Aviation Safety
KSKA: Thursday, April 07, at 2pm and Thursday, April 14 at 8pm
In Alaska, we rely on air taxis and private pilots to go hunting, hiking, floating and to climb mountains. If you’ve been doing that long enough, you’ve been on some scary flights, as I certainly have. But for some reason we don’t talk about that much, or about the people who have died, as if we thought we couldn’t do anything about it. On the next show we are having that talk.
History of Chugach State Park
KSKA: Thursday, April 14, at 2pm.
When you fly into Anchorage, what do you really notice? It's not the buildings or the roads, it's the mountains that take your breath away. It’s a gift, but it didn’t have to be that way. 50 years ago, the land we now call Chugach State Park was open for development. The reason we have a park now is because citizens got together and were bold enough to demand one. We’ll be talking about the history of the park and how it came into existence.
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New Trails and Trail Maintenance
KSKA: Thursday, April 21 @ 2:00 pm.
We are a trail community in Anchorage and across our region of Alaska. The variety of purposes for our trails is amazing. On our next show we’re talking about trails, how they get built and maintained, and how we can keep our trails usable as state money for them goes away.
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Reprise: Canoeing 5,000 Miles in 5 Months
KSKA: Thursday, April 28 @ 2:00 pm. We're reprising one of our favorite interviews with Bob Vollhaber. Starting in Washington, going over the Chilkoot Pass, down the Yukon, through the Bering Sea, up river to Lake Iliamna, finally ending up in Anchorage’s Westchester Lagoon, Bob Vollhaber paddled a canoe five thousand miles in five months.
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Father-Daughter Treks
KSKA: Thursday, May 5 @ 2:00 pm.
On the next Outdoor Explorer we’ll have two different father-daughter teams who reconnected through big adventures. One pair rode motorcycles from Alaska to college in New York, the other came from Wisconsin to build a cabin in northern Alaska.
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100th Anniversary of Migratory Bird Treaty
KSKA: Thursday, May 12 @ 2:00 pm. On the next Outdoor Explorer we mark the 100th anniversary of the migratory bird treaty, a conservation landmark and learn how migrations come through our state and where and when you can enjoy them.
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Anchorage Bike Trails
KSKA: Thursday, May 19, at 2:00 and Thursday, May 26, at 8:00 p.m.
Anchorage people love their bike trails. Still, while we want more, the trails we already have are worn out in places, and one trail had a bridge collapse. On the next Outdoor Explorer we’ll be talking with folks responsible for the paved bike trails, as well as a mastermind of the fun, world class single track mountain bike trails at Kincaid Park and on the Hillside.
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Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies
KSKA: Thursday, May 26, at 2:00 and Thursday, June 02, at 8:00 p.m. If you’re headed for Homer, learn about the tide pools, the forests or the critters living under the docks from an enthusiastic group of young educators. We recorded the next show at the Center for Alaska Coastal Studies, went to a remote field station, and got some ideas to enrich time outdoors with knowledge and insight.
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Outdoor Explorer LIVE!
KSKA: Thursday, June 02, at 2:00 and Thursday, June 09, at 8:00 p.m. On Saturday, May 21st we took to the stage for the first ever live edition of Outdoor Explorer. We recorded our show on-stage at the TapRoot the way we do it in the studio, talking to Luc Mehl and Nancy Pfieffer. We are so happy to share the recorded version of our live show with you.
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Stand Up Paddleboarding in Alaska
KSKA: Thursday, June 16, at 2:00 We love how people keep inventing new sports and Alaskans keep finding unique ways to do them. The next show is a great example, we're talking about stand up paddleboarding and paddleboard yoga. A paddleboard is essentially a surf board for calm water, but as you’ll learn, paddleboards now are being used in Alaskan rivers and in the ocean. Finally, at the end of the show, we’ll hear a hair raising story from our live outdoor explorer show a few weeks ago.
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Revisiting Endurance Athletes
KSKA: Thursday, July 14, at 2:00 and Thursday, July 21, at 8:00 p.m. Jennifer Pharr Davis hiked the Appalachian Trail in 46 days, averaging 47 miles a day. David Johnston finished the 350-mile Iditarod Invitational in four days, running on snow. They’ll both join us as we try to understand what makes ultra-endurance athletes tick.
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Revisiting Paragliding
KSKA: Thursday, July 21, at 2:00 and Thursday, July 28, at 8:00 p.m.
Probably everyone has imagined flying like a bird at one time or another. But these days, you can do more than dream. Paragliding makes soaring up in the sky into a regular weekend activity. On the next Outdoor Explorer, we’re going to learn about what paragliding feels like, how you do it safely, and ways to gain entry into the sport.
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Revisiting Rowing
KSKA: Thursday, July 28, at 2:00. Last summer Charles was contacted by the Anchorage Rowing Association to row crew in the Dave Thorsness Challenge, a regatta mostly for beginners, as well as getting a couple of rowing lessons to make sure he could do it. For this week's show, we're going back to hear the result, as Charles took a recorder along on this aquatic adventure.
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Revisiting Coastal Brown Bears
KSKA: Thursday, Sept. 24, at 2:00 p.m. Our region of Alaska happens to be the best place in the world for ordinary people to get out in the woods and see lots of gigantic bears. While the coastal brown bear are gorging on the salmon that make them so large, they don’t pay attention to anything else. Visitors to certain streams can get very close. We’ll talk about that experience, and the life of the bears.
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Taking a trip to Sitka
KSKA: Thursday, Aug. 11, at 2:00 p.m.
Charles took a road trip-- or rather a ferry trip-- to Southeast Alaska last month, and while there recorded an edition of Outdoor Explorer on the town of Sitka. This historic community is the best place for an Alaskan to take a vacation without leaving Alaska because the boating and wildlife viewing are incredible. We’ll also get to hear about the area’s surfing scene and science education.
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National Parks Exploration
KSKA: Thursday, Aug. 25, at 2:00 p.m. On this Outdoor Explorer we’re saying happy birthday to the national parks by airing the show on the 100th anniversary of the creation of National Park Service, which takes care of some of the nation’s most dramatic and valuable wilderness. We’ll hear a little about that history and how the centennial is being celebrated during the show, but our main emphasis is on the parks themselves.
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Collegiate Skiing
KSKA: Thursday, Sept. 15, at 2:00 p.m. Budget cuts have forced the University of Alaska to look at eliminating sports, potentially making Alaska the only state without collegiate athletics, including its' ski team. On the next show we’ll hear interviews with the alpine and nordic coaches at UAA. We'll also speak with the director of the skiing program at APU. We’ll learn a lot more about a subject we haven’t covered before on the show.
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Handling Wild Game
KSKA: Thursday, Sept. 29, at 2:00 p.m. On the next Outdoor Explorer we’ll be talking about the skills and planning necessary to properly field dress wild game and then get it to a processor. We’ll also talk about the cooking skills to make wild game delicious and healthy for your family.
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The Equinox Marathon and other extreme Fairbanks events
KSKA: Thursday, Oct. 6, at 2:00 p.m.
The Equinox Marathon is one of the most challenging anywhere, as it climbs up over Ester Dome in Fairbanks. We’ll also hear an interview recorded in Fairbanks with a trails volunteer, who’ll tell us about the many routes and races that make that community a great place to visit.
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Fun with Wheels
KSKA: Thursday, Oct. 13, at 2:00 p.m. We’re going into new territory with the next show, with bike polo and skateboarding. We’ll hear an interview with a former x games champion from Alaska who eventually came back and opened a board shop here to pass on the sport to another generation, and with a polo player who travels with bikes to play.
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