Outdoor miles, inner work.
Into the Woods blends nature-based personal growth with practical adventure talk. Episodes move from glacial river crossings and ultramarathon crewing to career flexibility, morning flow, mindset shifts, and the question of how outdoor time changes a life.
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Into the Woods is an outdoor personal growth podcast where adventure is treated as both terrain and teacher. The show is rooted in hiking, trail running, travel, and time in nature, but its deeper concern is how people learn to trust themselves. Episodes often begin with a route, a race, or a travel decision. Then they widen into mindset, identity, fear, and life design. Holly Wharton keeps the pace conversational and reflective, leaving room for practical detail without turning the show into a gear checklist. Christine Reed's Wonderland Trail conversation captures that balance clearly. A dangerous glacial river crossing, ranger warnings, and the pressure of backcountry reservations become a discussion about judgment, humility, and knowing when rules should not override safety. The Grand Canyon Rim2Rim2Rim episode is more logistical and intense. It covers heat, elevation change, solo and unsupported effort, shuttle timing, group gear checks, and the need for backup plans. The show also makes space for smaller adventures. Jay Worthy's 28 Summers philosophy frames before-work outings, morning flow, and weekly memorable moments as ways to live more deliberately. Solo episodes can be intimate and useful. Crewing an ultramarathon becomes a way to talk about support, preparation, and the shared work behind endurance events. Career conversations stretch the adventure theme beyond trails. Jenny Mowbray's portfolio career episode connects flexible income, freelance work, and leaving a single main job behind with funding a more adventurous life. Episode 500 adds a retrospective layer, looking back at years of interviews, solo reflections, co-created conversations, business shifts, and the uncertain middle of change. The show suits listeners who like outdoor stories with emotional texture. It is gentle, candid, and practical. Its best moments make nature feel less like an escape and more like a place where decisions become clearer.
Made for: For hikers, trail runners, solo travelers, and reflective adventurers who want nature stories with practical takeaways and personal-growth depth. It also suits people reconsidering work, routine, and how to make more room for adventure.
What sets it apart: The show connects granular trail realities, such as river crossings, shuttle timing, crewing, and heat risk, with slower questions about confidence, intuition, and life transitions. It is less about peak-bagging than about what outdoor experience changes afterward.
Into the Woods is all about going into the woods of you. It's about personal growth through outdoor adventures and travel. It's about getting to know yourself, so you can create the life you want to live. It's also about the transformative power of Nature: of getting outdoors so you can reconnect with yourself at the deeper levels.
This is where your inner work meets glacial rivers, with black-belt grading waiting back home.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid trail conversation about glacial rivers, permit pressure, and the judgment that keeps adventure grounded.
Christine Reed's 93-mile Wonderland Trail hike gives the episode a grounded outdoor spine, turning a demanding route into a discussion of judgment, preparation, and respect for conditions that can shift fast.
A reflective 500th episode that traces a long-running show through rebrands, change, and a messy middle.
Episode 500 reads like a reflective checkpoint for Into the Woods, with Holly Wharton looking back on nine and a half years of the podcast, which began in August 2013 and changed its name more times than expected.
Gear checks and shuttle timing keep this Grand Canyon hiking discussion grounded.
Holly Wharton and Robert Vendetti keep the episode grounded in the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim route, and the practical advice gives it shape.
Reinvention stories for women after 50.
Warm wellness chats for real-life messiness.
Mindset work with a steady push.
Host Holly Wharton marks the 500th episode of 'Into the Woods' by announcing she is pausing the podcast.
Holly Worton interviews Robert Bendetti about hiking the Grand Canyon's rim-to-rim-to-rim trail.
Holly Worton pauses her podcast at episode 500 while leaving open the possibility of returning.
Christine Reed tells Holly Wharton how Appalachian Trail blogs led her from a 2013 health-insurance office job to long-distance backpacking and authorship of Alone in Wonderland.
Holly Worton interviews J.F.
Holly Wharton uses her 36.7-mile Downsling walk, first completed over three days and later in one day, to explain how outdoor challenges can change perceived limits.
Gwen Zwicky discusses her book Ultra Running Mysticism, which examines overwhelming peace and joy that ultra runners report during long endurance efforts, often around miles 30 or 40.
Host Holly Worton interviews Jay Worthy about his '28 Summers' philosophy for living adventurously and overcoming imposter syndrome through nature and mindset shifts.
Holly Worton discusses how to change your mindset and help others by crewing for them during long training runs or events, sharing her experience with her husband's 100-mile race.
Host Holly Worton discusses the rim-to-rim-to-rim Grand Canyon hike with guest Robert Bendetti, focusing on the physical and mental challenges of the solo unsupported trek.
Host Holly Worton discusses personal growth through outdoor adventures and mindset, then interviews Jenny Mowbray about funding adventures with a flexible portfolio career.