Episode #071 Bryan Snyder

The FunkZone Podcast with Ted Mills

Outdoors writer who likes to go Off the Map and Further Off the Map

Today on the show we have backpacker, environmental educator, and author Bryan Snyder. Bryan recently put out a sequel to his first book of nature and hiking essays Off the Map called, you might have guessed, Further Off the Map, over 50 stories of lighting out for the territories of California, Nevada, Oregon, Montana and more, with stops at Burning Man and then a quick sojourn on the African continent.

Bryan has a knack for getting into weird situations and scrapes, and that's what makes the book so fun to read. That, and each chapter is very short. I like those kind of books.

I've known him for a while as a member of the Fishbone crowd here in Santa Barbara, and really had no idea that he was a writer until his book came across my desk and I said, hey that name's familiar. So I reached out and pretty soon we arranged for an interview at his place, which just happens to be this red wooden cabin back in the Los Padres national forest. It's like a 30 minute drive "over the mountain" as they say.

Here's the thing about this episode, and why last week's episode was late. I sat down to edit the show and found that halfway through, for whatever reason, Bryan's microphone crapped out halfway through, leaving him sounding like a Dalek. So two weeks later he graciously had me back to re-record the second half. So thanks again for that, Mr. Snyder, very much appreciated.

Also, if you are a subscriber, and why aren't you, you'll get bonus access to a reading of one of the chapters by Bryan that we recorded especially for this show.

Those poppies on Figueroa Mountain that I told ya' about.

You can find Bryan on his site here.
And you can find him on Facebook here and Instagram here