Madeline Hryse is a 28-year-old traveler, climber, and cyclist who spent four years moving overland across Latin America and Asia—sometimes alone, sometimes with friends and strangers she met along the way—before cycling 14,000 kilometers from China to Sweden. (@very__odd)

Madeline grew up in a family that treated adventure as a normal part of life, but her father was the biggest influence. A mountaineer, bicycle tinkerer, and dirtbag before dirtbagging had a name, he spent his youth hitchhiking to the Rockies and disappearing into the mountains for weeks at a time. Although he died when Madeline was sixteen, she reflects on how much of her own wandering life feels connected to his example.

After studying fashion merchandising and selling women’s shoes at Nordstrom, Madeline escaped on what was supposed to be a six-month trip through Central America during the pandemic. Instead, she spent the next four years traveling. She taught English in South Korea, saved $10,000 through extreme frugality, trekked through Nepal, climbed her way across India and Sri Lanka, and continued through Pakistan and Southeast Asia while stretching her savings far beyond what most people would think possible.

Along the way, Madeline became increasingly drawn to overland travel and the freedom of moving through places slowly. Rather than chasing famous sights, she sought out climbing communities, stayed with locals, camped whenever possible, and built friendships that carried her across continents. She explains why having a purpose while traveling made her happier than following the standard backpacker trail and how she often spent less than $500 per month while on the road.

Eventually, a fascination with maps, Central Asia, and the Silk Road inspired her biggest adventure yet: a year-long bicycle journey from China through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, Turkey, and Europe. We discuss the realities of long-distance bike travel, the experienced Austrian cyclist who helped shape her approach to the road, and why she gradually became more interested in lingering somewhere beautiful than covering huge distances each day.

We also talk about returning home after years abroad, resisting the pressure to pursue graduate school and a conventional career, the modest family support that helped make her travels possible, and her growing desire to spend more time with family and build deeper relationships. Madeline is currently preparing to ride the Continental Divide before relocating to Spain, where she’ll attempt to balance adventure with something that has become increasingly important to her: putting down roots.

Full transcript: dirtbagrich.com/madeline

In this wide-ranging conversation, Ryan Jordan of BackpackingLight.com interviews Blake about Dirtbag Rich. Topics include:

• The historical meaning of “dirtbag” in climbing, thru-hiking, and outdoor culture
• How dirtbag culture has traditionally balanced freedom, poverty, adventure, and insecurity
• The risks and trade-offs of choosing flexibility over conventional career advancement
• Housing strategies that support a dirtbag-rich lifestyle, including roommates, small homes, van life, travel, and shared living
• How cultural expectations around home ownership, status, and consumption shape lifestyle decisions
• Why relationships, community, and the ability to show up for others may be overlooked forms of wealth
• The role of privilege in pursuing a dirtbag rich lifestyle
• How to pursue outdoor freedom without romanticizing irresponsibility, poverty, or precarity

Find the original episode (including a fairly critical discussion thread) here: https://backpackinglight.com/episode-146-dirtbag-rich-with-blake-boles/

This conversation was originally published on May 1st, 2026.

Eric Darby is a “deeply blue-collar” builder, off-grid tinkerer, helicopter pilot, and grandfather who has spent most of his life avoiding normal jobs.

Eric never made much money—his lifetime average income is about $7,500 per year—but he still managed to buy 16 acres in western Colorado and fill it with Earthships, tiny houses, workshops, kinetic sculptures, and other hand-built structures. He describes his pride in being able to weld, wire, plumb, and frame his own buildings, and why waking up with a construction problem to solve feels more meaningful than any paycheck ever could.

Although Eric lives an extraordinarily sustainable life—collecting rainwater, generating his own solar power, charging his electric car at home, and building with salvaged materials—he arrived there through thrift and curiosity, not environmental ideology. As he puts it, his connection to nature is often less about hugging trees and more about “cutting down a tree in my way” or trapping the squirrel that burrowed into one of his tire walls.

We discuss his stint as a teenage garbage collector, the dirtbag motorcycle years, flying helicopters in Vietnam and Alaska, and the freedom that comes from needing very little money. Eric says his strongest sense of purpose comes from building things for his children and grandchildren, not from trying to set an example for the world—though many young visitors leave his property inspired by what they see.

At the heart of Eric’s story is a simple conviction: he would rather be homeless than spend his life in a conventional job fixated on making money. For anyone who suspects there must be another way to live, Eric offers a powerful and deeply practical example.

Full transcript: dirtbagrich.com/eric