John Yost is a bit of an eccentric. He grew up in rural Wisconsin where he spent his summers exploring the woods and rivers near his home. He pored over the science, nature and outdoors section of the little local library learning all he could.
The day after he graduated high school he set off on a month long, 450 mile bicycle ride through the forests and State Parks in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
He majored in biology. Following in the footsteps of his Grandmother, John became a teacher. He taught high school science for 8 years. During that time, he lived in a tiny 12′ X 18′ log cabin he built by hand. The cabin was out in the woods about a mile from the nearest blacktop. He built it himself with nothing but hand tools and lived there for 12 years with no water or electricity.
He also boxed professionally and was on ESPN. Following a successful career as a fighter, he traveled the US giving keynote speeches on personal and professional success.
Tired of the rat race, John spent 3 years traveling the world on a shoe-string. He went to over 15 countries and his expenses averaged under $300/month.
He often stayed with locals as he traveled the countryside on a small scooter. He would just smile and start helping with whatever job he saw people doing. Despite no common language, he made lots of friends and was well received.
Somewhere in his travels he discovered paragliding, which is where you run off a cliff with an inflated parachute over your head. If things go right, you can soar to cloud-base. He loves flying and flew as much in one year as most people fly in 10.
He is an avid organic gardener and besides Christmas with his family, the thing he missed most about being overseas was having a garden. He also raises and sells red wiggler worms that make the best soil any plant could ask for.
Throughout his life John has been fascinated with nature and animals. As a kid he would do “survival stays” where he would go out in the woods with very little gear. By the time he was in college he was spending weeks at a time in the woods with nothing but a knife, a pan, and a blanket.
Out of over 10,000 applicants, John was one of 22 people who went to the final interviews for the very first CBS Survivor TV show.
Now John has “found his roots” and is writing a series of nature books for children. Expect to see 10 or 15 books in the series covering everything from dinosaurs to baby animals. He is also planning on writing a series on outdoor survival skills.
If there is anything you’d like to ask him about, you can contact him here.