Team & Trail is dog mushing, outdoor leadership, and trail stories from Alaska and beyond. Dr. Robert and Michele Forto produce this podcast for people who work with dogs, lead teams, and spend real time outdoors.
The podcast carries a reporting tradition that began in 1963 and brings it back to the trail. Mushing life. Training partnerships. How a family business hands the work to the next person. How a team carries a load when the weather changes and the plan has to change with it. Field reports, gear that holds up, and conversations with the people actually out there.
Team & Trail is a project of the Team and Trail Foundation, a 501(c)(3). We help people go places and do good things: keep the sled dog record intact, teach leadership where decisions have consequences, and remove barriers that keep people off the trail.
New episodes from Willow, Alaska, and beyond.
https://teamandtrail.com
https://mushing.com
https://teamandtrail.com/team-and-trail-foundation
Team and Trail exists to remove barriers and help more people get outdoors. This episode opens with the next step in that mission.
The Team and Trail Foundation is accepting applications for the Lead Dog Access Program. Each year the Foundation supports up to six individuals through the complete Lead Dog service dog curriculum at a discounted rate of $9,600, paid to the Foundation. Selected teams receive the full training experience, not a shortened program.
We give priority to veterans and individuals living with PTSD, people with mobility, psychiatric, or autism-related disabilities, and applicants from rural Alaska and other underserved communities.
Apply here: https://teamandtrail.com/lead-dog-access-program/ (https://teamandtrail.com/lead-dog-access-program/)
Questions: explore@teamandtrail.org (mailto:explore@teamandtrail.org)
Help underwrite placements: https://donorbox.org/team-and-trail-foundation-ldap (https://donorbox.org/team-and-trail-foundation-ldap)
Free public workshops on service dog partnership, outdoor access, and leadership through the human–dog team will be announced soon.
22 Aug 2026
The Fall Tour Kicks Off in September
The Team & Trail Fall Tour is hitting the road.
In this episode, Michele Forto shares what’s ahead as Robert prepares for a Northern Route drive from Seattle to the New York area in September 2026. The trip will cover thousands of miles over a couple of weeks, with Podcast Movement in New York serving as the main professional stop along the way.
But Team & Trail is making the miles part of the mission. Throughout the journey, Robert will host informal coffee meetups in select towns along the route. No presentations. No formal agenda. Just a chance to sit down, meet people, and talk about the trails we’re all navigating, from outdoor adventures and work projects to the decisions that shape where we go next.
The trip will also include stops at places like Glacier National Park, the Badlands, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, while documenting what a long-distance working road trip actually looks like.
If you’re somewhere along the Northern Route this September, keep an eye on Team & Trail. We might be coming through your town.
8 Aug 2026
Looking Ahead to Transylvania: Halloween 2028
Team & Trail is heading to Transylvania for Halloween 2028.
In this episode, Michele Forto shares an early look at an eight-day journey through Romania built around the history of Vlad the Impaler, the real figure behind the Dracula legend. The adventure will take Robert and Michele through medieval towns, historic sites, Romanian folklore, and three special Halloween nights, including a celebration at Bran Castle.
But this trip is about more than Dracula. Michele talks about their longtime love of horror and Halloween, the opportunity to separate Vlad's history from the legend that followed, and how exploring a place shaped by history, folklore, and challenging landscapes connects with the mission of the Team & Trail Foundation.
The trip may still be two years away, but the adventure has officially begun.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
55
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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