America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston - Season 1

It's the hottest place on Earth, but Death Valley is remarkably full of life. Baratunde Thurston seeks out the extremes of this national park and finds an outdoor mecca for those who embrace its heat, isolation, and natural beauty. Meet an ultra-marathoner who runs in the brutal heat of summer and an elder of the Timbisha Shoshone tribe, who helps us see that this is a place where life blooms.

Baratunde ventures into the wilds of Idaho to explore its evolving outdoor culture. He finds ranchers and backcountry pilots sharing the wilderness with newly resettled refugees and sees how climate change is impacting an age-old salmon fishery.

Baratunde explores his adopted hometown of Los Angeles to learn how Angelinos connect with the outdoors in their sprawling city. Meet kayakers saving a polluted river and Black surfers claiming their place on the waves.

Baratunde meets the people of Appalachia who are driving a revolution in how we see and interact with nature. Meet a record-breaking hiker, former coal miners raising bees, and activists working to make the outdoors accessible to everyone.

On the Carolina coast, there's more than sand and surf. Baratunde discovers how our outdoor environments were shaped by a surprising force: history.

What does the wild mean to Americans today? To find out, Baratunde journeys into Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, one of the last places where you can hike or paddle your way into the remote wilderness. From passionate birders to harvesters of wild rice, he encounters a fascinating cast of characters—and hears from them why wilderness means so much.