October 8, 2019 • 32 mins
Kayaking on a spring-fed river. Dry bags, tree jumping, and catch or go hungry.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right when I was single, I was dating a girl and
for me it was always importantto be with somebody who enjoyed
the outdoors and supported mylove and desire for being
outside and exploring nature.
So one day I got my girlfriend,a girl sitting at the time as a
(00:30):
gift.
I bought her a kayak, if that'dbe a good way to find out how
much she loved the outdoors andsupported this kind of lifestyle
where we get out and explore.
Yeah, I think she probably usedit once the whole time we were
(00:51):
dating.
Yeah.
Didn't care for too much.
And I was like, well, if thatanswers that question when we
broke up, I sold it on Craig'slist.
Oh, there you go.
That was going to be, that wasgoing to be my followup
question.
What'd you do with the guy?
So that's what I'll call thekayak test.
(01:11):
And this is the trail connection
Speaker 2 (01:37):
[inaudible] [inaudible][inaudible]
[inaudible]
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Hey everybody.
And welcome back to the trailconnection podcast.
This morning we are recordingfrom the Juniper Springs run in
Ocala national forest.
And I have with me this morninga Joseph May.
Dell is a good friend of mine.
I've known for some time now.
We, uh, went to school togetherand back then at that point we
(02:11):
didn't really know each otherthat well, but we've had an
opportunity for our families toget to know each other a little
bit better over the last coupleof years.
And so, uh, I'm excited to havehim join the podcast as my first
guest and we're going to havesome good discussion today.
I think he's got some reallyunique perspective on, uh,
outdoor activity.
He's from South Africa, sothat's why he talks a little
(02:33):
funny.
Uh, but that's good.
I, uh, loved the accident andI'm happy to have him with, with
me this morning.
Thanks to them.
It's an honor to be out herewith you this morning.
Beautiful river run thismorning.
So, Joe, why don't you take aminute and tell everybody who
you are and what you do and thenwe'll, uh, we'll jump into.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Alright.
My name is Joseph[inaudible].
I am an outdoor enthusiast likeTim here.
Um, I've always
Speaker 3 (03:00):
loved the outdoors.
Something my parents alwaysinstilled in me.
Um, I'm actually from SouthAfrica.
Um, some of my favoritechildhood memories were camping,
uh, in the African Bush.
Um, going to sleep at night inmy tent, listening to lion's
roll.
[inaudible] laughing.
(03:20):
Um, right now I live in Florida,but still try to get out West
whenever I can do better doingbackpacking, kayaking.
Also love being out on theocean, just anything outdoors.
I'm very passionate about beingoutside and exploring the
outdoors.
That's awesome.
(03:41):
And I didn't realize this upuntil a couple of weeks ago, uh,
we, uh, I shared the interest inhaving him come on the show and
showed him what I was working onand, and I didn't realize the
extent of the experience that hehad and he didn't realize that I
was doing a podcast or scrapedas into it as much.
So, uh, obviously we got somemore stuff when you get to know
each about each other.
(04:03):
But, uh, anyway, I was justtrying to get you to give me one
the show more often.
Grilled, I think what you'redoing is great and I wouldn't
have more adventures.
Well, I appreciate that.
We'll, uh, we'll definitely getyou on any opportunity we can.
So today, like I mentioned, weare, uh, we're doing a little
little stent called Juniper runand uh, it's about a seven mile
(04:23):
stretch of spring-fed river.
Um, it starts up in a, arecreational area up in the
Ocala national forest and uh,they've got a little swimming
hole around the, the springwhere it comes up out of the
ground and then it's a reallynarrow, windy Amazon S field.
Yeah.
(04:43):
Uh, trip for the first, firsthalf of the trip.
We're about three and a halfmiles down river right now and
pulled off to record a littlebit and get a bite to eat before
we finish up our trip thismorning.
And, uh, it's been really,really awesome.
I have had a chance to, to kayakon a couple of different rivers
around the central Florida area.
(05:04):
Um, but nothing, nothingcompares to this type of scenery
and this type of runoff for, um,we were planning on doing an
overnight camping trip and thatdidn't quite work out.
So Joseph suggested doing thisrun cause he's done it.
How many times have you done itnow?
This is not my third time.
Third time.
And uh, I'd I would highlyrecommend it to anybody who's,
(05:24):
who's interested.
Very cool.
I think if you have anopportunity to check out our
social media pages or theYouTube channel that the, the
video that we're recording, thenyou'll get to see some really
awesome footage right here ontop of the water and, and a
perspective that we got thismorning.
So really, really cool stuff.
Um, got to see a little bit ofwildlife so far.
(05:46):
Um, ran across uh, an alligatorabout six foot alligator and a
couple turtles, some fish missedout on an Otter, which is
something Joseph really wants tosee today.
Do you ever, and again, I lookbehind me for one apparently
that like to follow the kayakscause we just drove the fishes
and then it makes it a loteasier for them to catch the
fish.
You know, I didn't know that.
Yeah, that's cool.
(06:07):
So, um, but this, this area outhere is very remote.
Um, we've heard a lot of stuffmoving along the banks as we've
come through and as we've beentalking, um, but I'm sure if we
were just kind of cruising long,quiet little, we probably would
see a whole lot more, but areally, really incredible piece
of scenery to, to experience.
So, um, I'm excited to be outhere today and there is a lot of
(06:29):
wildlife out here.
I heard we've got Panther outhere, we've got black bear, I've
got Python.
Wow.
Yeah.
A lot of interesting stuff thatwe might still be fortunate to
see later.
Yeah.
What I wanted to talk about realbrief that we might see today is
we might actually see Alvistoday.
(06:50):
And from what I've heard, he'sstill alive.
And while all of this is analligator who lives on this
river, he is 14 feet long andcurrently weighs 800 pounds.
Wow.
So I think it'd be really neatto see him, Tim, but I don't
(07:11):
know if I want to get too closeto him.
Yeah.
Well, I've, uh, had theopportunity to do some Gator
hunting and the last, last fewyears, and the biggest one that
I've ever seen taken on the boatwith me is 12 foot six.
Wow.
So it's amazing how much acouple of feet can add to the
(07:31):
size and the girth of one ofthose animals.
But I'm a 14 foot alligator ispretty much a dinosaur.
They're pretty much, they'rehuge.
It's definitely look and like,it's starting to open up a
little bit.
Um, after you're watching thevideo, then you can see that, uh
(07:54):
, this, this run has been prettynarrow, probably not more than
10 feet wide.
And, uh, now we're starting toopen up a little bit more to 16,
18 feet wide in some areas.
And, um, I imagine as we get alittle further down the line and
closer to, uh, the main body ofthe, the river, it'll open up
(08:17):
quite a bit more.
But, um, I gotta tell you,Joseph, I'm pretty impressed so
far.
This is a really neat run.
Yeah.
Especially I, I like the waythat, uh, this, this is really
just a stream that's meanderingbetween poems and all kinds of
(08:39):
like almost tropical typevegetation and it really does
give you the feeling that you'rekind of navigating some back
stream in the, in anothercountry or somewhere in the game
is on.
It's kind of very wild field toit.
Yeah.
Um, and it's seven miles ofbeautiful wilderness river
(09:01):
trail.
That was an interesting segue,um, with you using that term
river trail.
When I first put this concepttogether and I was talking about
, um, hiking and backpacking andcamping.
A lot of that type of stuffdoesn't usually associate with,
(09:21):
with kayaking or, or any kind oflike river activity typically.
But, um, I think the, theconcept of just getting outdoors
and doing things that you loveis, uh, is all inclusive to what
the trail connection is allabout.
And like I mentioned in thefirst episode, you know, this is
something that I grew up doingas a teenager and, uh, really
(09:43):
enjoyed and that was kinda thefirst thing that I jumped back
into when I was trying to findsomething to escape to.
And, uh, so I definitely wantedto incorporate that into the
show.
And I think that using that termis, is a perfect way to describe
what we're doing.
(10:03):
Um, because this, these not alltrails have dirt.
Um, I've used that, that captionbefore, but um, there's just
some really incredible placesthat you can explore that you
can only get there by the use ofwater.
Hey, we've, we've enjoyed ourmorning so far.
Um, haven't quite had anopportunity to, uh, to find any
(10:27):
swimming holes there.
That's pretty shallow water.
Most of the river that we'vebeen on this morning has been
between 12 and 18 inches deep.
Maybe a little deeper in someareas, but, uh, not too many low
spots.
Um, so something that I lovedoing Josef out.
I don't know if you have had anyexperience doing it before, but,
(10:48):
uh, every opportunity I get toget on a water, I'm always
looking for a tall tree and adeep Holda to jump into in the
water and basically trying tofind what all of this, I guess.
So.
Um, have you had any experiencejumping out of trees or doing
anything like that growing up?
Not trees.
I have, well, I've swung off ofswings from trees into rivers
(11:10):
and I have climbed.
I've done cliff jumping[inaudible] but I've never just
found a tree and just decided tojump off from it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, that was something growingup, you know, I love doing and
uh, me and my buddies, anytimewe had a chance to go to the
river we would, and most of theareas that we, we frequented
were like tubing, rivers and,um, more popular spots.
(11:34):
So the, the, the human trafficwas a lot greater on these
rivers.
So you didn't really have toomuch of a, of a chance of
disturbing wildlife or anythinglike that.
And most of the areas werepretty well defined as, yeah,
it's safe.
And, um, that's a, that'ssomething kind of the reason why
I wanted to bring it up today isjust kind of a, a public service
(11:54):
announcement of guests for whenyou're, you're planning on doing
any kind of adventure sport likethat.
Um, it's just, just use somecaution.
So my perspective on that hasdefinitely changed since I was
younger.
Um, I would, before I grew up,you know, just kind of any
opportunity I had, I jumped outof the tallest tree EQ fine.
Um, but now that I've grown upand gotten some kids, um, I
(12:17):
just, I think that we need to bea little bit more cautious about
the, those types of activitiesand stuff.
And my dad would always kind ofwarn against that growing up.
And I'm not going to say Ididn't take him seriously, but I
definitely didn't heed thewarnings as much as I should
have.
But, uh, there's a lot ofpotential danger and I'm sure
you have experienced as well.
(12:38):
Yes.
I know scenarios where peoplehave been severely injured.
Yeah.
So, um, you know, one, one ofthe things that kind of made me
decide to bring this up and talkabout it was there's a swimming
hole not too far from where Igrew up that we would go to.
It's kinda, it's pretty muchjust a sinkhole that, uh, filled
up with water.
(12:59):
They call it a spring, but itwasn't, it was not spraying.
It's very black and kind of agross gross body of water to,
uh, to be swimming in.
But my, my friends and I wouldgo and there was pretty tall
tree that would overhang, um,the about the pool there and
we'd climb up and jump in.
And this one particular daythere was a park ranger that
came by and kinda was real niceabout the whole thing, but
(13:23):
politely asked us to leave.
And as we were packing up ourstuff, just kind of let us know
that, uh, over the past severalyears they had pulled out
several people out of that whole, because the way that the tree
grew right on the edge of thewater, um, kinda created a shelf
of roots under the water thatyou couldn't see and kind of
your natural tendency when youjump in is to kind of swim back
(13:44):
towards the shore as you'recoming up.
And that's how a couple of folkswho've gotten caught up under
there and that really hit homewith me.
Um, it, I thought about it a lotand I scared me to death to be
honest.
And so pretty much since my, uh,my freshman year in college,
that was, uh, something that Idon't do anywhere and
(14:04):
everywhere.
It's kind of very select areas.
So, but on a day like this whereyou've got plenty of Clearwater,
um, plenty of opportunity tojump and I think it'd be
something fun we could try.
One thing I do want to cautionyou though is, um, this is a
wilderness trail and if we getcaught doing that, we get a
$1,500 fine.
Oh, I did not know that.
(14:25):
Yeah.
You neglected to mention thatearlier.
So we will not be true jumpingtoday.
There's a couple of things Iforgot to tell you.
It's, yeah, sorry.
Yeah, it's all right.
So speaking of that, um, youknow, this being a wilderness
trail and, and being a prettyremote remote piece of land out
(14:49):
here, they're very about what webring in.
And um, so we, we're very, um,we're most searched for what we
want.
We were searched for, for whatwe brought in.
Um, they, they wanted to try toavoid any kind of plastic
bottles or rappers or anythingthat might get left behind.
And, um, I just think, I thinkthat even though that's can be a
(15:10):
little frustrating sometimes, I,I'm okay with that because I
know Justin feels the same way.
Like this, this area is such abeautiful area to experience.
And I would hate to leave it ina different state than what we
found it.
And it's not really that therewere either.
We're going gonna throw theRapids away.
It's like if we kept science,which is very easy to do on this
(15:30):
food cause it's so narrow andthere's so many low over hand
brunches, it'd be very easy forus if there's anything like a
rapper or bottle in our kayak orthat to get yeah.
Thrown out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, um, I don't know.
I'm sure most of the people whoare tuning into this are very
aware of the, the leave no tracemovement and the organization
(15:52):
and um, they're a group thatreally focuses on leaving these
trails exactly the way we foundthem.
Even to a point of not leavingthe defined trail to disturb the
ecosystem around the area.
And that was something that wewere talking about a little bit
ago while we were kind of comingdown the river.
Some is some of this area underthe water's probably never been
(16:13):
disturbed with with humantraffic or anything like that.
It's mostly just been flowingand so something you don't
really think about.
And anytime we take someopportunities to, to enjoy the
nature around us, we need tomake sure that we're, we're
leaving it the way that we foundit and being a good steward of
what we're blessed with.
(16:33):
It really is.
And one thing that's reallybeautiful about this river, this
new invasive species going on,the banks, there is no litter in
the river.
It's just, you just feel likeyou're just out enjoying God's
creation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And another thing that got methinking about this, uh, leaving
nature the way we left it.
And my daughter, um, lovesflowers and loves picking him
(16:54):
and she's always asking me everytime she sees the one, she
points it out and then she'llsay, daddy, can I get one?
And I, I'm always, I'm alwayswanting her to, but I've always
told her that no, we can't,can't take them because if we
pick a flower and next personpicks a flower, eventually
nobody's going to get to enjoywhat we get to see.
(17:15):
So it's something that I'mtrying to teach my kids and even
though it's tough and it'sreally, it seems dumb to tell
them no, you can't pick aflower.
It's not because it a, it'sdisturbing.
Yeah.
What's there?
And even something as simple aspicking up a rock and skipping
it in a, in a Lake.
I mean there's, there's tons offolks that enjoyed doing that as
(17:35):
like little keepsake.
But I've seen recently, um, youknow, some of these, uh, some of
these trips out West and some ofthese national parks, they have
the beautiful rocks laying inthe, in the bank of the river.
If everybody took one of those,then there wouldn't one or
wouldn't be that site left forothers.
So big supporter of that.
Some long winded, long windedsay long waited a long winded
(17:59):
sentence to say that I'm a bigsupporter of that movement and,
and I'm looking forward toteaching my kids and, and
bringing them up the same way.
And I'm a huge proponent ofbeing a good steward on the
uncle when you're growing up.
Yeah.
There is nothing that will canmake you lose your enjoyment of
a trip more rapidly thanwatching somebody in the face
(18:22):
and beautiful scene.
Yeah.
When you're out in the wild.
And S I witnessed that in factfew years ago I was out in Utah
and climbed out to archesnational park to delicate arch
and somebody was actuallyengraving their name on the
orange is what he was watching.
It was just honestly verydevastating.
Yeah.
(18:42):
To see just that lack ofstewardship.
Yeah.
Oh, are we have given?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's, that's disappointing.
But I mean it's very common.
So that's why folks like we metthis morning that searched her
bags, have the job that they doand I appreciate it even though
it can be a little frustratingsometimes.
(19:02):
And for those who areunprepared, like myself who
brought tons of stuff that wasin disposable containers,
basically everything I had.
Um, it is a little frustrating,but, uh, well talking about ever
keeping everything you have, whydon't you tell me about this dry
bag that you have here today?
Um, so I've got, um, it's abouta medium size, uh, dry bag, um,
(19:23):
that I've got most of myexpensive recording gear in and
cameras and all that stuff totry to keep dry.
And um, it's about, uh, it's aplastic slash canvas type
material that's used for, forthat particular purpose.
And I don't know about you, but,uh, I've got mixed feelings
about dry bags.
Um, for me, I, I've had only badexperiences with them, which
(19:47):
isn't much, it hasn't muchexperience, but every, every
time I've used it.
So far I've gotten this stuffinside wet.
So what, what's your experiencewith them?
Um, I have used themextensively.
I'm an avid sailor and I've usedthem a lot.
Ansel works cause there's a lotof spray and wind, but, um,
there are a challenge to use.
(20:07):
The biggest trends that I'vefaced, especially, uh, sailing
is you're typically wet.
So then when you go to accessstuff in your dry bag, uh, your
hand might be damp or wet and sothen everything inside your Dre
being becomes damp and wet andmoisture is pretty much trapped
inside there.
Yeah.
So that's been my experience.
Um, but they do, they do serve agood purpose, especially
(20:28):
whenever you plan well.
Um, and make sure that you havethis stuff that you need to
access in there.
Um, you know, when you access itis at the right time and not in
the middle of a torrentialdownpour, you know, stuff
running down your arms and yourhands while you're trying to
access things inside.
I did have two tips on industrywhen it came to dry bags.
(20:48):
Okay.
If you're out in the wild andyou asked him to get the inside
your dry bag wets, especially ona nice warm sunny day, just take
the bag, turn it inside out andit dries really quickly.
The other tip, when I'mbackpacking in an area with
bears, I actually will take mydry bag and stuff it with all my
food and nights and hang it froma tree.
Okay.
Um, always make sure it's atleast a couple hundred yards
(21:10):
from your camp sites.
You want the bearers hangingaround your food under the tree,
not your content.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It really works a lot better inmy opinion than a Bay kind of
shirt.
Not saying that there aren'ttimes you need a big canister.
Right.
So we should be off of West.
Um, and there's a lot ofboulders and a few trees or if
there's a lot of grizzly bearactivity, sometimes the
(21:32):
canisters the best option.
Yeah.
That's a really good suggestion.
I hadn't thought about thatbefore and it's, that's going to
be a topic we'll discuss lateron down the road on this shows a
multipurpose items and I'mfinding ways to make things work
in other, other capacities.
And I will probably do that.
We're going to head up on theAppalachian trail next week and
(21:54):
um, I'll probably end up takingthis bag for my, my food sack
and use it as a bear baginstead.
So good suggestion.
Appreciate that.
You're welcome.
Um, all right, so we're gonnaum, we're going to be wrapping
up here in a couple of hours.
And like I mentioned earlier, wehad planned on doing an
overnight trip, but since we'restopped for lunch, we can go
(22:16):
ahead and talk about this.
So on a scale of one stick ofbeef jerky to um, what was the,
what was the mountain houseflavor that you like?
[inaudible] or like theirchicken and mashed potatoes and
chicken and mashed potatoes.
So on a scale of one stick ofjerky too, chicken and mashed
potatoes, how confident are youthat you could do an overnight
trip and catch your dinner?
(22:38):
Or would you need to be eatingsaid meal?
To be honest with you, I'll beeating, I'll be enjoying my
mountain house.
And you know, yeah, it was,you'd sit on the bank of a river
costing your line and every timeyou catch a fish, actually I see
some right here and thealligator is going to come and
snatch it from you before youeven pulls you up on the bank.
And I'll just be sitting in thebank.
(23:00):
Yeah, I was enjoying my mealwith a full stomach laughing at
me.
I love, there's nothing betterthan after a long day of
backpacking or hiking ormountain biking, having a full
stomach curl coming up in yournice cozy sleeping bag and going
to bed and like, I didn't knowwhen to be hungry on the trail.
(23:20):
Yeah, no, I definitely agreewith that.
Um, I think for me, I woulddefinitely go the same route and
make sure I have a backup planbecause although I come from a
family that's got a reputationof being an outdoorsman, my
brother could catch a fish in abath of, I like to say, but uh,
I am not cut out the samequalified.
(23:41):
I think I'd be lucky if I couldcatch a fishing in an aquarium.
But, but, uh, I definitely wouldbring a backup plan, but I would
want to do, I would want to tryto, to find something that, um,
just for the challenge of it.
But uh, yeah, I definitely wouldnot be relying on a stick of
jerky for sure.
Yeah, it'd be a full meal.
(24:03):
So I think it'll just depends onlike where you're camping or
hiking what, um, other riversthere with abundance of lionfish
.
Yeah.
So real quick before we, uh,fully wrap up, once you tell us
a little bit about growing up inSouth Africa and what you
experienced out there.
Um, well, um, it's a beautifulcountry, tremendous amount of
(24:28):
wildlife, especially in nationalparks, lot of, um, a lot of
game, a lot of predator typeanimals, like lions, hyenas,
things of that nature.
Um, one thing that was verydifferent about the national
parks in South Africa as opposedto here in America is you can
just camp anywhere.
It's kind of like Jurassic park.
(24:50):
You had these special enclosedareas of electrified fences and
you had to be inside them beforeit was dark outside and then
close there after dark.
There's a good chance that wasyour last day.
So yeah, I remember like, youknow, making sure we always in
an enclosed area before dark, wemaking Oh cam, but man going to
(25:14):
bed at night listening to yourlion's road, listen to our
heinous law.
Um, that was phenomenal.
I bet.
Yeah.
Hearing those sounds, but verythankful for being inside my
electrified fence.
Jurassic park safety barrierincludes or, yeah.
And then again, during the day,the only time you're allowed out
(25:36):
of all those areas is in yourvehicle.
Okay.
You're never allowed outsideyour vehicle.
You, there's no very fewnational parks you can do
actually backpacking and hikingon this year with a armed, um,
trail guide.
And by armed, I mean huge weapon.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
Okay.
Basically a rifle, powerfulenough to bring down a bull
(25:56):
elephant.
Oh wow.
Um, yeah.
So have you ever had any kind ofencounter with, um, big piece of
a life like that?
The only crushable and kind ofever had was with the male bull
elephants.
Okay.
And it wasn't my own, I wasn'tbecause of my something that I
was doing wrong,
Speaker 1 (26:15):
I was with some friends in the minivan and in
the national parks in SouthAfrica, you know, allowed out in
the park at nights and duringthe day you're allowed in the
park.
As long as you stay with C andyour vehicle, you never allowed
to exit your vehicle.
And then before, uh, before itgets dark, you have to be in one
(26:39):
of the designated camping areas,which is protected by this
fence.
Okay?
No, unfortunately in this story,I'm the person driving, the van
was running behind schedule, sowe were late getting back to a
designated camping area and wewere rushed and there was a bull
(27:02):
elephant next to the road.
I mean, came around this cornercross-selling.
We probably should have beengoing.
And this bull elephant wasstanding next to the road and he
kind of took a fence at us.
So the driver stopped the vanbecause you know, bull elephants
are very dangerous.
They will trample you to deathand your vehicle.
Wow.
And so we just basically had tosit there and wait for this bull
(27:25):
elephant to wonder off.
Wow.
But unfortunately, this bullelephant that he had no such
intention, he kind of kept onefoot on the road, essentially
saying this road is mine.
And every time we tried toapproach him, you would turn and
flap his ears at us and we wereback off.
Wow.
And now it's gonna to get darkand we need to, and then
(27:46):
designate a Canberra.
So the driver decides to be alittle more aggressive at trying
to promise the bull approaches alittle closer.
And the bull elephant actuallystarts to charge us.
Wow.
We're facing this bull elephantand he's charging us head on.
That had to be terrifying.
(28:06):
Yes.
So the driver is freaking out.
He puts the vehicle in reverseand pops the clutch, except he
doesn't realize any is Hayes.
He put the vehicle in first gearand so reverse.
Oh wow.
So we've got this bull elephantcharging at us.
He pops the clutch and we goflying forwards instead of
(28:29):
backwards.
Oh my goodness.
It's straight at this ghoulthat's charging us now.
I don't know, maybe it wasbetter that this happened
because what actually happened,the bull wasn't expecting us to
come at him.
Yeah.
And when he saw us come flyingtowards him, he actually was
like, wait a minute, what areyou guys doing?
You're supposed to be runningaway from me.
(28:49):
Yeah.
And so he actually ended up, hestopped right in front of the
minivan and then he wanted offinto the bushes.
But that is, uh, probably thescariest I've ever been with
when it comes to Africanwildlife.
That's crazy.
I can't even imagine comingacross something like that.
Um, I've, uh, I've seen animalslike that and then a zoo for
(29:11):
sure, but kind of that samesense of security behind the
walls or the electrified fences.
You know, I think what comesback, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Like you gotta be a good steward of your
environment.
You gotta, you gotta know whatyou're getting into.
You gotta be prepared.
Um, these types of situationsthat you can find yourself in.
A lot of times the situationswhere people find themselves and
when they get injured or um,don't survive, there was a lot
of things that they did wrongleading up to the patients.
(29:41):
Yeah.
If you're out enjoying the wildand you've very conscientious of
what you're doing, um, there'svery few situations where you
have to fear for your wellbeing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I think it just goes tospeak about kind of what we've
been talking about already isjust anytime that you are
engaging in outdoor activity,there are different cautions you
(30:02):
have to have on different risksthat you have to assess.
But, uh, you know, there's,there's a lot of benefit to
being outdoors and as long aswe're out and about and paying
attention and being aware ofwhat's around us and just
thinking about the what ifs, um,yeah, there's a lot of enjoyment
that can come from spending alittle bit of time outside.
(30:23):
So.
All right, well we're going to,uh, paddle on down a little bit
and um, might see some water.
Yeah.
Hopefully we'll see some morehonor.
And, uh, I might've known Carlsnakes.
We might chat a little bit.
Remember the, um, I don't know.
Five, a red, white and a red,black and yellow sneakers.
Dangerous or safe?
(30:44):
Black and yellow kill a fellowred and black friend Jack, right
?
Yep.
You got to see, you're prepared.
I'm ready.
You're ready for bull elephants?
All right, so, um, in case wedon't get an opportunity to chat
a little bit more, I want to goahead and do my shameless plug
here.
So if you haven't already, checkout the trail connection podcast
, um, Instagram and Facebookpage as well as our YouTube
(31:07):
channel.
We're going to have some reallycool content coming out for this
episode.
Um, having an additional personout and about with me and some
extra camera angles.
We've got some really coolfootage, so be sure to check
that out.
And, um, also if you haven'talready had a chance to check
out our Patrion page, please gotake a look at that and watch
the short video at the beginningthat kind of explains what
(31:29):
Patrion on is and how you canhelp support the show if you're
a fan.
And I deeply appreciate it.
Um, I'm already blown away bythe amount of support that we've
gotten, just being as young aswe are.
And I'm really, really excitedto see how this is going to
develop and move and change aswe continue to get going.
So next week I'll give you alittle preview.
(31:50):
Um, we are going to be filmingon the Appalachian trail.
I'm going up with another buddyof mine.
Um, we're going to do a coupleof days at Springer mountain in
Georgia at the trail head andwe'll be filming the next two
episodes on that trip.
So those will be coming up downthe line.
Well, Tim, thanks so much forhaving me out today.
Yeah, I wanna I wanna thankJoseph for taking the time and,
(32:12):
uh, coming out.
And this was very specialbecause he was just out in Utah
last week taking some time offwork.
So I definitely appreciate the,the extra time that he's taken
to dedicate to this and, um,I've enjoyed it.
We're gonna, we're gonna makesome cool memories today.
And, uh, I'm excited to have youpart of the trail connection
community.
And, uh, thanks again, Joseph[inaudible] today.
(32:34):
Tim, I'm Tim Garland.
This is the trail connectionpodcast.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
[inaudible].
Right when I was single, I was dating a girl and
for me it was always importantto be with somebody who enjoyed
the outdoors and supported mylove and desire for being
outside and exploring nature.
So one day I got my girlfriend,a girl sitting at the time as a
(00:30):
gift.
I bought her a kayak, if that'dbe a good way to find out how
much she loved the outdoors andsupported this kind of lifestyle
where we get out and explore.
Yeah, I think she probably usedit once the whole time we were
(00:51):
dating.
Yeah.
Didn't care for too much.
And I was like, well, if thatanswers that question when we
broke up, I sold it on Craig'slist.
Oh, there you go.
That was going to be, that wasgoing to be my followup
question.
What'd you do with the guy?
So that's what I'll call thekayak test.
(01:11):
And this is the trail connection
Speaker 2 (01:37):
[inaudible] [inaudible][inaudible]
[inaudible]
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Hey everybody.
And welcome back to the trailconnection podcast.
This morning we are recordingfrom the Juniper Springs run in
Ocala national forest.
And I have with me this morninga Joseph May.
Dell is a good friend of mine.
I've known for some time now.
We, uh, went to school togetherand back then at that point we
(02:11):
didn't really know each otherthat well, but we've had an
opportunity for our families toget to know each other a little
bit better over the last coupleof years.
And so, uh, I'm excited to havehim join the podcast as my first
guest and we're going to havesome good discussion today.
I think he's got some reallyunique perspective on, uh,
outdoor activity.
He's from South Africa, sothat's why he talks a little
(02:33):
funny.
Uh, but that's good.
I, uh, loved the accident andI'm happy to have him with, with
me this morning.
Thanks to them.
It's an honor to be out herewith you this morning.
Beautiful river run thismorning.
So, Joe, why don't you take aminute and tell everybody who
you are and what you do and thenwe'll, uh, we'll jump into.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Alright.
My name is Joseph[inaudible].
I am an outdoor enthusiast likeTim here.
Um, I've always
Speaker 3 (03:00):
loved the outdoors.
Something my parents alwaysinstilled in me.
Um, I'm actually from SouthAfrica.
Um, some of my favoritechildhood memories were camping,
uh, in the African Bush.
Um, going to sleep at night inmy tent, listening to lion's
roll.
[inaudible] laughing.
(03:20):
Um, right now I live in Florida,but still try to get out West
whenever I can do better doingbackpacking, kayaking.
Also love being out on theocean, just anything outdoors.
I'm very passionate about beingoutside and exploring the
outdoors.
That's awesome.
(03:41):
And I didn't realize this upuntil a couple of weeks ago, uh,
we, uh, I shared the interest inhaving him come on the show and
showed him what I was working onand, and I didn't realize the
extent of the experience that hehad and he didn't realize that I
was doing a podcast or scrapedas into it as much.
So, uh, obviously we got somemore stuff when you get to know
each about each other.
(04:03):
But, uh, anyway, I was justtrying to get you to give me one
the show more often.
Grilled, I think what you'redoing is great and I wouldn't
have more adventures.
Well, I appreciate that.
We'll, uh, we'll definitely getyou on any opportunity we can.
So today, like I mentioned, weare, uh, we're doing a little
little stent called Juniper runand uh, it's about a seven mile
(04:23):
stretch of spring-fed river.
Um, it starts up in a, arecreational area up in the
Ocala national forest and uh,they've got a little swimming
hole around the, the springwhere it comes up out of the
ground and then it's a reallynarrow, windy Amazon S field.
Yeah.
(04:43):
Uh, trip for the first, firsthalf of the trip.
We're about three and a halfmiles down river right now and
pulled off to record a littlebit and get a bite to eat before
we finish up our trip thismorning.
And, uh, it's been really,really awesome.
I have had a chance to, to kayakon a couple of different rivers
around the central Florida area.
(05:04):
Um, but nothing, nothingcompares to this type of scenery
and this type of runoff for, um,we were planning on doing an
overnight camping trip and thatdidn't quite work out.
So Joseph suggested doing thisrun cause he's done it.
How many times have you done itnow?
This is not my third time.
Third time.
And uh, I'd I would highlyrecommend it to anybody who's,
(05:24):
who's interested.
Very cool.
I think if you have anopportunity to check out our
social media pages or theYouTube channel that the, the
video that we're recording, thenyou'll get to see some really
awesome footage right here ontop of the water and, and a
perspective that we got thismorning.
So really, really cool stuff.
Um, got to see a little bit ofwildlife so far.
(05:46):
Um, ran across uh, an alligatorabout six foot alligator and a
couple turtles, some fish missedout on an Otter, which is
something Joseph really wants tosee today.
Do you ever, and again, I lookbehind me for one apparently
that like to follow the kayakscause we just drove the fishes
and then it makes it a loteasier for them to catch the
fish.
You know, I didn't know that.
Yeah, that's cool.
(06:07):
So, um, but this, this area outhere is very remote.
Um, we've heard a lot of stuffmoving along the banks as we've
come through and as we've beentalking, um, but I'm sure if we
were just kind of cruising long,quiet little, we probably would
see a whole lot more, but areally, really incredible piece
of scenery to, to experience.
So, um, I'm excited to be outhere today and there is a lot of
(06:29):
wildlife out here.
I heard we've got Panther outhere, we've got black bear, I've
got Python.
Wow.
Yeah.
A lot of interesting stuff thatwe might still be fortunate to
see later.
Yeah.
What I wanted to talk about realbrief that we might see today is
we might actually see Alvistoday.
(06:50):
And from what I've heard, he'sstill alive.
And while all of this is analligator who lives on this
river, he is 14 feet long andcurrently weighs 800 pounds.
Wow.
So I think it'd be really neatto see him, Tim, but I don't
(07:11):
know if I want to get too closeto him.
Yeah.
Well, I've, uh, had theopportunity to do some Gator
hunting and the last, last fewyears, and the biggest one that
I've ever seen taken on the boatwith me is 12 foot six.
Wow.
So it's amazing how much acouple of feet can add to the
(07:31):
size and the girth of one ofthose animals.
But I'm a 14 foot alligator ispretty much a dinosaur.
They're pretty much, they'rehuge.
It's definitely look and like,it's starting to open up a
little bit.
Um, after you're watching thevideo, then you can see that, uh
(07:54):
, this, this run has been prettynarrow, probably not more than
10 feet wide.
And, uh, now we're starting toopen up a little bit more to 16,
18 feet wide in some areas.
And, um, I imagine as we get alittle further down the line and
closer to, uh, the main body ofthe, the river, it'll open up
(08:17):
quite a bit more.
But, um, I gotta tell you,Joseph, I'm pretty impressed so
far.
This is a really neat run.
Yeah.
Especially I, I like the waythat, uh, this, this is really
just a stream that's meanderingbetween poems and all kinds of
(08:39):
like almost tropical typevegetation and it really does
give you the feeling that you'rekind of navigating some back
stream in the, in anothercountry or somewhere in the game
is on.
It's kind of very wild field toit.
Yeah.
Um, and it's seven miles ofbeautiful wilderness river
(09:01):
trail.
That was an interesting segue,um, with you using that term
river trail.
When I first put this concepttogether and I was talking about
, um, hiking and backpacking andcamping.
A lot of that type of stuffdoesn't usually associate with,
(09:21):
with kayaking or, or any kind oflike river activity typically.
But, um, I think the, theconcept of just getting outdoors
and doing things that you loveis, uh, is all inclusive to what
the trail connection is allabout.
And like I mentioned in thefirst episode, you know, this is
something that I grew up doingas a teenager and, uh, really
(09:43):
enjoyed and that was kinda thefirst thing that I jumped back
into when I was trying to findsomething to escape to.
And, uh, so I definitely wantedto incorporate that into the
show.
And I think that using that termis, is a perfect way to describe
what we're doing.
(10:03):
Um, because this, these not alltrails have dirt.
Um, I've used that, that captionbefore, but um, there's just
some really incredible placesthat you can explore that you
can only get there by the use ofwater.
Hey, we've, we've enjoyed ourmorning so far.
Um, haven't quite had anopportunity to, uh, to find any
(10:27):
swimming holes there.
That's pretty shallow water.
Most of the river that we'vebeen on this morning has been
between 12 and 18 inches deep.
Maybe a little deeper in someareas, but, uh, not too many low
spots.
Um, so something that I lovedoing Josef out.
I don't know if you have had anyexperience doing it before, but,
(10:48):
uh, every opportunity I get toget on a water, I'm always
looking for a tall tree and adeep Holda to jump into in the
water and basically trying tofind what all of this, I guess.
So.
Um, have you had any experiencejumping out of trees or doing
anything like that growing up?
Not trees.
I have, well, I've swung off ofswings from trees into rivers
(11:10):
and I have climbed.
I've done cliff jumping[inaudible] but I've never just
found a tree and just decided tojump off from it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, that was something growingup, you know, I love doing and
uh, me and my buddies, anytimewe had a chance to go to the
river we would, and most of theareas that we, we frequented
were like tubing, rivers and,um, more popular spots.
(11:34):
So the, the, the human trafficwas a lot greater on these
rivers.
So you didn't really have toomuch of a, of a chance of
disturbing wildlife or anythinglike that.
And most of the areas werepretty well defined as, yeah,
it's safe.
And, um, that's a, that'ssomething kind of the reason why
I wanted to bring it up today isjust kind of a, a public service
(11:54):
announcement of guests for whenyou're, you're planning on doing
any kind of adventure sport likethat.
Um, it's just, just use somecaution.
So my perspective on that hasdefinitely changed since I was
younger.
Um, I would, before I grew up,you know, just kind of any
opportunity I had, I jumped outof the tallest tree EQ fine.
Um, but now that I've grown upand gotten some kids, um, I
(12:17):
just, I think that we need to bea little bit more cautious about
the, those types of activitiesand stuff.
And my dad would always kind ofwarn against that growing up.
And I'm not going to say Ididn't take him seriously, but I
definitely didn't heed thewarnings as much as I should
have.
But, uh, there's a lot ofpotential danger and I'm sure
you have experienced as well.
(12:38):
Yes.
I know scenarios where peoplehave been severely injured.
Yeah.
So, um, you know, one, one ofthe things that kind of made me
decide to bring this up and talkabout it was there's a swimming
hole not too far from where Igrew up that we would go to.
It's kinda, it's pretty muchjust a sinkhole that, uh, filled
up with water.
(12:59):
They call it a spring, but itwasn't, it was not spraying.
It's very black and kind of agross gross body of water to,
uh, to be swimming in.
But my, my friends and I wouldgo and there was pretty tall
tree that would overhang, um,the about the pool there and
we'd climb up and jump in.
And this one particular daythere was a park ranger that
came by and kinda was real niceabout the whole thing, but
(13:23):
politely asked us to leave.
And as we were packing up ourstuff, just kind of let us know
that, uh, over the past severalyears they had pulled out
several people out of that whole, because the way that the tree
grew right on the edge of thewater, um, kinda created a shelf
of roots under the water thatyou couldn't see and kind of
your natural tendency when youjump in is to kind of swim back
(13:44):
towards the shore as you'recoming up.
And that's how a couple of folkswho've gotten caught up under
there and that really hit homewith me.
Um, it, I thought about it a lotand I scared me to death to be
honest.
And so pretty much since my, uh,my freshman year in college,
that was, uh, something that Idon't do anywhere and
(14:04):
everywhere.
It's kind of very select areas.
So, but on a day like this whereyou've got plenty of Clearwater,
um, plenty of opportunity tojump and I think it'd be
something fun we could try.
One thing I do want to cautionyou though is, um, this is a
wilderness trail and if we getcaught doing that, we get a
$1,500 fine.
Oh, I did not know that.
(14:25):
Yeah.
You neglected to mention thatearlier.
So we will not be true jumpingtoday.
There's a couple of things Iforgot to tell you.
It's, yeah, sorry.
Yeah, it's all right.
So speaking of that, um, youknow, this being a wilderness
trail and, and being a prettyremote remote piece of land out
(14:49):
here, they're very about what webring in.
And um, so we, we're very, um,we're most searched for what we
want.
We were searched for, for whatwe brought in.
Um, they, they wanted to try toavoid any kind of plastic
bottles or rappers or anythingthat might get left behind.
And, um, I just think, I thinkthat even though that's can be a
(15:10):
little frustrating sometimes, I,I'm okay with that because I
know Justin feels the same way.
Like this, this area is such abeautiful area to experience.
And I would hate to leave it ina different state than what we
found it.
And it's not really that therewere either.
We're going gonna throw theRapids away.
It's like if we kept science,which is very easy to do on this
(15:30):
food cause it's so narrow andthere's so many low over hand
brunches, it'd be very easy forus if there's anything like a
rapper or bottle in our kayak orthat to get yeah.
Thrown out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, um, I don't know.
I'm sure most of the people whoare tuning into this are very
aware of the, the leave no tracemovement and the organization
(15:52):
and um, they're a group thatreally focuses on leaving these
trails exactly the way we foundthem.
Even to a point of not leavingthe defined trail to disturb the
ecosystem around the area.
And that was something that wewere talking about a little bit
ago while we were kind of comingdown the river.
Some is some of this area underthe water's probably never been
(16:13):
disturbed with with humantraffic or anything like that.
It's mostly just been flowingand so something you don't
really think about.
And anytime we take someopportunities to, to enjoy the
nature around us, we need tomake sure that we're, we're
leaving it the way that we foundit and being a good steward of
what we're blessed with.
(16:33):
It really is.
And one thing that's reallybeautiful about this river, this
new invasive species going on,the banks, there is no litter in
the river.
It's just, you just feel likeyou're just out enjoying God's
creation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And another thing that got methinking about this, uh, leaving
nature the way we left it.
And my daughter, um, lovesflowers and loves picking him
(16:54):
and she's always asking me everytime she sees the one, she
points it out and then she'llsay, daddy, can I get one?
And I, I'm always, I'm alwayswanting her to, but I've always
told her that no, we can't,can't take them because if we
pick a flower and next personpicks a flower, eventually
nobody's going to get to enjoywhat we get to see.
(17:15):
So it's something that I'mtrying to teach my kids and even
though it's tough and it'sreally, it seems dumb to tell
them no, you can't pick aflower.
It's not because it a, it'sdisturbing.
Yeah.
What's there?
And even something as simple aspicking up a rock and skipping
it in a, in a Lake.
I mean there's, there's tons offolks that enjoyed doing that as
(17:35):
like little keepsake.
But I've seen recently, um, youknow, some of these, uh, some of
these trips out West and some ofthese national parks, they have
the beautiful rocks laying inthe, in the bank of the river.
If everybody took one of those,then there wouldn't one or
wouldn't be that site left forothers.
So big supporter of that.
Some long winded, long windedsay long waited a long winded
(17:59):
sentence to say that I'm a bigsupporter of that movement and,
and I'm looking forward toteaching my kids and, and
bringing them up the same way.
And I'm a huge proponent ofbeing a good steward on the
uncle when you're growing up.
Yeah.
There is nothing that will canmake you lose your enjoyment of
a trip more rapidly thanwatching somebody in the face
(18:22):
and beautiful scene.
Yeah.
When you're out in the wild.
And S I witnessed that in factfew years ago I was out in Utah
and climbed out to archesnational park to delicate arch
and somebody was actuallyengraving their name on the
orange is what he was watching.
It was just honestly verydevastating.
Yeah.
(18:42):
To see just that lack ofstewardship.
Yeah.
Oh, are we have given?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's, that's disappointing.
But I mean it's very common.
So that's why folks like we metthis morning that searched her
bags, have the job that they doand I appreciate it even though
it can be a little frustratingsometimes.
(19:02):
And for those who areunprepared, like myself who
brought tons of stuff that wasin disposable containers,
basically everything I had.
Um, it is a little frustrating,but, uh, well talking about ever
keeping everything you have, whydon't you tell me about this dry
bag that you have here today?
Um, so I've got, um, it's abouta medium size, uh, dry bag, um,
(19:23):
that I've got most of myexpensive recording gear in and
cameras and all that stuff totry to keep dry.
And um, it's about, uh, it's aplastic slash canvas type
material that's used for, forthat particular purpose.
And I don't know about you, but,uh, I've got mixed feelings
about dry bags.
Um, for me, I, I've had only badexperiences with them, which
(19:47):
isn't much, it hasn't muchexperience, but every, every
time I've used it.
So far I've gotten this stuffinside wet.
So what, what's your experiencewith them?
Um, I have used themextensively.
I'm an avid sailor and I've usedthem a lot.
Ansel works cause there's a lotof spray and wind, but, um,
there are a challenge to use.
(20:07):
The biggest trends that I'vefaced, especially, uh, sailing
is you're typically wet.
So then when you go to accessstuff in your dry bag, uh, your
hand might be damp or wet and sothen everything inside your Dre
being becomes damp and wet andmoisture is pretty much trapped
inside there.
Yeah.
So that's been my experience.
Um, but they do, they do serve agood purpose, especially
(20:28):
whenever you plan well.
Um, and make sure that you havethis stuff that you need to
access in there.
Um, you know, when you access itis at the right time and not in
the middle of a torrentialdownpour, you know, stuff
running down your arms and yourhands while you're trying to
access things inside.
I did have two tips on industrywhen it came to dry bags.
(20:48):
Okay.
If you're out in the wild andyou asked him to get the inside
your dry bag wets, especially ona nice warm sunny day, just take
the bag, turn it inside out andit dries really quickly.
The other tip, when I'mbackpacking in an area with
bears, I actually will take mydry bag and stuff it with all my
food and nights and hang it froma tree.
Okay.
Um, always make sure it's atleast a couple hundred yards
(21:10):
from your camp sites.
You want the bearers hangingaround your food under the tree,
not your content.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It really works a lot better inmy opinion than a Bay kind of
shirt.
Not saying that there aren'ttimes you need a big canister.
Right.
So we should be off of West.
Um, and there's a lot ofboulders and a few trees or if
there's a lot of grizzly bearactivity, sometimes the
(21:32):
canisters the best option.
Yeah.
That's a really good suggestion.
I hadn't thought about thatbefore and it's, that's going to
be a topic we'll discuss lateron down the road on this shows a
multipurpose items and I'mfinding ways to make things work
in other, other capacities.
And I will probably do that.
We're going to head up on theAppalachian trail next week and
(21:54):
um, I'll probably end up takingthis bag for my, my food sack
and use it as a bear baginstead.
So good suggestion.
Appreciate that.
You're welcome.
Um, all right, so we're gonnaum, we're going to be wrapping
up here in a couple of hours.
And like I mentioned earlier, wehad planned on doing an
overnight trip, but since we'restopped for lunch, we can go
(22:16):
ahead and talk about this.
So on a scale of one stick ofbeef jerky to um, what was the,
what was the mountain houseflavor that you like?
[inaudible] or like theirchicken and mashed potatoes and
chicken and mashed potatoes.
So on a scale of one stick ofjerky too, chicken and mashed
potatoes, how confident are youthat you could do an overnight
trip and catch your dinner?
(22:38):
Or would you need to be eatingsaid meal?
To be honest with you, I'll beeating, I'll be enjoying my
mountain house.
And you know, yeah, it was,you'd sit on the bank of a river
costing your line and every timeyou catch a fish, actually I see
some right here and thealligator is going to come and
snatch it from you before youeven pulls you up on the bank.
And I'll just be sitting in thebank.
(23:00):
Yeah, I was enjoying my mealwith a full stomach laughing at
me.
I love, there's nothing betterthan after a long day of
backpacking or hiking ormountain biking, having a full
stomach curl coming up in yournice cozy sleeping bag and going
to bed and like, I didn't knowwhen to be hungry on the trail.
(23:20):
Yeah, no, I definitely agreewith that.
Um, I think for me, I woulddefinitely go the same route and
make sure I have a backup planbecause although I come from a
family that's got a reputationof being an outdoorsman, my
brother could catch a fish in abath of, I like to say, but uh,
I am not cut out the samequalified.
(23:41):
I think I'd be lucky if I couldcatch a fishing in an aquarium.
But, but, uh, I definitely wouldbring a backup plan, but I would
want to do, I would want to tryto, to find something that, um,
just for the challenge of it.
But uh, yeah, I definitely wouldnot be relying on a stick of
jerky for sure.
Yeah, it'd be a full meal.
(24:03):
So I think it'll just depends onlike where you're camping or
hiking what, um, other riversthere with abundance of lionfish
.
Yeah.
So real quick before we, uh,fully wrap up, once you tell us
a little bit about growing up inSouth Africa and what you
experienced out there.
Um, well, um, it's a beautifulcountry, tremendous amount of
(24:28):
wildlife, especially in nationalparks, lot of, um, a lot of
game, a lot of predator typeanimals, like lions, hyenas,
things of that nature.
Um, one thing that was verydifferent about the national
parks in South Africa as opposedto here in America is you can
just camp anywhere.
It's kind of like Jurassic park.
(24:50):
You had these special enclosedareas of electrified fences and
you had to be inside them beforeit was dark outside and then
close there after dark.
There's a good chance that wasyour last day.
So yeah, I remember like, youknow, making sure we always in
an enclosed area before dark, wemaking Oh cam, but man going to
(25:14):
bed at night listening to yourlion's road, listen to our
heinous law.
Um, that was phenomenal.
I bet.
Yeah.
Hearing those sounds, but verythankful for being inside my
electrified fence.
Jurassic park safety barrierincludes or, yeah.
And then again, during the day,the only time you're allowed out
(25:36):
of all those areas is in yourvehicle.
Okay.
You're never allowed outsideyour vehicle.
You, there's no very fewnational parks you can do
actually backpacking and hikingon this year with a armed, um,
trail guide.
And by armed, I mean huge weapon.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
Okay.
Basically a rifle, powerfulenough to bring down a bull
(25:56):
elephant.
Oh wow.
Um, yeah.
So have you ever had any kind ofencounter with, um, big piece of
a life like that?
The only crushable and kind ofever had was with the male bull
elephants.
Okay.
And it wasn't my own, I wasn'tbecause of my something that I
was doing wrong,
Speaker 1 (26:15):
I was with some friends in the minivan and in
the national parks in SouthAfrica, you know, allowed out in
the park at nights and duringthe day you're allowed in the
park.
As long as you stay with C andyour vehicle, you never allowed
to exit your vehicle.
And then before, uh, before itgets dark, you have to be in one
(26:39):
of the designated camping areas,which is protected by this
fence.
Okay?
No, unfortunately in this story,I'm the person driving, the van
was running behind schedule, sowe were late getting back to a
designated camping area and wewere rushed and there was a bull
(27:02):
elephant next to the road.
I mean, came around this cornercross-selling.
We probably should have beengoing.
And this bull elephant wasstanding next to the road and he
kind of took a fence at us.
So the driver stopped the vanbecause you know, bull elephants
are very dangerous.
They will trample you to deathand your vehicle.
Wow.
And so we just basically had tosit there and wait for this bull
(27:25):
elephant to wonder off.
Wow.
But unfortunately, this bullelephant that he had no such
intention, he kind of kept onefoot on the road, essentially
saying this road is mine.
And every time we tried toapproach him, you would turn and
flap his ears at us and we wereback off.
Wow.
And now it's gonna to get darkand we need to, and then
(27:46):
designate a Canberra.
So the driver decides to be alittle more aggressive at trying
to promise the bull approaches alittle closer.
And the bull elephant actuallystarts to charge us.
Wow.
We're facing this bull elephantand he's charging us head on.
That had to be terrifying.
(28:06):
Yes.
So the driver is freaking out.
He puts the vehicle in reverseand pops the clutch, except he
doesn't realize any is Hayes.
He put the vehicle in first gearand so reverse.
Oh wow.
So we've got this bull elephantcharging at us.
He pops the clutch and we goflying forwards instead of
(28:29):
backwards.
Oh my goodness.
It's straight at this ghoulthat's charging us now.
I don't know, maybe it wasbetter that this happened
because what actually happened,the bull wasn't expecting us to
come at him.
Yeah.
And when he saw us come flyingtowards him, he actually was
like, wait a minute, what areyou guys doing?
You're supposed to be runningaway from me.
(28:49):
Yeah.
And so he actually ended up, hestopped right in front of the
minivan and then he wanted offinto the bushes.
But that is, uh, probably thescariest I've ever been with
when it comes to Africanwildlife.
That's crazy.
I can't even imagine comingacross something like that.
Um, I've, uh, I've seen animalslike that and then a zoo for
(29:11):
sure, but kind of that samesense of security behind the
walls or the electrified fences.
You know, I think what comesback, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Like you gotta be a good steward of your
environment.
You gotta, you gotta know whatyou're getting into.
You gotta be prepared.
Um, these types of situationsthat you can find yourself in.
A lot of times the situationswhere people find themselves and
when they get injured or um,don't survive, there was a lot
of things that they did wrongleading up to the patients.
(29:41):
Yeah.
If you're out enjoying the wildand you've very conscientious of
what you're doing, um, there'svery few situations where you
have to fear for your wellbeing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I think it just goes tospeak about kind of what we've
been talking about already isjust anytime that you are
engaging in outdoor activity,there are different cautions you
(30:02):
have to have on different risksthat you have to assess.
But, uh, you know, there's,there's a lot of benefit to
being outdoors and as long aswe're out and about and paying
attention and being aware ofwhat's around us and just
thinking about the what ifs, um,yeah, there's a lot of enjoyment
that can come from spending alittle bit of time outside.
(30:23):
So.
All right, well we're going to,uh, paddle on down a little bit
and um, might see some water.
Yeah.
Hopefully we'll see some morehonor.
And, uh, I might've known Carlsnakes.
We might chat a little bit.
Remember the, um, I don't know.
Five, a red, white and a red,black and yellow sneakers.
Dangerous or safe?
(30:44):
Black and yellow kill a fellowred and black friend Jack, right
?
Yep.
You got to see, you're prepared.
I'm ready.
You're ready for bull elephants?
All right, so, um, in case wedon't get an opportunity to chat
a little bit more, I want to goahead and do my shameless plug
here.
So if you haven't already, checkout the trail connection podcast
, um, Instagram and Facebookpage as well as our YouTube
(31:07):
channel.
We're going to have some reallycool content coming out for this
episode.
Um, having an additional personout and about with me and some
extra camera angles.
We've got some really coolfootage, so be sure to check
that out.
And, um, also if you haven'talready had a chance to check
out our Patrion page, please gotake a look at that and watch
the short video at the beginningthat kind of explains what
(31:29):
Patrion on is and how you canhelp support the show if you're
a fan.
And I deeply appreciate it.
Um, I'm already blown away bythe amount of support that we've
gotten, just being as young aswe are.
And I'm really, really excitedto see how this is going to
develop and move and change aswe continue to get going.
So next week I'll give you alittle preview.
(31:50):
Um, we are going to be filmingon the Appalachian trail.
I'm going up with another buddyof mine.
Um, we're going to do a coupleof days at Springer mountain in
Georgia at the trail head andwe'll be filming the next two
episodes on that trip.
So those will be coming up downthe line.
Well, Tim, thanks so much forhaving me out today.
Yeah, I wanna I wanna thankJoseph for taking the time and,
(32:12):
uh, coming out.
And this was very specialbecause he was just out in Utah
last week taking some time offwork.
So I definitely appreciate the,the extra time that he's taken
to dedicate to this and, um,I've enjoyed it.
We're gonna, we're gonna makesome cool memories today.
And, uh, I'm excited to have youpart of the trail connection
community.
And, uh, thanks again, Joseph[inaudible] today.
(32:34):
Tim, I'm Tim Garland.
This is the trail connectionpodcast.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
[inaudible].
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