Trail Weight

More About Trail Weight

The length of each episode is 30 to 45 minutes. It’s a short series with two seasons, and both are available now. 

FPG Giveaway

Before we learn more about the vibe of the show, we are going to take a quick break to talk about my first FPG giveaway. I wanted to thank you for listening to the podcast as we approach the first birthday of FPG.  It has been so much fun to launch the podcast and meet all of you. Mostly virtually this past year. As a thank you, I wanted to give one of my listeners a $25 Amazon gift card. All you have to do is fill out a quick demographic survey and I will choose one of you to win the gift card at the end of the month.

Thank you so much for filling out this survey. It will help me make sure to find podcasts that you’ll enjoy and sponsors that will align with your wants, needs and desires. Thank you so much for a great year, and I can’t wait to give away that Amazon gift card. Now we get to hear from Andrew as he talks about the similarities and differences between the first and second seasons of Trail.

Introduction to Andrew

Yeah, my name’s Andrew.  Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to be on here. And yeah, I make podcasts, I make entertainment. If that doesn’t sound too I don’t know, cheesy. But yeah, I like to make, I like to say I’m, I like to make good things with good people.  So sometimes it’s me in front of the microphone, literal or figurative, and sometimes it’s me behind the scenes, literal or figurative.

How Trail Weight Got Started

So why did you start making trail weight? So trail weight, the podcast is it’s right now in its second season. So the first season had a very different intention and purpose than the second season. The first season was very much a personal sort of journey and a challenge I sort of gave myself to get in shape enough to get healthy enough to do a month long backpacking trip and chronicle the journey because I am a podcaster. I’m a storyteller, so it’s like I’m always recording something or taking photos of something.  

So a lot of twists and turns happened and, like a good story, it’s not the one you intended to tell when you started out and for the second season. Something that really stuck with me during the first season was this whole idea of as a lover of nature of the outdoors, I wonder what my impact is on the outdoors and driving to places to then go hiking is the, you know, is the pollution that my car is making, destroying the, the earth that I love to recreate in. Not to mention like many of us have seen during the pandemic, sort of this boom and camping and hiking and getting outdoors. So I really kind of wanted to learn the effect I was having on the world. And along the way, I sort of discovered this forgotten story about how Walt Disney tried to build a theme park in the mountains to sort of celebrate nature in the way that he thought was best. And hmm, as it when it began, it was very much supported by the outdoor community and it ended up being drug out into a very long sort of legal battle that had consequences that I would’ve never imagined when I first started hiking.

What to Expect from Trail Weight

You know, I’m definitely a believer that sometimes asking questions is more important than having the answers. As much as I like to have all the answers and as much as it’s sort of. In my nature to like want to solve everything and know everything. So really I hope the listeners are going on this journey with me.

They may not be physically in the locations I’m in and they might not be, you know, hiking along next to me, but hopefully they’re sort of struggling with the same, with the same things I’m struggling with, questioning the same things I’m questioning and learning the same things I’m learning. I like to think the podcast is great to listen to if you’re out like on a walk or a hike or a camping trip.

But it’s also good if you’re in an office or in an apartment and can’t get outside. It sort of scratches that itch for you, whether you’re outside or not. Definitely almost kind of gives you like a, like a break from the indoors cuz you get to at least listen to people being outside or talking about being outside.

I love that the pandemic has taught me that being outside. An essential part of life and when I didn’t get that as often when we were all cooped up inside in the winter, I was like, okay, like something has got to change. So I feel like if there’s days when I can’t get out, I can just turn on your podcast and at least close my eyes and pretend right that I’m outside.

And along those lines, in the first season we talked with Florence Williams, who is a science journalist. A science writer. She’s a book called The Nature Fix and various articles and other projects where she talks about the biological and scientific reason why getting outside is actually important.

And some of the studies that have been done about, you know, the color green or just the effects on people’s wellbeing, or whether it’s people who have PTSD who go out and hike these long trails. You know, there’s a lot of really fascinating. That really showcase that these nature moments are very beneficial.  So hopefully this show inspires people to get out on their own adventure in whatever shape or form that can take. 

The Vibe of Trail Weight

Yeah. I mean, it’s very much a documentary. If you can use those words without sounding too pretentious,  um, you know, there is a beginning, middle, and end. There’s a, you know, while the episodes can be heard standalone, they definitely are best when you sort of go 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.  Because it really is telling a story. You know, I really wanted to look at this as like I said before, You know, I wanna bring the listener on the journey with me. And so while there’s a very practical following the trail that I’m following, there’s also a discovery that hopefully the listener has as they listen from episode to episode.

Personally, I love a, like a serialized podcast where it’s like a set, epi set number of episodes I can like get in, listen, enjoy, and then get out again.  And I mean, I’ve worked on other podcasts and some of the, my favorite podcasts that I listen to are just the sort of conversational two or three people in a room chatting.

And that’s great. I mean, I love those too, but I also love when you can really dive into a story and it, and you know it’s gonna have an ending.  Both have their place and I’m glad that we have both kinds. 

Andrew’s Favorite Episode

 I was gonna say, is it a cop out to say episode one?  I mean, I really like the first episodes of both seasons. I think they do a great job of sort of setting the scene and setting up the story that’s gonna be told.  And hopefully if I’ve done my job well, they’ll hook you in to hear the rest.

If I had to choose one. So from, from the first season, I think the third episode, the story that we tell is very. It’s very special to me in a sense that it deals with the concept of what happens when things don’t go according to plan. What does it mean to be successful and what does it mean to be a failure?

And really sort of asking those questions. And I think for me, you know, we talk with Olympian Alexi Pappas, who has also written a great book called Bray, and it’s all about mental health and, and her sort of personal journey as well too. And it’s just really cool to hear someone who’s like an Olympian, you know, at that level of, of athleticism and then me, who’s like struggling to get up the stairs or whatever,

But we both have these moments where we’re like, we have to change what we thought we were capable of and that doesn’t mean you’re a failure, but that also doesn’t mean that you have to give up your dream either. And so I think it’s a pretty special episode.  And then season two, you’re just gonna have to listen and choose one for yourself.

Trail Weight & Little Ears

You know, I think you’ll probably get more out of it with headphones or I think you’ll probably get more out of it if it’s something that you can reflect on. Okay. I’m trying to think. We don’t shy away from serious topics. There is some language, but really not very much, if I remember correctly.

Yeah, I think the new season, season two is much less introspective and more just looking at this concept of how we recreate outdoors and what it means to sort of love land and use land and, and all those questions. And so, . If a child is interested in it, I’d welcome them to listen to it. But  sure.  You know, the, the first season we deal with themes of death and depression and, and stuff like that. And so if you’re, if you’re not ready to have those conversations, maybe, maybe put in the headphones.  And we can push pause and like decide we don’t have to, it’s not live radio. 

Final Thoughts on Trail Weight

I hope you listen. I hope you like it. I hope you get something out of it.  And if you don’t like it, that’s okay too. Hopefully we’re all learning and growing and changing. And I heard someone once say, if you, if you don’t have something serious that you change your opinion on every year, you’re probably not. Opening yourself up to, to learn and grow as a human. And so there’s things I’ll say that I’ll probably change my mind in the future, but again, that’s sort of the nature of this season of the podcast is really questioning and examining myself and how I use the outdoors and how we as a society use the outdoors. And hopefully that’s something we’re all learning and growing and continuing to learn and grow in.