meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Adventure Sports Podcast

Ep. 613: Crossing the Darien Gap on a Motorcycle - Revisited - JD Smith

Adventure Sports Podcast

Curt Linville

Sports, Science, Fitness, Nature, Health & Fitness, Wilderness

4.6580 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2020

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Pan-American Highway is an 18,000-mile continuous network of roads from the southern tip of South America to the northern tip of Alaska, with the sole exception being the Darien Gap, a 60 mile separation in the road through a nearly impenetrable jungle on the Panama/Colombian border. Most folks opt to go around the gap by boat or plane. Today’s guest, JD Smith, decided to go through the 99 mile long jungle by motorcycle instead. Needless to say, this is not your ordinary two-wheeled adventure.

www.rtwmototours.com

Facebook @RTWMotoTours

Instagram: @jdsmithphxaz

Athletic Brewing Adventure Grant Application: https://athleticbrewing.com/pages/athletic-brewing-2020-adventure-grant

Try CS Instant Coffee for 50% off your first order! Go to csinstant.coffee and use the code "ADVENTURE" at checkout.

Support the Adventure Sports Podcast by giving as low as $1/month to our efforts to produce this show at patreon.com/AdventureSportsPodcast

Contact us at info@adventuresportspodcast.com



Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

If you want really good coffee to take on your next adventure, use CS Instant Coffee.

0:05.9

You can find out more about them at c.s.instant.comfey.

0:11.5

You're talking about 90, 95 temperature, 90, 95% humidity.

0:17.0

You're driving on these trails that have vines, grabbing your handlebars and your foot pegs.

0:23.6

I could only ride for about 15 to 20 minutes of the time.

0:29.6

This is the Adventure Sports Podcast, where we hear stories of adventure

0:33.6

of adventure from every corner of the planet. We interview all sorts of folks who are

0:37.7

using their sport to explore the world around them and give you the inspiration you need to get

0:42.5

out there and have some fun.

0:43.8

If you talked to me for very long about adventure, the Pan American Highway is going to come up at some point.

1:01.3

I'm definitely fascinated with it. I've had the pleasure of cycling a portion of it, and I just fell in love with the road.

1:08.9

And if you don't know what it is, it's this network of roads that essentially go from the very southern point of Argentina, South America,

1:16.6

all the way up to the northern point of North America in Alaska.

1:20.8

And it's basically a network of roads that is considered the Panamanican Highway.

1:25.5

And depending on which way you go, it's between

1:28.1

15,000 and 19,000 miles. And it's continuous all for 160 mile stretch called the Darien Gap on the

1:38.9

Colombian Panama border. And the road just stops. And there's a number of reasons you know there's some protected

1:45.7

folks in those areas just you know some some very isolated group of people it's a really thick

1:54.0

jungle not great not a great place to build a road and now folks just kind of don't want to build

2:00.1

a road to keep it to keep it

2:02.6

raw and wild and bare because if you know that road was continuous it would become quite a

2:09.0

thoroughfare for folks so today we're actually talking to somebody who had who has crossed that

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Curt Linville, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Curt Linville and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.