From Outside Magazine, this is the Outside Podcast.

One of the perceptions that people have about the world that outside magazine covers is

that it's dangerous, that the sports we like to do and tell stories about involve all

kinds of risks. But the truth is that that's a bit overblown. I'm Michael Roberts and

after more than two decades of working here, I do lots of outsidey stuff and none of it

is all that sketchy. Same goes for most of my colleagues and our contributors. I mean,

your standard fare biking and trail running and skiing and whatnot, it isn't super risky.

Of course, the risk factors do scale up dramatically when you're talking about pursuits

like big waves surfing or high altitude mountaineering or base jumping or mushroom foraging,

which brings us to this week's episode and also last week's episode. You see, last week

we did a piece on the rather bizarre world of truffle hunters, those secretive characters

who search forests for delicious underground fungi that can be worth thousands of dollars

a pound. And while we were working on that story and after it came out, people asked

me, wait, isn't that dangerous? Can't you get poisoned? The answer is no. True truffles

as far as we know are safe. But, and this is important, some mushrooms look like truffles

and they absolutely can be dangerous. When I explained this, people said, you should

do a story on mushroom foraging and how easy it is to eat the wrong thing. Well, we've

actually done that already, way back in 2017, and it's one of my favorite episodes ever,

so we're going to replay it today. But before we start, be prepared. In this piece,

we put you, the listener, in a very uncomfortable survival scenario so that you can feel just

how scary that would be. You weren't looking for trouble when you left

the house today. It's a warm autumn morning and there's a fresh, earthy smell in the air

...