   McBride: I think I came home…I still travel a lot for work today, but I came home in part because I was a little burned out to be honest. I was telling someone just last night that I wanted to try to do something that had a little more impact than just a magazine article that somebody reads going to the bathroom or something. You know…And that’s not entirely fair. Magazine stories can chance things for sure, but I guess I just wanted to sink my teeth into something that was bigger, maybe bigger than me. And I didn’t have a really huge master plan. It sort of evolved on its…as it happened and it still is. But I came home and wanted to do something just around home and not travel a bunch. I was traveling all the time and so I had to hunker down and I came back to the valley where I grew up. My father’s a pilot and I started looking at doing some aerial work. And that led into the Colorado River project that technically took me two years. But I’ms till doing tributaries. I’m still doing rafting and I’m still talking about it. It’s an issue that’s definitely not going away and it’s going getting more and more severe. JTP

At the age of 26 best-selling author Cheryl Strayed strapped on a backpack and hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Over the course of 94 days she traveled from Mojave California to the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks Oregon, just outside of Portland where she lives today. Four years after loosing her mother who died of cancer Strayed ventured  into the wilds of nature in order to find a part of herself she felt was missing. With absolutely now experience in backpacking she made the impulsive decision to deal with her unimaginable grief with an impossible adventure. Strayed: I was in such a place of desperation at that moment in my life that I needed something big. I needed a journey. I needed to go, to get myself to a different place. As I say in my book to gather myself, back to myself. And I knew that that wasn't going to be a bunch of day hikes as I traveled and car camped. It needed to be a journey into the wild. JTP: While hiking the PCT Strayed encountered much of what you might expect on a long backpacking trip. But she'd find there was more in store for her than bug bits, blisters and sunburn. Along the miles of her journey she discovered the strength to endure the pain and suffering of loss while coming to the understanding that like the trail before her life goes on. I'm James Mills and you're listening to the Joy Trip Project. Music by the Shanghai Restoration Project JTP: Cheryl Strayed was the key note speaker at the biannual breakfast meeting of the Conservation Alliance during the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had the opportunity to talk to her about her book Wild and the circumstances that started her long journey after the sudden death of her mother. Strayed: I was really in a place of total despair. It's sort of strange for me to really remember it now, because I'm 44. I'm happy. I have this really rich happy life. But at that time I really felt like I didn't feel that I could go on. I had worked myself into such a place of sorrow over the grief of my mother. But then the things I did in that grief brought me further down. I made bad decisions. I was sexually promiscuous. I cheated on my husband who I loved. And that was really against my values. It was against the person I am. I'm not against promiscuity. I think it can have its moment in a life, but it was not the good thing for me to be doing it in that context. I was deceiving someone I loved. I was deceiving, really sort of violating a promise I made to someone I cared about. And then I got involved with drugs. Anyone who's ever been under the influence knows, those things we reach for them because we think they'll make us feel better and they always make us feel worse. When you reach for them in desperation they make you feel worse. And so those things were all effecting my state of mind too. And I got to the point where I thought, well you know why should I? Why should I go on living? Who would care if I disappeared? And I was feeling so much pain that it was the first time that I understood how it is that people would choose to end their lives. I wasn't...I wouldn't say I was honestly considering suicide. But I felt that kind of pain. Why  I go on? JTP: Is it fair to suggest that you might have gone into the wild in act of not necessarily of self destruction but in that moment in time to perhaps become reborn in a way? Strayed: Yes.

It goes without saying. Our world is growing bigger and more complicated everyday. Especially in our urban centers where economic and political fortunes are beginning to shift and reflect the values of a much more culturally diverse population. Despite the devastating effects failing banks and climate change there are rising many new opportunities to tap into the dynamic energy and financial resources of previously under represented members of our society. Leading the way toward positive outcomes in a brighter future is urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter. "An urban revitalization strategist, or me, is a person who identifies in particular low-income  communities and in our inner cities in the States, and looks around and sees what the problems are, what the failings are and figures out strategies to improve them both socially and environmentally as well as economically," she said in this interview. "And you have to have all three involved, because it's not just about putting band aids on these communities. It's literally about increasing the quality of life, economically, socially as well as environmentally." Majora Carter was the keynote speaker at the biannual breakfast meeting of the Outdoor Industry Association during the 2013 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City Utah. Sharing her thoughts on strategies for urban revitalization she impressed upon those in attendance the importance of reaching out to under served communities, in particular people of color. Now that a majority of the worlds' population lives in cities it is in these urban areas where we must now strive to achieve lasting change for the benefit of humanity. Working in the South Bronx borough of New York City, Carter is putting together solid plans to make this and other communities across the U.S. into vital centers of sustainable economic growth and development while helping to protect the environment. With the creation of both green jobs and green spaces in the heart of our biggest cities Carter hopes to encourage an ethos of conservation that will serve the interests of wilderness as well. JTP: The bulk of your work right now is in the South Bronx (New York), now work internationally but specifically what exactly have you done to revitalize that particular urban setting? Carter: Sure, we literally wanted to sort of flip the script on what was considered development in our community. So much of it was actually around noxious facilities and burdensome things of that nature, power plants, etc., and we wanted to change the landscape by creating more ecologically sound development. So it started with parks and greenways. And then we even went to people and started one of the country's very first green-collar job and placement systems. Now we're moving into real estate development because we understand that you can use real estate development as a platform for social, environmental and economic change, if it's done correctly and strategically. It can be a transformation tool, which it has not been used that way before in poor communities. JTP: So what's the disconnect? How is it that we even need to have someone like you tell us that the spaces that we occupy perhaps as residential areas or as businesses require some type of revitalization? Carter: The disconnect is that there are really low expectations placed on poor communities in general. And the people that are in them, and the elected that allegedly support them, the regulators who are supposed to regulating them, that kind of dynamic has been going on for generations to the point where I think even people who live there believe it. And I used to be one of them,

  A professional ski mountaineer for more than 13 years climber Hilaree O'Neill started out her career at a very young age. Skiing since the age of three she spent most of her early days on the many 14,000-foot peaks near where she went to school in Colorado. "When I finished college I moved to Chamonix in France for about 5 years," she said in an interview. "And that brought in sort of the more big mountain high altitude stuff with glaciers and ice climbing and all that kind of stuff. That kind of brought all the pieces together" In 1999 she came to the attention of the North Face pro mountaineering team. Looking for elite female athlete to round out their roster TNF connected with O'Neill at the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, UT. With solid climbing skills and a resume packed with ascents both North America and Europe she was just who they were they looking for. "And three weeks later I was on a plane to the India Himalaya," she said So that was my first big expedition and from then on I was hooked!" For more than a decade O'Neill has put in two to three trips to the Himalaya each year. And in the middle of very busy career she managed to find time to get married and give birth to two sons. As a wife and mother she's still at the top of her game as world class mountaineer. Most recently in 2012, during one of the most challenging climbing seasons ever, O'Neill made a successful ascent of Mount Everest and then climbed to the top near by Lotse another 8,000 meter peak both on the same day. On tour with the North Face speakers series O'Neill visited Madison, WI to sit down and share her story a a presentation she calls the Road Not Taken. O'Neill: It was a huge learning curve going from the states the Chamonix was the first big learning curve of getting into skiing with ropes and harnesses and all that kind of stuff and then going from the Alps to Himalayas was a massive learning curve going from both culturally and myself personally in the sport because all of the sudden now it was becoming more about the climbing and less about the skiing and so really had to focus on those climbing skills more than the skiing for the first time in my life. It was also about sustaining mental toughness over three four five six week periods and being out and exposed for long periods of time. You know a lot of winter camping, a lot of storms. So it was a very steep learning curve. You know I think right after India I went to Russia and spent...got stuck in a storm and spent six days in a snow cave with a bunch of Russians. You know like where am I? So yes it was a steep learning curve. JM: So now what motivates you to do that kind of thing. You obviously had this great opportunity, but what made you stick with it? O'Neill: I just love the satisfaction I get from the adventure of it. Expeditions really are different in that you can plan to the best of your abilities and it never turns out the way you planned it. There's always something new that you never expected, the climbing's harder or easier or just different. And that's the part of it I love. And I really like challenging myself. High altitude obviously is something that's always been a major draw for me and I like the simplicity of it. JM: So now through the course of all that you also had an opportunity to fall in love and get married and started to raise a family. You've got a husband and a family and two small boys at home. I've heard you say in previous interviews that being a parent is infinitely more difficult or more challenging a mountaineer. Well I've got to know, what is it about parenting that making is so much difficult than being a climber? O'Neill: Well parenting I think you are not always operating ...

Veterinarian and photographer Dag Goering is the co-founder with his wife author Maria Coffey in the adventure touring business Hidden Places Travel. For many years he's worked at combining his love of travel with the care and protection of animals. “It all started with Camels really,” he said in an interview. “I was very interested in doing longer journeys across the Sahara with the Tuaregs.” The Tuaregs are a nomadic people who travel across the deserts of Northern Africa on caravans of camels. So Goering tried to find a way to come along. “I thought as a veterinarian, that’s my background I could bone up on some camel medicine,” he said. “And that might make me useful.” So he did some researched and someone suggested that he go to Bikaner in India, a desert region of Rajasthan. There he hoped to learn a few thing about camels. But he was surprised to discover that camels weren’t as popular as he thought. “Everyone said, “well ‘Camels? Why are you interested in Camels? Camels are nasty animals.’” Goering said. “ And after working there for a couple of weeks in the clinic with camels I came to the conclusion they are indeed nasty animals. Unfortunately, he didn't learn very much. And disappointed but not discourage Goering decided to stay in India and travel. Along the way he wound up working with a non-profit organization that does volunteer veterinary medicine for camels dogs and other animals. “And at one point we were called out to examine this newly born elephant,” he said. “So I was in the presence of all these magnificent large animals in these stables, elephant stables, and it was such a profound experience I just came home and said Maria I just want to work with elephants!” Making the shift from camels to elephants Goering and his wife Maria Coffey began focusing their attention on the care and treatment of elephants. Through their non profit Elephant Earth Initiative to two work now to protect the habitats of elephants in the wild and their welfare among humans in captivity the couple raise awareness for the plight elephants both in Asia and in Africa “There are huge issues to do with the welfare of captive elephants. One of the things that we bring across  in our presentation is how captive elephants are trained, are broken and then how they're kept after that, the welfare issues about that. Most people just have no idea of the cruelty that's inflicted upon captive elephants,” Coffey said. “ And then of course in the wild, like any mega-fauna they're being hugely effected by population growth, by the loose of habitat, the growth of human elephant conflict. In many places around the world it's becoming a very big issue. Elephants are very important to us and to world as a whole. Doug and I passionately believe that we have to do what we can to help preserve them.” I had the pleasure of meeting Goering and Coffey during the 2011 Banff Mountain Film Festival in Alberta Canada. There they had on display an amazing assortment of elephant photographs that help to tell the story behind this magnificent but endangered animal in the presentation they call Elephant Enigma. JTP: In your presentation I heard you say that the eye of an elephant is like looking into orb into another world. And a lot of that imagery comes out in many of your photographs. What is it about the eye of an elephant that is so transformational? Goering: Well it is a bit difficult to describe. I think there is a strange energy, you know elephants don't have expressive faces. They're not like dogs. Dogs can sort of grimes or smile.

This summer, I traveled across the North American west, hitting  some of the top rock climbing destinations in the country. Moab, Utah, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and Joshua Tree … plus a quick hike through the Grand Canyon.   I trained at mountaineering in the Chugach Range of Alaska and made it safely to the summit of Mount Baker in the Washington Cascades.  Next year I’ve got an even more ambitious project -- to reach the top of Mount Denali, the highest point on the continent.    But there’s more to climbing than elevation, and some of the most challenging terrain I know is right here in Wisconsin. Devil's Lake State Park, just 40 minutes north of Madison, is home to incredible high cliffs and stone walls that are perfect for rock climbing. "People don't realize that the southwest corner of Wisconsin had no glaciers. It's called the driftless region," Anne Hughes a friend avid local climber. "And so these valleys hills and cliffs have not been leveled out by glaciers and this particular rock that we're climbing on is the center of an old mountain range."   Anne is among the many climbing enthusiasts from Madison who regularly defy the misconception that Wisconsin is flat and featureless. "These cliffs rise 500 feet off the surface of the lake," she said. "That's the center piece of the park called Devil's Lake. So people who think of the Midwest as looking like central Illinois or or I-90 going across Ohio, you know haven't been to a non-glaciated region." People have asked me if Devil’s Lake can offer much of a challenge to someone who’s climbed snow covered mountains in Colorado or vertical walls of granite 3,000 feet high.  Actually, it’s one of the most challenging terrains I know.  The rock here is relatively smooth with very little texture – which means there’s not a lot to hang onto.  It takes incredibly strong fingers and toes, and a whole lot of balance and dexterity.  It’s like the difference between ballet and football.  You need strength and stamina to play football.  You need a whole other level of skill if you want to dance on your toes for an hour.  That's why people who learn to climb in Wisconsin climb well and go on to climb all over the world. "I climb because I love being outside. I really enjoy the fact that it's a three dimensional sport that every move is different, every climb is different," Anne said. "Climbing the same climb is different every time. So I get strong all over my body. I like the partner relationship that is almost always involved, going out with a friend or more friends. You're literally holding their lives in your hands, which is a sobering thought. It's fun, but you're really committed to each other. You're watching each other's back, making sure that she doesn't do anything unsafe that she forgot about or just was preoccupied. And look at this environment! you're outside everyday in this beautiful place doing something that makes your strong and healthy and fun."   For Wisconsin Life, this is James Mills Joy Trip Project contributions to National Public Radio programs like Wisconsin Life made possible in part with the support sponsors Patagonia, Rayovac and the New Belgium Brewing Company

Typically political action can take shape only when the general populous is rallied and motivated to take a stand. When it comes to building awareness for issues of environmental protection it’s especially difficult because those regions most in need of protecting are usually far away from the public eye. That’s why an organization called the International League of Conservation Photographers goes out into some of the most remote habitats in the world to document the current condition of delicate ecosystems at  risk of destruction. "I've been working in the Sacred Headwaters region since about 2009, now," said ILCP photographer Paul Colangello. "And really briefly, the Sacred Headwaters is where three salmon bearing rivers all begin in one region of Northern British Columbia. So it's the Stakeen, the Skeena and the Nass. It's also home to one of the largest predator prey ecosystems in North America and it's the traditional territory of the Tahltan first nation." Paul Colangelo is one of several members of the ILCP working to protect the Sacred Headwaters of British Columbia. This region is among the largest temperate rainforests in North America. But over the past few years it's been flooded with proposed resource extraction projects. The biggest of which is Shell Oil's million acre, coalbed methane tenure right in the heart of the headwaters. Others include an open pit gold and copper mine and a mountain top removal coal mine. But the push back among the local population has been fierce. Approximately 1,500 members of the indigenous Tahltan nation have raised a lot of public awareness through blockades and sit-ins. They were actually able to stop Shell, the second largest corporation in the world. "Well somewhat stop them," Colangelo said. "They achieved a four year moratorium. But this will be lifted in december of 2012. And so we've been working in the area. That's when the ILCP got involved too and produced a RAVE." A RAVE is a Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition. A team of world-class photographers like Colangelo along with videographers and journalists go into endangered regions such as the Sacred Headwaters and work to tell its story. "We're trying to bring the Sacred Headwaters to people, because it's so remote," Colangelo said. "Most people even living in British Columbia have never even heard about it. So we're pretty much just trying to raise awareness. And we're hoping to get people's support for the protection of this area." Paul Colagello’s work along with eight other members of the ILCP culminated in a book written by National Geographic explorer Wade Davis called Sacred Headwaters Sacred Journey. I had a chance to talk to Colangello back in 2011 during the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Alberta Canada. There he shared the story behind his amazing photographs and the RAVE launched to protect this remote region at risk.   JTP: Tell me a little bit about what a photographer does to help facilitate the preservation of these wild places. Colangelo: Well number one would be bringing places to people were they can't see it. You can read about a spot, but you're more likely to have a, you know a real connection and a reaction and waiting to save it if you actually see it. And then, I mean, after that, I mean, after you get to know and get, you know really deep into these issues and you get to know a region you can spot other potential problems and ...

  A conversation with Aron Ralston In 2003 Aron Ralston was brash young man looking for adventure. But while exploring the slot canyons of the Utah desert he found himself trapped miles from home deep within a underground chasm his right arm crushed and pinned by a massive boulder. There he lay stranded with no hope of rescue for five days. Rolston’s story was portrayed in the 2010 film 127 Hours starting James Franko. In order to escape from circumstance that would have meant certain death Ralston was forced to amputate his own arm. But he would go one to inspire millions through his incredible story of survival and perseverance through his bestselling book Between a Rock & a Hard Place. Ralstonwas the keynote speaker at the bi-annual meeting of the Conservation Alliance during 2012 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City Utah. Immediately following his presentation I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his ordeal and what inspired him to live to tell his story. JTP: Many people have seen the film and have read the book. The film is called 127 Hours. And the book is called Between a Rock and a Hard Place and it tells your story of a very harrowing experience in the Utah desert. I'll leave it to other people to get an idea as to what it is that, that story meant to them, but perhaps you can give me an idea. In the film, how accurate was James Franko's portrayal of your story? What did they get right? What did they get wrong? Ralston: Well I worked with the film team for seven years as it was to take it all the way from when I wrote my book to turn it into a script and then selecting a director and working with them to choose James as they did to depict me and my experience. And even working with James then to coach him through the actions. He's admittedly not an outdoorsman and to get him familiar with the desert, to get him an understanding of my experience. Not that he was trying to impersonate me so much, but to take an audience through my entrapment, the psychological aspects of the ordeal that I endured and then the liberation, the release, the triumph of it all too. And I thought it was very accurately portrayed, both from the overarching emotional stories, the themes that they highlighted about love and family and also the very physical and factual aspects of it too, all wrapped up in this extraordinary film adaptation of my experience. I think that people who watch it they know what I went through. You feel it really as you watch the film. So I was extremely pleased with what they did. I was that the point where I'm watching it with my sister a couple of times and as she's seeing it for the first time she's like elbowing me and slapping me on the knee saying , "That's so you! They totally nailed it!" Even with my family they saw how genuine it was and to do that and at the same time really make a film that moves people? That's not an easy thing. You usually have to choose one or the other,