There’s a certain type of person who can’t half-ass anything. The kind of guy who decides to climb the Grand Teton on a whim, rappels off a sheer face having never rappelled before, canyoneers into some of the most remote slot canyons in the American Southwest, and packs mules solo through the dark at midnight to make the opener. Justin Helvik is that guy — and somehow, impossibly, he’s also a 20-year educator who coached high school football and showed up Monday morning with a collapsed lung and six broken ribs, insisting everything was fine.
Justin and I go way back. He was with me on one of my early bear hunts. I helped him build the pole barn that would eventually house the mules he didn’t own yet. Life moves fast when you’re the kind of person who’s always got the next adventure already on the calendar.
In this episode, Justin breaks down his unconventional path from desk jockey to legitimate mountain mule skinner — and I mean that in the best possible way. We talk about what drove a guy with zero ranch background to go all in on mule packing, the gnarly wreck on a Montana mountain goat hunt that left him with a punctured lung and broken ribs (and how his mule, Bella, somehow knew he was hurt and carried him out of the backcountry gently), and what it actually feels like to go from being intimidated by stock animals to packing 80 miles through the Yellowstone Thoroughfare.
But this conversation goes deeper than mules. We get into the philosophy of adventure — what it means to chase that feeling of uncomfortable, why comfort might actually be the most dangerous thing you can do to yourself, and how stacking experiences over a lifetime is the only real way to build confidence that transfers everywhere. Justin talks about identity, ego, legacy, and what Lonesome Dove’s Augustus McCrae got right about living versus dying.
He’s also got a Substack — From Desk Jockey to Mule Skinner — that I’d encourage every one of you to go read. He’s a great writer, and the stories are even better on the page.
If you’ve ever thought about getting into pack stock, or you’re someone who’s wired to always be pushing the next limit, this one’s for you.
Episode Sponsors
Bridger Watch
This episode is brought to you by Bridger Watch — the smartwatch built specifically for hunters, by a hunter. Cody set out to build something better after getting tired of pulling his phone out 100 times a day just to check his OnX map in the field. The solution? Put the maps on the watch.
Bridger Watch is the best smartwatch for hunters, period. If you’re a watch guy and a hunter, this is built for you.
Website: https://www.bridgerwatch.com
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onX Hunt
onX Hunt is the gold standard for hunting maps, and they just dropped a feature that’s going to change how you hunt with a buddy. The new Share Location feature inside the Go Track section lets you and your hunting partner see each other’s real-time position right on the map — like a modern-day Garmin Rino, but actually good.
Fair warning: this only works in cell service, so it won’t help you in the deep dark. But for those in-service hunts? This is seriously cool tech that a lot of hunters have been asking for for years.
Website: https://www.onxmaps.com
Coupon Code: TRO
Timestamp Chapters
0:00 Intro & Sponsor — Bridger Watch
2:15 Sponsor — onX Hunt: New Share Location Feature
4:30 Welcoming Justin Helvik / Catching Up After Years
6:00 Justin’s Background: 20 Years in Education, Small Town Roots
9:30 The Path to Mules — Pack Goats, Failed HOAs & Bighorn Disease Concerns
15:00 Justin’s Adventure DNA: Ultra Races, the Grand Teton & Canyoneering
22:00 Olo Canyon & Going Where Few Have Been
26:30 The Moment That Made Him Go All-In on Mules (Elk Down, No Help)
31:00 First Experiences with Pack Stock — Intimidation, Trust & Mule Personalities
36:00 Horses vs. Mules: Self-Preservation, Bells & the Classic ‘Brakes Are Broken’
40:30 The Mountain Goat Hunt Wreck — A Collapsed Lung, Six Broken Ribs & Bella
48:00 What the Wreck Taught Him About Ego & Risk
51:00 How Adventure Changes When You Have a Family
53:30 Experience Stacking: The Philosophy of Going All-In Incrementally
56:00 Planning the Lee Metcalf Solo Ride & Why You Need the Next Trip on the Calendar
58:00 Wrap Up — Justin’s Substack: From Desk Jockey to Mule Skinner
3 Key Takeaways
1. Comfort is the real killer — not the mountains.
Justin makes the point that denying yourself the adventures you’re wired for is a slow death from the inside. It’s not just a mindset cliché — he’s seen it play out in his own life. When he’s not planning something that makes him a little nervous, he loses motivation everywhere else: at work, at home, as a father. The takeaway for listeners isn’t to go do something reckless. It’s to identify your version of “uncomfortable” and book it. Put it in the calendar. Then don’t cancel.
2. Stack experiences, not just kills.
One of the most practical threads in this whole conversation is the concept of experience stacking — the idea that every micro-adventure you complete is compounding interest on your confidence. Justin didn’t go from zero to packing 80 miles through the Yellowstone Thoroughfare overnight. He stacked years of backcountry hunting, mule rides with friends, short overnighters, and hard lessons (including that ER visit) until the big trips felt like a natural next step. If you’re waiting until you’re “ready” to do the hunt of a lifetime, you’ll wait forever. Start smaller, go often, and let the experiences compound.
3. The anticipation is half the experience — book the trip.
Justin and Cody dig into something that doesn’t get talked about enough in the hunting world: the happiness that comes from having something on the calendar to look forward to. Science backs this up — humans are wired to find joy in anticipation. The planning, the e-scouting, the gear lists, the late-night what-ifs with your buddy — that’s not just prep, that’s part of the experience itself. Don’t wait for the perfect conditions or the perfect budget. Book it now, figure it out along the way, and let yourself enjoy the countdown.
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