By Land Podcast
Welcome to the By Land Podcast! My name is Emory, and this show is all about having real, honest conversations with experienced adventurers, outdoor experts, and everyday people who love spending time outside. My goal is to help you feel inspired, informed, and confident to take on your own outdoor adventures—whether you're into backpacking, hiking, hunting, camping, or just getting started.
I cover a wide range of topics like practical outdoor skills, gear, conservation, mindset, and personal growth. Each episode offers something different—whether it’s an inspiring story, hard-earned lessons, or actionable advice to help you build confidence and develop the backcountry skills you need to explore further and adventure better.
By Land is about learning, growing, and making the most of our time in the outdoors. If you’re into that kind of thing, you’re in the right place.
By Land Podcast
#145 - Ultra-Right Backpacking with Paul McTaggart
Paul McTaggart is a family man and backpacker out of New Zealand who in recent years reignited his passion for the outdoors. He and I have been exchanging emails back and forth for some time now and I thought it was time we sit down for a real and open-ended conversation about backpacking.
This is the very first episode of the By Land Podcast where I bring you the audience member, and in this case Paul, on the show for a conversation for no other reason than to get to know one another. I consider all of you guys a friend so I figure why not start to get to know you?
This episode with Paul is incredible and he lays out an amazing framework for how he plans for his backpacking trips. We talk about his background and younger years, his time spent hiking to Annapurna Base Camp, and getting to know backpacking again after years away. Finally, we cover why it’s so important to do what’s right for you and your situation in the backcountry (aka the ultra-right backpacking reference).
I absolutely loved this conversation with Paul and cannot wait to bring more audience members on the show to get to know them, and their stories, and glean what I can from their experiences so we can all learn together.
Here’s a link to Paul's amazing article and planning process. Click HERE.
Show Notes and Links
- Introductions
- Paul’s backstory
- Paul’s Annapurna base camp hike
- Paul’s approach to journaling
- On getting back into backpacking after years away
- Parenting and getting kids outdoors at a young age
- Advice for getting started again
- How Paul plans his trips (AMAZING structure!)
- The ultra-right backpacking philosophy
- Tent choice/design discussion
- Food and nutrition lessons learned
- Planning for the team, not the dream
- Estimating travel time
- Pauls article and planning process: https://byland.co/blog/planning-for-backpacking-applying-good-practice-principles-from-military-planning
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