National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 19

Episode Date: December 22, 2022

Today's stories include off trail adventures, rescues pups, ghostly encounters and the great bear mace incident. Bonus stories available for Outsiders on Patreon. All tales shared with consent.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!MasterClass: Use our link to gift one annual membership and get one free! 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

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. Hi, everyone. We're back with another Trail episode this Thursday. This lovely Thursday, would you like to go first? Going right into it. We mean business today. We have stories to tell and we are telling them immediately. Okay, yeah, I'll go first. Sorry, you just threw me off for a second. I'm like, oh, okay, we were like, we were talking a little bit before this.

I guess we're just, we're ready. Okay. Mine doesn't have a title. It just starts off and goes, Hi, Danielle and Cassie. My twin girls turned me onto your podcast several months ago and I'm hooked. We love our national parks. As they've gotten older, our family has started visiting a new national park every year. Listening to NPAD gives us great information on so many of the parks. I appreciate the research you put into the episodes, the guests, and the safety and awareness you promote.

Thank you. I've listened to about eight trail tales so far and started to think if I had any to share based on my years of hiking and was coming up empty, until I remembered a one-day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. I've lived in North Carolina for about 30 years and work in a cardiopulmonary rehab program. In the mid to late 1990s, I was sent to a national conference in Denver. I think this was towards the end of September. At that point, the only national park I had been to was the Great Smoky Mountains. I've never been to any of the big parks out west. I was excited to go to Denver and just happened to pack my hiking gear with the hope of taking a half day for some hiking. I looked at my conference

schedule and was happy to find that I could take a majority of one of the days for exploring. Rocky Mountain National Park was about 1.5 to 2 hours away, so I took my rental car and gear and headed north. I bought a national park map and started driving on the Trail Ridge Road. It's the only main road that seems to go through the park. I remember driving up to about 11,000 feet where I found a trail. I forgot the name, but looking at a map now, it had to have been the Ute Trail. This was a time when there were no cell phones, at least none that I could afford. So information like trail conditions and weather reports were not at your fingertips like they are today. I parked at the trailhead and noticed some cloudy skies.

My car was the only one around. No worries. I wasn't going to go for a 10-mile hike. I just wanted to experience some of the Rocky Mountains. As I started up the trail from the road, I noticed a sign that said, stay on the trail. Okay, noted. It had just started snowing. I was enjoying the peacefulness of the snow coming down.

There were no other sounds at all, just snow quietly falling all around me. I grew up in northern Indiana, where we would get a ton of lake effects snow off Lake Michigan, so I was very comfortable in the snow. Everything was wide open. I'd never seen such wide open spaces before, and it was incredible. I marched on and reached a bit of a plateau and noticed to the west a huge drop off into what appeared to be a large crevice or canyon. It was the kind of large open space that made it hard to. to judge from a distance. My curiosity was very heightened. I'd have to leave the trail, but it would only

be for a few minutes. Maybe I could just walk over there slowly, safely, just to get a better look down this enormous space. The snow is coming down hard now. Thick, heavy flakes. Still very quiet, still very beautiful. And I was loving this. I grew up craving and loving big snowstorms, like the blizzard of 1978. As a kid, a blizzard was like heaven. So I felt like I was in my element. It was probably about 100 yards or so to the drop off. I kept walking, slowly, taking my time. I was in no hurry today and I wanted to be safe. As I was getting closer to what seemed to be a sharp edge, suddenly I heard a roaring, boom, and rumbling that was bouncing off the walls of the canyon. This was thunder snow. I never heard it before and I'll never forget it. It was so incredible.

Going from this quiet, peaceful hike in the snow to what must have been the start of a big storm, It was such a contrast to what I had just experienced a few moments before. I stopped and tried to process this. I had hiked off the trail towards a big drop-off and a violent thundering welcomed me. I took this as a pretty clear sign to get my booty out of there. Not much good was going to come from me continuing to the drop-off. I listened to my gut and turned back towards the trail, suddenly picking up my pace. I suppose I had a bit of adrenaline flowing through my blood.

As I reached the trail, I started descending back to the parking area where I could see someone approaching my rental car. It was a park ranger putting a note on my windshield. The ranger was too far away to hear me, but once I got down there and read their note, I was thankful. The note said to get to lower elevation. This was the first winter storm of the season. I carefully drove down to a lower elevation and out of the path of the heavy snow. I parked and started hiking on another trail that was a safer option. I was taking my time since I had noticed a little short of breath due to the incline of the trail and the elevation. I hiked maybe a mile or two and decided to turn back. This was when I saw my first ever herd of elk. It's hard to realize how big they are if you've

never stood near them. They were enormous. And they were standing right on the trail. What if one started to charge me? What would I do? I assumed that they weren't as kind and peaceful as a white-tailed deer that I was used to, so I cut off part of the trail and gave them a wide berth. I was getting hungry, so I got back to my car and drove to this cool little town. It was Estes Park. never heard of it before. I found a nice little cafe and just sat there for a couple hours, reading a book, recounting the incredible day I had just had. It was so relaxing. I took my time, but realized I eventually needed to drive back to Denver. I'm not a big prominent of hiking alone for obvious safety reasons, but sometimes I just want to explore and I can't help myself. And as

nice as it would have been to have a buddy with me, it was such a special experience that day with just myself. You just need to trust your gut, be smart, and listen to what the thunder snow tells you when it speaks. This was fun reliving that day, makes me want to put Rocky Mountain National Park higher on a list of places for our family to visit. Thank you again for the stories and the insight of all the parks you talk about and how entertaining you make it. Sincerely, Mike. 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 of 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. 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. I just brought back a lot of memories from the other week of us together.

It's part of why I liked this trail tale because Danielle and I kind of, I mean, not this exact story, but we went into Rocky Mountain National Park. It was not snowing in Denver. We got to Rocky Mountain and there was a full blizzard. They were expecting 10 inches of snow up there. And Al and I, we were in separate cars and we had accidentally gone to the wrong entrance. So we met up with Danielle going across like an overpass that was high elevations. We were in some kind of bad weather. And we're like, we're not going back up there. But we met at the other visitors. Center and we talked to a park ranger who gave us a safer trail and lower elevations to walk for a little while. So yeah, it reminded me a lot of our little experience. Well, and the elk comment. Obviously,

I've seen, I've seen many elk many other times, but I have never seen an elk as big as that one that we saw in Estes in front of the library. I thought it was a statue. It was. Can you post that so everyone can see how big this elk was? Yeah, okay. We stayed in Estes, park and I saw a huge herd of elk and then you just saw one massive. I've literally never seen an elk this giant before. I was like stunned. I really was stunned. Okay, yeah, I'll post it. I remember you being like, how is he carrying those horns on his head? And then we went down a giant rabbit hole of Googling when elk lose their horns and if it's yearly. Yeah, where I was like, how and at what rate rate do the antlers grow? When do they fall off? I'm like, there is no way.

this elk shed his antlers and re-grew them like this in one year. I just, I still don't understand it. But then we do look at it and it did say that they grow an inch a day. So I don't know. If there's any elk experts listening to this, like please, please let us know. Yeah, please clarify. Yeah. Okay. My next, or first story, I should say, is Lost in the Woods and one four-legged trail running rescuer. Howdy to everyone, one and all. I'm a long-time listener, first-time writer. Your podcast podcast has inspired me more than anything or anyone to embrace and view the outdoors in a different light, even if that is the dull trails of Florida's capital. And you both cannot fathom how much I owe you for that. In 2020, my border collie and best friend, if I'm honest, Spooky and I set off on our mission to get fit during quarantine and explore every trail in our area.

I really like that name. Spooky. It's cute. Spooky. Come here. Yeah, so cute. Being as it. Being as it was July of 2020 in the swamp land of Tallahassee, Florida. The weather was more oppressive than usual. My phone informed me it felt like 99 degrees Fahrenheit with a lovely dash of 100% humidity. It's like being stuck in a dishwasher on a steam heat cycle, to be honest. Sounds horrendous. But being born and raised in Florida, this was no problem. I'd brought the appropriate supplies and picked a shady, plus there was no sign anyone else was in the park, so I wouldn't have to worry about embarrassing sweat stains. I have to say the commitment to get fit outdoors in Florida in the middle of July like that is unmatched. Yeah. I would be inside. I love the outdoors, but I would be in the gym,

in the air conditioning. Yeah, AC all the way. About a mile into our warm up, Spooky and I picked up speed as our hype song came on shuffle, so we really booked it for the next couple of miles, pushing ourselves and having fun. Remember that I mentioned this took place in 2020? Well, since the pandemic and all three colleges in town being empty, the park staff were clearly not maintaining the trails. Trees and brush hadn't been cut back and the accumulation of leaves made it appear that in every direction, I was nowhere near the trail. However, for reasons too lengthy for this email, I have an excellent sense of direction. So I followed my compass-like instincts and continued running. Soon, the gaps in the tree canopy grew more distant and I was no longer sheltered from the blistering

sun on my skin. I began to worry about spooky overheating, so we saw that. slowed our pace slightly as I attempted to trace our steps back to the shaded trail that leads to the exit. I'm not sure how long I was running, trying to find the trail entrance, but I did begin to panic. Suddenly, my lungs felt extremely restricted. I felt like there was a blade stuck in my chest as my heart swelled up with what I can only describe as a swarm of particularly angry bees. Before I could check my heart rate or grab my phone, I lost all vision. I couldn't see. My hearing was distorted. I was in tremendous and mobilizing pain and I was struggling to breathe. Having gone through nursing school, aware that no one

else was in the park and I couldn't get to my phone, I knew I was in a very, very bad situation. hunched over, pleading with my eyes to see something, anything, an anxious thought popped into my head. I was going to die alone. Spooky would have to join a coyote pack and a gator would probably consume my sad corpse. I won't lie. I began crying as if I was mourning my impending death. And then I felt a fuzzle body lean its weight against my leg and give me some reassuring licks. It was spooky. I reached blindly to pet her, but she was gone. Then I felt the slack of Spooky's leash that was secured to my waist begin to tighten, fast and hard. I let Spooky pull me, thinking she smelled something neat and hey, if I'm going to die, might as well indulge her. That's when I felt the surface of the trail change

from layers of crunchy leaves to compact dirt. Spooky had found one of the only extremely hard to find maintained trails for equestrians. And as she was pulling me down that damn trail as if she were balto, delivering medication to the needy Alaskans, every so often, she would stop for me to catch my breath and hydrate. Meanwhile, keeping an eye out while encouraging me through gentle kisses and leaning her body against me. I'd like to point out, Spooky has never done anything like this. During one stop, through nonstop pain and vision loss, I realized I was putting complete faith in a dog that is 100% not trained for assisting blind people, let alone performing solo rescue missions. So I lost it again. I know all of this sounds insane, but Spooky knew I was ready to give up.

Through hysterical sobs, I held her fur and said to the cruel man in the sky, I just want to go home. I want to go to my car, please. Immediately, Spooky began pushing me to my feet in a bum. bossy way I've only seen when she's hurting animals. Faster than our pace before, Spooky was running down the trail, around obstacles, and taking less breaks while pulling me for three more miles. Spooky stops pulling me and starts jumping on me, yipping as our feet hit the asphalt on the parking lot. At this point, the chest pain is still present, but I can breathe a bit easier. But most importantly, I can see shapes again, and I see that weird shape that could only be my Prius.

Spooky led me back home, just like I asked. She doesn't know, and would, never taught the words home or car and we had never run that specific trail before, only a different one in the opposite end of the park. The test physicians performed after this incident revealed I had a heart disease called supravanticular tacticardia, SVT. A team of cardiologists that treated me all told me something I've known since day one. That dog, spooky, is my guardian angel. I experienced an SVT attack that escalated into a heart attack that could have killed me. I was only 22 years old at the time of the attack, and I have no disease history in my family, so I hadn't the slightest suspicion. Here's the obligatory part where I preach adopt, don't shop. I adopted Spooky

less than eight hours before she was set to be euthanized. The shelter workers aware of her bite history made an exception to let her be adopted because they were astounded that I was the only person that Spooky seemed to trust. I was so lucky to have met the man who rescued her at a dog park. I learned that Spooky was locked in a metal crate outside throughout a Category 3 hurricane with bloody paws showing she tried to dig her way out of the crate, which definitely resulted in more trauma than your average shelter dog. To be blunt, it took spooky two years to accept my long-term living boyfriend while it took me 2.3 seconds through a kennel door. I don't know why she picked me. I don't think I deserve her, but I will never take her for granted. She has me tethered to this earth, which makes me believe that she truly is my guardian.

angel, as I have suffered with bipolar one treatment-resistant depression for half of my life, and as a result, I have had many attempts to take my own life. But now, I have to stay for Spooky. No one else can care for her due to her extreme anxiety and behavior issues. And likewise, no one else can care for me and my rat's nest of issues except for Spooky. Thank you both for inspiring people to see the world as more full of opportunity and adventure. Spooky and I are working on our hiking endurance every week with the goal of hiking on a mountain one day or being able to keep up on one of the NPAD group trips. Florida is so very flat. And of course, NPAD is in my year the entire time. Sorry, this is long. I can't self-edit for the life of me, but I just wanted

to give my hero Spooky a shout out for being the best hiking pal out there and to ring in her fourth birthday this month. Enjoy the view, y'all, but make sure you've got a secretly guide certified dog friend to watch your back. Lots of love, Miranda and Spooky from Florida. Well, happy birthday, spooky. And are we all crying? Are you tearing up a little? Oh my God. That was just like the sweetest story. I mean, dogs are incredible. They really are. And I totally believe that they just, they know they can, they can sense things and they can understand things. And also, I just have to note that you had a heart attack and then you ran for three miles, which is badass. Like I know your dog was guiding you, but holy shit, who has a heart attack and then runs

three miles to their car? Yeah, you still got there. Spooky led you, but you still got there. So give yourself some credit. So you got some credit in there, too. That is badass. And I hope you're doing well. And your dog is amazing.

Yeah. And you guys chose each other. I know that you said she's your guardian angel, but it seemed like she needed you too. So goes both ways. And just like as, I mean, because we both have worked in the vet tech field for years and we've met so many dogs that do have behavioral issues and stuff to hear a story where one that does suffer from severe anxiety and has behavioral issues and you mentioned a bite issue, finding a home that is really like meant for them is just so like heartwarming for like for us just to hear like these dogs that are really lived through trauma and getting the life that they deserve to have all along. very happy. I agree. Okay, my next trail tale is different than that one, but I really liked the way that this person wrote their trail tale. And it's titled Trail. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I am a newish listener to the pod and I absolutely love it. I started listening this past June and then binge the

entire thing throughout the summer. I've loved every episode. I've laughed with you, been scared with you, and have grieved deeply for you. It seems like I'm coming back to friends every time I get to listen to a new episode on Mondays to and from work. Here's the thing. I am not a huge fan of the outdoors, and I hate camping. I take my dogs for walks every day, rain or shine, but that's as much as I really feel the need to be outside of my home or other indoor spaces.

It sounds like my sister. So my sister, Alyssa, I, there is, I remember this was years ago and I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy it. But I was just at like shopping somewhere in New England and I saw this cruise. neck sweatshirt and it said indoorsy on it. And I almost got it for her and I regret it so bad because yeah, same thing. It's like we couldn't be more opposite. It's so funny. It's well, they go on to say, I've hated camping since I was a young Girl Scout. I would sit in the smoke of the campfire to trigger my asthma so my mom would have to come get me and take me home. Ingenious. Genius. Brilliant. It's like

go on to say, I don't like being cold, I don't like being wet. And I absolutely positively didn't want anything to do with sleeping in a tent or using facilities that didn't include a flushing toilet and a private, hot shower. I cannot stand bugs, especially mosquitoes. I'm the teacher at recess who puts on bugs right before recess duty. As a teacher, I like order, planning, and predictability, all things that cannot be obtained out in the wild. That being said, I still wanted to see the outdoors. I wanted to see Banff and Glacier and Olympic National Park. To do that, I had to go outside.

I think that's why I like your podcast so much. I can hear about the outside and feel like I'm there without actually being outside. It's perfect. I also watch a lot of YouTube videos of people who go to national parks. My friend Angela and I decided to go on a tour of the PNW, Glacier National Park and Banff National Park. Angela is the exact opposite of me. She's adventurous and has traveled all over the world, taught in multiple other countries, and gotten into more than one situation that makes my hair stand straight up on my head.

She also doesn't mind tent camping, sleeping in her car, or being outside for days or weeks on ends. In short, she's a complete badass and completely opposite of me. So with this perfect pairing, we head out for our month-long trip. The tale I'd like to tell you about is Glacier National Park. It's not scary or anything. It's just a fun story that made me glad I tried new things, even though I was slightly terrified. Also, Angela made sure we didn't listen to the Night of the Grizzlies episode until after

we were all done camping. That was very smart because I would have not gone. Smiley face. Night of the Grizzlies was very traumatizing. So we were in Glacier and June of this year, which was when the historic floods were happening in that part of the country. When we got out of glacier, we heard that Yellowstone had been closed. Going to the Sun Road and Glacier was closed past Avalanche Lake and we couldn't even get

to avalanche Lake due to flooding and ironically, avalanches. The same rain that was flooding Yellowstone was also hitting us. It rained in glacier almost the entire three days we were there. It rained and rained and rained until I thought I would never be dry again. Angela has an amazing tent so we were dry inside but I just felt wet and cold down to my bones. Among the perfect beauty, I was slightly miserable. As we were prepping for glacier, we knew we wanted to do North Fork Road. At first, I only knew it was dirt road, which was fine. I grew up in Southern California, but have lived in Iowa for the last 17 years, so I knew dirt, gravel, and unpaved roads.

Then I started reading the description. Bumpy, you should know how to change a tire, travel at your own risk, you'll be out in the middle of nowhere. Reading that information and thinking about the rental car, I was very nervous to go. Angela kept saying, we're going to glacier, we have to do it. I was reluctant, and every bit of anxiety was screaming at me not to go. I let Angela persuade me. We got our tickets for the road, magically last minute, and we were going to do it. We woke up on the morning of our trip into glacier and it was pouring rain. Again, ever present.

My mind just kept thinking about that road. We were going to get stuck. We wouldn't have cell reception. We were going to wreck the car and the insurance was going to say it was all our fault. Think of every worst case scenario and it was going through my mind. Finally, we took off. After going the wrong way, twice, we made our way to pole bridge. The cut off the grid town before you take North Fork Road. We get to the highly recommended Huckleberry pastry and warm coffee and decide to take it to the lake at the end of the road to enjoy. We pull up to the ranger station to show him our pass.

The water pouring into our car as he cheerily laughs at us and waves us on with a good luck. I was beyond nervous now. I was driving because I'm a control freak and needed to feel like I was in charge of something. At first it was not too bad. But then we hit the first bump. and then another and another and another. We couldn't go around them because the only place off the road was over the edge of the mountain or into the trees.

The potholes were bone-jarring deep. The rain was pouring and the windshield wipers were pumping their hardest. We got to one hairpin turn and all I can think is we're going to crash into another car. This was going to be where I died in the rain on this god-versaken, unmaintained road. Our coffee was sloshing everywhere. Anchel and I looked at each other and just started laughing. hysterically. We were less than a mile in, but there was nowhere to turn around, so we must go straight. Angela wouldn't have let us turn around anyway. We bumped and jostled and sloshed our way along the road.

It probably took us a good 45 minutes to make the six-mile drive. It was the bumpiest ride of my life. If I hadn't been driving, my motion sickness would have gotten the best of me. It was slow going, and our teeth jostled and our coffee was everywhere. But finally, we made it. As we pulled up to the parking lot, there was one other car there, but no one around. And then all of a sudden, it stopped raining. Like no more rain at all, and we could see hints of the bright sun. We make our way towards the lake. We couldn't see yet through the trees and the clouds slowly started to melt away and the sun peaked through. When we arrived at beautiful Bowman Lake, the clouds mercifully revealed the breathtaking peaks that make Glacier Park famous. We were the only ones there for a few minutes, and we drank the little of our coffee that was left and ate our delicious pastries. We just stared in awe and couldn't believe this beauty was real. The rocks at the bottom of the lake were truly rainbow-colored. The peaks were majestic and snow-topped. After a kind stranger took our pictures, we thought we might hike. Well, the rain started so we got back to our car to head back to the bumpy road, where we continued

to be wet and rainy for the rest of the trip. You see, that's how the trip went. Crazy good timing for everything we wanted to do. The last-minute tickets to Bowman Lake, parked at and got to spend hours at Lake Louise in the middle of the summer day in Banff, almost unheard of, and got a first come, first-served camping spot in Olympic National Park. There we visited my niece, who because of me being much younger than my sisters, is only a few years younger than me. She's actually who introduced me to the podcast first. She loves you guys too.

We listened to the amazing and inspiring story of Jane Constantino in our drive from my niece's home in Yakima to Olympic. All of it made me appreciate the outdoors that much more. The only downside was that we didn't camp in Banff. There was snow on the ground still and I had reached my limit when we had to put away our sloppy wet tent and glacier. After my harrowing month in the outdoors I reflected, do I need to be outdoors more than I am now? No. Have I developed a new love for camping?

Also, no. Do I better understand my niece who spends every free moment in the backcountry of Washington and Oregon? Again, that'll be a hard no. But what I do know is that this. This is a big wide world that sometimes you just have to be extra brave to explore and be willing to step out of your comfort zone to experience. I've attached a picture of Angela and me at Bowman Lake after a trek. I've also included a picture of my dog, Gideon, because he's adorable and everyone should get to see him, smiley face. He also enjoys the outdoors.

Thanks for listening. And again, I love your show. Clarissa. I love everything about that story. I loved it. I just loved everything about it. I also want to say, Clarissa, if you're listening to this, none of your pictures attached. to the email you sent in. We'd love to see them. So please send them our way. Yeah, send them over.

But I just, I loved all of it. I loved that it was just like, I don't like the outdoors. I don't want to be here. And then still finding like, you have such a memorable trip and a story now from it. And you found, even though you don't want to be out there all the time, you did find like a little bit of love for the outdoors. And I also love when people write in that are like, I'm not outdoorsy, but I enjoy the podcast. And it's like, you don't have to be outdoorsy to enjoy. the stories and the ideas of the outdoors. And I love that people aren't afraid to say that because it's true. Like you don't have to be outdoorsy to like these stories. Well, and my favorite part of the entire thing was that her mind was not changed. She didn't have a life altering epiphany or anything.

It was just like, yeah, I still like I did it, but it's just not for me. And that's staying true to yourself. And I love that. My next story does not have a title, but it begins, Hey girlies, my name is Sierra, pronounced like the singer. And she wrote it, so I have to say it. Yes. Sierra, this beat is automatic, supersonic, hypnotic, hypnotic, funky, fresh. She didn't write hypnotic, funky, fresh.

But I feel like that's how it goes. I can go through my chest. Drop, drop, everybody get on the floor. That's Sierra. Yeah, that one. It's kind of like that Sierra. Yeah. You can use my name and all the other ones in the story because I have changed them just in case.

Wait, so is your name Sierra or not? Was that just a lie? Your name better be Sierra because I just sang on the podcast. Right. So we're going to just pretend that your name is Sierra, Sierra, but everybody else has changed. Okay. I want to start off by saying that I have been a listener ever since the very first episode and have been hooked ever since. You babes killed it at the live show.

I brought my fiance with me. me and now he truly understands why I am obsessed with you too. When you released the episode that you were doing a live show in Denver, I was driving a U-hall with my mom in the passenger seat in the midst of making the move to Denver, Colorado. No such thing as a coincidence. I had my mom buy two tickets right there and then. Trail tales have always been one of my favorites. While we were sitting around a fire pit in the backyard, I was telling my fiancé how I have

always wanted to write into you guys but never had a story. Then he said, what about that time we saw a UFO? or when there was a ghosty walking in the wash. Oh shit, that's right, my genius fiance. I do have a fucking story. Sorry, Cassie. I like to cuss as much as Danielle does. It's okay.

It's a problem. It's a problem, I have. It got so long that I felt bad adding in the UFO story, so I'll save that one for another time. If one of you read this, you can choose to share with each other on the pod or neither. Love you, bitches. To begin, I will say that growing up in Southern Arizona,

I was raised in the outdoors. Fishing, camping, hiking, off-roading, and partying in the desert have always been some of my best memories. While camping, we've had some run-ins with wildlife and other crazy weirdos, but nothing too crazy until it was late March, which is absolutely perfect weather in the desert. Sunny and 75, just a few clouds in the bright blue sky and a light, crisp breeze.

My family and group of their four-wheeling friends, Jeep gang, P.S. Danielle, don't you love a cool Jeep wave? Yes, I do. And I just have to say something to the people of Colorado, just a quick PSA. I remember always doing the Jeep wave, like when I used to live here in 2014, 15, 16. And then I left Jeep waves abound in New England, Washington, everywhere else I've lived. And I came back to Colorado in September. I have not gotten one Jeep wave. And I do the Jeep wave to people. And then I just, they drive by me without even looking at me. And my hands. hand, I just like look at my hand. Like what? What? This is so sad. What has happened?

I'm very upset about it. I'm like, is this not a thing anymore here? That is depressing. And you know, I always, I will say, I always felt left out because I do not have a Jeep and I would see or I would ride with someone. And I was like, you guys have your own wave. I remember when I first discovered that Jeep people had their own wave. And I wasn't like part of the club.

I was like, what? I'm like, that's so cool. They're so cool. But then I got my motorcycle license and motorcyclists have a wave. And I'm like, all right, I'm in. I'm in. I'm into a different club, but it's still a club. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just Jeep Wranglers. And it's just like, I don't understand what happened. And I'm upset about it.

And now it makes me not want to do it, but I don't want to now conform to everyone else not doing it. I don't know. It's a whole thing. Anyways. Okay. Where are we? Okay.

Oh, yes. Okay. So their family and a group of their four-willing friends made a plan for the weekend to take a trip out to a little abandoned mining village. My dad grew up in the area so him and his friends knew the trails like the back of hands. We have done this trip many times before, but this was the first time we were turning it into an over-nighter, and my boyfriend, now fiancé, was joining us. Usually, we would just push through the entire trail, which would take us from dusk until dawn, but boy, is it an ass kicker, and we never

have had much time to lounge around and enjoy the view. The mining village is three-quarters through the 30 miles of rock dirt trail. Granted, we're four-wheeling, so we're going about 15 miles an hour the whole way. We start off at sunrise with four jeeps packed with camping, gas, food, water, and lots of beer. There was eight of us, so we really did need lots of beer. We take a couple wrong turns, but eventually make it to the little mining village a couple hours before sunset. Everyone begins to set up camp while my sister and I show my fiance around the abandoned mining village. Now, this village has always been a little creepy. I never thought much of it because we would always see it in the middle of the day. I have always wondered what the history of the

place was, but I have never been able to find any research on it. The only way to get to the area is driving down a wash for about five miles off the four-wheeling trail. Then you pull into a big flat space above the wash where we parked all the jeeps and set up camp. Most of the mining property is to the left of our camping area and woods cover most of the right side. There are four houses, two sheds, an outhouse and a corral with the entrance to a small mining shaft at the top of a hill. What is odd about this mining village is that it seemed as if it was abandoned in a hurry and they left everything behind. All of the houses were still fully furnished.

Couches, tables, chairs, rugs, kitchen appliances, bed frames, mattresses. And what's even weirder is that all the rooms are full of personal belongings of whoever lived there. We're talking clothes, children's books, stuffed animals, family photos. But it is all very old and dusty. I'd guessed maybe from the 60s, but I'm not sure. The sheds still have tools in them and there was a little playground in the back I know. It sounds creepy, but we never got any bad vibes from this place. I think it's because we respected the property in the land that it was on. My dad said that when they first found the mining

village back in the 1990s, it was only a little deteriorated from the weather. It was messy inside the house like everything had been rummaged through from animals and other people coming in and out. So in no means did this place look untouched. But it was cool to walk around in the place and think of all the people and families who lived there. When and why did they leave? How long were they there for? Why did they leave everything behind? Arizona is known for mining copper. So our guess was that a family homestead out there in the early 1900s. But as the copper dried up and the water did too, they were forced to leave and relocate.

Over the years, it continued to become more ruined. But this time, when we went, it was worst of all. Some complete dickheads absolutely demolished the buildings, smashed all the windows, broke the doors, spray painted everywhere. There are holes in the wall, broken beer glasses and trash scattered all over. over the place. It was tragic. I mean, like I said, it wasn't all pretty and polished before, but you could at least see some of the life and the history in the houses. And now it just seemed dark and sad. As we were showing and explaining all of this to my fiancee, while

walking through the houses, my parents were in the process of setting up camp and discovered that the wrong tent poles were in the tent bag. Side story, my sister was a senior in high school and went camping with her friends and took the tent. Needless to say she fucked up. We ended up sleeping on top of the tent in our sleeping bags. After eating dinner, we hung around the campfire, telling stories and drinking. Eventually, everyone wandered off to bed. I never realized how much of a tent gives you the feeling of protection. The weather was nice, but I didn't sleep very well that night, because every twig snap I heard had me thinking that there was a bear or mountain line prowling behind me. On the bright side, I have never seen more stars in my life. I could literally

see the galaxy. It was insanely beautiful. I felt like I only slept a couple hours that night. Anytime I would close my eyes for too long, I would start to hear light footsteps or twig snapping in the woods behind me. I'd shine my flashlight and see nothing. Everyone was up and breaking down camp as soon as it was bright enough to see outside. Usually we'll have a slow start to the morning, kick off the day by making breakfast and drinking some coffee. But this time, everyone was in a rush to leave and I was with them because I was tired as fuck. We made our way through the rest of the trail and to the closest gas station to air up our tires and fill up on gas when we all started talking about how creepy that area turned out to be.

As it turns out, no one slept well that night. Everyone felt on edge and weirdly paranoid. I told them how I heard footsteps and twigs breaking in the forest behind me, but would turn around and nothing was there. My dad thought he heard a vehicle driving down the wash and went to investigate to find no one in the area. My parents' friend Bob said that he heard someone humming around their tent. But when he went to investigate,

no one was outside and no footprints were to be seen. My sister continued to be woken up from nightmares, but all she could remember from them was the feeling of being constricted. But the most spooky story of the mall was my parents' friend Joe. He got up to go pee and as he was standing there, he heard footsteps and grunting in the wash. He looked over and saw a man walking down the wash away from our campsite. The man was dressed in blue and white striped long johns with no shoes on. Joe started calling the guy asking if he needed help or if he was lost.

The man didn't turn around, stop, or look back at him at all. Joe can hear him mumbling, angry under his breath, but is not able to make out any words. So Joe goes to follow him, thinking that the man didn't hear him and that the guy was lost or hurt or his vehicle was broken down somewhere close by. When Joe took his first step in the man's direction, the man stopped, midstep with his back facing Joe. He turned his gaze over his shoulder in the direction of where Joe was standing. That is when Joe sees the man's eyes were gone.

They were just bottomless black pits. Joe's heart dropped to his stomach and his blood ran cold. He stood there motionless, not saying anything and too scared to make a sound. Then the man continued on his way, walking down the wash. That is also when Joe realized this man was leaving no footprints behind him. Joe was terrified and ran back to the camp, but everyone seemed to be asleep and unfazed, so he kept this story to himself. We probably would have blown off his story,

not thinking much of it, saying that he'd smoke too much weed before bed or something, but mixed with all the other spooky stuff everyone else was seeing and feeling. Coincidence? I think not. We then vowed to never stay the night at the mining village ever again. Anyways, reading back through the story, it doesn't sound as creepy as it does in my head,

but I hope you enjoyed it anyways. As always, enjoy the view, but watch your back. Love Sierra, your new wannabe Denver Bestie. No, that was scary. I think it was creepy. I thought that was so creepy. That would scare the shit out of me.

And yeah, you definitely got haunted. And Jill got haunted. I mean, yeah, that was creepy. That was, ugh. Ew, I would hate that. Turn around and just, like, black, like, socket eyeballs. Like, oh, no. Yeah, I don't know.

Well, thank you for sharing that story. I have my last one before I. I have a bonus one for Patreon too, but this is my last one. For this, it is titled, That Time My Boyfriend and I Accidentally got Bear Maced. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. My name is Laura. You can use my name for the story. And I just wanted to start off by saying I absolutely love this podcast.

I started listening last year when I was on a solo trip from Oregon back to Missouri, where I am from. I have developed a real love for our national parks over the last two years and have visited 14 parks in the last two years, most of which have been. solo. Being a girl from Missouri, I am far from your average hiker or nature girl, L.O.L. The flat land doesn't provide much in that wheelhouse. This podcast has provided me with so much useful information to get out there and feel more safe while I'm out there and alone. I got my boyfriend Justin into the podcast when I was on one of my stints at home. I'm a traveling nurse. And it's our thing we listened to together when we were in the car for long periods of time. We love listening to the Trail Tales episode and I always say, man, I would.

I wish I was cool enough to have a trail tales to tell. Well, boy did I get one to tell you guys. This story takes place while my boyfriend and I were on a road trip through Washington, end of September slash beginning of October, 2022. Towards the end of our trip, we were in the North Cascades National Park area getting ready to do a hike. My boyfriend reached into the back seat to grab his pack so we could start our hike when he heard a noise like something was spraying. Immediately, both of us freak out when we realized the spraying sound was the bare mace on his pack. He immediately removed it to figure out why it was deploying. The clip was still intact, so we figure maybe it was just an accident.

He took it out of his pack and sat it next to the car as I had another can attached to my pack. When we came back, we put it in a trash bag and put it on the roof rack so it wouldn't be in the car with us. Fast forward a few days later. Some clothing items that were in his pack were in the laundry bag we had, and we were trying to separate our stuff as he was returning back to Missouri, and I was staying in Oregon where I am currently working. I was taking a nice bath in the jacuzzi tub in our hotel when all of the sudden I felt like an extreme burning sensation on my neck and my left hand. I thought it was in my head when I looked in the mirror and realized I had a huge rash that looked like a burn.

I asked my boyfriend what the hell was going on. That's when it dawned on us. We had just touched items with bear mace on them and now we both had bear mace on our skin. I immediately started freaking out and both of us began Googling how to get bear mace off your skin. Per Google, it said to use dish soap, so we rushed out to the car to get dish soap. Needless to say, we spent the last night of our trope with burning skin, all from a faulty can of bear mace. Fast forward a few days later, I get a text for my boyfriend while I'm at work, saying he

has something he needs to tell me. I call him, and he tells me that he was at work, and his feet started burning like they were literally on fire. This is when he realized, oh shit, I'm wearing the socks that were in my pack when the bear mace faulty sprayed. What an experience. I doubt this will make it on the pod because most people are way cooler than me, but if it does, Justin and I will be having a good laugh.

As always, enjoy the view, but watch your back because you never know when your bear maze might just combust and get all over your shit. Love Laura. The gift that keeps on giving. This story reminded me and I don't know, maybe someone else has seen this video, but you know, on Facebook, there's like these influencer couples who I don't, they used to. there's lots of different people who do it, but basically they play pranks on each other, and sometimes they go a little too far and people watch it and get a lot of views.

Well, this reminded me of this one, and I thought this just like burns in my brain, I think, because it's probably like one of the worst pranks I ever saw someone do on their partner. And this woman, she knew that her partner, every time he would come home, from work, the first thing he would do is he would go in the bathroom and he would take a shit. So she covered the toilet paper in mace for as his prank. It gets worse. So he like goes into the bathroom and immediately like starts screaming. Like, oh my God, what is this?

I'm burning. I'm burning. And she's like, I don't know. Oh, you know what you need. You need ice. You need ice. So this girl, she goes in grabs ice cubes that she had filled with mace. and gives them to her boyfriend to start rubbing all over his butt.

And then he's screaming, like burning. And then eventually he jumps in the shower and is like, what did you just do to me? I was just like, it was the worst prank I ever saw. But the story just reminded me of it because they kept getting like remaced with bear spray. And this prank I saw was like the worst thing I've seen someone do to their partner. That's brutal. for a prank like I no absolutely not I mean I think I've shared this on this podcast before of when it was nowhere near as bad as the prank or this previous story but when the bear spray went off a little bit in the car with Ian and I and we were in the middle of nowhere we didn't have access to dish soap or whatever so we were just like rubbing snow all over us to get it like off of our hands and then it got on I remember like he opened his water bottle to take a sip of like water and he got it on the mouthpiece.

So then it was in his mouth. It was like a whole thing. I've never done anything. Like, I've never like accidentally. Well, actually one of my friends, when I had good friends from college, she got, she's like, oh, I got mace to protect myself when I this was in college. And she was like, yeah, look. She's like, you want to see it work?

And I'm like, yeah, sure. And she sprays it in front of her to show it working. But the wind was blowing at us. And so she maced herself in the face showing us her pepper. spray. So I remember that and we had to run to the bathroom. And then I guess the only experience I personally had is I was cutting up peppers and then I rubbed my eyes suddenly got really itchy and I had had peppers in my hand and I started rubbing my eyes. Oh no. And my eyes were like on fire and I'm like throwing water in my face like my whole face is under the sink and that burned. But I imagine mace is

really and bear spray. Significantly worse. Air spray is like way worse than mace, yeah. Oh, okay, my last story has nothing to do with mace or any of the things we just went on a rant about. And it is titled Fireside Shapeshifter. Hi, ladies, my name is Lexi. You can use it. And I am from very rural Wyoming. But I have recently moved to a bigger town in South Dakota.

I'm a new listener and listening to your podcast reminds me of how much I miss being outdoors frequently and of how much I miss my little slice of wilderness. Anyways, the story I'm writing to you today is kind of long, but it's a story I won't forget anytime soon. It's actually not mine either, but one of my best friends from back home and I'm sharing the story with his consent. I've known the individual for years and have known him to never be the type that believes in the paranormal. So hearing him tell me this story, while himself, stone-faced and covered in goosebumps, is an experience that has stuck with me and I believe his story with everything inside me. I just wish I could do it more justice. My friend, I'll just use the name Joe, is a rancher, and has spent much time outdoors camping and working in the

Wyoming wilderness. Joe's home is nearly a 30-minute drive away from our small town, and he has no neighbors for miles and miles. His ranch is huge, and the property is extremely beautiful. A place I have spent much time throughout high school for bonfires and just to hang out with my friend. One night, Joe and his friends were home alone and having a fire in the yard of his family's house, as they often do. It was a very dark night out as the moon was just a sliver and the sky was clouded over. As they were sitting by the fire and chatting casually, the conversation turned. They began talking about various scary movies and then the friend began sharing a paranormal experience he once had. Their conversation was dissolved as they were startled by intense rustling about

10 yards away. About where the yard ends and the vast waist high sagebrush expands for miles and miles. They both saw a movement past the fire in the sagebrush and without a word hurried back inside the house. The next part of the story is truly terrifying. Joe and his friend watched from the large living room window as outside just beyond the glass, an enormous biped figure adorned with horns and dripping with furs stepped into the fire. Within the flames, the creature changed, morphing into a bigger than normal coyote before their eyes. Joe said, the coyote stood in the yard and stared at the two of them through the glass before slowly walking back into the darkness with its head held high. I've heard this story so many times and every

time I feel uneasy and I can tell Joe feels uneasy just as he tells it. Some of our friends call bullshit, but I've never heard Joe behave as he does when he tells this story. I've also heard him bullshit plenty and this is entirely different. I hope you enjoyed my friend's story. I would love to know your guys' thoughts and hear more stories regarding Native American. mythology. Happy trails, Lexi. Well, I don't know much. I don't know much and I like to believe that these things are real and if someone tells me they have an account like that, I like to believe that that's really what happened and not to discredit anything, but I have to ask were any drugs involved. I don't know. It's not, Lexi did not note that. So I have to ask, was anyone on drugs in this

encounter because I feel like you could hallucinate some weird shit. But I also do believe that there's things out there that we don't know and we don't understand. And especially they mentioned native mythology and things like that. I mean, we're certainly, there's so many possibilities, I guess. Yeah. And we've had multiple, I think I've mentioned this before, but we've had multiple requests for a particular story or skin walker. Legend or, yeah. So maybe this is. our sign to look into that a little more. But I believe that they saw something, what that something is. I am not sure. But yeah, like you said, not to discredit it. I mean, if it's, if it was real to them, that's what matters, I think. Like, they both experienced it. It's obviously stuck with him for a long

time. And he's scared. The way you said that. That was like, if it had, if they think it happened, then it happened. Sure. No. Like, sure. It happened. I mean, I believe something really did happen. I mean, I don't know what. I'm glad they were inside. Yeah. I'll say that.

Yeah. Good move moving that party inside and watching from the glass. Because if you were out there, oh my God. No. That's scary. Nope. Big nope. All right.

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. We love hearing them. And we want to put out more trail tales. If you have any, if you can think of any, please write into us NPAD Stories at gmail.com and we'll see you next time but in the meantime enjoy the view but watch you're back bye everyone bye thank you for joining us again this week if you have a trail tale you'd like to share send us an email at n p a d stories at gmail dot com follow us on instagram and facebook at national park after dark and on twitter at n p a d 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, you're supporting our show. To access our special discount codes along with source information from today's episode, check out the show notes. For information on the show, to shop our merch store, sign up for our newsletter and more, visit npaddpodcast.com. And if you're enjoying the show, please rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind.

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