National Park After Dark - He’s Okay, We Just Can’t Find Him - The Disappearance of Jaryd Atadero: Roosevelt National Forest

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

On October 2nd, 1999, 3 year-old Jaryd Atadero vanished on a group hike in the Roosevelt National Forest of Colorado. His father Allyn has been searching for answers to who (or what) what was responsible ever since. The search for Jaryd set off one of the largest search and rescue missions in the state’s history and has remained one of Colorado’s greatest unsolved mysteries.For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Athena Club: Get started with Athena Club today by shopping in-store at Target nationwide.BetterHelp: National Park After Dark is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off.Beam: Use our link and code NPAD for up to 40% off.  For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Work your magic There are certain moments in life that serve as markers Events that divide our worlds into befores and afters Some of these moments are joyous A kiss that marks the start of a union the first cry of an infant entering the world, or getting handed the keys to that dream home. We anticipate these moments.

We know they're coming, and we eagerly await their arrival. Others, however, are quite different. These markers don't have evenly. They rip, tear, and shred. The delineation they symbolize is a painful one. A doctor approaching with a somber expression, a police officer knocking at the door.

A tearful call delivering painful news. These moments aren't moments. They are explosions. They leave destruction in their wake and create a new reality no one saw coming and no one asked for. Afters that are shoved into our hands as we stand blinking in horror at what is now our lives as we manage to murmur, what the hell just happened and what do I do now? Welcome to National Park After Dark. I feel like this is going to be a sad one.

This one actually took it out of me a little bit, so maybe next time we'll be a little bit more upbeat. But yeah, this one is a rough one. It's one that I've had on my list for a little while to do, but I just kind of kept putting it off because it is pretty depressing. And just, I guess, as a warning, this episode does involve the disappearance and ultimate death of a child. So if you're not in the headspace for that, you're not ready for that. We'll see you next time. But just a forewarning. But yeah, of course, there's a book for this one. I read it. Cover to cover. It was a really special book because it's actually written by the father

of the child who went missing. So it's really deeply personal. But yeah, this is going to be the Jared Atadero's story and his disappearance in the mountains of Colorado. Oh, we haven't been to Colorado in a story in a while. No, and it's not actually within Rocky Mountain National Park. It's in a national forest that borders the park. Same thing. Same, same. So it's close enough. And yeah, let's just get right into it, I guess, unless we have anything to chat about. I don't think so. I think we're up to date on everything. Yeah, all righty. Godzilla, according to three-year-old Jared Atta Diderot was the best movie of all time. He found it amusing and enthralling and was show to his father, Alan, to pay attention. It was nearing midnight on Friday, October 1st, 1999,

and Alan was nodding off. But due to his son's enthusiasm, he happily finished the movie before tucking Jared and Jared's six-year-old sister, Jocelyn, into bed. The following morning, Alan dressed Jared for the day, slipping on his gray hooded sweatshirt over his dark brown hair, along with some blue sweatpants and white sneakers. It was a Saturday, but Alan was actually preparing to get some work done. He and his twin brother Arlen had recently purchased the Puder River Resort and were slowly making improvements and renovations to the property. Located about 30 miles up the Puder Canyon on Highway 14, northwest of Fort Collins, Colorado. The resort is nestled amongst Colorado's Rocky Mountains. It was early October. The Aspins had the

first glimmers of golden yellow in their leaves and the air held a crispness to it in the morning. Elk were in rut and black bears were supposed to. starting to gorge, preparing for their upcoming winter slumber, and Jared and Jocelyn were eager to explore. The resort was hosting a retreat for a local singles organization with a special arrangement. So basically, they volunteered to help clean and help repair, like kind of get the resort ready for the winter season in exchange for free lodging and some free time to explore the surrounding forest and mountains and canyon. And that morning, Alan had dropped off his children, both Jared and Jocelyn with a friend who was a part of that group named Janet, who was staying at one of the

cabins on the resort property. Before long, it was only like a couple hours, because this is early in the morning by like nine-ish in the morning. The children had already run back to where Alan was working and was pleading with him to let them go on a hike with Janet and a group of the adults. They were planning a trip to a nearby fish hatchery, which was like right down the road. Do you remember doing that like in school, like on school field trips? Yeah, yeah, I do. I was actually going to ask you if they had ever taken you on one because I can specifically remember being brought to one in the neighboring town and just being so like enthralled in what was going on, how many fish were around. I was like, what is this as a small child, you know? Yeah, it's a big deal. I feel, I want to say I went to the one in Nashua. Did you go to that one? No, I went to one in Milford.

Hmm. Yeah, it was a really long time ago now. But yeah, fish hatcheries, it's like a thing that's really interesting. I think for people of all ages, but especially children, because you get to, like, physically see what's going on instead of just like. I think they let us touch some of them too. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, you could like, yeah, I don't know.

What's up with fish hatcheries? But anyway, so. Like here, they were really excited. You're like, okay, and you're just like holding in your hand. It's like flopping around. So they're excited to go. They're asking. Alan for permission and he double-checked with Janet like, is this actually okay or are they

bullying you into like going? Are they tricking me? And she said, yep, it's cool. Like, we're happy to have them. So he agreed and the kids ran off to get their jackets before piling into one of the vehicles destined for this fish, destined for this fish hatchery. And just as they were about to pull away, Alan actually shouted to Jared, who was sitting in the back seat of one of the cars and said, hey, roll the window down. And as the little boy pushed the button that lowered the window, Alan approached. He stuck his head in, kissed Jared's face and said, I love you, be careful. And with a wide smile and big brown chestnut eyes gleaming, Jared replied, I love you too, Daddy. And then the car pulled away. And unfortunately, that was the last time that

Alan would see his son alive. Oh, my heart. I know. And his picture, oh, here, I have the book right here as a picture of his little face. Oh, he's so cute. He was just a couple months shy of his fourth birthday, but yeah, he is really a cute kid. And I don't say that lately because it takes a lot for me to think of kids. She's like, I don't even like kids in this one. It's cute. Yeah.

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afternoon and he went back to his small apartment, which was attached to the resort's general store. He kicked off his shoes and kind of collapsed on the couch. He put on some sports and just drifted off to sleep for an afternoon nap. And he was awakened shortly after by the sounds of some commotion coming from the general store, which was just on the other side of his apartment wall. And at first he was brushing it off. Like whatever's going on, the resorts manager, who was Alvin Butch Shonning. He went by Butch.

He was capable of handling it. Whatever was happening. He just wanted to go back to sleep. So he was kind of in this in between of like, should I get? get involved. Should I not? Like, I am the owner of the resort, but there are other people here to help me. And he was just in this like internal debate when all of a sudden this woman bursts into his apartment and just kind of stands there and is like looking really nervous around the apartment, not really making eye contact with him, but obviously distraught. She was one of the women

that had been a part of that original hiking group. And her eyes were darting around the room. Her breathing was kind of heavy and labored. And she was ringing her hands together just in a nervous kind of motion. And after clearing her throat, she finally spoke and said, Alan, everything is okay, but Jared had a little problem. And this is when Alan is now fully awake, full parental mode engaged. And he was asking all these questions, like, what do you mean? You know, I need some further clarification here. What does that mean? Yeah. And he was asking a bunch of questions, like, okay, so did he fall? No. Did he get hurt? Like, So she's just not saying anything. She's like, there was a problem. Silence.

Silence. And I mean, God, it's so hard because she has been just like elected this bearer of bad news, essentially. Yeah. You know, like someone's got to break the news to him. So he kept asking, did he break his arm? Like, did he fall? Is, you know, what happened? And she kept saying just like, no, no, no. And so finally he's getting pissed.

And he's like, all right, well, what the hell happened here? Where is he? And after a few more moments of fidgeting, she replied, he's okay. We just can't find him. So how do you know he's okay? Exactly. So it was then that Allen's world just broke apart. he immediately just gathered all of his things.

He grabbed a radio to communicate back to Butch at the general store. Because remember, this is 1999. And we're in the middle of Puder Canyon in Colorado, which even today doesn't have good cell phone reception. So they have this radio system going on. And he was about to go down to the fish hatchery. And it was right when he was about to leave that they informed him, hey, actually, we weren't at the fish hatchery.

The group had actually decided they wanted a bit more challenging of a lot. an outdoor activity. So they opted to continue further up the canyon about 15 miles. And the fish hatchery was like five minutes down the road. So they go 15 miles up the canyon to a trail called the Big South Trail. And the road that twisted, turned, and wound the canyon was pretty tricky to navigate even in the best of conditions and situations. But Allen blew through that road in record speed. They wanted a more challenging trail for a four-year-olds. Well, and as this goes on, on, there's going to be so many questions. And one of them obviously is that, but I think it's my opinion that they really weren't thinking about the children. They were like, okay, well,

they're here, but we're not going to cater to them. Customize. Exactly. Like, they're here, but I think about it when I worked in outdoor education. And I never worked with three or four year olds, but I did work with six and seven year olds. And those children are so small and sweet and tiny that, like, A hike you take them on takes a normal person five minutes and a group of six and seven year olds like 40 because they don't move quickly. They're distracted easily. It's just a three year old, a three, three to four year olds, those are the age where you are starting to climb on things, venture off on your own. One of my best friends, she has a three year old who, well, I guess he's just under three, but he has recently discovered how to unlock their front door and run down the driveway.

So I'm just picturing a four-year-old out in the middle of the woods for a more challenging trail. And I'm already like, oh, no. And that's kind of going to be the theme throughout this. A lot of like, oh, God. You know what I mean? A lot of questionable decisions. So he's whipping through this road, finally gets up there.

But during the drive is kind of when the, I mean, the shock was there. for a while, but during the drive, when he was physically on the drive, he started to feel the panic start to set in versus just like, what do you mean you lost him? You know, just like the situation started to get really real. And he was pounding his chest. He was screaming. And he kept saying, they lost my baby. They lost my boy. He screeched into the trailhead, jumped out of his car, and he saw some of the group members, because there was 11 adults in total. So some of them were at the base of the trail, obviously some had returned to the resort and some of them were still on the trail. You know, this is kind of everyone's scattered around. He saw them near the trail entrance,

blew right by them pretty much, you know, and he was, he wanted his feet on the ground. And he truly believed that he would be able to get to the trail, yell out to Jared, and he would be found. So he goes on to the trail, starts shouting Jared's name and every nickname that he had ever called him. And Alan had never been on this particular trail. And he was a little bit of a trail. And he was a immediately taken aback by the decision to bring both of his children here. Located within the Roosevelt National Forest, the Big South Trail is generally considered challenging with a 1,700 foot elevation gain, and it's 13.7 miles out and back with an option to continue on to a different trail called the Puder River Trail that provides access into Rocky

Mountain National Park. So this is not like a nature trail, you know, like that you were describing with your kids for outdoor education. This is a hike. And it's a, this is a hike. And it's a, It's unclear whether they wanted, they had intentions to do the entire thing, which I feel like the answer is no if the original plan was to just go to a fish hatchery. Like, I'm not too sure that even the adults were prepared for a hike of this caliber, but either way, they were on it, whether or not they were choosing to complete it or not. Yeah, it's just with, again, with a three-year-old doing a trail like that and not having, I'm assuming, And I mean, today, people do do stuff like that, but they have the full backpack carriers where they have their kid in a backpack.

Right. And food and provisions. And like, this is just wild to me. Hatchery to 13-mile backpacking trail. This is a very on-a-wim decision, clearly. And just a little bit about the National Forest itself. The Roosevelt National Forest is located in north central Colorado and is administered jointly with the Arapaho National Forest and the Pawnee. National Grassland. The forest encompasses a mountainous area of the foothills on the eastern side of

the continental divide includes the upper valleys of the Cache Laputer and Big Thompson Rivers. There are forested areas along both sides of the Puder Canyon and it encompasses the north and east sides of Rocky Mountain National Park. The Roosevelt National Forest began on May 22nd, 1902 as part of another National Forest Reserve, the Medicine Bow Forest Reserve, and it was renamed the Colorado National Forests in 190. Today, we know it as the Roosevelt National Forest because it was later renamed in 1932 to honor the president. It has a total area of roughly 814,000 acres and has six officially designated wilderness areas lying within the forest that are part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The forest is beautiful and so is the trail. And because of that, it's a pretty popular one despite it being challenging.

It dips, twists, and climbs amongst the aspen and pine and runs along the waters of the Pouda River. But it can be dangerous. There are sections of the trail that measure only 24 inches wide with steep drop-offs with loose shale on either side. Shut up. I cannot handle this. I feel like every parent is screaming right now. I'm not even a parent. I know.

I know. Well, and the other thing is the other thing about this, which is pretty obvious. but this was not Allen's decision. There's something about it that adds another layer to frustration and complexity because he didn't okay this. Right. This was completely out of his control. He likely would have made a completely different decision or not allowed it to even happen.

So just having this happened because of something that you weren't even involved in, it's really hard. And he speaks about it in the book as well. But yeah, if you want to look up, I know all trails isn't everyone's favorite, but I use it all the time. If you want to look up the Big South Trail on all trails, you'll see it. I mean, it just doesn't look like a trail. It looks like a trail I would want to go to, but I wouldn't bring, you know, any of my nephews on or a small child. What's it called again?

It's called the Big South Trail. And it's rated as hard on all trails. Oh, yeah, I found it. Looks beautiful. As I mentioned beforehand, up until this point, Alan really. genuinely thought that it would be kind of a simple turnaround. Yes, it was stressful right now and he had a lot of anxiety. He was worried, but he genuinely thought that not that much time has passed, how far could he have really gone, also coupled with the fact that he had never physically been on

the trail and didn't really have a good mental picture of this actual location. But now that he's on there, he's calling Jared's name and he's looking out at this vast, huge expanse of the forest, the raging river. and he just sees like parent vision, like all of the potential hazards and things that could have gone wrong. And just the scope of how bad of a situation this could potentially turn into, immediately he got really concerned and didn't think that it was going to be as simple as just running out and saying his name. Thankfully, Butch, his friend, the resort manager, had called the sheriff's department as soon as Alan had left, which Alan didn't request him to do. But he immediately was thinking, you know, Jared is missing. There's going to need to be some extra support here. So help was already en route in the form of members of the Larimer County Sheriff's Office

and search and rescue teams. By the time Allen was back to the trailhead, sheriff deputies led by undersheriff Bill Nelson were organizing and talks of getting a dog team on the ground were already underway. So thankfully, because of Butch's call, things were already expedited. Alan met with everyone and watched his people geared up and headed out onto the trail. Don't worry if he's up there, we'll find him, said one of the search and rescue team members as he put a hand on Alan's shoulder. The deputies were questioning everyone who was coming off the trail, and this included

two fishermen. Yes, they said, they had seen a boy matching Jared's description. Several hours earlier, they had been fishing in the river when a young boy approached from the rocks on shore. He was carrying a stick and banging rocks with it, and he was calling out to them. His eyes were big, and he was pleading, asking, are there bears here? And the fisherman replied, go away, you're scaring the fish. To a three-year-old next to a river.

And they watched as the little boy turned and disappeared back into the tree line. And that is the last sighting that anyone had of Jared alive that we know of. And at this point is now kind of when details of what really happened started coming together. And there are still questions, of course, it's kind of murky. But at first, Alan, he was just in such a rush panic. He's like, I'll figure out the details later. I just need to know where he was lost and I need to get there. Now he's starting to understand as he's speaking to everyone that basically what happened,

the story goes, is when the group of the 11 adults and two children arrived at the trailhead, they took off as one big large group and at some point shortly after that they divided into two smaller hiking groups with an all-adult group leading and then the group with Janet, the chaperone, the original chaperone, and the remaining adults and of course Jared and Jocelyn were in the group behind. Jared had taken off ahead of that group behind the first to catch up with the first one. He was kind of running back and forth between the groups on the trail. Okay.

And then at some point he ran up to the first group past them and no one stopped him. And one of the group members in that first group actually later admits recalling that when Jared kind of blew by their group and disappeared in front of them, she said to herself, someone really should be watching that little boy a little closer, but didn't do anything about it. But didn't watch the boy a little closer. Mm-hmm. And it was a short while later when the two groups were joined on the trail for a break.

they noticed that Jared was not with either group. And the adults, obviously very concerned, started searching for Jared for about an hour until they decided that some people from the group needed to return back to the resort to inform Allen of the situation. So it's been at least, you know, an hour to an hour and a half that Jared has not had any eyes on him from the original group that he was with. Yeah, I mean, it kind of sounds like who knows how long Jared was actually missing before anyone noticed.

Because no one was paying attention to him. With dwindling daylight and not much left for him to personally do, as operations took over the trail, Alan was sent home. He tearfully notified his family and Jared's mother Angie of the situation and laid awake until sunrise. By the next morning, Sunday the 3rd, Jared's story had spread and was splashed across headlines of local newspapers. Friends and family reported later, actually hearing of Jared's disappearance that day,

while they were abroad in Germany and in South Korea. Like, this was fast-spreading news. Around 8 a.m., Allen and Jocelyn were outside of the resort when they heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter. The UH-1-H-1-H-H-Eewy helicopter from the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was carrying five people on its way to join the search underway on the mountain. It was carrying four members of the Air Force and a man named Mark Sheets, who was a Larimer County search and rescue member.

Temperatures had dipped the previous night to 25 degrees Fahrenheit because we're in the mountains in October. But everyone was holding on to hope. Jared was dressed warmly. He had, you know, I mean, obviously not ideally, but he wasn't in shorts and a t-shirt. Yeah. And they were just obviously holding out hope. So it was an all hands on deck situation. And as the helicopter flew over, Alan jumped and whooped as it passed overhead and he had this huge surge of renewed hope. hope, you know, he's like, there's got, there are like 200 volunteers right now on the ground. We now have searching, search assistance from the air. He really was feeling a lot of hope and gratitude for everyone and for their help. Oh, and I also forgot to mention there was also dive teams already. Oh, for the water.

Well, from the pictures, it kind of looks like there's a fast, fast moving river that's along this trail, too. There is. The Pouda River. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And there are, I mean, it floods over parts of the trails at certain times of the year and it can make for some complex river crossings and which obviously is mostly in the spring time frame when there's a lot of snow melt. But either way, it's a hazard for a three year old. A three year old, if they step into it, that's it.

You know, especially three year olds can't generally swim. At this point also, there were calls that were flooding in because the story had made headlines. And there were people from across the state and beyond in neighboring states who were eager to lend their services. From expert navigators, retired Army Special Forces members, people who had tracking and sent dogs that were willing to lend their help. And even psychics called in with whatever information they were wanting to lend. News crews began flooding the trailhead parking lot and they were spilling out into Highway 14. And the story was gaining traction. And at this point, while the search was moving forward, Alan attended a group prayer service that was being put together by the resort because the singles group that was there that weekend was a Christian singles group.

And obviously they felt pretty bad about the situation. So they hosted this service for him while searching was underway. And he attended it shortly after. His phone rang. And it wasn't the news he had been praying for during that service. the helicopter, while descending for a closer inspection of Jared's last known whereabouts, had crashed. Jesus.

Mark Sheets remembers the incident saying, quote, I said on the intercom that we needed altitude now, and I remember the co-pilot saying, I know, but I can't. We are going in. To me, that was code for brace for impact. Mark Sheets was the only crew member not in a seat. Instead, he was on the floor with the door open. and he watched as the rotors hit the tops of the trees and pieces of the helicopter shot into the forest. He tried to shut the door of the helicopter, but a severed tree limb came through

it and struck the Air Force doctor on board, fracturing the doctor's eye socket. Sheets then said the helicopter continued to disintegrate while it crashed into the mountainside and the fuselage was splitting into three different pieces as it crashed across the entire trail. The jet engines that were still operational continued to run for several hours after the fuel ran out, and it was a big concern that it was going to explode. The Air Force crew was able to get out of the helicopter, but Sheets was trapped. Nearby search and rescue members ran to the downed helicopter, kicked in a window and managed to pull sheets out, who was at this point unconscious, and he suffered a severe concussion, a 13-inch gash in one of his legs

that his left beamer had been sticking out of the wound. He had a compound fracture, his femur. And he also suffered three broken vertebrate in his lower back and a broken shoulder. And the other members of the group obviously had injuries as well, but they were able to physically remove themselves from the crash. So everyone lived, thankfully. Everyone survived to that. Wow.

Yep. Everyone survived. But the search for Jared immediately became a rescue operation for the helicopter crew, which thankfully was successful. And obviously all five people while they sustained some injuries. some more severe than others, they all lived. And by the end of the day, obviously an emotional roller coaster, there's a lot going on. But Alan had actually given his first public interview, which is he, I mean, I can't even describe how he goes again into a lot of detail in his book,

but can you just imagine being in front of all of these dozens of reporters shoving cameras and microphones into your face and your son is missing and you have to give a public statement? it's just, it's a lot. I can't imagine having to do that. He was also assigned a victim's advocate and received immense support from his coworkers at Deer Creek Middle School out in Littleton, Colorado, which is near me, who provided coverage and any assistance they could offer. So they're like, don't worry about work.

Obviously, we got you covered. Like, let us come up and help you and assist you in any way that you can. And at the time, so this is 1999 and this school was only about five miles away from Columbine. So the support from like the teaching community to other teachers and things was really high at that point. So he felt really supported by them. And it was at this point where a lot of his friends, because this is, you know, the weekend is starting to wind down. And it was then that many of his friends from that group that was originally there at the resort began to leave. And I didn't write a lot of quotes from the book in this episode, but I did write this one because I thought,

it was very poignant and I thought it was really relatable. And he writes of people starting to leave and kind of go back to their own lives and things. He says, quote, those who had been on the hike with Jared began leaving. Their lives awaited them in Denver. And as much as they desired to stay and help, it was time for each of them to return to their real worlds. I was nothing more than a terrible accident on the side of the road of life. And people were slowing down to look, but the road ahead is what waited for them. Each of them slowly passed me. My point is, sooner or later, we all have to deal with grief in our own private way. There is no escaping it. No matter how bad a person may feel, there's no way for another to truly experience or share that particular pain. For the most part,

the journey is a solo flight, and each of us should be prepared when our number is called. And it's just my heart broke for him in that, especially when I read that because it's so, so fucking true. It's like no matter how bad someone feels for you over a situation, like they have their own lives to get back to, you know, and you're just stuck in this like alternate dimension world burning on fire. And people are like, God, it's so sad and I wish I could help it. Like, I need to go back to my own life, you know, and you're just stuck in this. And I just, I felt like he wrote that so beautifully because it's so true. So now the following morning, Monday the 4th, began much the same with no good news. searches had come up completely empty-handed all weekend.

Family members began arriving to the resort because remember he called, you know, his family from out of state and Angie, who was Jared's mom. And they were all eager to participate in the search. They wanted their own boots on the ground. And Alan gently tried to explain that he was at the resort and not on the trail by instruction. He was told he wasn't allowed on the trail. And while this was frustrating, bordering on infuriating for Alan, lawnfew. enforcement was in a really tricky spot. No one had any solid idea of what exactly happened to Jared. And because of this, they were put in a pretty paradoxical situation. They were looking at all

the possibilities on the table and they were focusing on was he lost, taken by an animal, taken by a person. Did he fall into the river and drown? And while they were considering all of these possibilities, no evidence had been found at all. So they were doing their best to maintain the scene as best they could, but that was really tough because they were essentially treating the area as a crime scene, trying to leverage control over the area by limiting the amount of people in and around it, trampling through, destroying any potential evidence that was there. However, at the same time, there was no evidence of foul play, meaning that there was a very real possibility that something happened regarding either the elements or drowning or a wild

animal being responsible, in which case you would want more people involved. want more boots on the ground trying to search for him. So it's kind of like this, just stuck in in this really difficult situation on how to control the environment, which we talk to both Andrea Langford and Delia Diambro's about regarding crime scenes in an outdoor space and how difficult that is to maintain and operate in. Because they're forever changing. They're weather dependent people. There's a lot of things that go into it versus an indoor space. After a lot of back and forth with the leaders at the command center set up at the trailhead. The following day, the family was finally allowed to participate in the search because there

was a few members of the Adadero family that were quite adamant about being able to participate in a search for their own loved one. They climbed up the trail, shouting his name, and tearfully scanning the woods. Allen approached a bush that was marked with a bright orange marker, and it had a stick leaning up against it. And the sergeant informed him that they believed this was quite possible. possibly that walking stick that Jared had been using when he was spotted by the fisherman because it was very close to the area where the fisherman spotted him and he had that stick

and he was banging it on the rocks. Oh, yeah. So Alan took the stick and clutched it close to his chest and continued on the trail. By that day, which just for reference were now Tuesday on Tuesday the 5th, the trail had not only served as a command center, but was now a complete media circus. reporters from all over the state and beyond were crowded into this parking lot and obviously spilling out onto the road. And while Alan does say they were, he had a lot of positive interactions with them. A lot of the reporters were as respectful as they could be. Some of them even cried

with him because they were parents themselves and they were doing their job, but they understood the sensitivity of the situation. It was still a completely overwhelming situation to be in. As Jared's story spread, tips came pouring in. Statements from people. people saying they heard a scream on the trail that day he went missing, to a couple swearing, they saw him at a McDonald's in Florida, to a ranger from Mesa Verde National Park, adamant. He had seen a small boy matching Jared's exact description the day after he vanished at Mesa Verde National Park, which is a long drive, but a feasible one. So if he was abducted by someone and driven straight to Mesa Verde, the timeline could potentially

match up. It's a stretch, but it's just illustrating. It feels like a stretch. It also, I mean, maybe. I don't know. I wasn't there and I have no idea what happened. It kind of feels like a stretch and seeing his picture. He looks like a lot of little boys, you know, like he's not, I feel like his description

could match a lot of children. Yeah. It's at this point in his book that Alan expressed a lot of frustration with the sheriff deputies and other leaders of the operation. From his perspective, many of the offers of help, like those additional volunteers, we talked about, the dog teams. There was even a group from the area of a local indigenous nation who wanted to volunteer to hold a prayer service,

and they also offered their expert tracking expertise, as well as various tips that Alan felt weren't being properly followed up upon. In interviews, I watched also from years later, he does acknowledge that, yes, they were trying to run a tight ship, they can't just let anyone and everyone come in and help and lose control of the situation, not wanting to have, you know, too many cooks in the kitchen type of thing.

But from a father's perspective, anyone to help look for this three-year-old little boy lost in the woods or anyone with potential information regarding his potential whereabouts should be accepted and given proper acknowledgement in time. But he felt that wasn't happening. And he saw on many occasions the sheriff's department just kind of ignore people and be like, oh, yeah, we'll contact you if you need anything. and then they never wrote down their information to contact them. That's so frustrating.

So he was being rubbed the wrong way. And he was also trying to be as helpful and I don't want to say agreeable, but, you know, these are the people in charge right now. He's trying to trust them in their process. Right. Exactly. But he was also extremely, extremely frustrated as he was seeing things unfold the way that they did. And there was also a lot of breaks in communication.

He felt as if he wasn't being kept in the loop like he should have been. For example, just one of many, there was. is a few instances where he found out about decisions regarding the search or press conferences that were being held or other changes or developments in Jared's case through third parties like the media. Oh, no. Instead of directly through them. If you're finding something out through the media, then there's a communication that's

severely lacking. Yeah. It was, it's just kind of like, what do you mean? They're holding them. Why does the media know? Why does the media know? But me as the parent of the child who's missing has not heard this. before. Yeah, so he felt pretty slighted in that way and frustrated in that regard. Yeah,

rightfully so. That evening, Alan was back at the resort, closing the store when a man came in looking for a drink and some snacks. When he went to the register to pay, the man began openly discussing the case and its current operations. Alan thanked him for all his efforts to find his son, and the man, who was named Willie, was taken aback because he didn't know that he was talking directly to Jared's dad. He just thought he, you know, everyone knows at this point in the small community what's going on. He didn't know it was actually Alan. But when he did realize it was Alan, he went into further detail. He actually had extensive tracking experience and was on the trail searching over the last couple days. And he pulled out a piece of paper and started hand-drawing a map

for Allen. And he outlined the current search area and detailed and labeled the trail in particular campsites like points of reference on the trail and what was going on. And he glanced up to meet Alan's eyes and explained that he had found information that indicated Jared had wandered off to the east away from the focused search area. And he drew that on the map as well, kind of like the area he thought that Jared had wandered off into. But he explained that his suggestion to direct the search in that direction had been shot down. Why?

Because he's not a part of the decision. and the people who are making formal decisions. Another added frustration for Allen. And the following morning, after Alan made an appearance on Good Morning America, because that's how big this case is getting, he made his way back to the trailhead, and it was buzzing with commotion. As he approached, he heard bits and pieces from people, you know, conversations,

but one word kept getting repeated, and that was Cougar. So his blood just runs ice cold. He has no idea what the fuck is going on, because no one has informed him. and he was just on national television. And he goes to Willie, who he had just talked to the night before about the map. And he had just finished speaking to the sheriff. So the sheriff's walking away.

Willie's standing there. Alan approaches him. And Willie informed Alan that he was out on the east side of the trail again, where he had thought that Jared had wandered off to. And he was following the prints of a small shoe when the shoe prints disappeared at the intersection of Mountain Lion Prince. And Willie was frustrated because apparently when he was explaining his findings to the sheriff, as soon as he got to that point in the story, the sheriff disappeared to the media

to release the new information. But that wasn't the entire picture of what Willie was trying to explain. Because Willie went on to explain to Allen that, yes, he did follow the tracks. And it was clear to him that even though the shoe prints disappeared at an intersection where there were mountain lion prints on the trail, he was almost 100% confident that the mountain lion never encountered the boy. There was no blood, no scuffle or drag marks, no sign of a struggle. no rips or tears of clothing. There was no other evidence of any kind. It was just the prints that appeared and disappeared.

But it was completely too late because the media had already caught wind of the snippet that, you know, the sheriff shared with them and ran with it. And by the next day, when Alan was preparing for an interview on the Today Show, he was being pelted with questions from reporters, from reporters, including, quote, do you find any comfort knowing that your son may have been attacked by a mountain lion? What a way to phrase that question. Are you comforting that your child was eaten by a mountain lion? How do you even respond to that?

I can think of a few choice words. But God, I mean, God bless this guy. He from every, because obviously I looked up those initial interviews that he was explaining in the book. Obviously, I wanted to kind of see play out. And just looking up in different news articles and quotes and stuff, the patience, this guy, at least publicly. had displayed is something it could never be. You know what I mean? But just to kind of sidetrack for a second, just a quick blurb about Mountain Lions,

because of course this is going to be a big player, I wanted to give some stats on that. According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, since 1990, and this is current stats of 2023. So since 1990, three attacks in Colorado have resulted in human death by Mountain Lion, and fewer than 20 people have died from such attacks in North America. in more than a century. So while it is possible, it's not super common. And these are only the attacks, obviously, that resulted in death. People get attacked more frequently in Colorado and throughout the North American continent.

But those are the death stats. And I did want to also mention I didn't write this down, but in several of the articles that I was, because I kind of wanted to get more information on the particular deaths, those three deaths in the state. And one of them kept coming up that I had read about before. in the book we both have, called It Happened in Rocky Mountain National Park. And one of them kept saying one of them was a 10-year-old boy in Rocky Mountain National Park. And if you read the article in our book, yes, the boy was attacked by a mountain lion, but his cause of death is actually asphyxiation because he threw up during the attack. So,

yes, a mountain lion attacked him, but his actual official cause of death is not by mountain line, if that makes sense. Yeah. So it's grouped, it's grouped in the, there because obviously he wouldn't have asphyxiated if he wasn't attacked. But I just thought it was interesting that in that book is the only time I ever read that clarification versus all the articles. Yeah, like the articles are like death by mountain lion and like click. Period. And click bait stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And if you're interested more in mountain lion stuff, I did have to shout out a book. It's called Beast in the Garden, the True Story of a Predator's Deadly Return to Suburban America. And it's centered around Boulder, Colorado. And it's really,

really interesting, and if anyone wants to read that, you should. Anyways, back to Jared. On Thursday, October 8th, much to the dismay of the Attero family and several of the dedicated searchers like Willie, that was deemed the final official day of the search. And the next day, many of Allen's family flew back to their respective homes. So Jared went missing on the second. It is now the eighth, so it hasn't even been a full week. Days melted into weeks and weeks into.

to months, and Ellen did his best to return back to his life. But how could he ever do that? He gave all of the interviews he could to keep Jared on the minds of the nation, did everything in his power to facilitate additional searches with various avenues of support. But he was held back with a lot of different red tape, and it was very difficult to continue things on his own accord. His frustrations continued with the mixed messages and lack of communication from deputies, and he went through the emotional roller coaster every single time he received a call. Several times he was informed that they had found something, and there was all this hope and dread and relief and debilitating sadness. Each and every time he was alerted of something, only to find out

that it wasn't Jared after all or connected to Jared in any way. So it's just this like high, low, high, low, and this is months and months after. All day, every day, his mind would cycle through all the possible scenarios of what happened to his son. Did he wander off and he was unable to find his way back to the group? Did he slip and fall into the river and drown? Was he taken by someone? Did the mountain line get him after all? And as the one year anniversary of Jared's disappearance approached, Susan, who had actually been Allen's victim support advocate, the year prior, she reached out to him with an offer to hold a service for Jared at a local funeral home and sensing Alan's pain and hesitation to hold a service at a funeral home when there was

no concrete evidence or proof that Jared was actually deceased, even though he knew in his heart and in his soul, it's just, it's hard to do that. You know, like, he could still be out. You never know. It's kind of closing the door on your final hopes that he might be alive when you do that. Right. But Susan was quick to clarify. that she just wanted it to be a commemoration,

kind of a way to reintroduce Jared to the community, and they were going to call it a service of hope and healing. And Alan was profoundly moved by the gesture he attended and brought along some of Jared's favorite toys along with photos of his son that were projected on a large projector for the ceremony and service. He spoke tearfully about his little buddy and was thankful for all of the people who still held his son

at the forefront of their minds even a year later, because as we know, the news cycle goes quickly and stories get lost and forgotten about in the public mind, but for the people, it's obviously the center of their worlds. And it's hard to see the world to move on and forget about you and your situation. Two years later, Allen was honored to be able to testify in front of several lawmakers in support of a new proposed law. Introduced by representatives and centers from Pueblo and Denver, Colorado. the new law would establish the emergency alert system in the state, which would broadcast media statewide when the abduction of a child was confirmed. It would be called the Amber Alert. In April of 2002, when Governor Owens signed the Amber Alert into Colorado law, Jared's sister Jocelyn was sitting right by his side.

It wasn't until Friday, June 6th of 2003 when Alan was shopping for furniture with a friend when he received a call that would bring the beginning of the end. The sheriff had called to inform him a pair of hikers were on the Big South Trail several days prior when they found what they believed were Jared's shoes, pants, and jacket. Alan rushed home to access his email where the photos were sent for ID, and sure enough, they were the exact clothing items he had dressed Jared in on the morning of October 2, 1999. The sheriff went on to explain that immediately after the clothing was found and law enforcement was notified, A team was sent up to search for any sign of remains of Jared or any additional clothing items, but came up empty-handed.

The photos revealed that the blue sweatpants were missing a pant leg and were filled with several holes. There were tiny pieces of the blue material scattered around the entire area of where they were found, and this was due to birds and small rodents tearing them apart for nesting material. And you can see that on the photo pretty clearly of the pants. I'm actually going to send this to you so you can see. exactly what I'm talking about just as we're recording this. And of course, I'll post it on socials as well. But those are the pants. And you can see because at first when you say the pant leg was, you know, here the pant leg was missing. There's holes all over it. Definitely could have

been a mountain line. It's very clearly just little holes, especially with all the material laying all around the scene as well. And the rest of his clothes are intact too, like his shoes, his little sweater. Wait, so is this pointing to that he was potentially a Well, here's the questions, because if you look close enough at those pants, not only are they kind of torn apart and shredded, the pants are inside out. Yeah. I was looking at the tag. Like that he took them off or someone else took them off. And the sweater, like you said, is very, in very good condition. And the shoes look like this is now 2003. So this is almost four years later. Those shoes look in great condition. They're still white. Like they were just taken off.

Mm-hmm. So, of course. this prompts a lot more questions. And Alan contacted a senior wild biologist from the state of California to discuss the possibility of a mountain lion attack because in his mind, he feels like the answer is no, but it's just, he's like, I don't understand like what could, what other explanation there is. Like, could this have been potentially due to a lion attack? And now he actually had photographic evidence of the clothing to support, you know, like this is what we're finding. bite marks and yeah and although he had heard from willie you know that he it was his opinion that it was not a lion attack he couldn't let go of that mental image especially when people are

asking how do you feel about that how do you feel about the potential of that happening to your son and the biologists agreed with willie there was no indication of a mountain lion predation at all there was no large rips and tears aside from the small ones on the pants obviously from the rodents There was no blood stains present. There was no bones. There was no scuff mark. There was literally no evidence of the body anywhere. And the news of the clothing discovery was leaked to the press.

And the next morning, Alan had to be giving interviews. And a week later, he was standing on the trail again. He, along with several of his family members, were being led by members of the Larimer County search and rescue team to the area where the clothing was discovered. Alan really wanted to go up there and just be in that space, be with, Jared in a way, just his final known location. And the location was another shock to everyone because it was atop a steep, rocky slope, a thousand feet off of the Big South Trail itself. And the slope was 40 to 45 degrees, and it was nearly 500 vertical feet up.

Like this is a, so it's not right on the trail. It's off the trail, which, okay, he wandered off the trail. He got lost. So it's a thousand feet off the trail. It's a steep inclined slope and it's at the top of the slope nearly 500 feet up. Seems like a stretch for a small child to climb up. Also, I just keep looking at this picture and his shoes, that they had been sitting out for four years.

His shoelaces are white. I know. And the location, which I'll also post pictures of the physical location where the clothing was found. Yeah. It's not under like an overhang. It's not in any sort of cave that would be sheltered from the element. You know, it's just, it seems very odd. And that's something that Alan talks a lot about.

And he even said he did an interview for the vanished podcast back in 2017 that I listened to. And he told them that he actually when they found, he saw the shoes. He had the same reaction as you. Like, why are these in such good condition? He went out and bought the same exact shoes and left them out. Just see what would happen? Yep. Yep.

He's like, I need to know. Like, I need to know. And it just doesn't make sense. It's not another thing that is just like another question in his mind. And the reason that this area wasn't originally a part of the search is because the experts at the time did not believe the area would fit the profile of where a typical three-year-old child would wander, which is true. Because as Alan was making his way up the slope to go up to this location, at times he was

crawling, you know, on his hands and knees. It's a difficult trek, you know. And he questioned how in the world his son. either managed to get up there, especially with another thing. Another thing. Jared hated wearing shoes and he never tied them. Like he didn't even have socks on because that morning when you got him dressed, he's like he hates shoes.

He hates having anything on his feet. He's going to protest if he even try to put socks on him. And so he just had his shoes just slipped on. So he's like, how in the world did my son manage to climb up this with his shoes still on, not slipping off? They're untied. And also the other thing is, It makes you wonder if he was taken by a mountain lion and dragged up the mountain.

They would have easily got caught in a rock and got taken off. There's no scuff marks on them. So there's just a lot of questions surrounding the shoes. But anyways, so Alan gets up to the top where there's still little pieces of blue material around. And he was taking a moment of just quiet reverence, having a moment with Jared. It's been a lot of years coming. And this is a really sad moment. And members of the team gently asked him,

if he would like to be part of the search team to search around the area further, like trying to include him. And Alan declined. He's like, I want my moment. I want to get off this mountain. And I just can't mentally do it right now. And almost immediately after he said that, a voice came through one of the radios on one of the search team members.

And it said, hey, is Mr. Atadero here yet? And they responded, yeah, he's right here. And they said, hey, well, we just found a tooth. At this point, Alan agrees. to go with them, of course. So the group, including Alan, make their way over to the location of the find. And lo and behold, a single tooth was laying on top of a log. And directly below it, the top of a small cranium was flipped upside down.

Alan requested to hold the tooth. And while clutching it in his palm and close to his heart, he tearfully and silently thanked his son for waiting to show himself until he could physically be there. The tooth, cranium, and clothing were all sent off to the laboratory for testing. And results came in to reveal, and again, disclaimer, this is 2003, not 2023, this is two decades ago. Obviously, testing wasn't as great as it is now. But at the time, it came back to reveal there was no DNA evidence of any kind, whether it be blood, tissue, saliva from human or animal. So no mountain lion saliva, fur, anything like that on the jacket, the pants, or the shoes.

There was no scuff marks on the shoes, like I mentioned before, which would indicate, scuff marks would indicate some. dragging, obviously. The testing also revealed there was no decomposition fluids, suggesting that Jared or something or someone took off his clothing prior to his death. And of course, there's no other, I will say right now, there was no other piece of Jared ever found other than a small top of his cranium. It's not his whole skull. It's just a top piece of his cranium and one single tooth. And that is it. It's so sad. And it also kind of makes you feel like he was potentially abducted and then return to the area he was abducted from just because of his clothes. Like, his clothes look so...

Yeah. When you say that they were out there for four years, his clothes look so new. Mm-hmm. Like, it's just so interesting because of what was found of his body. And at this point, obviously, the questions continued to pile up. There was even he made mention in the interview I talked about earlier, there was scratch marks on the top of his crania and no one has ever come up with a concrete answer to how those got there. He did say that he was contacted at one point by an anthropologist who was like,

I know exactly what those are. Those are scratch marks from being in a river. Like, you know, dragging across. Like the rocks. Rocks. But the location. And that would also like be an explanation for there are no other pieces of his remains. to be found in that area if they got. Because at first she was like, was there a flash flood? He could have drowned and his remains could have scattered over the years. But the area of where they were, there were, there were 500 feet. That would be, he said, he was actually kind of like,

he said something about like Noah's Ark being up there too, if it was a flash flood of that caliber because it was such a, it was the location, it wouldn't have made sense. It was unrealistic. It was unrealistic. So anyway, so that kind of squash that. He never heard from that woman again, and no one has ever really come up with an answer as to how those scratches got there.

And it's not from an animal? Not. Anyone cannot say concretely what they're from. Okay. Alan also received a mysterious call from an anonymous person stating that they worked for the sheriff's department, and they said the department wasn't telling him everything, and that was it. Like, when it comes out, when the truth comes out, I'll be here to back you up, but they're not telling you everything.

And then he's like, please, who are you? What is it? Never got any more information. Never heard anything else. And then someone messaged him on Facebook claiming to be his son. And then there was a woman that was adamant. She had proof that Jared was in a child labor camp. And these are all in the months and years after his disappearance.

It's just mental torment. Like the things that people do. Like a bunch of cooks are just coming out of the fucking woodwork to traumatize. Yeah. And at a certain point. he had to stop responding to every tip or suggestion or theory despite, you know, his heart wants. It's a lot after a certain time and to follow up on every single thing. And he even said in the book, like the woman who suggested that she had proof, like,

he even said, he's like, I knew that that was probably not legit. But I, how could I sleep at night if I didn't follow up on everything? Especially in those early months. Of course. And while he continues to wonder what happened to his son to this day. is eager to find out any answers to the questions that haunt him, it needs to be coming from a place of legitimacy and not speculation. Not speculation. And, you know, of course, it's not like he's like, okay, I don't want to know anymore. He's obviously open to it. He just, it needs to be legit.

He needs concrete answers. It can't be like, well, based on what they found, I think this might have happened. Be like, I found this and there's evidence that this happened, kind of thing. Right. In the wake of Jared's disappearance, the sheriff's department and search and rescue team implemented the Jared Atadaral Whistle Project, where members of the department traveled to several local elementary schools to share Jared's story. They spoke about trail safety, and at the end of each presentation, each student was gifted with a whistle with Jared's name on it. During one of these presentations at Jocelyn School, actually in Littleton, Alan was invited to speak. After his speech and the presentation was completed, he was approached by Congressman Tom Tancredo, who also spoke at the

Assembly about trail safety. And he informed Alan of his plan to introduce a bill to Congress, which requested to rename the Big South Trail to the Jared Atadero Legacy Trail. In March of 2000, the bill was introduced to Congress, and it was ultimately decided that while they would not support permanent memorials or changing of culturally significant place names, they did recognize that there was a terrible loss suffered by the Atadero family and approved some form of recognition that would honor Jared and that would help serve to prevent future similar tragedies. Jared's bill passed the House and the Senate and was signed into law by President Clinton on October 19th of 2000. And Jared's death also prompted Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado to declare September 8th as Recreational Safety Awareness Week in honor of Jared.

If you were to arrive today at the Big South Trailhead, you'd see a kiosk with information typical of many trails in the area, such as Leave No Trace Principles and Local Wildlife Highlights with a very special edition. Several panels with large, gray, white, and green lettering details child safety measures and tips to take into consideration before hiking with small children. These include keeping children in your line of sight, making sure they are wearing brightly colored warm clothing, packing them extra snacks, and giving them whistles. The information board goes on to instruct how to educate everyone in your hiking party regarding how to act if they themselves become lost or suffer. from the group, along with what to do to report a missing child or person. The top right corner reads, quote, on October 2, 1999, three-year-old Jared Attero disappeared while hiking with friends. He became separated from the group and searchers failed to locate him.

The Big South Trail is dedicated to Jared Atadero and his legacy of promoting safe outdoor recreation for children as signed into law by U.S. Congress on October 19, 2000. Today, Jared would have been 27 years old. And while the unanswered questions still tug at Alan Atadero's heart, he takes comfort in the signs that Jared has sent him and the blessings he has received by being able to spend a few short years together with him here on earth. Regardless of what happened to Jared in October of 1999 and wherever he is now, Alan is forever his father and his biggest advocate. And that is the story of the disappearance and ultimate death of Jared Atadero and the still unanswered questions surrounding his terrible heart-breaking end.

Man, what a sad episode. I know. I know. Sorry, everyone, especially people with kids. I mean, there are lessons behind it, for sure, and just a reminder for people to really watch their children. But man, that's so sad. I'm just so curious what his relationship is with the people who lost him also.

Yeah, he did say, so during that, I don't know about. his continued relationship with him, you know, in present day. But he did write, oh yeah, so the book, just for everyone curious, it's written by him and his twin brother, Arlen. And it's called missing the Jared Atadero story. A father turns tragedy into hope after the 1999 disappearance of his son in the Colorado Mountains. It has his little shoe on it. And he does say that during that prayer service that was happening in the first, like, day or two of the search that he was there and he said that a lot of people were like really hesitant because they were obviously part of the group that lost his son. And at first, Janet did not want to come because she was so

scared to face. And because Janet was the person, the original chaperone that said, yeah, I'll take them. Yeah. And that was a really close family friend. And she was really nervous and scared to face Allen, you know. And she did obviously come up to him and apologize profusely. And she's obviously so, you know, it wasn't her intention. Obviously, it's an, awful situation and she didn't intentionally do anything, but just the guilt, you know, that she and I'm sure a lot of the people who were there that day, Carrie, is probably, you know, punishment enough. But it's just an awful situation. And it also serves as regardless of what actually happened, you know, like a drowning taken by mountain lion exposure, abduction, whatever. It may have ultimately

Ben, it just shows how quick it can happen, like how fast a little kid can just disappear into the force and get lost, you know? For sure. Kids like they run around. I mean, I remember my dad lost me in an amusement park once for like five minutes and my mom had a meltdown, you know, when we were little, but I was found like very shortly after. Yeah.

It's awful. And there is also, because obviously, Alan has been a huge advocate. And for Jared's story in general, obviously keeping it on the top of minds of people. And he has done a couple interviews in recent years where he shows like, you know, he doesn't have, he didn't have that closure of like a body to say goodbye to and all of that. So he has the stick, number one, of that he had found on the trail. It's like leaning against the side of his fireplace. Yeah.

And he also has his son's skull that he keeps out on like a little shrine. near pictures and some of his favorite things. And, you know, he's like, some people may think this is weird, but this is all I have of my, of my child. I feel like it's equivalent to keeping the ashes of someone. I do too. I don't find it weird. Yeah. I think it's just like it's what you have left of that person. Yeah. So if anybody takes anything from this is, you know, whistles are a great idea. And I thought that was an awesome, like, legacy project that they came up with and just teaching kids to, you know, like, Like, not to victim, like, Jared had no idea. He was a child.

He was not responsible for what happened. Yeah. Right. But just to, you know, go over things with your kids as much as you can, when you can, as early as you can, especially if you're out recreating a lot in situations like that. And, yeah, that's the story of Jared. And hopefully everyone can have a good day now. Have a lovely day, everyone.

What a story. I know. I'm like, is there any ups good news? you have good news to share. Good news to share at the end of a... I mean, this story was definitely a learning lesson in that point for... I mean, even we have a lot of families that listen to this podcast. So even just kids who are listening to not run away from your parents and also the

whistle idea is a good idea. Yeah. Also staying... I think staying still if you are a kid who gets lost in the woods, like stay where you are, someone's going to find you. Versus if you run off and get even further lost, that's when you're going to find yourself in trouble. So yeah. But stay with your parents or whoever's with you. Don't run off. Yeah. That things happen. All right. Well, sorry. I don't know what else is. Yeah, I'm like a good news.

Good news that happened. Good news that's happening is I bought a house and I'm moving into it in a couple days. That's good news. Yeah. That is great news. It's so cool. It's like so perfect. I love it. I know. Like I know you love like the property and like the house obviously too. Like, But I don't know, it's just unique. It's so Vermont. It's very Vermont. It needs some love. I think I do, like I love the house.

I love the location. I love the property. The house itself needs some work and some love. And I think once that work and love is put into it, I'll love it more. How did Al respond to the painting? Did I ask you that? Oh, so I bought a painting while I was on our trip in Banff. We were walking around a farmer's market with all.

local artists and they had a lot of stuff but I was walking in this one aisle and down through booths caught my eye behind another booth was this painting of the three sisters in Alberta, Canada. And I saw it and immediately was like, oh, I love that. You're coming home with me. You're coming home with me. And I remember I said to Danielle, I was like, okay, so there's a painting down here I want to look at again. And we're walking down and I was looking for it.

And I saw it and I was like, oh, I have to get this. And it's not just a painting. Like, you have to describe. It's the size of me. And it's giant. It's giant. And it's beautifully done. It's this painting of the Three Sisters in oil paints, I believe.

And it just, it has texture. It has detail. It's contemporary art. And I just, I loved it. I gravitated towards it as soon as I saw it. And I was like, I have to have this. So it's not, I don't have it yet, but it should be shipped to me soon. And I did show Al, I texted him and I was like, what do you think?

And he loved it. Okay, good. Yeah. Because it is a piece. It's as statement piece. It's, it's going to be shown in the house. Like, you won't be able to miss it. But it will go really well too, I think, because my aunt, she does contemporary art and she does similar art to that one.

And she had offered to give us some of her earthy paintings as a home welcoming gift that I think they'll compliment each other really beautifully. So I'm excited for that too. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. That'll be cool. Oh, this comes out September 25th. Yeah.

That sounds familiar. Are we going to be doing our Boston show on September 25th? Oh, yeah. That's another good news. September 25th of Boston, if you're in there tonight. We'll see you. We'll see you. I'm like, that date sounds so familiar.

It's like, what are we doing today? I also feel like, and I could be wrong, it's either September 25th or the 30th, but it's my mom and stepdad's anniversary. Aw. Happy anniversary, mom and stepdad. Maybe. Maybe. It's close.

It's close. It's this week. Okay, so those are some positive things that we can end on. Painting, Boston Show, anniversary. Yeah. All right. So we'll see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

But watch you're back. Bye, everyone. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at npaddpodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our outsider-only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors,

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