Trail Talks Open Mic Night: Tales from the Wild

We’re excited to announce and welcome you to this year’s Trail Talks Open Mic Night. This is our second year in a row of handing the mic over to you the audience, and we have four great presenters who will be sharing about their outdoor adventures, passions, and experience!

So mark your calendars for this Thursday, December 19, 6:30-7:30 PM, in the Faulkner Gallery, 40 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA

Trail Talks Open Mic Night: Tales from the Wild

Featuring:

Backpacking at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico with Ted Urschel

Ted will share about Philmont Scout Ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Located in Northern New Mexico, Philmont covers 214 square miles with elevations between 6,500 and 12,441 feet. For the past 10 years Santa Barbara Boy Scout Troop 1 has gone to Philmont bi-annually for 12 days at a time. Each trip has included 60-100 miles of life-changing backpacking, climbing, and other adventures.

Building a Fourteener with Whitney Rush

Curious about how trails are built or dream of conquering North America’s tallest peaks? Discover the magic behind the scenes as Whiney shares her experience with the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative and rebuilding the trail to the summit of Mount Yale. From life on the mountain to the teamwork that powers a conservation crew, you’ll gain an insider’s look at what it takes to protect these iconic landscapes and maybe even find inspiration for your next bucket-list hike!

How Citizen Science Aids Research: Examples from the Santa Barbara Area with Thomas Everest

Thomas will share how everyday people can use citizen science to contribute to research on areas like biodiversity, conservation, and invasive species. Thomas’ own involvement with the platform iNaturalist has uncovered rare finds in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, including species never before photographed alive. Thomas has also contributed to research projects on snails, bees, and grass, and some of his contributions have ended up in formal scientific publications.

Treading Lightly Amid the Grizzlies of Wyoming’s Absaroka Range with Bryan Snyder

In his short talk, cavalier adventurer Bryan Snyder will speak and share photographs of his encounters with grizzly bears in the Absaroka Mountain Range on the edge of Yellowstone National Park. Two trips, eight years apart, show the lengths one might go to experience Wyoming’s finest vistas while simultaneously overlooking the very real dangers of storms, hypothermia, and six-hundred-pound opportunistic predators.

This free presentation is part of the Trail Talks series hosted by the Santa Barbara Public Library.

The next talk in the series is Thursday, January 16, 2025, Precious Gems Along Our Coastline: Conservation Stories on California’s Channel Islands with Denise Knapp