Trent Schulz ~ Thrill Seeking Free Fall Cowboy

This episode takes a break from our usual focus on music as we catch up with Trent Schulz, better known as the Free Fall Cowboy, during the electric atmosphere of the National Finals Rodeo at the Rio Roundup. A thrill seeker originally from Queen Creek and now hanging his hat in Riggins, ID Trent shared stories that match the intensity of his lifestyle. Our conversation quickly took flight into his deep passion for skydiving and BASE jumping, where precision, adrenaline, and a fearless mindset define every leap. It’s a laid-back but high-energy visit with a guy who quite literally lives life on the edge—offering a fresh perspective for our listeners beyond the music world.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Hey music lovers, welcome to the Musical Mouse Podcast. I'm your host, Byron Delphin, and we are here in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Rio Hotel and Casino. And I met my new friend, Mr. Trent Schulz, who is the free fall cowboy. Met him last night at the watch party here at the Rio Roundup. How you doing, Trent? I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing? Good, good. We got to BSing and talking, and Trent is uh um lives in Idaho now currently in Riggins, Idaho, uh, which is a long ways from where I'm at, but cool place, cool town, uh, right along the Salmon River there. And uh but he's here with the guys, some guys, what's their business called?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Yeah, so I'm here with uh Kilgore Adventures. They do uh fish and charters and they got a lodge out there on Hells Canyon. He'd go catch the big sturgeon steelhead.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Right, right, yeah, that's sturgeon fishing. You know, you know what they well I know I've never done it, but they tell me they use like a half a chicken for bait for those big sturgeon, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

I I never use chicken, but haven't you? No, we uh catch smallmouth bass, we use those.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Oh really? Yeah, okay, okay, cool. Well, I'd like to do that one of these days. That's so they planted some sturgeon in the Snake River where I'm at. Okay. Just south out of O'Falls, a little town called Shelley. So those are prehistoric fish. If you haven't ever done anything about sturgeon, look them up. They're pretty amazing. They get about as big as a pickup.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Oh, yeah, they get massive.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

What's the biggest one you've caught up there?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Oh, I've seen one that was uh over 10 feet. We estimate it to be about 500 plus pounds. Wow. So well, old school.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

I saw some old school pictures. There's a picture in a gas station in Mountain Home, Idaho, and it's literally in the bed of an old pickup truck, and it's almost as big as the pickup. So they're big. But Trent also goes by Free Fall Cowboys. So what's what's is that what you call it? Free Fall Cowboy, yeah. Free Fall Cowboy. So um we uh we were talking last night at the at the Rio Roundup here watching the rodeo, and uh I got to asking him about that. Uh, what in the hell would ever possess you wanted to jump out of a great airplane, but he doesn't do much of that. He likes to climb up high buildings and structures and jump off those.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, mainly bridges. Um bridges. I I haven't jumped off building yet. Um I jumped off a wind turbine, which you know, I guess it's all pretty much the same thing. But um base jumping, it it's made up of those uh four letters B for building, A for an antenna, S for span, which is a bridge, and E for Earth.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Okay, so it's always intrigued me. I'm not interested in doing that at all, but I have driven by, so I asked him yesterday when we last night when we met if he had jumped off the prime bridge, which is the bridge that crosses the Snake River there at Twin Falls, Idaho. And it is famous for base jumping. Lots of base jumpers come there, and uh and there's been a few met their demise jumping off the prime bridge, but uh does that ever concern you?

SPEAKER_01 3:16

No, it doesn't concern me. Okay. Um what what concerns me is uh what's next.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

What where's that next rush coming from? Who knows? So so you are you you're a bit of a thrill seeker because not only do you base jump, but you you said you you told me you uh you started riding bowls pretty young.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Yeah, I was I was 13 when I got on my first bowl. It was the week I turned 13. The week you turned 13.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Grew up in Queen Creek, Arizona. Yep. And uh and and that's where you got on your first first bowl is in Queen Creek or is that right?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Queen Creek at uh Triple R Ranch.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Okay. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Okay. Raise them, ride 'em, ribeye them is what they went by.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Raise them, ride them, and ribeye them. I like it. I like it. There's uh some of those ribeyes out of them tough old bulls can't be very good though.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Yeah, burger.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like it's kinda like trying to you guys trying to tell me you can you can uh you can fatten up an old rope and steer and make him taste good. Now I don't know what that's true. You might be able to make some good jerky out of him, but that's about it. Yeah um well so not only not only did you did you start riding bulls, but then as you got older at 18 you said you got your license so you could jump out of airplanes, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah, so I I grew up around skydiving. My uncle he trained the uh military how to jump, and and so I got to hang around that as a young kid and grow up just seeing it. So as soon as I turned 18, I was ready to jump out of airplanes.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Cool. So so how many how many plane jumps have you made? Do you know? Do you have a count? Yeah, uh just just over a hundred right now.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Over a hundred out of an airplane, but how many base jumps? I'm pushing just over 70 base jumps. 70 base jumps? Yep. In in the world of skydiving and base jumping, those are uh baby numbers. I have a I guess it's more than the average person, but there's a lot more uh for me to learn and to do. Sure, sure. So and see.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Well, you're you're a young guy, you're 25. 24. 24. Packed a lot in, so you've spent time uh deep sea fishing on the ocean, uh long line fishing.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Yeah, so so tell me about that. Well, I would don't do it. Oh well, I don't like being out on the ocean personally. I've been on a cruise, which I hated. I'll never go on another cruise, uh, commercial cruise, and I've been on uh out on the ocean fishing as well, but not not commercially, uh just for for entertainment, right? But and then I've I've lived in Hawaii and I spent time in Alaska. So so I've done that, but I'm I'm not a I'm I'm not I don't like being on the ocean.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

No, I would never encourage anyone to go uh deep sea long lining or do any sort of um deep commercial fishing work. Um it's for someone who thinks that they want to do it and makes the effort to go do it. Sure. It's it's not something uh to sign up for for fun. It's was was that in Alaska? Uh no, we're fishing off the coast of uh Oregon, Washington. Oregon, Washington.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Four uh black cotton halibut. Black cotton halibut, yeah. Well, fishing for halibut's like pulling a four by eight sheet of plywood up off the ocean floor, yeah, hand cranking it. That's that's not fun. They're great to eat, but no fun to catch and and and get on the boat, but not a big one anyway. Um so and then you're also a uh you you're a firefighter to fight wildfires.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yeah, so I've spent some time on a on a type two IA crew. So um type two IA, it's very similar to uh like the hot shots. The only difference is I that I see is hot shots are federal in this type 2 IA crew I was on is contractor. Okay. And uh, well, federal gets more say, but we're all doing the same job. Sure, sure. Trying to put out a fire and save the range lamps, right? So where have you fought fires at? Uh I did a fire in uh New Mexico. Honestly wasn't much of a fire. Um, a whole lot of uh extreme landscaping is what I'd call it. Sure. And then we uh I did a fire, another one in Mount Adams, Washington. That one was interesting. We seen fire the first day, and it was kind of pretty calm after that, more extreme landscaping. But a really cool one I did was in uh central Oregon. And I mean every single day, except for I think the last day, we were on, you know, fire in her face and digging hotline. Um it was action every single day. Right. And uh oh, it was great. And the last day, when we didn't see fire, we were uh doing two trips into a deep canyon back out in a foot of snow, uh packing hose lays out. Wow, so packing what out? Hose lays so just uh you we run all this hose down the canyon and then basically they use that to uh finish off the fire when we're mopping up.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Okay, okay, cool, cool. So uh but currently you moved to Riggins. You told me you went to Riggins on a on a fishing trip with uh with some friends. Yeah, with some friends. With some friends, yeah and uh and and liked it. Uh-huh. So so what really intrigued you? Was it the sturgeon or was it the steelhead?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

It was the sturgeon. I actually haven't caught a steel head yet. Serious? Nope, I haven't. And the steelhead is hot right now.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

And you're in and here we are in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yep. At the NFR. So are they running the are they running a crew at home right now? Yeah, on the river?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Couple guys that are uh guiding trips right now.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

So are they are they in uh jet boats on the snake? Jet boats, yeah. It's like uh rock crawling on water, yeah. It's it's pretty impressive, and and especially if you've uh if you've been on the salmon river and it's changed. Uh when I was young, we used, I was telling you guys, we used to come into Corn Creek from the salmon side, salmon Idaho, go to Corn Creek, the end of the road, get on a boat and go down, and then they they would take you down what they called, I'm pretty sure it was Salmon Falls, and jumping those boats through those falls was crazy. Going down's easy, right? But coming back was the crazy part. Because you're going against the against the the the flow of the river and and up through those, you're literally jumping falls. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, it's you do some of that over there, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

And I guess that's it's been a mild rush for me, but it's been a good, nice rush. Yeah. Um keeps keeps me safe away from uh some of these tall buildings. Um and uh but I actually I want I want to be the first known person to skydive into Hell's Canyon. That's a project I've been on right now, no. And now that I'm talking about it on here, that means I better hurry up.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

You better hurry up and do it because somebody's gonna hear it and go, Yep, oh I can do that, that's no big deal. So you want to skydive from a plane into Hell's Canyon.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah, so I I want to jump, and I don't know how we could do this. I've been talking to some guys that know how we can do it, but basically I want to jump and I want to fall below into the canyon and pitch my parachute.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Before you yeah, before you open your chute, you're crazy. So that has no appeal to me.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

I think it's doable because I can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

How deep is that canyon? The canyon's pretty deep. Uh in places it's deeper than the grand, isn't it? Uh yes, it's it's actually Hell's Canyon is actually the deepest canyon in North America.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Yep. And then uh right next door we're at on the Salmon River is uh the second deepest canyon in North America. Okay. So um I would say around 1,500 to 2,000 feet of elevation is roughly where that river is, and then high point is 8 to 9,000 feet. Don't quote me on that, my numbers may not be correct, but I'm very close right there. Okay. So with with those types of um heights, you're you'd be able to jump and fall into the canyon before you pitch your parachute. How much how much do you need?

SPEAKER_02 12:03

I mean, because like what's what's the what's the from from uh the prime bridge to the river, how far do you free fall before you I mean you pitch and shoot when you jump, but you're you're pitching when you jump, right? But that's that's it's it's a short distance.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, I think around eight seconds jumping off the prime bridge, you're uh you're uh hitting. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

So um so besides jumping into Hells Canyon, what's your what's your where where do you want to go? What do you want to do with this skydiving?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

You want to take that to the next level or do you want to Yeah, I I'm going at some point in my life when when I have earned it, because you know it's not free to go do all this stuff. Sure. Um, is I'm gonna go to Europe and I want to jump in Norway and Switzerland and uh go go to down to South America, jump in Brazil and the in Venezuela there's uh the Angel Falls. I want to jump off that. I I want to jump in.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

I want to let the government settle down a little bit right now. There uh that's kind of a mess down there.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yes, yeah. And actually, my my uh biggest uh goal for base jumping is to jump off of Mount Thor and uh and Baffin Island, Canada. Okay, so it's the world's um tallest, most vertical drop over 5,000 feet. Wow. So it's basically like doing a hop and pop skydive.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Now, I I don't know why this just popped into my head because we're talking about jumping off mountains, I guess, but have you have you ever been in one of those flight suits or tried that or had any interest in doing that?

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Yeah, I won't when I go to Europe, it'll be for that. Really? Yeah, I'd like to go do some slick tracking, um, but eventually I'm gonna need to proximity fly some tall mountains.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah. And uh I don't want to do it too much because it's uh seems like you know, friends I've made when they put a suit on, uh your your ticker starts going and then next thing you know, they had their last flight. Yeah. So I wanna get a taste of it, but uh I wanna I want to take advantage of all this time I have and and not burn it too soon. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

So well cool, well cool. Well, you've uh you've led a very interesting life in in a short s span. Um uh and and you know sounds like me, I've done a lot of different things, but uh nothing that exciting. And that's okay with me. Oh, it's nothing. Yeah, that's okay with me. So we did talk a little bit because because our podcast has really been, you're really the first non-musical, non-rodeo guy that we've interviewed on this podcast. We have really stayed streamlined on the on the uh but but this is a human infra story, and it's interesting to me what what drives somebody to do something like that, and then what does it take to get you jacked up to do that? Is it music? Is it do you listen to something? What's in your head, what's in your earbuds when you're jumping off the prime bridge?

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Uh probably uh Knights of Sedonia. Knights of Sedonia, okay. I I'm listening to that one. Anything else? Um man, all sorts of, you know, I like I really like country, you know, this, you know, like um Colton Jesse and Coulter Wall and uh You know Coulter's in town next weekend.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Uh yeah, I'll be going. Oh, you're gonna be gone by Saturday? No, I'm going. Oh, you're going. Oh, yeah, I'm going. I already got my tickets. Okay. Yeah, we're headed to see Coulter. And we'd love to sit down with Coulter at some point. You know, uh, I don't know when or if that will ever happen, but uh um we've we've been really, really fortunate to have interviewed some cool people and and it's fun. This week here, because I don't have my computer with me, I'm not. I have probably 40 plus episodes in the can. So I have a lot of content already filmed that uh we're slowly releasing. But since we're not at home to work on and have the computer to edit that stuff, I am re-releasing episodes from last year here at the NFR. Some were last year at the NFR, some are uh throughout the year. But if they're if they're playing in town, so this morning I re- I just released Corb Lund, re-released Corb Lund's interview and Taylor Honeycut, who we interviewed this summer at the Braun Brothers reunion, and Taylor's playing tonight at The Virgin, and Corb is playing tomorrow night at the what do they call it? Uh sorry, draw in the blank, drawn a blank what what the the venue is called. But anyway, Corb Lund is in town playing tomorrow night. Um, but uh yeah, it's been it's been cool. So we've re-released those. We've got some more, several more. We so we release three episodes a week. So Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Uh I've been releasing two Monday, Wednesday, and Friday just while we're here in Vegas. So anyway, it's it's been fun, and we've we got to interview some great artists here last year.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

So and I guess I am living a similar lifestyle. I'm always on the road, and I drive through all these towns and look around and think, man, I'm a little bit different from all these people. Sure. The that road life, the style is unique.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Well, and and I can relate. I spent I spent 30 plus years uh in in sales for the most part, sales marketing. I've lived all over the country. Like I said, lived in Hawaii and and and I didn't live in Alaska, but been to Alaska. I've been all over the country and spent uh my my last year working full-time uh as a brand president for a manufacturing company. I think I spent 130 nights in hotels that year. So that's too many. Yeah. Um, but but we're in Vegas and we love this town. Uh there's a lot of stuff going on here. There's so much music, there's so much action with the rodeo, and then there's the team roping going on just here out back, right? They've got a big team roping going on, they've got all these markets and stuff happening here in town, and and uh uh Stetson and Roper are big time sponsors here. My wife works for Stetson and uh and has for 18 years here at the finals. There's just so much going on, and then we got lucky that that uh Bill Blanchard and his crew invited us to come in and and set up here at the real roundup. Great watch party. Well, but what a view we have here, right? It doesn't get any better than this. I know this is great. And and if I if I had if I could pipe the sound from the TV in up here, uh huh, I'd stay up here and won't have to deal with all those people. I know at my own party. Yeah. So, but anyway. This is a pretty cool room, too. It is a cool room. So this is an old venue at one point. There's a stage in the back. Okay. Um uh that they had a lot of shows here, but they haven't used it for quite a while. So I was up here doing an interview last night. We just finished yesterday afternoon, finishing up. Security walked in and says, What are you doing in here? So, well, I actually have permission to be in here just so you know. I didn't just crash the crash the door in. Kick the door in and turn on the lights.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

So but anyway, well, anything else you want to share with us? Well, I just, you know, want to see people uh live life and to the fullest do what you want to do. Yeah. Not waste a second of it. Um, not everyone, because if everyone does it, then it might get a little complicated.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

But not everybody's gonna do what you do, and and but but that being said, I think it's great advice. You know, I tell everybody, and I don't tell everybody, but I this is something I've tried to live by. I heard this a long time ago. It said uh live your life so your story's worth telling, right? Yeah, don't waste it. And don't don't waste it, you know, because there's some opportunities, and I've missed out on a few things, but not much. I don't have very many regrets.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

No, so yeah, there's I'm happy with the way it's going. I have a long ways to go. Yeah, you got a good start. Yeah. Um I'm chasing the experiences, what I call it.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Yeah, yeah. Well, you you can never have too many experiences, trust me. That the memories are worth it. Uh I mean, yeah, I I can I look back on all the all the live music events I've been to, the the you know, hunting and fishing experiences, and and I've I probably could have done a lot more of those. I know I could have, but you know, when I rodeoed and roped, I roped, steer, I team roped and and roped calves and went to the high school national finals and the tie-down roping, and and uh uh, you know, I was a shooting instructor on the island of Kauai. You know, I I uh I killed a moose in Alaska when I was 14 years old. Uh, you know, I've I've had some pretty cool experiences and met a lot of people. I tell everybody, I said, give us five minutes, we'll connect the dots. It you and I, it didn't take us very long last night before we connected a dot. We don't want to talk about that on here, but but but but the long and short of it is it's uh the world's a small place. It really truly is. It is, and especially in this industry, you know, that the rodeo world and the music industry, and they kind of cross pollinate, if you will, you know, and so here we are at the Rio now. Here we are at the Rio. So anyway, cool. Anything else? No, I don't think so. I'm we keep them short and sweet here. We're we're we're knocking on 20, 30 minutes, so we're we're doing pretty good. Yep. But uh no, it's been it's been fun. Yeah, go have fun. Go have fun, yeah. Yeah, and all right, go jump off something. Go jump off something. My knees can't take me jumping off anything anymore.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

No, don't jump off something.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Hey guys, thanks for joining us. Appreciate you. It has been Cool to meet you. You're okay. And you know, that's the cool thing. Let's let's let's talk about the guitar. If they knocked that off there, you probably couldn't hurt it because it's carbon fiber. They call that carbon timber. And uh it is um company out of Provo, Utah, Closed Guitars, uh gives me give me that guitar. They built that one for me, and there's another one on its way here that we're gonna give away during the Rio Roundup. So we've got to figure out how we're gonna do it, but we're gonna go promote close guitars and musical miles podcasts. So this episode is sponsored by Close. With over ten years of experience crafting hand built composite instruments, Close provides the widest selection of premium carbon fiber instruments in the world. From acoustics to ukulele's, electrics and basses, even mandolins. When picking an instrument, Close doesn't want you to have to make a choice between performance and portability. These instruments stay in tune and intact, whether you're hopping venues or cresting mountains. Every close instrument is plecked, which means you'll get low action and buttery, smooth playability each time you pick up your instrument. Check out Close to find instruments you'll not only take with you, but ones you won't want to leave behind.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

If I win it, I'll learn how to You promised me you'll learn how to play it? Yeah, I've actually wrote a couple songs. Well you told me you did.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

And yeah, yeah, we didn't talk about that. Yeah, well, let's let's do talk about that real quick. Okay. So what what was the motivation to writing some music?

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Well, I guess I started when I met um, I didn't start when I met Brandon, but um when I met my buddy Brandon Shane, we uh we wrote a little song together, and I don't think he's ever put it out yet. I I don't know why it hasn't happened, but it's going to happen at some point. Sure. I'm gonna stay on him. Brandon, I'm gonna keep calling you about that. I know it's been four years. There you go. Um and then I wrote another one after my uncle passed away because he he's lived a really interesting life, and I kind of wanted to put some stuff down. Sure. What he taught me, and I gave it to my buddy Jordan Cook, and he was with the band called the In Color Band. Okay. And Jordan Cook says he's got a good version, but he's not ready to show me yet. Okay. So I'm waiting to see how it gets.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Well, I hope I hope somebody releases those songs and you get the the the credit that's you deserve, and uh and it makes you a rich man. Because it only takes one. I know. As long as they get on the radio, that's the tricky part. Don't plan on Spotify and making you rich. I don't think uh the casino is paying a whole lot today. No, no. We make our own luck. Last time I checked, which was last night, wasn't good. So hey, alright, for Musical Miles Podcast, I'm your host, Byron Duffin, here at the real roundup in Las Vegas, Nevada with my friend Trent Scholes, Free Fall Cowboy. Free Fall Fall Cowboy. Check him out, follow him on Instagram, and uh and see what he's got to do. We're gonna we will tag him in the show notes on this, and then we will also put some links to some crazy ass videos he showed me last night. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

Alright, we'll see you all down the road. Adios.