Wildlands News Podcast — National Parks, Public Lands & Survival
Wildlands News Podcast is an audio field guide to America's wild places, national parks, forests, monuments, and the public lands most shows overlook. Hosted by a former Army officer, Shawn Spainhour brings the discipline of someone trained where preparation was life-or-death and the curiosity of someone who explores these places for the love of it.Every marquee park gets a multi-part series: the history that shaped it, the visit that prepares you for it, and where to stay when you get there. Between parks, standalone Field Skills episodes cover the survival knowledge that keeps people alive outdoors — altitude, flash floods, na...
#007 - Zion, Part 3: Where to Stay | Zion Lodge, Watchman & Free BLM Camping
Where to sleep, eat, and camp at Zion — the only park where your lodging choice ranges from a historic 1920s cabin inside the canyon to free dispersed camping on a mesa with no one around for miles. This closes out the Wildlands Zion trilogy.
Host Shawn Spainhour, a former Army officer, breaks down every option: Zion Lodge and the 40 historic cabins (and how to win the 13-month booking window), the Watchman Campground with South Campground now closed for rehab, the overlooked free primitive sites at Lava Point, and the full Springdale picture — where to stay, plus an hone...
#006 - Zion, Part 2: The Visit | Angels Landing Permits, the Narrows & Beating the Crowds
Four and a half million people visit Zion a year, almost all of them packed into six miles of canyon with one road in and one road out. This is how to actually enjoy one of America's most crowded parks instead of just surviving it.
Host Shawn Spainhour, a former Army officer, walks you through the logistics that make or break a Zion trip: why you can't drive your own car into the canyon and how to work the free shuttle, the two ways to win an Angels Landing permit (and why the day-before lottery is better...
#005 - Zion, Part 1: The History | The Virgin River, Navajo Sandstone & the Fight Over the Name
How a thin silver thread of a river carved a canyon 2,600 feet deep through solid sandstone — and how that canyon went from an unknown monument with an unpronounceable name to one of the most-visited parks in America. This kicks off the Wildlands Zion trilogy, built the way the land was built: stone first, then the people.
Host Shawn Spainhour, a former Army officer, traces the full arc — the 180-million-year-old Jurassic dune field that hardened into Navajo Sandstone, the uplift and flash floods that let the Virgin River cut the canyon, and 8,000 years of human history layered on top...
#004 - Field Skills: Altitude | Reading Your Body Above 10,000 Feet
The thin air on a high summit is the single thing most likely to turn a great day into a dangerous one — and fitness won't save you from it. This Field Skills episode is the survival companion to the Great Basin trilogy, built for anyone eyeing Wheeler Peak or any climb above 10,000 feet.
Host Shawn Spainhour, a former Army officer, breaks down what altitude actually does to your body and why a marathon runner can fall apart while someone in cargo shorts cruises past. You'll learn the simple physics of why the air isn't thin — the push is —...
#003 - Great Basin, Part 3: Where to Stay | Campgrounds, Baker & Dark-Sky Lodging
Where to actually sleep at Great Basin National Park — the park with no lodge, no hotel inside the gates, and one of the darkest night skies in the country. This is the practical close-out to the Great Basin trilogy: the campgrounds, the tiny gateway town of Baker, Nevada, and what to do when everything fills up.
Host Shawn Spainhour, a former Army officer, walks you up the mountain campground by campground — from year-round Lower Lehman Creek, to the all-purpose Upper Lehman basecamp, to quiet Baker Creek and primitive Grey Cliffs, to the crown-jewel Wheeler Peak Campground at near...
#002 - Great Basin, Part 2: The Visit | Lehman Caves Tours, Wheeler Peak & Dark Skies
Everything you need to actually visit Great Basin National Park — one of the most remote and least-crowded parks in the country. This is the practical guide: how to get to Baker, Nevada off "the Loneliest Road in America," how to book a Lehman Caves tour before it sells out, and how to stand on top of 13,000-foot Wheeler Peak without getting hurt.
Host Shawn Spainhour, a former Army officer, walks you through the whole trip: why this park has no entrance fee, the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive through five life zones, the cave tour options and the wh...
#001 - Great Basin, Part 1: The History | Lehman Caves & the Oldest Trees on Earth
The story of Great Basin National Park — how a remote Nevada mountain came to hold a cave, a glacier, and the oldest living things on Earth. From the tropical sea that built the rock half a billion years ago, to Lehman Caves and its 300+ rare shield formations, to the bristlecone pines that were already ancient when the pyramids were new — this is the deep history of one of America's youngest and least-visited national parks.
Host Shawn Spainhour, a former Army officer, traces the full arc: the Basin and Range geology that names the region, how slightly acidic wate...
