National Park After Dark - Ranger Gone Missing: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

This week, Cassie's voice is out of commission so instead of a new episode, we're offering a sneak peak into one of our Outsider Bonus episodes, previously only available on through subscription platforms. Randy Morgenson was a man destined to become a park ranger - growing up in Yosemite and summiting extreme peaks as a child, his love for the outdoors was innate. When he accepted the job in the backcountry in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, he quickly became legendary for his ability to find missing people. But when he went missing, a massive search effort ensued. Despite the outpouring of effort, to this day there are still many unanswered questions.For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodesFor 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!Cremo Bodwash: You can find the new Cremo Men’s Body Wash at Walmart or Walmart.com.Marley Spoon: For up to 25 free meals, head to MarleySpoon.com/OFFER/NPAD and use code NPAD.Naked Wines: To get Naked Wines’ 6 bottle for $39.99 offer, head to NakedWines.com/NPAD and use code NPAD for both the code AND password.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Monday AI agents took over my work. And I absolutely love it. Chasing deadlines, writing status reports, updating stakeholders. Agents handle the daily grind now. They live inside Monday.com. So they see the full picture, my work, my team, the whole company. And I don't have to worry about the data. It's safe, which means I'm free to focus on the big stuff,

knowing everything runs smoothly in the background. It's completely shifted the way we work. Create your own AI agent in minutes on Monday.com. Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress.

Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to National Park After Dark. We have a little bit of a twist for you today. Unexpected twist because Cassie is under the weather. Say hello.

Sure. Sure am. I can tell my voice is pretty much gone. Yeah, she can't really speak. So that makes it really difficult to do an audio podcast. We just got back from one of our group trips, which was awesome. And in just the following days, Cassie kind of went downhill and she's being a trooper, but her voice is just pretty non-existent. So we're not going to put you through or her through an episode with that. So we came up with something for you in the meantime. And that is we're going to be releasing one of our outsider-only subscription episodes, which we released. Cassie handpicked it. It's a highly requested case that we get all the time, but only the outsiders know that

we've covered it. And when was it originally released? do you remember? I think it was February, 2003. So over a year ago now. Okay. And do you want to announce it? So this episode that we're going to be talking about today is the Randy Morgensen case, who was a ranger who went missing in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Parks. So we recorded it a while ago. My voice is good. You don't have to listen to me all neasily. But we just wanted to say that before we have it go. And then for everyone who is on our outsiders and has heard this before, our bonus episode will be coming out tomorrow. So you also get a new episode this week as well.

Yeah. And we also have a Trail Tales, which we are about to record. And it will be me telling Cassie all of the stories. So for this week, please enjoy a Patreon and Apple subscription, Outsiders only episode, The Disappearance of Randy Morgensen. And then we will see everybody on Thursday for a Trail Tales episode. A park ranger is a person who wears many different hats. Whether they are enforcing park laws, working the entry stations, giving park information at visitor centers, leading seminars, or rescuing park goers, their job is ever changing. But one thing remains the same. They all have been drawn to nature. A backcountry ranger takes their love for nature to new heights. Backcountry rangers agree to remain far from civilization, living off the simplest means.

in the most beautiful areas of the park for months at a time. They patrol the trails to monitor their conditions and remove any hazards. They patrol on foot, bicycle, and even horseback. They provide first aid to hikers in the backcountry, and often it is their job to know the landscape so well that they can locate the missing ones. They dedicate their lives to the outdoors. They're willing to live in the outdoors, and they're willing to die in it. Welcome to National Park After Dark.

I have a sneaky suspicion that I know what this story is about. Do you? Because I think this is a story. Is this one that's been so highly requested for the last year? I think so. People have been requesting. And someone even mentioned it on Patreon. They said, I really want you to cover a certain book or I have a feeling this might be a certain book.

And maybe it is. I am going to be talking about a ranger. who went missing. His name is Randy Morgensen, and he was in Kings Canyon, Sequoia area national parks. Okay. And the book that everyone is referencing, it's called The Last Season by Eric Blem. And it's a New York Times bestselling book. I used it pretty much for, I would say, 80% of my research for this episode. And it's a really good book, too. This is definitely it. Yeah. Cool. Well, I'm excited to give the people what they want. Yeah. Well, welcome outsiders. We have a another bonus episode this month. We're excited to talk about this one and this book recommendation. This is a

crazy book. It's a really wild story. And we haven't been to Kings Canyon in a while, which I'm excited about. And we actually might be going there this year. Yeah, we're trying to plan our own little trip to go hang out there next summer, or this summer, I guess. It's 2020. It's 2003. Holy shit. Yeah. Yeah. Pray for us. I have no idea when we're going to, we really want to do it. But we have like this Excel spreadsheet of our trips and then other obligations just with life. Yeah. And it's just like finding a little area of time to do that. Well, speaking of being super busy, I'm crazy busy right now because we're recording this. It's a Thursday night. And I have to wake up super early in the morning because I'm doing my very first avalanche safety course and backcountry winter course. Yeah. I'm excited for you because

like selfishly, I'll know that if I'm with you, which I am like 90% of the time when I'm like doing anything like big, you know, I'll at least know that you have the knowledge. It's like I could potentially maybe save you. Right. Yeah, exactly. Well, it's cool too because we've, we talk about it, like, don't go up Mount Washington in the winter. I'm doing it on Mount Washington. In the middle of January, we're hiking up to Tuckerman's Reveen, which if you're familiar with or not familiar with Mount Washington, one, it is the worst weather in the world has been recorded there. It's the highest peak in New Hampshire in the White Mountains. And Tuckerman's Ravine is kind of this big, like, it's like a half full.

It's a ravine, literally that people go up to backcountry ski and snowboard. And it's also an avalanche zone where people have died. Well, that's why you're going to learn there. And it's like the perfect conditions to just get thrown to the fire. So. And you'll be with professionals and all of that. Yeah. It will be really fun.

I'm excited. I'm also a little bit bummed because usually. I say there's avalanche conditions and stuff, but New England has been going through a really warm streak. So it's actually been like no snow, raining. I'm sure it's a little bit different up on Mount Washington. But even on Mount Washington, they said that there's not the amount of snow that there usually is up there. And they originally were saying, you know, bring your snowboards, bring your skis, bring snow shoes with you. And they emailed us today and was like, you don't need to bring your snow shoes or your skis.

Oh, wow. Yeah. So the conditions are quite different. Well, either way. So it's three days. Yeah, it's a three day course, eight to four. Okay. For three days.

Nice. I'll be hanging out up in the White Mountains for three days, which I'm excited about. Well, and you'll come back with a little more knowledge. I mean, we read about it all the time, and it's just nice to have the experience under your belt. So especially because you do a lot of solo hiking. Yeah. That's part of why. I won't do solo like avalanche territory, but it's part of why I wanted to do it is just to have, it

teaches backcountry stuff too. Nice. Well, we will be excited to hear about it. Yeah. And you get back. Yeah. And some of the people leading it are part on the rescue teams that are up there. So that'll be cool to meet people who are part of that. And I guess kind of, I don't know, just see their end and experience their real-time knowledge, which will be cool. But speaking of Rangers and Rescue people, I'll go into my story of Randy Morgensen because Randy Morgensen was a legend for the park service and he was a legend because he had a deep knowledge of the Sierra Mountains, but his ability to find missing people was unmatched. He was the person, he was the go-to for if someone went missing. And my story is going to be about his life, but it's also going to be about the fact that he was

one of the most renowned rangers in the park at the time for finding missing people. and then he went missing himself. Ooh, okay. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice.

Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is, waiting. Watch only on Prime. So before we get started, we'll go to the parks. And I'm going to talk about them a little bit differently because he was a ranger in Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park, which are technically two separate parks, but they're both in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.

And they have actually been joint managed since 1943. So if you work in one, you work in both. Gotcha. And part of this is because the parks, if you look at them on a map, they sit side by side. they share a border. And while they are adjoined national parks, they are very different when you look at it at a landscape point of view. Together, the parks protect 1,353 square miles, which is 3,500 square kilometers. And because of the large variety of elevations here, the park is home to very diverse populations of wildlife.

They have over 1,200 species of plants and over 315 different species of animals. Some of these animals include peregan falcons, black, black, bears and big horn sheep. And Sequoia National Park is known for groves of the world's tallest and oldest trees while King's Canyon has deep canyons, massive valleys, tall mountains, and waterfalls. Sequoia National Park was the second national park established on September 25th, 1890 to protect Sequoia trees from being logged. And Sequoia National Park is also home to the tallest mountain in the lower 48, which is Mount Whitney, standing at 14,4,494.5. which is 4,417 meters.

I remember driving by Mount Whitney with Ian when we were in the area. Yeah. You can't miss it. Can't miss it. Right above it all. Kings Canyon National Park was established 50 years after Sequoia on March 4th, 1940. And before it was known as Kings Canyon, there was a park there known as General Grant National Park.

It existed, but it was later expanded and renamed Kings Canyon National Park. So Kings Canyon is that national park. plus a lot more land. General Grant, the second largest tree in the world, is also located in King's Canyon. Both of these parks are famous for their hiking trails and backcountry adventure possibilities. The famous John Muir Trail is located here and stretches all the way to Yosemite. Because over 95% of both parks are designated wilderness, there are over 800 miles or 1,287 kilometers of trails. with 24 of the 27th Sierra Nevada Mountain Range summits being located within these parks. Also, because this park is so remote in so many areas,

there have been over 500 search and rescue missions that have been conducted inside these parks. Park ranger Randy Morgensen played a huge role in many of those rescue missions and eventually became the reason for one. So let's talk about who Randy Morgensen was. Randy was always destined to become a park ranger. Randy grew up in Yosemite Valley with his brother, mother, and his father. Both of his parents were avid outdoors people, but his father was just loved the outdoors. His father worked for the park service and spent every moment of his time that he could in the Sierra Mountains and exploring the lands of Yosemite.

When Randy was born, he shared his love of the outdoors with him. His parents joked that he was baptized in the Merced River of Yosemite because as a toddler, they take him on camping trips and warm up river. water with the campfire and bathe him in it. So they have pictures of Randy as a baby. They're like baptized in the Yosemite River. That's so cool. As young as eight years old, Randy's father had him climbing his first 13,000 foot peak, which is 3,962 meters. He would teach Randy about the types of flora in the park and how to identify them. He taught him to fish, camp, climb over crevasses, and how to navigate through the woods. He read him stories and poems of park rangers, which Randy's favorite poem growing up was always about the life of a park ranger and that poem was titled

A Ranger. As he grew up, he studied and read books about John Muir, often quoting some of his writings from memory. During his childhood, he formed a deep love and appreciation for the outdoors. How could you not? I mean, you're born into that. Yeah, born and raised. Doesn't get more true to that than this, you know? It sounds like a dream childhood. Idyllic. Yeah. Like grow up in Yosemite Valley. Okay, great. L-CAP in your backyard. Okay, I'll take that. After high school, he was accepted to Northern Arizona University, which was in 1966. He majored in recreation land management, which was actually a new major at the time, but only after about a year and a half of his studies at 21 years old, he took the spring semester off to work his first real job within the

National Park Service, which he was labeled as an ungraded laborer. But that was basically, it sounds like he had like a trail maintenance job within the park. Okay. I was like, what is that? Yeah, I think based on what I read, it sounded like it was more trail maintenance or like maintenance around some of the buildings. It was really just like any labor that needed to be done in the park, he was sent to do it. Okay.

But he had left school because he was missing the mountains so much. He's like, hey, I want to be back. I'll do whatever. But by fall, he did re-enroll in school and he continued his degree. And he knew that he wanted to work outside, but it wasn't until a hiking train. that he took that he figured out exactly what he wanted to do. It was the summer of 1964 and Randy hiked the entire 211 miles of the John Muir Trail, starting in Yosemite and ending at Mount Whitney.

It was on this trip that he met backcountry rangers for the very first time. He saw how minimally they lived, having their own cabin and living with the landscapes, and immediately he envied that life and he knew that that's who he wanted to be. Soon after that trip, he dropped out of college altogether and applied to be a backcountry ranger in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. While he awaited a response from them, he took up a passion for photography and documenting his adventures. Shortly after, after he had written in his application that he was born and raised in Yosemite and had been backpacking his entire life, even though he didn't necessarily have experience as a ranger, he knew the trails and he had so much experience that the National Park is. service hired him. I mean, of course, I'm not shocked by that. No, he's like, I live here. I've lived here. I've

lived off the land. I've been doing this since I was literally eight years old before that hire me. And they said, yeah, come on over. I mean, think about the other candidates, like how, like, you can't get a leg up on that experience. No, unless you've already been a backcountry ranger somewhere else. I mean, that is just, you're the guy. He's just exactly what they're looking for, you know, especially just starting out, just to have that level of knowledge and not just knowledge in general, but specifically within that area too. That's huge. Yeah, exactly. So he was accepted.

And on May 1st, 1964, he began the position as a seasonal backcountry ranger within the park. So he started working there in the summers. And once he got hired on this, he never looked back. He would spend 28 full summers within the park. And on the off seasons, he would spend his time in other outdoor positions. He worked as a Nordic ski ranger, a snow surveyor, and sometimes he even just worked as a backcountry winter ranger. Wow. So he just, that was the life for him. No breaks. Nomadic, for sure. Over the years, he learned the mountains and the trails better than anyone. He spent so much time there that he hardly ever even needed to use a map.

Often, along with his ranger equipment, he'd carry around a diary and his camera to document his time in the wilderness. His job as a ranger ranged from a lot of things. But one aspect, of his job that he became notorious for was his ability to find missing people. Over the three decades of his time there, he conducted countless search and rescue missions, and even if he wasn't around or wasn't working certain rescue missions, it was almost protocol to call him and ask for his advice if someone were to go missing. Randy had the ability to look at a missing person's last known whereabouts on a topo map, picture the terrain that they're in, and imagine how that terrain would direct a lost person

in those locations, and he could make just a judgment call right from that, and he could just take his finger, point to a spot on the map, and say, go here, you're going to find this person there. And they would. Whoa. There was one instance within the park where a Boy Scout went missing when he became separated from his group, and Rangers could not find him before night came. That night, they consulted Randy on what they should do, and he looked at the topo map of where his last known location was. He traced his thumb over a few lines and pointed to an area and said, This is where you're going to find him. Bring a helicopter in. Land in this field right here. You'll find the boy. So first thing, the following morning, the helicopter flies in, lands. As soon as he lands, the Boy Scout comes running into the field. Like, you found me, you found me.

I'm here. I'm right here. And he was fine. And Randy was right. What an ability. I mean, I guess it's not an ability because it's experience that is, you know, obviously making him so skilled in this. I mean, like, if you.

you were to be missing in any national park to know that Randy was there looking out for you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, oh, God. Thank God. Thank God Randy's here because I'm lost. Yeah.

Exactly. And he knew he just spent so much time out there. I mean, when he was working as a backcountry ranger, he would be out there for weeks sometimes. And he would just be patrolling all the trails. He knew all of them like the back of his hand. And just looking at a map, he could picture exactly what that location was and be like, well, if I was someone who didn't know the trail, where would I? I walk and he could just figure it out in his head and he had a really high success rate for finding

people. Well, it's a combination of experience, knowing the terrain and also like you kind of just said, putting yourself into the mind of someone else. Like not just what would I do, but what would I do if I had this level experience? And then taking in all different accounts, like how long they've been out there. Are they, you know, experiencing anything that would mess with their judgment calls, You know, like dehydration, heat exhaustion, starvation, whatever, weather, exactly. So he's just, yeah, taking all of these different moving parts and creating a plan from there. Like, that's really impressive. Yeah, he had a really good understanding of the people who were coming into the parks and he used that ability to his advantage.

And he saved a lot of lives in this and his experience. He ended up becoming one of the main rangers there. And he had like an overview of everyone. He was this seniority that was there. He was always the guy to go to because of these abilities. And you said he worked there for three decades almost? Yeah. So that in and of itself.

And that's a commitment because seasonal rangers do not get any retirement or anything from that. So if you're dedicating 30 years, you are knowingly dedicating 30 years with no retirement. There's no pension. There's no retirement from that. It's just, it is what it is. That's what you love. Yeah. Which is crazy to think that that's not offered, but it is what it is.

Now, during his time as a ranger was when he met his wife, Judy. He had finished a summer session and was home in Yosemite. And it was his first day back and he went to an art gallery that his mother was managing at the time to go see his mom. When he was walking around looking for his mother, he got sidetracked when he saw a woman named Judy Douglas. She was a beautiful girl in her 20s at the time that had been working. as a candle maker in the gallery. She was a self-recllaimed city girl from Orange County, California

that had found herself here after she had taken a year off of school to party and explore the cities of Europe with her best friend. When the trip was done, her best friend invited her to Yosemite and helped her get a job at the gallery. When Randy met her and began talking to her, they talked about art, travel, Randy talked about his own hobbies and photography, and they talked about adventure. It wasn't long before Randy was showing her all of the local swimming holes in the best areas of Yosemite, and soon it turned into a romantic relationship. It wasn't long before Randy was bringing Judy into the backcountry with him as well. In attempts to try and impress him, one of their first trips out, he took her hiking over 18

miles into the backcountry. Her feet were sore and she could barely walk by the end of it. And she didn't think that she was having that could have a time, but she was kind of sucking it up because she liked him. Yeah. Yeah, she's like, I'm going to do this because you like this. Uh. But that night, he made.

her dinner. He soaked her feet in a pale of cold water. He, like, rubbed them for her. And it was a really romantic night together. And she's like, okay, I'm having fun. From then forward, their vacations and trips together almost always involved venturing deep into the back country, no matter where they went. And often, they did travel to southern Utah and Arizona. They fell in love quickly. And although Judy knew he was a free spirit and ultimately he would mostly be gone in the mountains, She loved that about him, and she decided that she would follow him anywhere, and it was okay that he was such a nomadic person. And she also knew that his job was very dangerous at times and also very taxing. He would often confide in Judy about how difficult some of the missions had been.

During one winter as a Nordic ranger in Yosemite, his first recovery he was sent on was one of a plane crash, where he was the person who was extricating the bodies from the wreckage, which turned out to be one of the most difficult things he had ever done as, Ranger and Judy was the person that he leaned on to to talk about those kind of things with. When the seasons changed and Randy would leave Yosemite and go back to Sequoia and Kings Canyon, he would sometimes be out in the wilderness for weeks at a time and be unreachable. This created concern for Judy, even though sometimes she would go into the backcountry with him to spend some time and see and she would actually hang out with him on his posts for sometimes

weeks at a time if she was able to. But they were spending so much time apart and Judy was feeling really uncomfortable. in their relationship and she felt like there was no real commitment. So one day she called him and she said, I need more of a commitment from you. We need to get married or I'm out pretty much. The ultimatum. The ultimatum. Have you seen that show?

Yes, I have. Like the OG ultimatum. I didn't watch it fully because it's kind of like that trash TV that you get sucked into. Oh, yeah. For sure I watch some of it for sure. I don't know if I, I don't even know if I watch the whole thing because I can't really picture how it ends, but you give the gist. Yeah. It's like I need more of a commitment or we're done. And I'm bringing you on this reality TV show to have you make a decision. Healthy relationship. Seems like a great idea. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, for Randy, it might not work for people in the ultimatum, but for Randy it did work. And he said, all right, let's get married. I'm down. So on November 22nd, 1975, they were married on Awani Meadows. And you know, Yosemite with the backdrop of half dome behind them as they said their vows. Doesn't get better than that.

I've stood in those meadows before too so I can picture exactly where that is. I'm like, oh, that would be amazing. I might have even said that that would is a good spot to get married when I was there. It's just beautiful. Eventually, Judy accepted a job at Yosemite working for the Yosemite Mountaineering School in the summer and Randy was off as a ranger in Sequoia and Kings Canyon in the summer. So they were separate. When he wasn't there, he was often taking back.

country trips elsewhere. So even when he was back from his summer working in this park, he would spend time in other places. He would go to Alaska. He would go to different countries. He'd be venturing with friends. So he was really gone a lot and they spent very little time together. After a year and a half of being married, they had really only spent like three months physically together. Wow. I mean, I thought I was an independent person. Uh, I don't think I could do that. Yeah. Me either. I think of that. And I'm like, that's, that's really tough. But Judy was really confident in their relationship because other people said the same thing to her. They're like, how do you have a marriage that you never even see the person?

What do you, what do you mean? How do you stay connected? And Judy said that she was really confident. She always stuck up for her relationship. And she'd say, you know, I'm very secure in this relationship. I know that we have such a connection that the distance doesn't matter because it's all worth it when we get back together. I mean, power to her for sure. Like, honestly.

Yeah. And it's a different time. What is this? The 80s, I'm guessing, at this point. This is, yeah, this is in the 80s. Yeah. And so, like, yeah, you can call each other here and there, but especially if you're out in the back country, there's not, even if it was in today's day and age with a cell phone. Because I'm just thinking back to, like, as far as personal experience, my first, almost a year that Ian and I dated was long distance. And, like, we just lived in different states. We had different things going on. And I would agree that it was work. it because when we're together, like our connection, like everything you just said, I can agree with. But we had a miniature computer in our pockets that we could text and call and FaceTime every day. And so it made the distance more manageable and easier to swallow. But in her situation, wildly different. Like, yeah. I mean, I don't know if I could do that. Al and I were long distance too at the beginning of ours. And I was struggling with it towards like, We both were, because at the end, we're like, okay, we need to move in together or I don't know what's

going to happen with this. You had an ultimatum. Yeah. And it wasn't even me. He was on the same thing. He's like, okay, what's going on? If we don't move in together, then I don't see how we can maintain this. And not that anything was bad.

It was just there was nothing happening. We were so far apart that it wasn't maintainable. And Randy kind of felt the same way that I feel in long distance relationships. He wasn't secure at all in the relationship. He was feeling the separation. He was feeling the disconnect. And he was also a little bit jealous because he knew that for himself, he was kind of a flirty guy.

And although he considered himself innocently flirting, he knew that he was flirty and that he would talk to women in ways that probably Judy wouldn't like. So he was concerned that she was doing the same thing that he was. And when she started working at the mountaineering school, she had less time to visit him in the backcountry and that's when he really feared that they were growing apart because before that, Judy would just drop everything and go out into the backcountry with him and now she was saying, you know, I'm busy, I can't. And he started thinking that that was a reflection of their relationship. Oh boy. Other Rangers later would say that he was really obsessed with their relationship and that something

was going wrong. He would complain to them often. He would say that Judy was not as playful or as loving as she had once been and that he feared that she was losing feelings for him. And he wrote about, it constantly in his journal. And one of the entries that he wrote stated this. He said, My poor feverish imagination. This summer, who is she sleeping with? How often? Where is her love? Is there anything left of us? If your young marriage survives this summer, I'll need to give her more love. Keep her closer. Make us a real couple. Keep a love going with us. Forget my flirting ways with other women and end these long separations that above all, Judy should be with me in the backcountry next summer. Okay. I have a, I don't know where the story is going, so I might eat my words.

Okay. But I don't know, like, that kind of rubs me the wrong way a little bit. Because relationships go two ways and why is it her responsibility to drop her life and her job to go with him in the back country? It's like, okay, well, this will be better if she just comes with me. And it's like, well, she was doing that. And now she has her own thing because you made a decision. It seems pretty clear that he's not changing his life or his way. and what he wants to do. So he's kind of expecting her to conform to his version of what he wants

in his life and being in a relationship, whether you're married or not, if you're in a committed relationship, it's about making it work for both people. And I just feel like, based on that very brief blip into his, where his thoughts are, it just seems like he's not very, he's not very understanding of having you go both ways. Like, where is the give on his end is my question. I agree with you a thousand percent from his view it seems like he's like I'm in the back country I love the back country this is my life this is my world where are you like I'll give you more love but you should be here with me and not considering that she also has a life and that she can't just live in the woods for months at a time she doesn't have a job with the park service she would just be out

there yeah and it's kind of like she would be living for him and I don't know if that's the Sagittarius meat. Like, I'm having a visceral. Like, is my neck red? I feel like I'm getting. You're like, I'm heated. If someone did this to me, my, I would feel caged. And I mean, I really, I, my favorite song, and this is going to, I don't know, this is, we're going off a deep end here, but my favorite song, it's like, it's been done many, many times over the years. But I think it came out in, like, the 20s, like 1920s. Okay. Not 20-20s, people. And it's called don't fence me. in. And if you look up the lyrics, it's like all about like, give me freedom or give me death, essentially. And it's like, don't fence me in. Don't cage me in. Like, I want to be on the,

out in the West. And like, I want to get on my horse and just ride. And I'd rather just not be contained. And I feel like this is, um, it's just giving me, yeah, exactly. I'm feeling cagey. I'm not even involved. And I feel like, I'm feeling claustrophobic right now. I can't this relationship. It just riles me up. Like I, I'm sure. Okay, I'm going to shut up so you can continue because I was just going to ask. I was just going to ask how like did she have certain feelings about his mindset with that? Well, at this point, she's kind of in her own little world because she's not feeling any of these things. She thinks she got this job at the mountaineering school. And what I read is that she was really excited for it. She was having a really good time. She was being taught to climb in

Yosemite. She was learning things and she was really happy and she was also very content with their relationship. She was kind of independent herself. So the distance hadn't. It bothered her, but not to the point where that much as of yet because she was like, you know, we're far away, but I feel very solid in our relationship. I'm not worried about it. Meanwhile, he was having all of these concerns, but he wasn't really voicing them to her that much. It's also a very interesting, God, it just I swear I'll let you get back to the story. It's like, you're probably like this isn't even like a huge significant part of the story. It ties into, no, it does. It ties into a lot of the story.

Okay, well, what was I going to say? Oh, yeah, like his concern. Like, it just is very telling because she's like, I'm great. Like, we're secure. I'm doing good. Like, it's not bothering me as much. But for him, when he's like, I wonder what she's doing because, like you said, he's a flirt. And it's like, I don't know.

It's like, is he concerned? because he's not acting very appropriately and he thinks that you know it's just like he's worried yeah yeah I don't know because he's misbehaving you know what it's like when people what's that thing it's like when someone is doing a behavior usually they projected on other people and worry that other people are doing it and accuse people of yes I've done that before in a relationship don't recommend Don't recommend. Oh my God, that's so funny. I don't know.

I just, I don't know. It's just like from that one little journal entry. It's just very telling. Yeah. Well, I mean, it will tie into the rest of the story as we go on. And actually, kind of soon. But I'll talk about a couple other things before that. So despite him being worried about his relationship, he was still working in the back country as a ranger.

And he was still leaving for very long. periods of time, but he loved it. Despite his issues within his relationship, he loved being in the outdoors and he loved being in the backcountry. And he was often called to rescue missions, which he loved to be on because he loved to be helpful and to help people. He saved mountaineers, climbers, and lost hikers. He loved the solitude of the mountains. And he also loved the people that he worked with. He was different from other rangers at that time because during these times, I think I said it was the 1980s when you asked earlier, but this was actually the 1970s, late 1970s. But many Park Service members, they were kind of militarized. They had short haircuts. They carried weapons.

They usually had a gun on them. But Randy wasn't like that. Randy had long hair. He had a big bushy beard. And a lot of times he refused to carry weapon. He always said that, quote, shit happens if you're armed and he preferred not to be. Even after an incident in 1984, after a ranger was strangled unconscious by a visitor when they approached them because of an illegal campfire, Randy still had no interest in being armed, knowing that statistically Rangers were more likely to be assaulted and were more assaulted than any other federal officers in the nation. Which we kind of talked about a little bit with Margaret's episode. Yeah. So he knew it was dangerous, but he just felt uncomfortable. He's like, you know,

things can happen when you're armed and I just don't want to take that. I mostly feel very safe with the people I've been around. Randy was known almost exclusively by Rangers and park goers alike, that he was kind and gentle and that he left a positive impact on travelers. In fact, it was very common for the Park Service to receive letters from visitors commending how great he was. In one letter that was written after Randy had issued a warning to someone about being camped in an unauthorized area, they wrote in a letter that said,

After hearing my description of the way we had selected our site, Mr. Morgensen issued us a courtesy tag as a reminder to avoid this mistake in the future. I want you to know how very courteous Randy Morgensen was in the situation. In all of my 25 years of backpacking in the Sierra Nevada and encountering a number of Forest Service and National Park Rangers, I don't recall meeting a more considerate person. That's very nice. Yeah, especially because he gave him a warning and they still went out of their way to write a letter being like he was great. Yeah, it's like we kind of got in trouble and we still want to say thank you to him. I was like, but he was great. Pleasure. And again, while his ranger duties and his job as a ranger

was going really well, his relationship with Judy continued to be strained. She would join him in the backcountry when she could, but often he felt alone and very distance from their marriage. When he began working with a backcountry ranger named Lohinus, a woman who had been a ranger for over 12 years, and had fallen in love with the outdoors and with the high Sierra Mountains, he started to resent some things about Judy. Judy came to the outdoors because he did, and not because she had this inherent need to be outdoors, like how he felt about the outdoors.

He questioned kind of the type of person that he should be with and that if Judy should be that, because he thought that the person that he should be with should be someone who loves the outdoors as much as he does. So when he started working with Lowe, who was not only a back-com, Ranger, but was also an outdoor education teacher in the off-season, he became enamored with her. And they began an affair. Their relationship began late in the season during an EMT training course

in 1993. It became complicated very quickly because they weren't discreet about their relationship at all. And one ranger, George Durkey, who was also one of Randy's best friends, began to ask about Judy. Randy responded to that that he didn't want to be constrained by Western morality and begged him not to tell Judy. George, who had been friends with both of them, said that he couldn't lie to her and that if they ended it immediately, then he would not say anything to Judy.

But otherwise, when he saw Judy next, if she had any questions or concerns at all, he was going to tell her right away. I mean, that's very fair, I think. I think that's fair too. Yeah, it's like, okay, I'm leaving it in your hands. You have a decision to make, and this is just where I stand.

But, okay, so here's a thing. when he said, here's the thing. I'm mad. I'm upset because what do you say he didn't want to be constrained by Western morality? Yeah. So like the confines of a monogamous relationship is that what he's trying to say. Okay, well, that's all well and good. I mean, I read a book. Okay. Book wreck, everyone. Sharp left turn. It's called The Ethical Slut. And it's very interesting. I love the title. It was, that's what caught my eye. And I ripped through it. It's very good. Or, oh, my God. What's the other one? called untrue or unfaithful or something. It's by her, the author's name is Wednesday, and I'll never forget that because I love that name. But anyway, so both the books essentially

are about different types of relationships that are the non-traditional, quote-unquote, monogamous relationship. And it has, with a focus on women in those types of relationships. But anyway, if you're going to like say, I don't want to be confined by that, it's like, that's so fine. Like, go for it. But you can't just be like, that's your stance, but don't tell any, don't tell my wife that. Don't tell my partner that. It's like, I'm sorry. We have to be on the same page with that. Like, that's very important. Like, you can't be in a non-monogamous relationship with someone who thinks you are in one. Yes, exactly. When you are, whatever your relationship is, you can decide whatever that wants, but there is agreement between the people

that you are in a relationship with that has to be agreed upon. And you can't just be like, well, you're monogamous, but I'm not, but we both think that we are monogamous, and that's how it will stay. Because I don't believe in Western society's ideals. It's like, okay, that's fine, but Judy, Judy needs to know. Does Lowe know that he's married? I mean, I'm guessing if everyone knows. Yeah, Lowe knows that he's married. Okay. Interesting. I'm not trying to shame anyone because God knows I have. We won't go there. I've done some questionable thing. growing up as a teenager. But we're 32 now.

We're old and wise. Yeah, we're wise beyond our years. Truly. No, we're not. There's our relationship advice. Please do what you will with that. So basically, George said that he's not going to lie to her. If she asks any questions, he's going to say.

And Randy was not thrilled with that. But Randy and Lo's relationship continued. And more and more Rangers became aware of it. And it was not, it was also clear that this wasn't just like a fling. or in a fair that was happening, the two of them were actually falling in love, and that was very clear. Judy was also feeling that something was wrong in their relationship and had concerns about how they had drifted apart. So before she was feeling secure in it, but now she's noticing that things are changing and things are different. And it had been going on for a while now,

but one day on October 17th, she gave her best friend Gail, who was the one who got her the job in Yosemite. Originally, they had traveled to Europe together that I mentioned before. She called her to wish her a happy birthday. But it wasn't long into their conversation that Gail asked how she was doing, and Judy started to cry and told her of the troubles that her and Randy were having. She explained that she hadn't seen him in months and asked him to come home soon, but he responded that he would be in the backcountry again for several weeks. Well, it happens that very same night, Gail went to a club in Santa Cruz to listen to some live music for her birthday, and guess who she sees? Randy. With Lowe. Mm-hmm. Gail asked him what he was doing in Santa Cruz because she had just gone off the phone with Judy who said that he was in the back country for several more weeks. And he was awkward. He stuttered a little bit. He begged her not to tell Judy that she had seen him. And when she walked, when he walked away after their conversation, she watched him. He had said, I'm with like a bunch of Rangers here. We're out for the night. But it was very clear that he sat next to a blonde woman who was low. And it was very clear right away that.

they were together. Oh boy. God, I'm just like having heart palpitations. I don't know why this is getting me. So, um, this is like trauma-filled relationships like past trauma. Literally. Resurfacing. Like I'm going 15. I'm just like got transported like 10 years back in my life. And I just like I'm having a difficult time with it. It's like, no, Judy. This is awful. I'm so sorry for you. Yeah. God, I'm sorry. Well, that night, Gail stayed up all night because she was agonizing about whether or not she should tell Judy. She's like she's going to be heartbroken. Is it my place to tell her? I don't want to be the one to tell her. But ultimately, she decided that there's no such thing as coincidences. And for her to run into him, only hours after she had talked to Judy was fate. And she had to tell her. Wait, I'm sorry. Was this Judy's birthday? It was Gail's birthday. Oh, Gail's birthday. I'm like,

oh my God, just another stake. Stab in the heart. Yeah, yeah. The following morning, she called Judy and told her everything. Judy hung up immediately. and called Ranger George, who she had been friends with as well, and asked him if it were true, because she knew if anyone knew that George would know. And like he had told Randy, that he would tell her he did. He confirmed that what she had heard was true. Judy was absolutely devastated, but she also wasn't surprised. He had been distant and not acting like himself.

And when she really reflected on his behavior, an affair explained a lot of it. When she told Randy that she knew of the affair, she told him that he needed to be. move out of their home. Randy begged her to let him stay. He told her that he wasn't sure if he wanted the marriage to end and he wanted to try to work it out. So it wasn't even like, I want this marriage. He's like, I'm not sure if I want this to end. Okay, another hot take or maybe some kind of surprising, but like I also feel bad for him too because like obviously he's in the wrong in a lot of ways, but like if he's seriously in love with somebody else and he obviously has feelings towards his wife too, And just like out of feeling bad for hurting her and this and that, it's like to be in a position like that too is obviously difficult.

Clearly, he's a good guy. He's a nice guy. He just is in a really hard situation romantically. And I'm sure he's now in a position where I just get the feeling when he was like, don't tell any, don't tell her yet. I don't think he was like, coming from a malicious point of view. I think he just genuinely was like, I don't know what to do. Like, I don't know what I want. I don't know.

I don't want to hurt my wife. I'm in too deep now with Lowe. Like, I'm in a shit story. storm and I don't know what to do. You know, it's like, there are some stories like this that it's like the guy's just cut and dry a piece of shit or the woman, whoever's doing it, you know? And it's like, I just don't get that vibe from him. And I also don't know how this story is where this is going. So I also could eat my words now. But it's just a feeling I get. Yeah. And I mean, he is well liked. He does some really amazing things for people. He saves people's lives. And also I do feel for Randy too. I mean, I feel for Judy really

badly because I've had similar situations, not like to this extent, but I've had like people not be great in relationships. But also if you look at Randy's point of view, he's gone for months at a time alone. And the only other person with him sometimes is low, who's a backcountry ranger in the same place as him. He has no communication with his wife, hasn't seen her in months. He has no companionship out there. Not saying it's right by any means, but I can totally understand how a relationship like that could start. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's what I'm trying. Like, it's, I'm not saying it's right either. I can don't it or whatever. It's just, and I obviously don't think it's right, especially from Judy's point of view, like that just sucks so bad. But at the same time, it's just like life happens and it's not always like someone's malicious, cruel intentions of being selfish. Like, when I think of your situation, like, it was wildly different.

Like, he was, like, that person was not falling in love with someone in the back country. Like, let's be real. He was just being a dick. Yeah. Yeah, we don't go into my too deep. But like, the person I dated was just a dick. We'll just. Okay.

So I'm going to just like mute. I wish I had a mute button on my microphone. It's hard. You can find out about relationships. I do. And that's why I'm so fucking pissed that my perfect one ended the way it did, Ian, looking at you. Yeah. Like, I just like, yeah.

It's like finally found one that's not like Randy over here. Yeah, finally found one that, like, I would actually marry. And then, yeah, now I just have to talk to the air and pretend she's still. But anyway, okay, let's move on. So basically, Judy told him she knew, asked him to move out. Randy begged her to let him stay. And he said he wasn't sure if he wanted the marriage to end. And Judy was kind of in a tough spot too because her mom had just been diagnosed with cancer.

And she was really upset. She had a lot of stuff going on emotionally on her end. And she decided to give him another chance. She wanted to try and work out their marriage. They hadn't been together for several years at that point. But a lot of her trust for him was gone, especially when the following season, he began working with Lowe again. Okay.

My opinions are just all over the place. Like now I'm not Team Randy. I wasn't ever Team Randy, but you know what I'm talking about. Randy promised her that the relationship would be over and she couldn't control Lowe's employment. And Lowe did know of the situation with his wife, and so did all the other Rangers around them. But even though Randy had promised his wife that their affair was over, when they started the new season, their relationship began again. They spent weeks in the backcountry on patrol together, and often they were the only two out there together. At the end of the season, though, in mid-September, after he had hiked out to Bench Lake Ranger Station, which was more of a shelter for backcountry Rangers than an actual station, he went there to help Lowe demobilize it for winter.

he said to her as soon as they finish their job that their relationship was over. He told her that he needed to actually focus on fixing things with Judy and that he could no longer pursue this relationship. And Lowe was devastated because again, this wasn't just an affair for her. She thought that they were falling in love and that maybe he would leave his wife someday, that they could be together. She was very invested in this. Randy went to Sedona that winter where his wife, Judy, was now living and they lived together.

Their relationship was still very strained, but Randy was trying to make things better. He did a lot of this by trying to fix himself. He felt a lot of turmoil and insecurities in his life. And ending his relationship with Lowe had been really hard for him as well. He spoke with psychiatrists. He read self-health books. He talked to friends about how depressed he had been feeling and how much anxiety he had been feeling within his life and his relationship.

He also promised Judy that he would not go back to his ranger position the following summer. They did not need money at the time, and they had not spent any time together in months. So he said, I'm going to stick around for this year and I'm going to work on our marriage. I want this to work. But within this, with him working on himself and him saying that he's going to stay back, he became so wrapped up in himself and his own emotional issues that were going on that he was actually failing to pay that much attention to Judy, which was kind of the point of him being home. Even when she got the phone call that her mother had died from cancer, he didn't offer her

condolences. He didn't offer to go with her because her mother was living up in Yosemite. He didn't offer to drive her to the airport. He barely said anything when her mom died. I'm very confused by him. I'm trying to figure him out and I can't because I was just, as you were describing all of the effort he's putting in, I'm like, oh, he's doing the work. And this looks promising. But now I don't understand. It sounds like he was just so wrapped up in his own emotions that he didn't have the capacity to worry about another person. And Judy was the brunt end of it, unfortunately. But she was still very much, she very much loved him. And she was also going through a lot of heartbreak herself. So she wanted, despite this, this felt like a final straw, but she was like, you know, I'm going to,

I'm going to try. And they said, we're going to try to keep this relationship going. And they decided that a good way to do that was to go back to one of their big trips that they used to do a while ago. So they decided to do a road trip and they decided to road trip to the Grand Canyon National Park, Navajo National Monument, Monument Valley, and Mesa Verde National Park. They hiked, they took photos. Randy was attentive and sweet and Judy finally felt like she was able to let her guard down with him on this trip. This trip was magical. They felt like they were falling in love again. But on the way to Mesa Verde, Randy informed her that he was going back to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park for the summer. And he was.

is going to be a backcountry ranger again. So wait, the same summer that he said he wasn't? Yes. Okay, we're still in the same time frame. All right. I just wanted to be clear on that. Yeah, he said, you know, I know I promised this, but I love my job out there. I need to be back in the mountains and I'm going.

And this was the final straw for Judy. In that moment, she knew that she was done with the relationship and she asked him to turn around and take her home. When they returned, Randy prepared for his 28th season as a ranger and Judy filed for divorce. Although he had the divorce papers, Randy did not want to sign them yet, and he took them to the National Park with him. He folded them inside of a book to think about for the summer. And Judy didn't question this, didn't harp on it for him, just said, okay, you need time to reflect on this. Here's the papers, please sign them when you're in a good spot to do it. When Randy went back

to work, before he went out to his post, which was at Bench Lake, he stopped to apologize for his behavior for previous seasons and the affair that he knew had affected other. the Rangers. He went one by one to each person that he had been close with and he told them that he didn't like who he was and he was planning to change and he apologized for everything that he had done. After he apologized to his colleagues, he called Judy and asked her to come out with him again and told her that he did not want the divorce. But Judy was adamant in her decision and she told him that she didn't want to go. She told him, I still love you. I care about you a lot, but the relationship isn't going to work. I can't come into the backcountry with you. When she made it clear that the

relationship was over, he found Lowe to see if there was any chance that he could mend their relationship and if he could be together with her. But Lowe had moved on. Yeah. He's like, okay, that didn't work out. I'm going to go, I'm going to go check out Lowe. But at this point, Lowe had moved on and now she was in a relationship with a man who would end up being her soulmate and who she would spend her life with. So she said, no, I found someone who's not in a relationship who I love and care about very much. I'm not going to risk that for whatever we had. Good on her. Before going to Bench Lake, he had long conversations with ranger friends about life and relationships. They talked about their love for the mountains and the sierras, which the rangers kind of

noted was a little odd because usually as soon as Randy would get to the national parks to start the season, he would kind of just book it. He was waiting to be back out in the mountains. He liked the solitude. So they did note it was kind of weird that he was hanging around for hours talking with them, talking about life. He was asking for relationship advice. He was really kind of opening up, which was also something that Randy didn't do before. He was kind of tight-lipped about stuff, especially his feelings. But eventually, Randy did go into the backcountry. And it was like every other season he had done before. Nothing seemed to miss. He had grabbed his pack. He had done everything he needed to. He had a radio. He had been working the trails. He had been in communication with

everyone. But then something a little strange happened. On July 20th, 1996, Randy radioed to George Durkey and his wife. That was his friend that we've talked about before. And it wasn't a normal radio to talk about the trails or things that were happening out there. He just radioed in and it seemed like he was just looking to talk to someone. He was just asking miscellaneous questions, just small talk kind of things. And they thought that was a little odd. And after several moments into the conversation, he abruptly ended it by saying, I won't be bothering you two anymore. The following morning, he left a note at his station saying he would be gone for two to three days and he went out on patrol as usual. But from then on, Randy was unreachable. After several days

that Randy had failed to check in by radio, Ranger Rick Sanger, a second year backcountry ranger, hiked through the night to his station at Bench Lake because he was so concerned. He found Randy's note from July 20th, confirming that he was overdue from when he said he would leave and come back. It was July 25th now, five days later, not two to three days, and the Ranger reported him missing. Nearly 100 rescue personnel searched over 80 square miles of wilderness around Benchlink Ranger Station. The first thought was that his radio may have died and he was heading to another Ranger's station, but the days continued and he never showed up. People began to question if he had up and left the park to start a new life because of his troubles in his personal life, but his car was parked where he had left it

and there was no activity on any of his bank accounts. They deployed search and rescue teams, volunteers, aerial searches with helicopters, they used infrared cameras and search dogs, but appeared that Randy had disappeared without a trace. What further confused searchers was Judy received a letter in the mail from Randy that was postmarked two days after his disappearance. After 13 grueling days of searching the park, day and night, they officially called off the search. They had not found a single sign of Randy anywhere. Judy believed that he had died while on patrol, while others thought he ran away because of his recent relationship issues. Part of why Judy believed he had died was because she had a very vivid dream

of him dead and floating on a lake. Some believed he may have completed suicide because of the mental struggles that he had been dealing with prior, but it wasn't until five years later in 2001 that they would finally get answers. It was July 14th, 2001, when a group of four conservation members set out on a backpacking trip. They were descending from Pyramid Peak, which is a 12,279 foot mountain, which is 3,895 meters, when they found an old tattered backpack that was lying on the ground. When they saw it, they labeled it as trash and picked it up to carried out. But the next day, they stumbled across a hiking boot sitting along a creek, leading to Window Peak Lake. When they approached, they found inside the boot was a perfectly

preserved skeleton of a foot with a leg bone sticking out. The group scoured the area looking for any other remains. They found a thermometer, a granola bar wrapper, a piece of what they thought was a skull, a large leg bone, and a fragment of a pelvic bone, and a bottle of sunscreen. They gathered everything and they put it in plastic bags. Then they noticed that, a pair of green shorts that looked like a pair that Rangers would wear. They reported and brought what they found to the Rangers station and very shortly after a team was flown into the Window Peak Lake area. This was an area that they had searched for Randy before,

but previously had been covered with ice. They found his radio at the top of where the creek drained into the river. After examining the scene, it is believed that he had fallen through a snow bridge and had broken his leg and his body had been hidden beneath the ice when the Rangers searched pried. Some believe that it was an accident, while others think he meticulously calculated his own death to make it look like an accident. Because he had never signed the divorce papers, Judy was entitled to $100,000 if he died on duty.

But she would not be entitled to that if it were suicide. Because of how long it took to find him and his remains having been consumed by wildlife, it was impossible to ever confirm his exact cause of death. To this day, his cause of death remains unknown. being said, he remained a legendary ranger within the park. He knew rangers better than anyone and can be credited for saving countless lives and helping backcountry visitors for almost three decades. Today, there is a mountain just north of Mount Whitney named after him called Mount Randy Morgensen. Whoa. I have chills up and down my body from that dream that she had. She was adamant too. She's like, I know he died on duty because she had she had this vivid dream of his

dead body floating on a lake somewhere in the backcountry. I just like I, the chills that I have from that is insane. And I mean, I don't know. I feel like he planned it. I truly do. I'm, I'm indifferent about it because I think it's definitely possible that he could have planned it. But I also think that just in the mindset that he was in, he could have made a big mistake in the backcountry because it sounds like if he did fall through smice and get trapped, break his leg. whatever happened and maybe possibly drown where he was, I think that it's very possible with his mental state that maybe he just didn't care when he fell or he wasn't paying attention to where he was going or being as vigilant as he had been before because he had just had a conversation or he's like,

oh, I just won't bother you. Nobody wants me around. No one wants to be with me. So I can see, I can kind of see both where maybe he did plan it or maybe it was an accident because of the mindset that he was in an unforgiving landscape. That's a very good point as well, because it could go either way. Like, the lead up to it as far as the conversations he was having and the changes in behavior, you know, how you said his friends were like, oh, this kind of wasn't like him. It seems a bit odd now reflecting back on it. But that doesn't mean that he was suicidal. It just means that he was lonely and going through a difficult time in his life and wanted support from his friends. Like, that's not unheard of by any stretch, you know. So I do get that part of it as well. It,

But like on the other hand, you know, if he was going through some mental turmoil and struggles and maybe had some suicidal thoughts to set it up that way to make sure that Judy was taking care of in a way that maybe he couldn't have done him. Obviously, he failed her in a few different ways in their relationship. It's kind of like a final, I'm sorry and I'm going to take care of you way. Like, I don't know. It's hard. It's hard because I mean, and obviously no one knows and no one ever will. and were just somewhat, you know, two people who learned about him in an hour versus people who knew him his whole life still don't understand. Yeah. So, um, I totally understand like the, it could go either way.

Yeah. And it's a mystery to this day. And even with this, I mean, I would say he's very much remembered now as a person who was so adamant and good at his job and so good at finding people and ended up disappearing himself. And there's such a mystery around it. But what he's mostly known, for is how kind he was to visitors, what a great park ranger he was, and the fact that they have a mountain that's named after him within the Sierra Nevada's, which is really cool. That says a lot. Yeah. It says a lot about his character and dedication to, you know, his love, which was ultimately the outdoors. I mean, obviously he loved Judy and Lowe and whatever, but ultimately, the outdoors always won. Yeah. He couldn't stay away. Wow. What a story.

was up, down in every way in between. Now I'm sad. And I'm sorry I ever talk shit about him. I think it's okay to talk shit about how he was in a relationship. But we're not all perfect. He definitely made some mistakes. It's very clear on that. But how he was in his relationship doesn't change the good parts about him either. So I don't think it's bad to talk shit. Well, it doesn't define you. No, it doesn't. It doesn't define you. So, and I think that goes for everyone, you know, like how you behave in some relationships versus others or whatever. Yeah, for sure. Like, I've been a very, I've been a much better girlfriend in some of my relationships than I

have been in others, for sure. And I don't think those times define me and my bad. I do not think poorly of you no matter what, Cassie. Thank you. You're welcome. Same with you. Thank you. It's like, we clearly were bad because we're both, like, rationalizing that it's okay.

Okay, we've turned new leaves over the last decade. So everyone needs to. Yeah. It's okay. We understand you whatever end of the relationship side you're on. We'll just put it. Just put it like that. That's why we're so empathetic.

Okay. Yeah. Because we've been on both sides. We've been probably empathetic because we can feel how they feel. We've been on both sides of these relationships. So we understand from every point of view. But kind of going into changing the course. If you are interested in learning more about Randy Morgensen, the last season by Eric Blank.

is a lot of my research for this episode, but I will say that there are so much that I did not talk about with him because the book is long. It's in short writing. It's written, or it's in small writing, and the book is written really well, but it goes into a lot of the rescues that he went on. It goes deep into his time as a ranger. It goes further into their relationship, and the aftermath of things that happened after he disappeared and things like that. I would say it is totally worth a read, even though we've done a podcast episode on it and you know the gist of this story. If you're interested in him as a person and their story and Judy, I would say definitely read the book because there's so much more information on there. Well, you said it's a New York Times

bestseller too, right? Yeah. It says, right, I have the book in my hand right now. It says, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. And it's a New York Times bestselling author. Oh, cool. Yeah. And there's pictures in here that are really cool. There's a lot of pictures of him in the backcountry, just doing stuff. And they have some of his photographs that he took because he was a really good photographer. And the book goes more into his life as a photographer because he had some things published. Some of his work was published. You know, he was an all-around really interesting guy. There's pictures of their wedding and Yosemite in here. It's just, it's a really cool book. Well, I'll add it to the list somewhere. Yeah. Cool. Okay. Well, thanks for that emotional ride.

And I think we just like went off the rails a little bit, but that's okay. It's okay. I hope everyone still loves and accepts us. And that's it. There's an emotional one for sure. It was. Yeah. And, you know, I'm excited and looking forward to going to those two parks and hopefully

knock on wood this summer at some point. And it'll be cool. Like, we should definitely look out for his mountain now. Yeah, maybe we can hike it. Oh, maybe. That would be cool. Maybe. We'll keep you all updated.

Yeah. All right. Well, thanks everyone for joining us. And we will see you next time, whenever that may be. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye. Bye.

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