Off You Pop!
A hiking and adventure podcast for people who want to take on the best one‑day hikes in the United States. Off You Pop is the official podcast of BlisterPop Adventures, home of the US21 — a curated list of the most iconic single‑day hiking routes in America.
We cover everything from national park hikes, long‑distance day hikes, and high‑elevation routes to gear tips, training strategies, trail psychology, and real‑world logistics. Each episode breaks down a major hiking route with detailed guidance, safety insights, and immersive storytelling to help you plan your next adventure with confidence.
If you’re searching for the best hikes, hardest day hikes, bucket‑list trails, or expert hiking advice — this podcast is your starting point.
Keywords: best hikes in the US, hardest day hikes, national park trails, hiking tips, adventure planning, long‑distance day hikes, US21, BlisterPop Adventures, hiking routes, outdoor podcast.
Episodes
61 episodes
The Sexiest Mountain in America, The Nipple - CA
Some mountains are beautiful. Some mountains are dramatic. And some — very few — look like they were sculpted, not formed. The Nipple, a volcanic plug rising above Blue Lakes in the high Sierra, is one of the strangest and most irresistible lan...
Peakbagging: The Art of Turning Red Dots to Green
Peakbagging is the simple, ridiculous, addictive act of turning red dots on a map into green ones — picking a list of summits, climbing every single one of them, and watching your app slowly transform from “you haven’t done anything” to “yo...
AI Versus the Bear - Planning for a Trip to Grizzly Country
In this episode, Philip kicks things off with a surprisingly heated argument — not with a person, but with AI — about the actual odds of running into a grizzly on his upcoming Penguin Peak hike in Alaska. It’s a light, funny setup t...
It's Not Not Impossible - A Crossfit Coach's Attempt at the T5
On this episode of Off You Pop, Philip sits down with Alison Hardy — CrossFit coach and mountain athlete — to unpack her attempt at the Tahoe Five Peaks Challenge. Alison made it through four summits and deep into the final push toward...
Manzanitas and Mayhem - The Sisters, Sweetwater Range, NV - CA
A three‑summit volcanic spine that moves like a quiet procession across the Sweetwaters, where East, Middle, and South Sister rise in sequence like sentinels of an old Nevada kingdom. It’s a traverse built from wind, solitude, and long ridg...
Naked Hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail with Dom
A 12‑day loop around Lake Tahoe becomes a full‑body story as Dom walks us through the long ridgelines, the granite mornings, the mental resets, and the unexpected freedom of naked hiking — a conversation about what happens when you strip th...
Death to Hiking Poles
A debate that starts with two hikers and ends with a full‑blown philosophy of movement — one side arguing that poles are the secret to efficiency and saved knees, the other insisting they’re nothing but clacking crutches that ruin rhythm, c...
Shotgunning with Bill the Lion - Snow Valley Peak, NV
A long, wind‑shaved ridge where the Sierra granite softens into open sky, the watershed divide runs under your boots like a hidden border, and the summit feels less like a peak and more like a quiet throne above two worlds — a place where C...
The Black Sheep Circuit, A New British Challenge
A stitched‑together mountain circuit where six peaks and a horseshoe move like chapters, the weather decides the plot, and the route feels less like a challenge and more like a pilgrimage across the old spine of Britain — a journey named fo...
A Journey through a Stratovolcano - Mt Houghton, NV
A wind‑cut climb along the tilted spine of a fault‑lifted range, where ancient volcanic remnants shape the gullies, the Basin‑and‑Range stretching is written into every contour, and the summit feels less like a viewpoint and more like a qui...
Brychan's Kingdom of Saints - The Pen-Y-Fan Horseshoe, Wales
A sweeping, wind‑cut circuit where the Old Red Sandstone rises in great steps, the Horseshoe pulls you across three story‑heavy summits, and the mountain reminds you that Wales doesn’t need altitude to feel epic — just a ridge that knows ex...
The Trial of the Blossom Princess - Mt Fuji, Japan
A volcanic pilgrimage where the air thins, the trail steepens, and the mountain stops pretending to be gentle — a climb where every switchback reminds you that Fuji isn’t a hike, it’s an initiation.In this episode, Philip takes ...
King Arthurs Final Resting Place - Snowden (Yr Wyddfa), Wales
A cloud‑cut climb where the old volcanic spine rises above Llyn Llydaw, the wind carries stories older than Wales itself, and the summit feels less like a high point and more like a threshold into the mythic world beneath Yr Wyddfa’s name.<...
The Mountain Guarded by the Fairies - Snaefell, Isle of Man
A sea‑to‑summit climb where the wind feels older than the island, the moorland opens like a doorway into Manx folklore, and the highest point of Mann reminds you that some mountains don’t just overlook kingdoms — they guard them. ...
T5: Tahoe 5 Peaks Challenge - Participant Walk Through
In this episode, I break down the Tahoe Five Peaks Challenge — five summits, fifty miles, and a full day moving through the high country around Lake Tahoe. I walk through each peak, the terrain, the pacing, and the mental shifts that happen as ...
Welcome to Middle Earth - Scafell Pike, England
A raw, weather‑cut climb through a landscape that feels older than the map — a shattered volcanic ridge where mist rolls like something alive, the boulders look placed rather than fallen, and England’s highest peak feels less like a summit ...
The Venomous Mountain - Ben Nevis, Scotland
A long, exposed climb where the weather turns in minutes, the old pony track drags you into the broken rim of a collapsed volcano, and Scotland’s highest peak reminds you that altitude isn’t the danger — unpredictability is.
Revenge of the Calleach - Sleive Donard, Northern Ireland
A sea‑to‑summit climb where the Glen River pulls you into the heart of the Mournes, the clouds drop without warning, and the mountain reminds you that even the “easy” high points demand respect.In this episode of Off You Pop...
Climbing the Devil's Ladder at Night - Carrantouhil, Ireland
A wet, wind‑cut climb where the mountain shifts from welcoming to unforgiving in minutes — a place where Ireland’s highest peak reminds you that beauty and danger often share the same ridge.In this episode of Off You Pop
The Instagram Experiment in Ranking Hiking Difficulty
What makes a hike “hard”?Why do some routes feel impossible to one person and casual to another?And why did our Instagram difficulty experiment got 300,000 views and exploded into a storm of opinions, contradictions, and zero usable dat...
A Lesson in Shoulder Season Snow - Mt Lola, CA
A quiet, forested climb where the trail disappears under sheets of snow, every meadow turns into a trap for cold air, and the mountain reminds you that shoulder season is never as gentle as it looks. Mt. Lola is the quiet g...
Sweet, Sweet Chocolate Peak, NV
A sharp, exposed climb on the forgotten ridge that lives in Mount Rose’s shadow — a peak that looks harmless from below but turns into a loose, unforgiving fight the moment you step onto its slope Chocolate Peak sits above ...
The Art of the Scree - Cone Peak, NV
A loose, hostile climb where Cone Peak’s scree shifts under every step, the slope tilts against you, and the terrain makes it clear it doesn’t care whether you make it to the top. This Story Pop takes you from the quiet of ...
A Veteran's Journey to Healing through Hiking
A story about losing your footing, finding the outdoors, and discovering that sometimes the trail is the only place you can hear yourself again.Jason Perkins — U.S. Army veteran, cofounder of Blisterpop, and the guy who helped s...
How a Moderate Mountain Can Become a Hard One - Petersen Mountain, NV
Petersen Mountain is supposed to be a moderate Great Basin peak — a clean ridge, a steady climb, a local’s summit. But mountains don’t care about reputations. They care about conditions, weather...
