WILD STORIES EPISODES

Do you ever get those wild ideas about running a river in a unique way, but they just stay ideas, and you kinda always wish you had followed through? This episode is about an idea that became a reality. In November of 2001, 3 people zipped up their drysuits, pulled on their swim fins, strapped their dry bags to river boards, and slid into the Colorado River beginning a 300 mile trip where river boards were their only water craft. Kelley Kalafatich, Julie Munger and Rebecca Rusch floated, swam, k...

River runners became paramount for river rescue in many parts of Appalachia when Hurricane Helene inflated the rivers to record levels. People were stranded in buildings, bridges blew out, and houses were swept downriver. This live episode at the America Outdoors Conference hosts 3 river runners who immediately engaged in the rescue of people stranded by the floods, and, the rescue of the rivers from their own floods. They tell the stories of their work beginning at daybreak on day 1 of Hurrican...

In September of 2020 at Kanawha Falls in West Virginia, a river rescue at midnight occurred and was given an award and labeled the “Midnight Miracle.” A group of 13 kayakers and rafters responded late that night to a facebook post about a lone kayak floating at the falls. At the 2 year anniversary of the rescue, we went with the rescued kayaker when he ran the falls again for the first time since his rescue. He and the rescue crew tell the story. ADVERTISING SPONSORS Jack's Plastic Welding...

This episode is the 2nd of 2 episodes. Some stories stand the test of time. This is one. 1995, Big Susitna River in Alaska, glacial melt, rains in the canyon. Three friends fly deep into the backcountry with plans of a one day trip on big water. That day their plans changed & 27 years later they all tell the story. Nissan and The Denver Area Dealerships Dealer Locater Link Big Susitna River USGS Gauge on Big Susitna River Helio Courier THE RIVER RADIUS Website Runoff signup (episode newslette...

This episode is the 1st of 2 episodes. Some stories stand the test of time. This is one. 1995, Big Susitna River in Alaska, glacial melt, rains in the canyon. Three friends fly deep into the backcountry with plans of a one day trip on big water. That day their plans changed & 27 years later they all tell the story. Nissan and The Denver Area Dealerships Dealer Locater Link Big Susitna River USGS Gauge on Big Susitna River Helio Courier THE RIVER RADIUS Website Runoff signup (episode newslette...

River shuttles are as important to a river trip as the boat. And sometimes shuttles are easy and when they aren’t easy, they can be horrible. This episode is a set of four stories from The River Radius listeners about their sh!%%y shuttle experiences. RIVERS FROM THIS EPISODE Usumacinta River, Mexico Green River, Utah New River, West Virginia Gauley River, West Virginia Gauley Fest Rio Grande River, Texas Colorado River, Grand Canyon, Arizona Mancos River, Colorado John Day River, Oregon Desch...

As our attention spans decrease this fall of 2020, this short episode tells the story of a man who planned to kayak home after a stint in jail, yet decided to not even go to jail, and head on down the river back home. For a person who grew up on that river, ignoring the river permits he needed that day was not even on his mind, and his continued hobby of hunting dinosaur bones was as normal as drinking water.

The Greenback Cutthroat Trout survived many different assaults on its existence and genetic lineage. Once it was found in hiding above a waterfall, work began to reestablish this fish in its original basin. And yet, this work runs into itself as the projects require more changes to the streams of Colorado.

The Greenback Cutthroat Trout of Colorado was once a prolific fish in the streams of the South Platte River Basin. That all changed with the arrival of European Americans. Since then it has been spread across the state, hybridized, squeezed out by non-native fish, placed on the Endangered Species List, named the State Fish of Colorado, and thought to be extinct. After many efforts to re-establish this fish, it took a college student, a PhD student to sort out the details and set the path for the Greenback Cutthroat Trout to regain its place in its home river basin.

13 boaters launched down the Grand Canyon in February 2020 for a 25 day journey. They emerged from the canyon on March 14 to the corona virus pandemic. This is a story about moving from bliss to a TP shortage in the course of one day.