National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 16

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

Today’s stories include making the papers, plane crashes, magical moments, keeping connected, cougar encounters and wrestling in the swamps. Two bonus stories for Outsiders available on Patreon.We love our National Parks and we know you do too but when you're out there, remember to enjoy the view but watch your back. Please take a moment to rate and subscribe from wherever you’re listening to NPAD! Become part of our Outsider family on Patreon to gain access to ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more. Follow our socials Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. To share a Trail Tale, suggest a story, access merch, and browse our book recommendations - head over to our website.Thank you so much to our partners, check them out!Beam: Get 50% off when you follow the link and use code CYBER at checkout.Lomi: Use our link and code NPAD to get $50 off your Lomi.Microdose: Use code NPAD to get free shipping and 30% off your first order.Apostrophe: Use our link and code NPAD to get for first visit for only $5. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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. Welcome back to National Park After Dark, our Trail Tales edition.

I have three really good ones today. It's been a while since we've done a trail tales, I think, even though we just did our Spotify Live one a couple weeks ago. Those were hard to pick because I kind of wanted to share them on here too because they were so good, but we have so many. And I'm so excited to tell my first one. Can I go first? I was just going to say, do you want to go first then? I love this one. It's really cool. Cool. tell us. I'm surprising everyone by not opening with a sign story, so here we go. This one is titled Three Miracles and a Murder. The year was 1998 and the plan was a family camping trip leaving from the

shores of New Jersey to Mount Desert Maine with our three kids in tow. Our eldest was nine and the twins had just turned seven. My husband was so eager and pumped to go camping and I was lukewarm about it, so we made a deal. We would camp first, then go to our favorite. favorite charming in for the remainder of our vacation. So we set off for our family vacation in our golden minivan one day in early August with two tents, our car filled with sleeping bags, pillows, a red igloo cooler, and the fireside necessities like marshmallows, chocolate, gram crackers, hot dogs, and five bikes strapped to the back like Russian nesting dolls. I can imagine this minivan. I've seen this minivan many times before. I've been that minivan. My mom has been that

minivan. It just reminds me of one time we went to Niagara Falls, super short story. We used to go to Niagara Falls every single year because I have family up there. And we would have a minivan. All of the kids, my aunt's kids and my brothers, so there were five of us back there. And we had a bunch of bikes strapped to the back. But one time we were driving and the bike rack broke and all the bikes fell off everywhere, which actually worked out really well because all of us kids on the inside of the van were like screaming and fighting with each other. So they put. put all the bikes in between the seats so we were all in our own little cages. It's like, shut up, please.

The bike wheels. It's like, please, we have six more hours to go here. We've all been in that minivan, I think. We, because our family has a timeshare in stow. And I just remember being a kid in the back with my sister. And this was like the mid-90s, late 90s. And we had a physical little television that they put in between the seats. we could watch VHS tapes.

And I think that's why I get so car sick now, because I'd just be staring down at this TV as we're whipping through New England and all the curvy roads. And yeah. Okay, anyways, nine hours and four bathroom stops later, we arrived at the campsite, checked in and pitched our tents on wooden platforms. We used to put our six-person tent up in our backyard in the summertime when the kids were off from school, and they would look forward to sleepovers with their outdoorsy friends. so we were all pros. This time, however, we had two tents set up with my oldest daughter and I in one

and my husband and the twins right next to ours. It was a peaceful, wooded campsite. The stars were coming out, and we felt ready for some family fun. We finished eating our hot dogs by the fire and roasted our marshmallows and made s'mores, and we were ready to turn in since it was a long day already. As I was getting into my tent and we were saying our good nights, I noticed we had company. It sounded like our new neighbors were setting up camp, but I didn't see a tent. I just heard the commotion of adults unpacking lots of beer and talking loudly. The thought of not having neighbors in this peaceful campsite that we just enjoyed for the past few hours left my head for good.

Luckily, I am a light sleeper. I overheard their creepy sounding voices coming from the next campsite, which was pretty close. The trees separated us so I couldn't see them, but meeting their eyes was not my goal anyways. By this time, my husband was in the tent with our twin daughters snoring peacefully, and I was in the other tent with our nine-year-old. The three drunken voices were getting louder and louder, but one voice rang out for me and that was all I needed to hear, the word knife, and a phrase I'll never forget. That's how I killed her. I sat up straight with my mouth wide open. My pulse began to quicken and my heart was beating out of my chest. It was then that I began to shake. Fear, anxiety, and panic were merging and all three flowed like a river to my heart. Luckily, I had the keys. I whispered to my daughter who was sound asleep and pleaded with her to wake up, and be very quiet and to grab her pillow and tiptoe into the van without making a sound. She took one look at my face and I said,

sh with my finger to my lips and she did what she was told. For me, that was big because this daughter had always put up a fight when told what to do. That was our first miracle. Once she was safely settled in the van, I crawled on all fours into my husband's tent so I would be out of sight to our sinister neighbors and hopefully they wouldn't notice me. I think I said, Charles Manson is next to our campsite or let's get the hell out of here.

But it didn't matter because the impact was the same. My heart was pounding like the epic loud Jumanji drumbeat and I hoped the people next door wouldn't hear what I felt. Before you knew it, we were all in the car in our pajamas blinking at each other. Like what the heck just happened? We sped away from our summer dream turned nightmare to find the closest hotel with a summer vacancy at 2 a.m. leaving all of our food, clothes, shoes, bikes, helmets, and sleeping bags scattered behind in the dirt. Finding a hotel in the high season of August was not an easy task,

but the apples the kids snatched at the reception on the way out was a big win. The next morning, we drove back to the campsite office while still in our slept in and disheveled pajamas. I frantically relayed our frightening story and my greatest fears to the owner of the campground without spilling too many of the gory details in front of my family. She looked at me with a horrified and apologetic look on her face. Were you in sight 21? Wide-eyed, she confirmed my story and leaned in and whispered that our next-door neighbor was a very dangerous criminal with a record and had recently escaped from jail.

Yep, I wasn't surprised since he was bragging about the actual murder he committed, which is what I overheard before I woke everyone up. I guess we missed the part when the police got wind of it and saved the day. face was confirmed by the owner in a proud sounding voice. She said he had a habit of coming to these campgrounds after he got sprung from jail. She guessed he didn't have any real home to go to and new friends would be camping there. You know that saying about the people of Maine being maniacs? Well, in this case, it was ringing true in my head. She profusely apologized and then offered us a new waterfront lot on the sound and gave us a free canoe rental to make up for our nightmare. I was hesitant and did not

want to stay, but the rest of the family looked super excited, so we moved to our campsite. Exhausted, but ready to move on, we traded our PJs for bathing suits, sunscreen and shorts, and set off for an unexpected day on the water, thinking the worst of our vacation was behind us. They supplied us with a map and told us about the famous bald eagles on the edge of the property and told us it wouldn't take long to go around the island to see them. I got into one canoe with my tent buddy and my husband took the twins in another, and along we went on our next adventure. The kids seemed revved from their unusual morning routine, and we needed to blow off some steam.

So we all left with a new day smile on our faces. It got a bit gusty, but we prevailed digging our oars deeper into the water while being mesmerized by the tall cliffs surrounding us. We made it out there as the sun was dipping and witnessed the bald eagle flying into his gigantic nest to feed his family as if on cue, and the marvel in the kid's eyes made the trip there all worth it. That was our second miracle. Seconds later, the bubble burst. My husband's Boy Scout trained eyes were darting back and forth as his charade playing skills were sending me a message. It was then that he gave me a signal to hustle back, making it look like a race for the kids.

I think he said, let's see whose boat can go faster. But what I heard was, it's going to get dark and the tides are going to sweep us out into the ocean. Move it. Now I knew what the people at the office left out, and it occurred to me that my husband had casually mentioned something about the tidal flow up in Maine, and I quickly dismissed it. The people at the office never alluded to the fast tie change and how incredibly difficult it would be to paddle against it in order to get back to the campsite. We were on the only fjord in the States and I didn't want to stick around to witness the water departed and bring us with it. After all, this day was to help us forget last night's narrow escape from a crazy convict, so we tried our best to make it fun.

After about two miles of paddling on high adrenaline, a friendly local grandpa type on a Boston whaler skiff came by and offered to tow us in. That was our third miracle. As he hooked up our boats, one behind the other, trailing his boat, we felt so relieved that someone was there to rescue us. Besides, our arms were like elastic. It was right after we started moving towards our waterfront campsite when I noticed another tour boat alongside us, taking our picture, so we waved back. I thought it was odd, but quickly dismissed it because I knew how silly we must have looked.

I finally relaxed and let the last 24 hours melt away so I could enjoy our thrilling, fast ride back. The kids loved every second of this moment, and it made all that paddling worth the effort. I guess we wouldn't need a ghost story that night. I was already dreaming of the morning when we would head back to the Northeast Harbor, and I could sleep in a real cozy bed with a fluffy duvet cover and eat deliciously, freshly caught main lobster and popovers with melted butter and savor a chilled glass of Savi on Blanc served by a waiter with a smile. That sounds like I wanted to be.

I didn't even go through all this shit, and I want that right now. It's like after this story, I'm like, I need that too. When we woke up the next day and asked to go in, we found a newspaper at our door as we were heading downstairs. As I bent down to pick it up, I was surprised to see our smiling faces and outstretched hands waving to me at the front page. We were the lead story in the local paper. It was a picture of us being rescued by our local hero. And the headline read, Operation Rescue. If only they knew, Donna.

We're rescued and didn't even realize you were being like legit rescued. Oh, my God, that sounds like so, that's so funny. I just like, I mean, there are, there were a couple like, oh, shit moments in there, but overall, it was really funny to read. And because I could just picture it. Like, I feel like, what is that movie franchise with Chevy Chase? Everyone's, like, screaming at me right now. It's like him and his family.

Except for me, because I have no idea what you're talking about. Do you even know like the person I'm trying to say? No. It's like the Griswold Christmas or something. Right. It's like a movie from, I think it's the 80s. And they also have a couple other movies of like his family vacation. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm looking at it right now. National Lampoon's vacation. It's like it's a classic family. It's like a, I should say a traditional old school family vacation with a mom, a dad, a boy and a girl. And they go out onto all these vacations and all the shit goes wrong. You've never seen those? I don't think so.

But I can see the reference that you're trying to make. Okay, all right. Well, I guess we'll move on because you don't even know what I'm talking about. So you share one now. Okay. Well, I did think that story was really funny. And I'm glad that they're okay because that's really scary to be camping and have a legit known murderer next to you. So I'm glad that everyone's okay.

You better have framed that newspaper also. I'd love to sit. Did they send up? Did they send a photo of the newspaper article? I wrote a little thing on here that there's a picture in our email that was attached to it, but I don't know if it was of the newspaper or if it was just pictures they took during their vacation. I'll have to double check. Well, either way, that was a really good trail tale.

I'm glad you picked that one. And for the one that I'm going to is actually in Maine as well. Oh, 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. This one is titled Plain Crash Discovery with a Twist, Baxter State Park. Hi guys, thank you for all the hard work you both put into the podcast. I started listening because of my girlfriend's obsession and I haven't looked back since. My favorite is hearing the stories from out on the East Coast, especially stories that are related to the Appalachian Trail. I grew up going to Boy Summer Camp in Maine and would go on some

sort of outdoor trip every year, whether it was canoeing along rivers and looking for moose from afar, kayaking along jagged coasts of Maine, and exploring old World War Island bunkers or enjoying backpacking trips along the AT. These trips were my favorite part of of the summer and are the reason for my love for the nature and being outside. This story is about a crazy family history discovery I learned months after visiting Baxter State Park. When I was about 16 and a junior counselor at the camp, I went on a week-long hiking trip in Baxter State Park, which is home to Mount Katodin, the start or the end of the AT. We spent the week going on day hikes, which included hiking to the top of Mount Katodin and a long knife's edge. It was epic. On the last

day of the trip, we decided to go on a little adventure. The camp director, at the time, who was a very enthusiastic hiker and low-key a little crazy, gave us instructions on how to find an old plane crash before we left for the trip. We decided to see if we could find it. This meant we would have to hike up North Brother Mountain, hop off the trail, and bushwhack up to South Brother, and hope we find the random assortment of landmarks the director gave us in order to find the plane crash. To make a long story short, we had an absolute blast bushwhacking off the trail on a semi-foggy day looking for this plane. We joked about getting lost forever, which low-key did not feel out of the question.

After a few hours of getting whacked in the face countless times by branches, we started finding random shards of metal and debris to the wreck. Not long after, we stumbled along the plane, which was torn into several segments. It had obviously been there for a long time and had been visited by countless people. Nonetheless, such a cool experience. We took pictures and even found the next. names of the previous counselors and the director who visited the wreck nearly a decade before. The plane was an old male plane that was blown off course during a bad storm. It was transporting

mail and a few passengers during the time of World War II. There were no survivors. We enjoyed exploring the wreckage before we bushwhacked our way back to the trail and went back to camp. I was very excited to tell my parents about the trip and our discovery at the end of the summer. After telling them, I was expecting them to be excited for me, but they were a bit solemn about it, I thought was weird, but moved on. However, the trip came up again during Thanksgiving with my family, which is where this story gets crazier. Over Thanksgiving, I began to tell my whole family about our trip. Obviously, very excited. When talking about the crash, everyone got kind of quiet, which I thought was weird. My uncle pulled me aside and told me that my grandfather's brother, so my great uncle,

had died in a plane crash around that area during that time frame. He was a pilot for the TWA. I thought that this was probably just a coincidence because there's hundreds of plane crashes out there and in that area. It turns out this was no coincidence. My group put together a YouTube video of our trip and I showed it to my whole family. When I got to the part of the plane crash discovery, I could feel the room becomes still. My grandfather read out the plane ID numbers on the tail fin as if they were memorized because they were and said, that's still bro's plane as a tear rolled down his face. My grandfather was 16 years old, lifeguarding at a pool when he found out. that his older brother had died in a plane crash during a storm on June 20th, 1944.

My grandfather became a pilot in honor of his brother, which led to two of his children, including my dad becoming a pilot as well. It was an incredible discovery learning what I had visited, and words still do not describe how I feel about the whole thing. My grandfather finished the evening telling us stories he remembers about his brother and was grateful that the crash actually brings so much joy and sense of an adventure for young adventurers. I included a link to our video in 2013 and a link to the website with more information about the crash and details what happened. Thank you for all the hard work you both do and for sharing some amazing stories. Cheers, Pearson. Whoa, that's intense. It's so intense and we've said it many times, but there's no such thing

as coincidences. And I firmly believe that something brought you. You were meant to find that plane crash. To that specific one. And kind of like they mentioned the grandfather, despite the tragedy is happy, it has kind of inspired travelers and adventure outside of his family, but it seems like this also brought them together in a way too, even after the fact, like talking about it and, you know, connecting over it. And I don't know, I've just, what a weird coincidence. I hate to say it, what a weird coincidence, but that's really cool. I've never, there's quite a few, like they mentioned, there is quite a few plane crashes up there. Well, thank you for sending in that trail tale because that is really, I mean, it's home for us, the East Coast. So to hear that story is close to home for us.

And what an amazing discovery just of your family history. Okay, my next one is a bit sad. It's titled, an ode to them all. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. I'm a relatively new podcast fan, and I've been slowly working my way from the very beginning to episode 70, where I currently am. After listening to episode 69, I felt that it would be beneficial to tell my story, especially given what Danielle has been so generous to share of hers and Ian's. I'm 23 now, nearing 24, and have always been in love with the outdoors since I was a child. When I was in high school, I hit a dark spot in my battle with chronic depression and began cocooning myself away inside. That was until I met Brandon. Much like Danielle and Ian, our lives ran parallel to each other for so long that when we finally did meet, it was an

instant connection. We lived in the same area when we were little kids, went to the same schools, and even worked in the same place but just never noticed each other. We dated for almost three years, ages 17 to 20, and during the time we planned an entire trip around the world. First, we would start with all the national parks, then begin to trek to other countries, including Mexico, Peru, Scotland, South Africa, and Australia, my top five international list.

We even got up to planning a trip to Thailand using one of the apps that sets up a job for you with a local family or group in exchange for a living space and a space, expenses, but of course, life got in the way. He was a volunteer firefighter all through high school and was so excited to get certified to fight inside buildings. Of course, this entire time, I was a nervous wreck and would stay up all night sometimes just to make sure he would come home safely. I always had a gnawing feeling that he would be taken from me, which I did end up being right about,

but for the wrong reasons. A week before his 21st birthday, he went out with friends. Not unusual for him, but this time he didn't come back. There wasn't a drunk driver or anything like that, but the driver of his car took a turn too quickly, and the car flipped the rest of the way downhill. It's been over three years now, and I am with another person, but I will be the first to admit that grief is still very present in my life, and I know that he would not want me to put my life or my dreams on hold because of him, so I have made it my goal to visit every national park by the time I hit 30. I know that's a little bit away, but a girl's still got to work for a living. I've made it to six so far, and I'm both excited and sad to visit the others.

Feel free to share my story if you'd like. If not, no harm done. I only wish to help make a difference for you both, but especially Danielle. Please know, you are never alone. You're always loved Abigail. Okay, so we're all crying. I know. I'm like, can I get through this?

So, of course, we've been totally influxed with stories of loss and signs and grief journeys and things like that, and all of them are unique and special. And it's hard. Like I said, like I need to start a side hustle here of just like sharing those types of stories because we have so many. But this one really tugged at my heartstrings because number one, losing a partner, losing a partner young, always being afraid that something was going to happen to them, ending up being right about it. And also, of course, the national park element and the travel element, but the very end, something that was really relatively short in this trail tale, but very profound to anyone who is. in this type of situation. She said that when she was talking about going to visit her other national parks now, she's both excited and sad. And I think that's something that a lot of people who are dealing with grief and or completing something that they had always dreamed of planning, but then something happens that taints it,

even though on surface level it's exciting. Like I feel that way about our whole next year, next year. Like on paper, these are amazing, beautiful places. and like once in a lifetime opportunities to go, but it's, there's always an undertone of sadness associated with it. It's like night and day, ying and yang, it's like where there's one, there's the other. And I think that, um, with traveling and adventures and continuing going is important. You didn't die. Yeah. Along with your person, even though it feels like it. And it's incredibly courageous to continue that dream, even though it's now much different. So I wanted to give props

to Abigail for doing that. And that's a very, she's like, by the time I hit 30, like, she wants to see all the parks, like, go, girl. Yes. Do it. Do it. It's, I mean, I'm 31 and I haven't yet. Yeah, tell us how it is, because you'll hit it before us, I think. Yeah. We miss the 30 mark. We'll try for 40, but yeah, exactly. So best of luck on your adventures. And even though you've moved forward with life, I know it's, it'll never be the same. But you're doing. it and props to you. Well, my next story is in a completely other direction. Okay.

Good, because I can't handle it anymore. My heart can't handle it. This one is titled Trio of Wildlife Encounters. Dear Cassie and Danielle, I love the stories you share and the awareness you bring about enjoying our national parks and the outdoors. I especially love the Night of the Grizzlies episode and have recommended them to several people. I wanted to write in a wildlife encounter of my own.

This does not take place in a national park, but it's a night. in the beautiful Uinto, Wasatch-Cash-Cash National Forest. It's in Utah. Last summer, my fiancé and I wanted to get outside for the weekend. We are both geologists and our jobs are mostly fieldwork. We live in Salt Lake City and didn't want to travel too far. So we decided to camp overnight in the nearby national forest. Dispersed camping is allowed in most areas at at least 150 feet away from roads and at least 100 feet away from water. We plan to only hike in about a mile, set up camp for the night and my fiance wanted to fish in the nearby lakes. We researched the area and knew that the national forest was home to black bears, mountain lions, and other wildlife. We packed our food in a

bear safe food container and took our bear spray. Down the trail, it was apparent that we weren't feeling completely right that day. Maybe because it was our first quote unquote backpacking trip of the season and we weren't adjusted quite yet. Maybe we didn't drink enough water that day or the day prior, but both of us felt fatigued. I took a nap in the tent for most of the after. afternoon while my fiance fished. After he came back, we set up our camp stove and made our dinner. After a bowl and a half of food each, it was clear to us that we had made way too much food. We tried to force ourselves to eat more, but we were not feeling well and able to do it. With bare safety in mind, we chose to hike the roughly 0.8 miles back to our car and put our

leftovers in the trunk. We hiked back to camp and went straight into the tent. We were still so tired. Despite napping most of the afternoon, I fell back asleep almost immediately. However, my partner wasn't having the same luck falling asleep. After a few hours, I woke up to him tossing and turning. I asked him if he was okay. He told me, no, I feel like I'm going to throw up. I don't want to attract bears. That made me jolt awake. My mind instantly goes to dehydration. He could be so dehydrated that he's nauseous. I got into survival mode and started planning. I know we need to get some fluids in him and pack out. Maybe go to the nearest hospital. It's past midnight at this point. He tells me he doesn't want to do all that work and he wants to keep trying to fall asleep.

45 minutes later, he's not feeling better. He steps out of the tent and sips some water and that's when everything all came back up. I rushed to pack everything up. The night was pitch black and completely still. We started to make our way back down the trail. I'm keeping a keen eye on my fiancé and how he's feeling. Even though I'm confident in my outdoor abilities, there's something eerie about hiking in the dark. I sweep my headlamp back and forth, making loud noises and keeping an eye out for bears.

Then a chilling thought hits me. Though I could watch out for bears, a big cat could be following us, and I would never know. I glanced back once and didn't see anything. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching me. Then I heard crashing to my left and saw reflective eyes. I shone my headlamp over and saw that it was just a deer. My heart was beating so fast, and I internally chided myself for getting worked up when I needed to focus on getting my partner to the car.

Luckily, we made it to the car safely, and at 2 a.m. away from the trailhead. He's able to keep down small amounts of fluids now. After a few miles, we saw a porcupine in the middle of the road. We remarked to each other that the wildlife is active tonight. Then, about 10 miles away from the trailhead, we see something on the left shoulder of the road, something big. I slow down and as we approach, we distinguish what it is. Not one, not two, but three mountain lions. No. Sorry, I just got chills. I stopped. I stopped. the car about 70 feet away. Two cross the road and we can see that they still have faint spots on their coats. Even though they looked huge to us, these were still juveniles, probably waiting for their

mom. The third one starts crossing the road and one of the cubs on the other side playfully runs at it and they take off in the opposite direction. One running down the road away from us, the other runs directly towards our car. It stops and crosses right in front of the hood. Hearts racing, we slowly passed by the kitties and let them get on with their night. We were in awe of these beautiful creatures and how similar their mannerisms were to our house cat. We feel incredibly lucky to have seen them and that we were inside of our car for the whole experience. We made our way home and my fiance felt much better the next morning. I guess if he didn't throw up, we wouldn't have seen the cubs. There's a bright spot to everything. Anyway, remember to listen to your body and prioritize the health

of everyone in your group. Sometimes turning back is the right thing to do and may lead to unexpected wild life encounters. Research what wildlife lives in your area you're going and plan accordingly. Remember you're in their home and just sharing their space. Love hearing your stories and can't wait to hear more. Enjoy the view. But watch your back. Hallie. I love when she was like, I love that we got to see them from inside the car because I had the same exact experience. I only saw one, but it crossed right in front of my Jeep. And I was literally best moment in my life. I'm like, this is the coolest shit I've ever seen. But I was so thankful. I was inside because I could really truly enjoy it, you know. With no fear. Right. You're not interrupting the wildlife either. Yeah, seeing it from your car is definitely

the best scenario in that situation. You're not being stalked by them. They say like, if a mountain lion's stalking you, you're not going to see you. You're not going to know. You'll never know. You'll never know. When she said the three, they were three juveniles, all three of them. So that's frightening because where's the mom? Yeah. On the roof. on the rock. Stalking you at your campsite. A head just like comes. Where's the mom?

And then I also, it makes me think of this story. I think it was like maybe three or four years ago now. And I remember it hitting the headlight. I think we might have talked about it at work, actually. And it hit the headlines that this guy was attacked by a mountain lion and killed it with his bare hands. And I was like, okay. Before I even read anything, I was like, this is either a really old.

sick or very young mountain lion because there's no way in hell this guy did that and he did actually do it but it was a really young inexperienced mountain lion because its mother it had been abandoned by his mother because I think the mom either got killed either by someone hunted it or got hit by a car but either way this juvenile mountain lion had no idea how to properly hunt and it just kind of went after him and that's why he was able to fight it and ultimately kill it, but it was still like, this is a full grown adult man, and he got messed up by this thing. Like, I get messed up by 10-pound house cats. Like, please, someone else draw its blood. I don't want to even look at it in a vet hospital. They're scary as hell, people. Your cats are scary.

They're very frightening. They're so scary. They're fast. And the thing about cats, too, like house cats, not talking about malon lions. The thing about cats, too, is once they start attacking you, you just have to let them do it. Because like if they grab onto your arm or something, if you rip your arm away, they are going to, you're going to have foot long scratches down your arm. You're better to just have a bunch of little pokey holes in your arm. Because if you, it's like if you rip your arm from the claws, you're doing more damage. So once they start attacking, you literally just have to stand there and wait until they're done. You sacrifice yourself. That's just the end of it. I have, I mean, this scar, I'll never forget, do you see it on my hand? That's from I'll, I have

all these scars and I know who they're from. This is from Eve, that little devil. I'll never forget. And it's like life as a vet tech. Literally, like I can point all of them. And then, okay, before we move on to my last story, one more story about cats, because I'll never get over them. Remember Batman? How bad Batman was. Oh my God. He was the worst cat. There's a cat that we worked with when we worked together. It was this black cat named Batman. And when you saw him on the schedule, everyone like, tent stuff. It's scattered. Everyone's like, I have to throw up and go home. Everyone's like, oh, yeah, I'm really busy. I would help you. But I suddenly have other things to do. That kennel over there just really has to be cleaning right now. So Batman, and then there was a cat.

And obviously, so the owner was actually really chill about Batman. She knew he was a psychopath. like she's like, I am so sorry. Because there's some people who are in denial. They're like, oh, but he's so nice. It's like, are you looking at the same animal? He's so nice at home. Are you sticking something up its butt and drawing its blood? No.

Okay. So just like, think about that. But also, remember the cat, I think someone found it. And so it wasn't even, it was like borderline feral. And they brought it in. And it escaped in the hospital. Like, it was in the hospital, but it escaped its carrier. and it flew. I've never seen a cat fly before and I saw it like bounced off the ceiling. It was all over the place. It was in all the shelves. People are trying to get it. We have all like the cat gloves on. We have like the poles. And then I finally kind of grab it. It escapes me and it's running directly towards the three hospital dogs that were like in the corner. Oh my God. I remember this. Just so everyone can imagine. It's like down this hallway and they're they're not in a kennel, but they're, they're not in a kennel, but they're,

there's like a gate, a baby gate, kind of sectioning them off from the hospital. But the baby gate has rungs in it that you can ease. A cat could easily get in and out of. And they're just all staring, standing there waiting for this cat to just walk right into their grasp. And it's belining towards them. And I was like, I don't know what to do. I football dove on my stomach reaching out for this cat trying to save it, even though it just fucked me out. I grab it and it whipped around so fast and bit my calf so hard and I had four canine puncture wounds in my calf.

And remember I had to go to urgent care and it was like this whole thing. I'm like, dude, I'm trying to save your life. Like, okay? Just like give me a break. Life as a vet tech, the injuries that are sustained for the welfare of people's pets. I know. And these people, they're like, oh, yeah, we just like found it. I'm like, oh, good.

So it probably is riddled with disease. Thank God I have my rabies vaccine. I have rabies. I have my rabies vaccine, so, okay. All right, my last story. Okay. From someone else, not my own. This one is titled,

magical moment featuring Sarah and Ian. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. I started writing this email about a week ago, but I just got to episode 66 when you announced Ian's passing, and I knew I needed to finish this email immediately. To give you context, I'm in the middle of a Mario Kart Grand Prix. That's how urgent.

this felt. My trail tale comes from a protected area in western New York called Zor Valley. While it's not a national park, it's a New York state conservation area. Zor Valley is full of deep gorges and waterfalls surrounded by dense woods with trails that run parallel to the creek. The valley ranges from 380 to 480 feet deep. Zor is about 25 minutes away from where I live in Fredonia, New York, Fredonia. I hope I'm saying that right. I'm taking Italian, so anything that has like this type of thing I want to say like, for donya. Like I want to say it like that, even though I know that's wildly inaccurate. On this day, we decided to go to Zor. My roommate and I were trying to spend our day off that we shared together in nature. It was summer. We were both working full time. And I was also taking

online graduate classes full time. Needless to say, we both really needed this day trip to celebrate the second day of the summer that we both had off from work. I should also add, this didn't occur until mid-August. My roommate offered to drive so we packed up our car and headed out. On the way there, my roommate's car was making some weird noises. We both have old cars, so neither of us were overly concerned. Until, my roommate tried to pass the car driving in front of us because they were going 15 miles an hour under the speed limit. Before she even crossed 55 miles an hour, her car started making a terrible noise. The idiot lights, my loving name for dashboard lights, all lit up at once. We managed to safely pull over to the side of the road. After some inspection and a phone call to our friend who

works on cars, we agreed our only option was to get towed. We called AAA and were told we would have to wait almost two hours for a truck to get to us. We were both pretty miserable, especially because it was 90 degrees and sunny. And well, we couldn't exactly use the air conditioning. After about 20 minutes, we thankfully were called by a local auto shop with a towing service. They had received the request from AAA and could send someone out to us within the hour. While we were both incredibly great we also realized we would have to either ride with the tow truck driver, a total stranger who was twice our size, or call someone to give us a ride. Luckily, our friends were able to swing by and pick us up so that we didn't have to hitch a ride with the tow truck guy, because as two petite females who didn't trust men,

that was not a very flattering idea. When our friends picked us up, they noticed all our gear that we had to go hiking and swimming in Zor Valley. We broke down only five minutes away from the park, so they offered to drive us into Zor so we could all go together. This idea definitely brightened everyone's moods, so we stopped to get some snacks for our friends and headed to Zor. We got there and walked through the gorge towards a natural swimming hole one of our friends knew of. It ended up being fantastic that he came with us because he grew up going to Zor with his brothers all the time and knew the area very well. After about 30 to 45 minutes of carefully hiking through the gorge, we settled into a spot next to the creek. This was one of my first chances to just stand

still and look at the beautiful views around me. It was a Pixar sky kind of day, bright blue skies with puffy cottonball clouds. We swam around for a bit, made friends with a snake, who I first named Theodore, which involved into Theozor, ate some snacks and eventually started swimming to areas further away from our bags. I ventured off on my own towards a series of small waterfalls. They ranged from one to two feet and were layered within each other like steps. I swam up to them and found a perfectly shaped nook in the rocks where I could firmly plant myself and lay down against the water fall behind me. This is where Ian comes in. In June of 2022, someone who I have looked up to for nearly a decade was randomly hit by a car while riding her bike

home. Two of her friends were also biking with her and were injured from the incident, but my friend unfortunately didn't survive. Her name is Sarah Rogers, and she was one of the most lively people I've ever met. She was a music therapist and a teacher who specialized in working with children with a variety of disabilities. I know it sounds tacky, but Sarah could light up a room like no one else I knew. Her presence radiated pure positivity, compassion, and genuine kindness. Even though I was not one of her most immediate friends, she was a role model to me throughout high school and into college

as I made my way through my degree in music education. Her death has had an immense impact that I was not prepared for. One of the first things I did after hearing of her passing was listen to some of the songs she wrote and posted on her YouTube channel. She did a video series called Music with Miss Sarah throughout the pandemic so that her clients and students would still have access to her beautiful music despite not being able to have in-person appointments. While the pandemic was raging, I suddenly had to learn how to teach remotely as part of my degree. I was not great at teaching to camera, so I would often watch Sarah's videos for guidance. Even though they are all geared towards children, they're just as impactful on adults.

The first song I listened to after hearing of her passing was an original song she ruled. called Rain. It was one of my favorites back when I was using her videos to help inspire my teaching videos, but it suddenly had a much deeper meaning. I sat down at my piano and learned the chords by ear. I listened and re-listened at least a hundred times. This song was the first of many signs that I started associating with Sarah. Hearing you talk about Ian and the impact you instantly brought back the feelings of grief, I have been navigating with Sarah's death. Now back to Zor and the magic part of the story. While I was laying in the waterfall, I was able to stare straight up at the sky. I noticed it had suddenly become fairly overcast. I didn't remember seeing the clouds come in,

but they certainly were looming now. I watched the wind move them quickly through the sky and thought about how beautiful everything around me was. Then I thought about Sarah, how she would have loved this mini-day trip. Even if she had been in the car with us when we broke down, she would have been the calm, cool, collected one who kept us thinking positively about the situation. I closed my eyes for a second, trying to take a brain screenshot so I would remember how peaceful I felt. Before I could open my eyes, I felt drops on my face. At first, I thought a rock might have shifted and caused the waterfall to start spraying onto my face.

But when I opened my eyes, I saw the most delicate sprinkle of rain coming from the clouds. It was barely enough to notice, and it didn't last a long time. But I knew it was Sarah's way of telling me that she was there with me. I lay back down in my little nook in the waterfall and looked up at the trees, the gorge wall, in the clouds. It felt like time stopped existing. I couldn't tell you if I was laying there for a minute or hours. Eventually, my friends caught my attention in motion that it was time to pack up. I still have no clue how long I was in that waterfall. I didn't look at the time before we got into the water, but it certainly was a very magical experience for me. As we walked back, I was still overwhelmed by

the sense of awareness and peace that I was experiencing. I rarely am the type to live in the moment because my ADHD brain does not allow me for many moments of stillness. But it was like someone had given me a new brain with a brighter and more calm outlook on life. By the time we got back to the car, it had mostly worn off. I was back in the dimension where time was real and I still had to work at 8 a.m. the next day. But I was so much more content having experienced

that magical moment in the waterfall. I don't have many concrete thoughts about what the afterlife holds, but I would like to think that somehow Ian and Sarah are able to hang out. From the limited amount that I know about Ian, I can tell that he and Sarah would have been wonderful friends. I'd like to think that they've written at least one song together by now. Danielle, I hope that you are able to experience magical moments where you can connect with Ian. The pain, anger, exhaustion, and emptiness that you feel is one of the worst experiences out there. I'm sending you all my love and hope that this story made you cry, but only in a good way.

Well, congrats. Here we are. You are, Katie, Jesus. I'm bringing out all the feels today. Keep up the amazing work, ladies. I'm so incredibly glad that I found you too. The way you tell your stories is the perfect balance of comedy, conservation, and history. You make complex stories easy to follow.

I found your podcast a couple weeks ago, and I haven't been able to stop listening. I also haven't stopped yapping about how amazing your podcast is to everyone within the near vicinity of me since I started. I can't wait to keep hyping you up to literally everyone I know. Lots of love, Katie. Oh. That's really nice. So nice. That's a beautiful story.

Beautiful story. And I will say, so Katie did include like a link to Sarah's YouTube channel. And I did watch some of her videos. And the description you gave, the lighting up a room thing, even though it is cliche, I think it's true just by watching her videos. And I will post a brief clip of her playing her Rain song on our socials for this episode. Because it is really beautiful. I'm glad you had that experience and that you are connecting with her through nature, the best type of way.

Definitely. Well, my story, again, is going in a totally different direction. Thank God. Okay. This one, I feel like for my side of the story, I'm kind of on an animal kick for this one. I love that. So we have a, yeah. This one is titled Swamp Girl Adventures.

Hi, Danielle and Cassie. Got to start off by saying, I love your show. It's the perfect mix of creepy and outdoorsy. Whether I'm going on an adventure or driving to work, I really appreciate y'all on the work you both put into the stories that you share. A little background before I share my story. I am an environmental educator working at a nature center slash nature preserve in North Carolina. Basically, that means I get to take people on hikes and lead school field trips on nature topics.

It's the best job ever and I really love it. My first environmental educator job, I was working at a school camp on Jekyll Island in Georgia, teaching classes on the beach, in the forest, and the marsh. The camp I was at the time, 12 outdoorsy female educators. Obviously, this was the perfect place to make friends and go on adventures. Myself and three other girls decided we would go on a two-night canoe trip to the Okafanauki Swamp. If you don't know anything about this place, it's amazing. The swamp is largely a national wildlife refuge, but is also partly a state park. It is over approximately 400,000 acres of swamp that are headwaters for two rivers. There's a ton of wildlife that lives in this area,

gators, otters, bears, bobcats, sandhill cranes, and carnivorous plants. And the state park is an international dark sky park. To stay out in the swamp, you can follow canoe trails in the park and camp on platforms that they have set up. The four of us went on this trip and slept out two nights. When I think back on the trip, I think of all the gaiters we saw. Paddling struggles because of thick vegetation, cooking meals together, playing word games to pass the time in the canoes, and even waking up in the middle of the night to see the Milky Way. The real story I want to tell is on our paddle out of the park. We had to wake up early to paddle out and be back to work the same day. We woke up at 5 a.m. and rolled into our canoes under the cover of darkness. As we were paddling

out, we realized our headlamps were reflecting a lot of eyes on the water. Come to realize these were alligators along the edges of the bank. Our final alligator count for the trip, was in the 70s, and a majority of them were on this section. As we were paddling from a smaller channel out into the main channel, I heard a huge splashing noise coming from the canoe behind us. My first thought was that it sounded like someone fell into the water. It sounded that loud. My other thought turned to all the alligators we saw previously. I turned around in my seat, fearing the worst because it's dark and we are in the middle of a giant swamp. I see my friend wrestling with something at her feet in the boat. As we slow our canoe and move close,

I see that she is grabbing a two-foot-long alligator garfish. If you aren't familiar with these, they're a prehistoric-looking fish that seemed like a mix of fish and alligator with the teeth to prove it. My friend could not get a good enough grip on the fish because it was incredibly slimy. It was also flopping around trying to escape her grip. It felt like minutes passed of watching the struggle before she eventually got a shirt to wrap around it and flung it back into the water. Oh my god. After the garfish was gone, she explained, that it had jumped into the boat, likely scared by our canoes passing by at 5 a.m. We were all a little shocked, but there was nothing to do but keep going.

I just am picturing this and it's so funny. Have you seen an alligator garth? Yeah. Okay, because they're really scary. They're terrifying. Do you know where I first saw them? Where? Okay, you're not going to get this, so I'm mainly doing this for everyone else, hopefully.

Have you seen river monsters? No. Okay. It's an older show from like, oh, no. It was like 2009 and a couple years after that, I think. And it's about this guy who he's a naturalist, is a British naturalist. And he goes into freshwater, like rivers and things and pulls out these literal monsters, hence the name river monsters.

And they're so scary looking. And that's the first time I saw an alligator gar. It wasn't a two foot one, obviously. It was huge. Yeah. But it's so funny because I'll never forget his intro to the. show, he would always be like, I'm Jeremy Wade. Like, it was so dramatic, you know, you don't, but it's okay. I don't know, but I can picture it. I'm Jeremy Wade. Yeah, anyway.

Okay. They continue. This starts to be like, shut up, please. Okay, the wrestling, things are happening. As we continue to paddle, we were all a bit more leery about just how we put our paddles into the water. However, as the sun rose over the swamp and stay in the sky, a light pink color, we had no regrets about our swamp canoe trip. It's been a few years since the swamp trip and those girls and I are still good friends. Nothing really bonds you with someone quicker than a surprising wildlife encounter. Moral of the story, go out in the wilderness nearest to you, whatever that may be, because you just don't end up with those kind of crazy stories from sitting at home. Thanks, y'all. Even if you don't share this one, I hope you enjoyed reading it. That's so true.

You don't get those adventures at home. Gotta get out there. No, you can watch TV all you want and see them, but it's so different if you're there. That's so true. Oh, my God. The swamps, man, I don't know. The alligator thing, I was in the Everglades and I was caught. It wasn't at night and I could see, but there were alligators everywhere.

It's scary. It's a creepy feeling, but I guess they don't do much, but it's, I just can't imagine you're going down at night. And all you see are all these little eyes staring at you. 70 of them. That is terrifying. About 69, too many. Like, I liked when I was in the Everglades and did the airboat thing. And it was really fun. And I would probably do it again, but it's not something I'm dying to do. So my heart isn't in the swamps, okay? At least with an airboat, like you're actually on like a boat. You're not in just this little plastic Tupperware container almost. You're just like floating down the river waiting to be flipped over and

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's it for main trail tales, but we got two more coming up for outsiders over on Patreon. So we will share those with you guys there. And we'll see you on Monday. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch your back.

Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale you'd like to share, send us an email at NPAD Stories at gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark. and on Twitter at NPAD Podcast. Become an outsider by joining our Patreon where you'll gain access to monthly bonus stories and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our partners,

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