Off Trail, on trail, it’s all one thing
A podcast about the diverse ways to live an “outdoor lifestyle”, we focus on the who and the how, not necessarily the what. Whether it's backpacking, ultra-running, climbing, rafting, or any other adventure, who are you when you're not on trail and how do you make that work?
Each week, we interview a new guest who centers their life around outdoor pursuits - but not about their adventures. Well, not much anyway. It’s hard to avoid talking about trails when your whole life revolves around them, but we’re interested in something more. What does the trail mean to you? What’s your life like at home? How do you stay connected when you spend months or years in the backcountry, away from the people you love? And the million dollar question (that everyone’s afraid to ask), how do you afford this, anyway?
Join us each week for deep questions, silly tangents, edifying digressions, and an absolute minimum of gear talk. It’s not a hiking podcast - it’s Off Trail.
Meet the Hosts
Ryan “Constantine” Bunting
Originally from South Carolina, our main host Constantine started hiking in 2016 on the Appalachian Trail, and has lived the thru-hiking life ever since. He hiked the PCT in 2017, completed his Triple Crown on the CDT in ‘18, and since then has gone on to hike all 11 National Scenic Trails, culminating with a speed record on the 4,830 mile North Country Trail in 2021. He holds the record as the youngest person ever to hike all eleven NSTs, and has hiked over 22,000 miles and counting. The founder of hiking apparel brand ElevenSkys, he spends his off-trail time running the business, editing YouTube videos, and complaining that Canadian winters are too cold. He’s pretty okay at snowboarding, and insists that he does not have a Southern accent (he does). He now lives with Magpie at their home near Whistler, British Columbia, and he definitely wants to pet your dog.
Follow Constantine: Instagram - YouTube
Check out ElevenSkys: website - Instagram - YouTube
Dana “Magpie” Burkett
Our second and most Canadian host, Magpie pops into episodes whenever her work schedule allows. Born in Winnipeg, she worked for several years as a bike messenger in Montreal, until a wild idea occured to her in the shower: “How far could I go if I rode this much in a straight line?” The answer, “all the way across Canada in only 4 months”, set her off on a bike touring adventure from Montreal to Vancouver Island and all the way back again. Somewhere along the way, she heard about thru-hiking and was instantly hooked. She hiked the CDT in ‘17, the PCT in ‘18, and just kept on going. She and Constantine met on the Pacific Northwest Trail in 2019, and they’ve been hiking together ever since. The first woman to thru-hike the North Country Trail, she is the co-holder of the 2021 NCT speed record, and has hiked well over 15,000 miles. Off trail, she works as a boot fitter at a backcountry ski store, reads a lot of science fiction, and occasionally remembers to update her blog. She is astonished that Americans wear their shoes indoors, and has semi-sucessfully converted Constantine to slippers. Despite her femme appearance and male partner, Magpie is proudly and emphatically queer. She also wants to pet your dog.