[laughter] Well, come on.

What is it?

Well, we're on Cape Cod today.

We're going to meet a friend-- actually, three friends-- and take a hike through some beautiful forests, and maybe down memory lane too.

So stick around.

[music playing] Welcome to "Windows to the Wild."

I'm William Lange.

About once a year, my friend Tom Ryan calls me, invites me to take a hike with him.

Well, he's a best selling "New York Times" author, so I generally say, yes.

And he generally takes us for a walk on one of the beautiful trails around Jackson, New Hampshire, where he lives.

But not today.

Thomas, there's no mountains here.

No.

But you're going to feel it at your age.

We're in Cape Cod.

What's going on?

I've decided to get away from the north country.

Because I went from Massachusetts, came north, so we decided to come to Massachusetts.

[music playing] Tom and his dogs have been on Cape Cod for several weeks.

Every day they look for a new trail to hike.

We're walking, today, in the West Barnstable Conservation area.

We entered from Great Hill Road in Sandwich.

We're missing the mountains that we love to hike in New Hampshire, but it's nice here.

[music playing] It doesn't have the same views, but you're going to see through the forest, the woods, the trees, these scrub pine and scrub oak.

Yeah.

I'm bringing you a place I've called, The Witch Forest.

Why do you call it The Witch Forest?

You'll see it when we get there.

Oh, OK.

The trees actually remind me, as we get up-- they're so, as you talked about, the Cape is all sand.

Yeah.

And it's hard to grow here.

And so the trees that grow here are battered by the wind and by the ocean air, and they twist and turn, and they look like old witch fingers sticking up, I think.

Like a Disney movie on a dark night.

They do.

And you know, a couple of weeks-- a couple of weeks ago we were out here walking the power lines.

I come out here at night with my headlamp on.

And we start to walk one way, and I saw four-- I four sets of eyes on the ridge watching us.

And the coyotes down here are strong.

They're overrunning the place.

So I said let's go this way.

So we took another trail.

And in here, when you look at the map, there's 100 trails.

And so I decided we'd lose them.

Yeah.

We walked for an hour.

I kept turning back.

They followed us the whole time.

It was enchanting.

I wasn't ever worried about them getting us-- Yeah.

--because we're a pack of three, and I can sing badly, so that would scare them away.

We won't go too far.

And I'm bringing you to a place where we might see a couple of people.

I ran into a couple of people who-- I was talking to one fellow, and he says, so you're up from New Hampshire, the White Mountains.

I like that show that's always filmed up there.

It's that William Lange fellow.

He got the name right?

He said, I love that "Windows to the Wild."

And I said, well, why do you like it?

He said, well, if he can keep going at his age, I should be able to do something.

And then another fellow I ran into, same story.

So I said, to him, a funny story.

He's going to be here next week.

So we might see them on the trails.

Oh, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

Yeah.

It would be.

What's going to happen to those guys when I kill over?

They'll say, I met you.

Unless you'll kill over today.

Then they'll grab something for a memento.

[laughter] Oh, dear.

Oh, Samwise.

I knew you as a puppy.

I met Tom about 10 years ago.

We were with Atticus then, his miniature schnauzer, and the star of Tom's best selling book, "Following Atticus."

There was another dog, Will.

Tom rescued him from imminent death.

He was mostly blind and deaf, but loved to get outdoors with Tom.

Atticus and Will are both gone now.

But we have Samwise and Emily to lead the way.

There.

You ready to go, Kiki?

Huh?

So we are going to go down this way, Will.

OK. And I'm going to bring you to an observation deck, the only one in the area.

Doesn't have much of a view.

We can't see the ocean, but it's looking out towards the water.

You two, hey, calm down.

The dogs have been patient, but as you can see, their patience is running thin.

Time to move on because at the end of the day Tom, Samwise and Emily head west.

We're going to take about two weeks to get out to Kanab, Utah.

And I rented a house there, just outside of Zion for a month.

Yeah.

Beauty.

And then the month of March we'll be in another house in the Sonora Desert.

What a lovely day.

Isn't it?

Oh.

So Will, I've asked you here today.

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh.

I don't have much money.

A lot of people that I run into have questions about you.

Oh, yeah?

They say, is he really that nice in person?

And I say, I think so, but his producers don't.

Yes, that's right.

No.

No, but they all have questions.

And I realize that people have been watching your shows for how many years now?

Quite a while.

16 years now, something like that.

Yeah, it's been a while.

And the reason they tune in is not so much the subjects you're talking about, or the places you take them, because they feel like they have a friend in you.

Well, that's nice.

They do too.

Isn't this pretty?

In this morning light too, especially.

That morning, when I ran into him on the trail and we were talking, and he said, oh, man.

That show, that just-- it makes me happy.

Yeah.

And he said, if I ever had a chance to meet him, it would make my year.

So I said, well, I have a surprise for you.

How are you guys doing?

Well, thank you.

Come on up and meet Will.

Hello.

It is my absolute honor to meet you.

Pardon me for not rising.

I can't anymore.

Shall we shake?

Oh, I forgot.

Jesus.

Some things were not in vogue when we were younger.

What's your name?

I am Bruce [inaudible] Is this a conserved area here?

This is a town, a conservation land.

It's called West [inaudible] Conservation Area.

It's a little less than four square miles, between three 1/2 and four square miles.

And outside of that, it's become a very popular recreation area.

And during the COVID, of course, we've seen a lot more people in here, over the past year, than we had previously.

My neighborhood borders on the south side of this conservation land, so we have easy access, and just walk out the door and down the street and we're into the conservation land.

Yeah.

And what I like about it is I love being outdoors to begin with, but you have so many trails here, you can mix and match and create your own routine in any given day.

Emily, stay calm Well, William is an institution.

And he's an old soul, who just-- I find it very relaxing to watch your program and listen to you talk.

So it's certainly an asset as I get older because I need to relax more as I get older.

Yeah.

You do.

You're right.

[music playing] Earlier in life, Bruce and his family would get away to New Hampshire.

The outdoors made a lasting impression on them.

Yeah, my wife and I used to camp there when the kids were younger and various sites-- Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont-- Nice.

--New York, upstate New York-- Yep.

--Western Massachusetts.

Yeah, we-- the kids became-- it became very much ingrained in their being, so they've done a lot of camping on their own as they've become adults.

Yep.

That, I think, was a very strong influence on them, in terms of their caring for the environment.

Yeah.

Well, Will, you have made my year.

Oh, good.

And early too.

Yeah.

You can top it.

Well, they say as January goes in the stock market, so goes the rest of the year, so maybe we'll have a good year.

Is that right?

I may never run into Bruce again, but it sure was nice to meet him here today.

[music playing] So my question-- I have some questions about you.

Yes.

OK. That people have asked me.

And people would like to know more about you.

And you love to tell stories.

It's sort of-- I don't know if I love doing it.

I just do it.

It's like oral diarrhea.

That reminds me of a story.

Well, I told someone a story.

They said, how was your last trip out to Sawyer pond?

I said, it was great.

I said, Will has this habit of seeing people.

And the first thing he has when you see someone on the trail he says, so where are you from?

And where-- I told them we didn't really see many people on the trail that day.

Yeah.

I said, but we're walking back, and we're getting back, and we're walking along the river above.

And you're walking, and that trail doesn't have a lot of elevation, but there's a lot of rocks and roots.

Yeah.

I noticed.

[music playing] And we're walking along and you were watching your step and I said, Will, there's two people coming, knowing that would make you happy.

And when you looked up, you missed your footing, and you fell down to that little gully.

Yep.

And these two men are walking the other way.

They come up to us and they're horrified to see this nice, old gentleman having fallen, and having all of us help you get up.

And you're there, and it looks like you've broken everything.

And you're standing there at a crooked angle, and there's two men who look at you, and you say to them, so, where are you from?

[music playing] You didn't start out as a country boy.

No.

God, no.

Where were you born?

Albany.

Right in Albany Hospital.

And lived in pretty much downtown Albany my first eight years, fourth floor walk up.

I can still remember 2 steps into the vestry.

20, 18, 17.

And we were up 55 steps.

Now I climb 55 steps to the top of Mount Washington and I think, jeez, when did we do that?

Seventy years in between.

Seventy-five years in between.

But it was-- it was nice.

My great grandmother was my nanny, and she was a walker.

Boy, she was a walker.

A German.

[music playing] But every week she took us to the Museum of Natural History, in Albany, which was beautiful.

A stuffed elephant or mastodon and snakes and ostrich eggs.

It was great.

Did that make you a junior naturalist?

Yeah.

No, we just looked around.

She told us, never ever put anything in that elephant's trunk.

That's like saying, do it, I'll give you $1.

What did you put in there?

A little piece of dirt I thought surely would come to life and get me, but it didn't.

But that was until I was eight, and then we moved to Syracuse, which-- and we lived on the edge of a green infinity.

It wasn't developed yet beyond where we were much.

My buddies and I could walk all day out in the woods in the old abandoned quarries and farms and it was beautiful, just beautiful.

[music playing] So how long were you in Syracuse for?

Until 1950.

That was what, another seven years?

So you were 15?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I got in trouble with the law.

A very creative young fellow.

It wasn't quite as bad as it might sound.

My friend, also 15, bought a Saturday night special.

I don't know why.

The problem was our age.

We were too young to own a handgun, and probably too young to know better.

His mother, turned us in, and we went to juvenile justice separately.

Next thing I knew, I was unhappily enrolled in prep school in Massachusetts.

Where's that?

Mount Hermon Oh.

And we didn't have that kind of money, but they gave me a scholarship-- $400.

My mother took a job as a stock clerk to help pay the rest of the tuition.

And I never got to thank her.

I never thought to thank her for that because, boy, it changed my life.

A great place.

Really.

And I go back once or twice a year still.

I joined the Mount Hermon Outing Club, and that put me path to something much bigger.

So you did the AT?

I did.

And that was '55.

Back when you hardly saw anyone on the trail?

There were a few people, but not many.

And the problem was, the trail was at that Walmart.

We were constantly getting lost.

It was-- but my buddies were meeting me along the way, and they'd have camp set up sometimes, a supper going.

That was nice.

How long did it take you?

Four or five months?

79 days.

I was jogging most of the time.

Wow!

I didn't have everything on.

Just shorts and a very light pack.

And I'd meet up with my buddies at night.

That's speed hiking.

It was, yeah.

It really was fast.

But they're all dead now, every one of them.

You chose-- I asked you the idea of before the AT, when did you get into nature?

You say exploring the forest around Syracuse?

Yeah.

Being on the edge of the woods all the time.

I was into it, and the outing club, and it was a natural.

And after that, after that 55 episode, I went West with buddy, Sam, in 1956.

We were going to go West to seek our fortune and climb.

We had all our climbing gear.

He had an old '46 Plymouth sedan coupe.

But the back was huge.

We had a desk, typewriter.

We'd sleep back there and-- and guitars.

We had a great time.

A canoe on top, two bicycles.

We got to-- we climbed in Colorado for a while.

Some of the 14,000 footers.

And I wasn't feeling so hot.

Then we climbed in Wyoming for a while in the Wind Rivers.

That was-- oh, God, that was beautiful.

It was empty then.

It's not now anymore.

But I really was feeling lousy.

And when we camped up to the Grand Teton I said, I just don't feel like it.

I'm feeling quite-- I went to the doctor and I had a ruptured periodontal cyst in my jaw.

That's what was bothering me.

Luckily, it was an Episcopal hospital.

My father was an Episcopal minister.

Free.

So we decided we'd go home.

How old were you?

'56, I was 21.

And ready to go.

[mumbling] I moved to King Valley, New York, which one was where my roommate at Mount Hermon was from.

And I loved the place.

I visited him a few times, get climbing around King Valley.

It was just wonderful.

So I went there.

Lived in a lean-to about a mile from the end of the road.

And I got a job working in the woods, a carpenter or labor or stuff like that.

Pounding nails and lugging shingles all day, somehow led me to a great job at the Lake Placid Bobsled Run.

I loved it.

I was the announcer.

I can't think of a job better for you.

They hired me because I didn't have any accent.

You know the Adirondacks accent?

[mumbling] [laughter] But I loved it.

I had to work on the run shoveling and making slush and everything.

I had to work with the crew, but then when the run opened, I was all day-- clear the track.

Track is clear.

[mumbling] And I'd call the sled down, see.

It was great.

It was fun.

Yeah, so this was a simple hike for you, Will.

Yep.

A scenic.

Yeah.

So March of '59 I bought my first Beetle.

Brand new, Volkswagen convertible.

I remember the pictures you sent me.

And I didn't have a job, obviously, after the run closed.

So I got a job working construction in Syracuse.

That's where I met Ida, digging a hole in the street and she walked past.

And that was it.

And we got married about 12 weeks later.

Twelve weeks?

You didn't waste any time.

Ida and I raised three children.

We hiked, camped, and played together outdoors.

Good memories.

Those walks with great grandma Lange in Albany, as a kid, turned into a lifetime of outdoor adventure.

So, Will?

Yes.

After such an active life-- Yes?

Is this hard now?

Yeah.

It is.

What's your biggest challenges?

Well, not so many challenges because you just don't do so much.

You can't.

But I would like to still climb.

Like the 48, or the Adirondack [inaudible]..

It will be one or two, but it just isn't wise anymore, I guess.

And that's-- and I've seen it happen to some of my older friends.

They lost-- they lost their snowplow, so they had to quit skiing.

And I've lost my balance so, I had to quit skiing.

Skis are still there in the corner saying-- You can do it.

I'm saying.

I don't think so.

Acceptance is such a hard thing.

Yeah.

Well, it's easy when you think, OK, how many thousand miles did I manage to ski?

Lots.

That helps.

But that's living in the past, and you got to live now.

So I try to do what I can do still, which is I can still sit on the computer and bang it out.

And you still get out for a walk with Kiki.

Yeah.

And you get off your shifts.

Everyday, yeah.

Everyday.

I still get out because there are still more stories to tell.

People hike.

People paddle.

And along the way, they create their own stories just waiting to be shared.

[music playing] Being realistic-- Yes.

--you've been doing this for 16 years.

Yep.

You ever think about the end coming up?

Yep.

They're going to have to fire me though.

Well, I figure they're going to have to bury you because-- Well, there's that too.

Make sure you don't come back.

But if I die on the job, or if they bury me, there'll be a lot of-- you know how when a high school kid who was nothing but a pain in the neck, he mouths off in class, he drinks, he drives too fast, he gets killed all of a sudden-- god, he was a wonder.

He'd do anything for you.

Everybody loved him.

No, that's not true.

I know a TV host like that.

Yeah?

Well, I wouldn't want that to happen.

But looking back at your legacy-- Yeah.

--you saw, today, two men who see you on TV.

Yeah, that happens a lot, actually.

It's kind of fun.

It happened-- I heard in the northern presidentials last weekend-- Yeah.

--you were there, and in the parking lot.

Someone came up and said that a disabled person lives through your shows?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

What was that like?

That was great.

Just great.

They don't know you.

They know what they see on the screen, so you take it.

You take the complement of the other good wishes for what it's worth, and which is a lot.

And I really appreciate them.

They didn't have to say anything.

They just did.

You know, I'm nobody in particular.

Just-- No, you are somebody particular because this show, I mean, you get to show people places they wouldn't normally get to.

Yeah, that's true.

And you get to show them how beautiful New England is, and the different personalities that live there.

But I still think that everyone still tunes in, more so, to see your guest than to see you.

Oh, yeah.

No question.

I hope so.

Yeah, you're like an old friend who comes into their living room.

Oh, yeah.

Yep.

And one of the great things-- I don't know if this is our fifth or sixth time doing this now but, it's no different when the cameras are on than when they're off, which is what makes it so comfortable.

Well, yeah.

Some people look at a camera, and they see that bluish, black glass, and they get-- I see people waving.

Hi, they're saying, and I'm talking to them.

[music playing] Well, Tom, the gang's all here.

Yeah.

It started out just you, me, and Atticus.

Now look at us.

I know it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And was empty because of you, that I got her.

You remember?

Yeah.

Samwise and I. Yeah.

And then you-- Yep.

Yep.

And what an addition she's been.

Oh, I can't imagine-- I can't imagine life without her, but it's not very much fun.

Well, we've had a good walk today, and you're about to take off for the wild West.

Yeah, and wild time in our world right now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you'll be farther South.

I got to go home tonight, where it's still snowing by the way.

This may be our year without a snowstorm for us or for a big snowstorm.

Could be.

Could be.

But what a great time we've had.

I hope we'll have some more of-- more hikes together.

I think we will.

OK. And whether we do or not, I do hope you'll join us.

I'm William Lange, and I hope to see you again on "Windows to the Wild."

Support for the production of "Windows to the Wild" as provided by the Alice [?

jurien ?]

Charitable Trust, the Fuller Foundation, the Gilbert Vernae Foundation, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

[music playing]