SEASON I: INTRODUCTION

 

SEASON I: INTRODUCTION

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“It’s a good place to become who you’re trying to be instead of being who the world is trying to turn you, is trying to make you.”
— MARTIN MORRISON

EPISODE NOTES

Out Here tells the stories of people who've dared to live life differently.

Focused on the end-of-the-road community of McCarthy, Alaska, it explores off-the-grid living, raising children in the wilderness, bucking the 9-to-5 and living off the land. It's easy to romanticize, but what's it really like living at the end of a 60-mile dirt road in Alaska surrounded by the country's largest national park?

Here you'll find grizzly bears, a rugged landscape, a community of individuals, self-reliance and self-governance. Here you'll learn about the boundaries of freedom and what happens when a community of transplants tries to make a go of it living in the woods. You'll hear stories of tragedy, triumph and a whole lot of floundering. And you'll hear about my own journey to make a life out here.

The podcast comes from my own experiences and those of 18 residents of the McCarthy area. You can learn more about the project and about me here. 

Music from Galen Huckins and Blue Dot Sessions / Slate Tracker, Ultima Thule, The Kennicott, ZigZag Heart / Episode artwork from Ian Gyori / Financial assistance from the Duffy Fund and the University of Missouri / Guidance and support from Scott Swafford, Sara Shahriari and Dr. Cristina Mislan / Featured in this episode: Tony Tengs, Ali Towers, Martin Morrison, Greg Fensterman, Stephens Harper, Tamara Harper and John Adams

 

I.I HEADING NORTH

 

EPISODE I: HEADING NORTH

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“I learned so much about my own resources. If you run out of something, you’ll think of something else. If you don’t run out of it, you never will”
— CAROLE MORRISON

EPISODE NOTES

For Gary Green, it was gold prospecting. He wanted a place that was wild and lonely like the Westerns of his youth.

For Carole and Daniel Morrison, it was chance.

And for Greg Runyan and Kristin Link, it was the adventure, the community and the lifestyle.

And love.

Everyone has their own story. 

Some people come here to run away from the world. Others are seeking adventure and an alternative way of living.

Some stumble in as seasonal workers and never leave. Others build a house and a life and then move on. A few are born here.

The journey to get here is just the beginning.

At one point, there was no road. It was a fly-in only ghost town. When it did come, it was called the worst road in Alaska. There were mudslides, road glaciers and a rotting plank bridge across a 238-foot drop.

A lot of people turned back. But a few kept going all the way to the end of the 60-mile dirt road and beyond, heading toward the dark and the cold and the emptiness, toward a place with no services, no public utilities, no grocery stores and only their own resources to help.

What kept them going? Listen on, my friends.

Music from Galen Huckins and Blue Dot Sessions / Ultima Thule, Arctic Draba, McCarthy, Careless Morning, Building the Sled, Snowmelt, A Rush of Clear Water, Sweetly / Episode artwork from Ian Gyori / Financial assistance from the Duffy Fund and the University of Missouri / Guidance and support from Scott Swafford, Sara Shahriari and Dr. Cristina Mislan / Featured in this episode: Gary Green, Carole Morrison, Greg Runyan and Kristin Link