Tayson: All right everybody welcome to the Live Ultralight podcast powered by Outdoor Vitals we have a very special guest returning guest mr dan becker what's up.
Dan: Yeah i'm back on.
Tayson: Good to have you back on it's been a minute to be here dude we just came off trail uh we've been up hiking for a little bit and uh we're a little a little smelly a little grimy you know if you're watching this in video form on youtubes i've ever brushed my teeth in three days you don't brush your teeth on.
Dan: Trump okay fine i did once.
Tayson: Once.
Dan: Once i did once yesterday but not today.
Tayson: Yeah okay okay we'll see we'll stick with that story but uh no uh for those of you that don't know who dan becker is he's uh you know just the biggest thing to happen to backpacking on YouTube in a while so.
Dan: Dear lord.
Tayson: So uh we're happy to have him and we're gonna pick his brain here for a minute um i messed this mic just a little bit but uh yeah so background on you just so the people that you know if they don't know you i don't know how they wouldn't i know you're recognized everywhere you go but uh you know you're in that celebrity status now but uh you you were not a lifetime.
Dan: Backpacker nope.
Tayson: And now you are a lifetime backpacker with a big following on YouTube so how the heck did you get started on i mean i think we covered this in the first one but real brief how did you get back into backpacking uh so i probably i.
Dan: Don't know 14 15 i started backpacking uh just some buddies of mine just decided that we wanted to do something really manly and go live in the woods for a few days with nothing but stuff in our backpack and that's literally how i discovered backpacking because i'm like how am i going to do this i better YouTube it.
Tayson: Tell me the truth were you trying to like do the bushcraft thing or were you actually back no no it was just like.
Dan: We were like survivorman like let's just cool let's live off the land and catch some fish yeah i know i was like yeah let's skin some squirrel i had no idea what a mountain house meal was and then yeah that was it they just literally uh we did that and i was like holy cow this is amazing i want to keep doing this and i just kept doing it and doing it doing it.
Tayson: Yeah what was amazing now i don't know.
Dan: It was just the experience of being there and being able to be in a uh environment that you can only get to if you hike to it and be actually comfortable and then enjoy it too like nobody's doing this like at least in wisconsin it's pretty rare so yeah.
Tayson: Um but then after you started to backpack more often suddenly you started to uh record some things yes why would you start recording things like what what well it was a couple years had gone by.
Dan: Yeah and i was hammock camping but i was super claustrophobic in a hammock and i went on YouTube to try to figure out how to not be claustrophobic in a hammock and there was nothing on YouTube about how to not be claustrophobic in a hammock so i'm like i gotta try to figure this out is that because you were.
Tayson: The only one i was probably the only one.
Dan: Yes nobody else is claustrophobic i i was i'm i was applause for being a tent for a while too but anyway so i kind of figured it out and i thought people probably won't know how i did this and made a video and i put it online i did i thought nothing of it and i came back a few days later i was like huh somebody watched this okay let's make another video and then that was.
Tayson: That was your first video like just your hands.
Dan: No no no no no no no you know what i did was i i like like a little metal desk lamp i just kind of turned it up towards my face i grabbed a little point and shoot camera set it down there like this and i was just like hi my name is dan becker and that was it was the worst video ever do not go back to my channel watch it please.
Tayson: Challenge accepted yeah um so you had that people started watching it yeah but you kept creating like and this i think that's maybe one of the things i want to dig on here is like why what's your like reason behind creating because one thing about creating is it's not easy no you will get ridiculed yes um you will get fans but you will get ridiculed and uh like to describe because at this time i mean you've got a full-time job you've got a family but you're gonna put some time into creating this these additional videos yeah so why were you continuing to do it.
Dan: Well i i don't know i just i just realized that people were subscribing and watching and i just thought honestly internally i just thought there if there's a chance of this becoming something that maybe could potentially be you know good had you followed other channels yes.
Tayson: I have an idea of what could you totally.
Dan: Totally follow the channels and um i just thought you know let me just try this and i did i know like i didn't tell anybody at a YouTube channel i did not even tell my wife like by what nobody knew for like probably two months so where were you filming that you're.
Tayson: Hiding in the basement life doesn't know.
Dan: I worked from home okay and so my wife would go to work my kids were at school i would bust out these crappy like lights that i bought off at amazon that i told my wife yeah i told my wife they i bought them from like my son to like stream playing video games they just told a lie or for me on YouTube and then i'd like film a video really super fast like in my living room like tear everything down and look at the clock okay should you go in 20 minutes and then i get back upstairs yeah i'm selling insurance honey because that was what i did and that's literally what i did for and then it was yeah good oh no no it was like a year later or it was it. Didn't know my son found the laptop open and it had like my YouTube stuff up my statistics and my son was like dad's got a YouTube channel and it was like that was that was yeah that's literally the reaction i got my entire family i was so embarrassed and i love it i love that.
Tayson: So you kept creating you're continuing to get views you probably get maybe getting some reinforcement there but as you started to create i'm sure after you got through like five or 10 videos you're probably like what i'm what what's my thing right like what am i creating for right yes yeah.
Dan: Yeah so i was just trying to create what i saw other creators do like i didn't know so i would go to the big backpacking channels and i would look at their biggest feud videos and be like oh that worked i wonder if i could make a similar video and that's that's literally what i did for like the first year.
Tayson: Okay on YouTube yeah and at some point uh maybe you had a switch where i feel like there's probably a little more authenticity of like you saying like this is how i'm in this is what i'm going to do this is my totally.
Dan: Yep i realized that if i'm going to stand out i can't be i can't be a copycat i just have to be me like sooner or later when you have enough people watching your channel they'll figure it out they get to know you they're like oh he's just filming in his backyard i mean come on so i was just like well i guess i'm telling people i'm filming in my backyard so i just yes i film videos in my backyard about backpacking okay get over it i mean i do a freaking video a week that's just how it happens okay that literally get millions of views so yeah.
Tayson: It works right yeah it works it does.
Dan: Work because now i'm backpack i do bat i did backpack but you can't backpack every week with a family and a job it's like but you got to put out a video week or YouTube doesn't like you so that's just how it works yeah it's a tough dynamic.
Tayson: Which is very why we uh have gone through spouts where we film a whole lot with this backdrop here behind.
Dan: I know i know that i know that well yeah.
Tayson: So yeah i would say one of the strong points i see in you is your authenticity right because there's a lot of people who are just going to they're going to try to talk from a position of authority when maybe they're new or or also um they're going to you know overestimate the things that they do they're going to um you know just kind of build themselves up yeah right and and one thing i feel like people value in you um is that you lean into who you are very well you you know you're like yeah i don't really do 20 mile days like all right you know i backpack this far or you know what like one of your biggest standout videos that probably a lot of people have heard or seen is the.
Tayson: Video that's i quit ultralight backpacking you know that's blasphemy we're on the whole try podcast but um but it's authentic and um and very to the point and if you watch the video we we it's not that he hates ultralight backpacking per se of like lightweight gear and performance gear um there's a whole other story behind it but it's very authentic that you lean into that and say you know what like i take a seat backpacking you know right don't ridicule me or whatever like that's just me or i film in my backyard like what when you leaned into that what do you feel like your your purpose was or there or what did you hope to inspire.
Dan: So i realized because i coming into the backpacking world you have this like i don't know it was just i was worried that everybody watching was had this big expectation on me like totally you have to be this like ultra backpacker who's a triple crowner and you know travels like the world and backpacks all and you know summited mount everest and all this thing and i'm just like you know what there's a whole lot more people out there than that and i bet you there's a lot of just average dads kind of like me that just they just want to figure out even how to do it and i just leaned into that i was just like dude i'm just gonna because that's exactly who i was and still am like i i learn every. Time i go i am people think i'm an expert maybe i am to some people but i am no expert compared to a lot of other people so i learn as i go and i just try to make it i try to make it as easy and also entertaining as humanly possible so people will sit through video and feel like oh if that guy can do it and he's 44 and slightly overweight.
Tayson: Yes.
Dan: Who's the positive that was comedic effect you know then i can do it you look good.
Tayson: Dan and you can backpack and you do that i i and i i love this topic because i think it's something that i've also felt right starting company running a company you know you've got these guys out there they're like oh i've hiked you know 18 and i've done this and then that and there's there really there is no like set standard of like a good backpacker as a bad packer or an experienced backpacker verse i mean we're just on the at right and obviously i've been backpacking for years now and spend a lot of time on trailbla going on the at we talked to a whole lot of people that still are figuring their crap out at 500 600 miles on the track totally um really weren't sure of a lot of things you.
Tayson: Know very uncertain so it like just because you threw hike doesn't make you a great backpacker it's a lot of trail time it's a it's a big deal it's a huge badge of honor um but i do i i do love to put my foot down and say like like there's no there's no pedestal here there's no pedestal for for anyone who's whether it's you know you've hiked the PCT or the atm whatever or you've hiked in your backyard your entire life doesn't mean you're smarter better hiker whatever it is um in fact for guys like us um i often love to encourage people to look for the hikes that maybe maybe it's a true hike of a specific mountain range like if you want to go do something big um you know go do.
Tayson: The john muir trail that one's really popular so you know that would not be hard go through hike through the san juans go through hike through the until go through hike the smokies you know i mean like section it's still a big deal and and but guess what like that's practical for a guy with a with a job family totally and all of those things right i get asked all the time will you are you ever going through like something.
Dan: No i have zero desire that's not how i don't enjoy that at all like i my my idea of a great backpacking trip is i am not going to kill myself on miles because i have nobody to impress at all unless they're watching my videos i suppose they're just expecting that and i just want to get to a campsite and have it be amazing and remember the experience and love it and i don't want to feel like garbage you know what i mean i don't i don't find any fulfillment in that and i don't want to be i have no desire to hike the appalachian trail or the PCT or anything like that i don't think there's anything wrong with it at all i think people that do that are amazing like that is a. Huge feat to be able to do that but i just want to go have fun that's literally all i want to do and i know based on the what i see from my viewers there is a ton more people that want to do that than want to be a ultra super live on trail backpacker i mean it just is the market is way bigger when it comes to that so.
Tayson: Yeah i think leaning into that was was really cool and i think like you say a lot of people stood up raised their hands you know subscribed to your channel and said that's me that's that's how i backpack um i felt like an aaa.
Dan: Meeting hi my name is dan becker and i do backpack really sturdy no no.
Tayson: Now i want to get into a little bit of like what have you what if what have you learned i guess through this process of both YouTube and just backpacking like how much of things changed for you let's say from five years ago till now.
Dan: Oh my gosh that's that's a big open-ended question so oh my gosh i i.
Tayson: Can guide here if you if you've got something doesn't come straight to mine but yeah i mean.
Dan: No like well just first of all when i when i saw that um there was a because i owned an insurance agency albeit very small i operated out of my house so when i say that people like oh my gosh insurance agency and it was really small but it was it was enough to raise a family on and then i go to my wife and i'm like honey i think i want to sell the business and be a full-time youtuber like have that conversation with your wife just see how it goes go just i dare you like it was a it was not a easy conversation but we made the decision and we did and i'm beyond grateful that we made that decision because my life has completely changed and to be somebody who five.
Dan: Years ago uh you know just lived a normal average life and now here i am in YouTube and it's just it's very it's just a different world um it's it's it's it's got it's a blessing and a curse i mean because it's it's awesome but you know i'm traveling a lot i'm doing lots of things i'm very busy like people think you're self-employed it's kind of totally look at it and you know just like you make a video a week and you throw up some shorts or whatever and you're like they're like oh how hard can that be dude it's hard i've got one guy working full time for me and you know i'm i'm ready to hire a third person like that's where we're at because it's just that busy um and we want. To be the best we want to do well we want us and we want to be um something that people will continue to watch not something that somebody's going to eventually just move on from you know so well your YouTube channel is.
Tayson: Obviously pretty fascinating and interesting to be able to grow the way it's grown and to get the views that you get and be able to tap into all that you know i know a lot of that um not a lot but but some of that is just your knowledge and dedication to learning and improving on YouTube and stuff like that but a lot of it too i think is um you've got some other you know magic going on i guess behind behind the curtain that i'm trying to think of how to how to say this but like you you and and of yourself dan have something inside you that makes you different right like you there's something that's driving you whether it's driving force whether it's whether it's like personality whether it's um you know. What i mean like there's something in there that that's just clicking different because otherwise every other YouTube channel would be there like in your mind when you look at yourself internally and you're just like you know what this is what i think i've done differently in my life that has led to these kind of results and opportunities right stuff like that what do you think that is like well okay so i i just try.
Dan: To especially on YouTube legitimately i try to be the person on camera that i really am in real life like i do not want to be a different person and i think that authenticity comes authenticity comes through to where people see that and they don't think it's i'm a fake i hope a fake person because as you are well aware i screw around way too much it's just how i am and so if what i'm saying is screw around in life and you'll be a great youtuber no that's not what i'm saying i'm just saying that often being being who you are and not trying to be somebody else is helpful depending on the niche that you're trying to be in YouTube you know i mean there's other niches that you can totally screw around. And be pretend to be somebody else whatever but in this world i feel like if they're trying to learn something and they you're telling them how to backpack but you're just like faking it somehow you know then you're just yeah like this.
Tayson: This this year you've had a couple i think two videos at least that have broken a million views um one is over two million i think and it's six mistakes most beginning backpackers make well for sleeping outdoors yeah with their sleep system yeah yeah um tell me a little bit about like what led you to make a video like that and like oh my gosh so.
Dan: I'm very good at stealing ideas so i stole this idea it was from devon actually of backcountry exposure he made a video something similar about mistakes and i looked at his channel i did really well so i messaged him i'm like bro i'm just letting you know i'm stealing your idea he's like oh yeah go ahead and that's all i did and i thought literally thought nothing of it like i just i i don't ever write a script i write like bullet points like the the five topics i want to talk about right and then emmett or whoever's filming me is usually super frustrated by that because that's not how they operate and i'm like bro trust me turn on the camera i will think of something when you do and then i just start. Talking and so we we just made that video and it just happened to be about a topic that i was familiar with and i think that maybe i don't know i think that is actually part of what made that video so successful is.
Tayson: You have gone from in 2014 or when we started backpacking like that level of sleep to this level of sleep now right yes through a lot of nights in the backcountry through a lot of gear i mean i don't know how much gear you have but it's got to be about a garage full now at a minimum it's not right how much you're right and you forget i know you give away give away a lot of it i do i gave you something on this trip didn't it did i did very generous soul actually he makes me look bad sometimes to my team members you know he's actually a terrible person um but um yeah back to it like that's something that you have some expertise in i would say um what do you feel. Like are like i mean just to go through that really quick like what are those tips that you gave in that video that that you found the most impactful to you well the biggest tip was for people because it was uh.
Dan: You know sleeping in the cold was it was more specifically so okay was people not realizing that their sleeping pad is half of their sleep system and people don't especially i i'm like uh 10 you know tenured or matured backpackers or whatever you call it um always comment on my channel like oh my gosh how do people not know that this is the worst video ever and but then you get because they're you know they're just yeah i'm not talking to you yeah i'm that you are not the person i'm talking to like i'm literally talking to the dan becker from 2014 that's how my mind thinks for every single video what would i have wanted to know before i went on my first backpacking trip even if it's my 50th backpacking trip because i'll.
Dan: It may take 50 backpacking trips before i'd snaps and i go oh my sleeping pad is the problem like i'm sure there were a lot of people that had a great night's sleep because i realized i should probably buy a better sleeping pad after watching that so that was that was probably and then i made a short out of that that did really well too so um i think that just you know because everybody wants to sleep good out there like that's probably one of the biggest fears i would say that's one of the most.
Tayson: Common things to hear is when you when you talk to someone who's like i'll never go backpacking and then like say fill in the the second part of that sentence i feel like most of the time it's you know i froze while like sleeping right or like man i slept so bad i froze you know like that's the end of that sentence most of the time right and i would agree i mean we put out a video 80 of backpackers are doing this wrong and it was about their sleeping pad right because they all email in and say hey your sleeping bag isn't rated right it's like uh what did you sleep on uh slip on an air mattress that couldn't be overcome by a negative 50 degree bag like this you're still getting cold. And uncomfortable right i know um so that's a huge one i know you're a double uh pillow sleeper i'm a double pillow sleeper.
Dan: I am a double pill i sleep with one under my head and i prop myself up with one okay because i do that at home yeah so i know instantly whatever i'm doing at home i want to mimic in the backcountry because that's how i'm going to sleep better because my brain will be tricked into thinking that i'm probably laying in my own bed at home and then i sleep better because of that so that's all i'm trying to do is emulate what i do like he made fun of me for my white noise i have an iphone app that plays a fan it literally plays a fan like a fan noise because i sleep with a fan at home i i don't know if i'd.
Tayson: Made fun of you it did help with your stuff.
Dan: I literally cried for three hours after he was making fun of me damn damn if anyone cried it was emmett.
Tayson: And it's uh dan's video uh editor and he can't he still can't figure out how to sleep third backpacking trip he's still complaining he'll get it yeah wait you're telling me all your experiences.
Dan: Yes that's exactly what i'm telling you.
Tayson: He is unhelpable oh man i mean if you're watching this we'll figure it out we will i promise.
Dan: We'll get it eventually yeah.
Tayson: We we talked to him in the in the car about just you know maybe adjusting his expectations of sleeping exactly but um now we had a pretty good story too that i think scared him a little so he was up in the night you know waiting for someone to walk into camp or not but um no let's let's shift gears a little i i think your YouTube channel is absolutely fascinating i love the fact that you are someone who've never backpacked to someone who's avidly backpacking all the time obviously that's one of the goals of this podcast this is just help people get more exposure to the unknowns and then you know the the less unknowns you have the less fear you have the more likelier to go out there or just simply um just. Have better experiences on.
Dan: Trailer by the way we're twinsies if you haven't noticed sorry this is the Outdoor Vitals hiking uniform apparently i did give him the choice of two other colors but he wanted to match me i like this yeah it's a good one it's nice one altitude it is yeah it's super it does not feel hot yeah i was blown away i thought this would feel hot in the sun it does not.
Tayson: Yeah it's light it's really really light um it's a good piece for sure okay i did.
Dan: Not mean to interrupt you but i just want to throw that out there because that's how my brain works severe 80d with i think that's why we get along.
Tayson: I've definitely got an element of 80d i try to reign it in as much as i can yeah.
Dan: I tried i just i gave up but i i haven't.
Tayson: Got a diagnosis so i can't really claim it you know i just severely believe i have it yeah.
Dan: Exactly um.
Tayson: But tell me maybe tell me about a backpacking trip where you just like finished it and you're just like holy cow like maybe it was an amazing trip and you just like looked at your gear and you're like i nailed the gear nailed the system and you just walked off trail feeling like like maybe a little accomplished or something like that got a trip that comes to mind um.
Dan: Yeah i think um yeah last year i backpacked um what's it called oh my gosh oh the beaten path trail in montana amazing by the way and i was i really put a lot of time and thought into my gear because um i was going with buddies of mine and dude i nailed it nailed it.
Tayson: What changed what changed from 2014 to that trip for you like were there specific pieces of gear or specific changes that you made that you were just like man that was the biggest difference i had backpacked.
Dan: Enough in enough places to know what i really need versus what i think i need so i stopped packing like you know the old it's like you're packing your fears you know i feel like i didn't do that so i just like every piece of gear i used and i needed and it was the right everything um yeah we even even brought a tarp like i was the only trip i ever brought a tarp because my friends were freaking out like you're going to bring a tarp because it might rain i'm like you guys it's not going to rain dude it freaking down poured and it was like i was like the the like the man of the hour when i busted out the tarp and we were all like sitting under it yeah you. Know so.
Tayson: So wind smooth yeah it's good hike got up in there um yeah i guess you're going into the backcountry on something like that yeah getting out there um that's awesome yep um okay i i don't know man we've we've been on trail maybe let's uh i don't know dan you you create so much content that it's like people can really get to know dan by just going to his YouTube channel and subscribing um we've obviously been friends for a little bit if we've been going on trips for their third third time now this is like what'd you think of this.
Dan: Trip that was great yeah yes dude this was like dan becker fully approved like hike minimal miles fish at every lake like to attempt to attempt to fish every lake marissa i think that corrected us that we should have called it angling because we weren't actually catching any fish some of us were not not me but yeah it was man it was just like it was one where you didn't like uh like oh my gosh we gotta get up at six o'clock cause we've got 20 miles to hike and it's going to be dark by five or something no it was just it was just like where do we want to go today you know it was fun for sure favorite place.
Tayson: To backpack.
Dan: Uh favorite place to backpack so far has probably been montana okay so far so far awesome awesome.
Tayson: Favorite piece of gear doesn't no biased in here favorite piece of gear everyone's gonna go buy a piece of gear tomorrow what do you say omg.
Dan: Um i know you don't really do that because you agree you review like a million yeah i don't know.
Tayson: Biggest upgrade okay i bought this average backpacker biggest upgrade they could make in their pocket uh their sleeping pad okay.
Dan: Okay.
Tayson: Um how many miles a day should a new backpacker start planning uh less than.
Dan: 10 okay depending on where you live yeah if you live in wisconsin like me like 10 max if you live out here like five.
Dan: For real altitude is is uh a game changer especially don't don't just don't be over ambitious that's the biggest problem most most guys have they watch youtubers who hike 30 40 million miles and then they're like oh my gosh that's what i'm supposed to do and then they're out there and they hate it because they want to die after five miles because they packed way too much crap in their back hurts and they got blisters and they give up it's like dude.
Tayson: Don't do that yeah go go the mileage that is comfortable absolutely right now we don't know start small exactly up it very incrementally yep um favorite video you've ever made favorite video i've.
Dan: Ever made oh geez uh it was probably uh i was i i like my favorite videos like when i try to be funny like i i don't think i'm funny but some people think i'm funny so like the one where i was playing the ultralighter the hey can i try that guy and the um oh gosh the other guy like it was that was fun video to make i thoroughly enjoyed it did you have.
Tayson: Okay good yeah.
Dan: Like can i try that guy um was was like my favorite persona you know the uh the ultra lighter was a little too close to home i love making i love making fun of ultralight people because it's i love it i love it it definitely.
Tayson: Was i'm i uh i always tell people like get to like a 10 pound base weight and then like add two pounds of of what you feel like are luxury items and that's like that's always what i preach i'm definitely not like the eight pound uh base weight type of guy um but also we're going into like bigger more extreme mountains and stuff like that where just can get dangerous i think to have like an eight pound base weight you're not you're not like down in florida where you can have a 50 degree battery and no extra layers totally um favorite child if you're a child oh.
Dan: I hate all my children um i love them i'm just he's dead.
Tayson: Serious uh yeah no i i think uh i think we hit it man i think i really just wanted to dig into really what is interesting about you dan i think is everything but nothing is is you've done something so amazing on YouTube um that most people like i think it's really easy to look at other people on YouTube and think well of course they're going to be famous they're a triple crowner or of course they're going to be famous they're you know this or this um you know they just dedicate themselves 110 to hiking so of course they're gonna like get views and stuff and you came in i feel i can really flip that script on its head and said no i'm not you know we're not gonna buy this i'm i'm this. Is who i am i'm gonna make videos and uh your channel i as far as i can see is growing faster than anyone anyone else's channel well let me clear though that.
Dan: Was never my intent my my intent was never to be like oh i'm gonna try to outgrow everybody it was just i just realized i i just realized that um if i figured out who my audience was then they would want to watch the videos that was literally it right.
Tayson: I feel like you did that yeah and you've been killing it with it ever since i appreciate that um i think it's a breath of fresh air honestly in that space to see that and just see that level of authenticity you definitely see guys maybe even me i don't know get into that mode of like the camera's on this persona or whatever it is um yeah you really are as brigham our designer would say you're the same off camera as you.
Dan: Are on camera well that's good good.
Tayson: Um which is awesome i think to see it and and speaks a lot but it's fascinating what you're doing we'll keep watching it definitely invite everyone to go over and subscribe to uh yeah.
Dan: Do it and uh go check out that that.
Tayson: Video of uh six mistakes uh for sleeping outdoors the new backpackers make something let's do it it's great it's a great actually.
Dan: Title i just slaughtered it but yeah it was a terrible i just i just didn't want to make you.
Tayson: Feel bad anyways we're going to go ahead and call it here we're going to go get some uh dinner tonight and then stand down and send dan on his way uh appreciate you coming out and uh going hiking with the team yeah and uh coming on the podcast so yeah.
Dan: Awesome.
Tayson: All right is the camera off.
Dan: Where's my latte give me my latte now uh.
Tayson: That's stan for real so now you've heard it there's a joke people.
