National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 20

Episode Date: January 5, 2023

Today’s stories include hunting with wolves, lessons learned, good boys, heartwarming homecomings, fake moose and real cryptids. Bonus stories available for Outsiders 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!Earth Breeze: Use our link to subscribe and save 40%. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Close your eyes. Listen to Monday.com. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform. So flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally, breathe. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. Our favorite trail tales episodes. Yes, I don't know how people are like feeling about these. Do you like them? Do you like them? I feel like everyone loves them. I love them. I do, I like, I like, I like, I like. I like, I like. I like, I like. I like, I like. them a lot because the things that people write are so funny and so clever and I got to tell you I'm a sucker for a good title so yes if you are sending one in or like are thinking of sending one in just send a creative title because that's really what makes them stand out so read immediately immediately yeah and sometimes Cassie and I will screenshot them to each other and be like did you see this and it's just so funny so yeah I really do like them too because I love hearing other people's trail tale stories.

I mean, it certainly inspires me to want to get to some of these places. And I know that it inspires people who are listening to want to come to these places. So they're just, they're so fun hearing people like really out there and doing their thing outdoors. And I mean, last trail tales, we had people who weren't in the outdoors and they had stories, which were just as good and just as fun to read too. So I just like, I love trail tales. I think they're great. Well, do you want to hear one?

Because I have a nice one to begin. Yeah, I would love to hear one. Okay. That's what we're here for. All right, well, I guess I'll go. So my first story is titled Hunting with Wolves. Ooh. Hi, Danielle and Cassie.

First, I want to say I love your podcast so much, and I am constantly retelling your stories to friends and family. Anyways, hopefully I can tell this one at least a fraction of how great you both tell yours. This story takes place between the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and Voyager's National Park in Northern Minnesota, about four hours north of where I'm from. I was joining my boyfriend and his family on their annual grouse hunting trip up north for the very first time. I first want to preface this by saying, I eat very little meat and had zero hunting experience at the time, but I love the area and hiking.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into it, but thankfully due to the warm weather, we were able to do long hikes and hunt rather than hunt from the car. The first day, my boyfriend and I went out and back about five miles on the trail that crossed into BWCA territory. We crossed beaver dams, rivers, and boardwalks amongst the beautiful fall colors. On one beaver dam, we saw a dog-looking paw prints in the mud, and my boyfriend teased with me that it was a wolf. I didn't believe it for a second, and assumed it was a hunting dog. We struck such luck on that trail that day, we decided to go back the next. We decided to do the entire six-mile loop rather than an out and back.

We decided to do the new section first, which was much less traveled and overgrown. I saw lots of scat on this trail, and I tried to identify to be. past the time thinking maybe it was a coyote or a wolf. A side note, I love doing that. Looking at scads. Yes, it's so fun. I like feel like such like I have one of those fold out like laminated pamphlets. Yeah, that show what all the scat looks like. It's like I know my shit, you know. Literally. We used to do that. When I taught outdoor education, we did a tracking class. And a big part of that is we would hand out the pamphlets of the surrounding area animals that were there. And it was this big chart of what different SCAT looked like.

And we'd go around on the trails in the woods and we'd find SCAT and look at it and examine like what it might be. Thinking back on it, I've spent way more hours of my adult life looking at poop than I thought I ever would. Not just in like a leisure leave form. As VETA. Oh my God. The amount of fecal to be read under the microscope. Nope. Remember, my God. As of at tech, you look at fecal, looking for worms, especially in puppies and just routine things.

And, oh, my God, the amount of shit that Danielle and I have. And it's in the kennels. Oh, yeah, blowout diarrhea. And then just taking temperatures. It's always rectal temperatures and animals. And it's just, yeah. Everyone's like, can you please stop talking about shit right now? Yes, sweet.

Okay, we'll stop. I just know that there was a lot of it. Just know that we've been through some shit. Yeah. Okay. About three miles into the middle of the woods, we hadn't seen anyone. My boyfriend then got a grouse and we stopped to rest for a while. As we continued, we suddenly heard a stampede-like, loud noise in the distance, approaching

quick. It was so loud, I thought maybe we were approaching a logging trail with a four-wheeler, as that is pretty common. Suddenly, about 50 meters ahead of us, we saw two animals bound across. the trail. We both stopped dead in our tracks to watch. We debated what we were even seeing. Was it two deer chasing each other? Then I saw a wolf tail flying behind and said something along the lines of, holy shit, it's wolves. My boyfriend quickly said, no, it's a wolf chasing a deer. This was no wolf tracking a deer like you see in trail cams. It was a full out sprint. The wolf just

inches away from the deer. They crossed our trail and slowly veered to the right of us. I started to freak out and urged us to keep going because wolves often hunt in packs and I didn't need to see another one. Thanks to your podcast, I know that wolves are normally not a threat to humans, but I was not so sure how their behavior changed when hunting or protecting a kill. I couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened if we hadn't stopped for a short break and came any closer to the chase. After about a mile of shaky limbs and almost losing the trail, I finally realized what an amazing thing I had witnessed. My boyfriend, of course, realized that much sooner and tried to call me to down. Although wolves are prevalent in the area, it was not common to see one, and it was my first

sighting. So it turns out the prints on the beaver dam, and the scat on the trail did in fact belong to a wolf. It's safe to say that I didn't know what to expect on my first hunting trip, but it certainly wasn't that. Feel free to share my story, and if not, I hope you enjoy. Again, I love your show, Kayla. What a cool experience. Yeah, right? Just to see that out in the wild, I mean, right in front of you. So cool. Yeah. And to to feel the stampede like shaking at the ground and to hear it. So like coming in like that. I pictured the scene in Jumanji when they're all like in the, do you remember? Have you seen? When they're in the house and then the stampede starts happening and everything starts shaking. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And you know,

it was their first hunting trip and experience and you saw a wolf hunting like how cool. Yeah. So cool. 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. 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. Well, I have my next one. And it's called VIII. valuable lessons in Glacier National Park. Hello, ladies. To start, I am obsessed with your podcast and so thankful to you for both inspiring me and to the outdoors. I found it back when you had maybe 15 episodes and I have been hooked ever since.

My family and friends are certainly tired of me retelling every single episode to them, L.O.O. This last summer, I got to go on the trip of a lifetime. 28 days, nine national parks, one backcountry backpacking trip, one accidental internet Border Crossing and all with a relative stranger turned boyfriend a week into the trip. I met one of my brother's friends in March and we were talking about our favorite travel stories and of course I rambled on about this podcast and how I've been inspired to try and do big national park trip. He thinks this is the coolest idea and encourages me to figure out how to make it happen. I half jokingly ask him if he wants to come and he agrees. Side note, neither of us is

normally spontaneous and I am certainly cautious with new people, especially men. But for some reason, we both thought this was going to be fine and we would make it happen somehow with less than three months of planning. And we did. I love that. Spurr the moment, just go for it. Now that I've given you a reason to question my judgment, I want to tell you about our backpacking trip in Glacier National Park. We were in Glacier in the middle of June and I'm from Arizona so my June's have always been 100 plus degrees. Imagine my surprise when it's below freezing and snow falling on us in this park. Should I have maybe looked at the weather a little more? Probably. But here we were. Tent camping just outside the park and some pretty cold temps. We spent the first few days exploring the lakes,

taking boat tours, hiking, and we're always a little worried we would stumble on a grisly. We had gotten a backcountry permit for our fourth and fifth days in the park. Unfortunately for us, The two days prior to when we would be making our trek, it had snowed at higher elevations. Of course, this wasn't in our plan, and we didn't really consider what that meant for our hike. Now, for reference, this would be my first backpacking trip ever, and my partner hadn't backpacked in a while, but he definitely had more experience than me. We had picked this hike because it was, quote unquote, only 12.8 miles or so, which in my head wasn't that bad and would be totally doable over two days.

I did not account for the fact that we would be two weeks into a four-week trip, pretty exhausted from all our adventures, and it was cold until the day we started hiking. All week it had been raining at lower elevations and was probably 38 to 45 degrees. But like I mentioned, the higher elevations had gotten snow for two days. On the day we started our journey, it was 78 degrees. We started out from Bowman Lake, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and our hike to the campground was about 6.2 months. miles straight up the side of the mountain. Almost immediately we had to walk through a creek that was probably nothing more than a stream normally, but with all the rain and now snow melting due to the heat, there was no way to avoid walking through it. My waterproof hiking boots were quickly filled

and my double-layered socks soaked and I was sloshing with every step. But nothing could bring me down. I was excited for this until we started moving up the ridge. Quickly the trail was covered in knee-deep snow and there was a single set of footprints that we hoped were more experienced and knew the trail because that's all we had to follow. Because of the storm the days before, trees were knocked over, the ground was littered with debris and we were navigating blind. My boyfriend asked me if I wanted to keep going or if I thought we should just turn around, but this adventure had been the only thing he really wanted to do the whole trip and I was not going to take that away from him because I was out of my element. So we persisted. Having to take off our packs to throw

them over fallen trees just to pick them up and then back on to only find another massive fallen tree a hundred feet down the supposed trail. We continued like this for a good two miles, as my guess, and all I could think was, we just need to make it to the top of the ridge, and then it's all downhill. After climbing over our 10th big tree, I looked at my boyfriend with tears in my eyes and told him I just needed to sob for five minutes, and I had him set a timer. I cried in the knee-deep snow, pitied myself for five minutes and then we were on the move again following our trusty footprints I love that just giving five minutes set a timer I just got to do this real quick I just need to break down very quickly and then I'll get my shit together and then I'll be right back we're good eventually we did make it

to the top of the ridge there was no snow on the other side of the mountain and we basically sprinted the last mile to the campground I could hear the sounds of running water and knew we were so close to the river which meant the lake was also close we made it to the lower quartz lake, feet soaked, body exhausted, clothes wet from trudging through the feet of snow and starving. We got to our campsite set up and met our campground companions who had a much more enjoyable trip. I guess experience would have made this more enjoyable. We all ate dinner together, shared some campfire stories, and the next morning we were all up early and had breakfast together and we began the 5.5 mile trek back to the parking lot. My body was so fatigued and finding

my way back up the ridge was brutal. And I did curse the mountain and yell at the slope we were walking up. My boyfriend laughing at me. We made it back to the car and when we had rested and had some good food, we reflected on the experience. So now I'd like to share what we learned in case you share this on the pod. One, check the weather and pack slash dress accordingly. While weather is unpredictable in the mountains, we could have been more prepared for the snow than we were. Two, pack as light as you can. This may seem self-explanatory, but we were both overpacked and having 40 to 50-pound packs on our backs was so much more brutal than you'd think when you tested out before your hike. Three, pack extra socks. Somehow I forgot to bring an extra pair of socks and my socks didn't dry overnight, so I was back in cold, wet socks on day two.

Four, always bring bear spray. We knew we were in grizzly country and I was terrified of running into a bear. We didn't see one on this trail, but we did see tracks so we knew they were around. At the end of the day, I'm so grateful that I didn't let us turn around at the beginning. I'm proud of accomplishing the trail, but I would prepare a little differently next time. I've attached some pictures of the fallen trees, the view from our tent, our picture of the trailhead when we finished, and me crying on the trail. Smiley face. If you choose to share this story on the pod, you can totally share the photos too.

I can't thank you ladies enough for inspiring this trip. We definitely enjoyed the view, but watched our backs. Riley. I'm really happy that we inspired a trip. Yeah. I'm sorry you cried on the trail, but it sounds like it was a fun trip. You just have to cry sometimes and then you feel better. It's like a cleansing.

I also really enjoy that so many people in these trail tales have had experiences on the trail crying and then they send us photos. Of them crying? Yeah, I just think it's, I don't know why. I just think it's the best. It's just like it's the picture of that moment and we can all relate to it. Like I feel like everyone, even if you were in the trail, we've all been. at that breaking moment where we're just like, I'm just going to cry for a few minutes and then

I'm going to like come back together. And to think to take a picture of it and share it, I just think is, it's really fun. Is there a picture on that? Oh, there is okay. Yeah. Cool. We'll share it with the world. Don't worry. Yeah. Okay. My next one is titled Stoned Squatch question mark. Oh. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. My name is Tiffany and I live in Sweet home Alabama. My sister introduced me to your podcast in May when we were traveling to Olympic National Park. I dare ask, what goes better with a national park tripping with your sister than a wonderfully morbid but yet so informative and thought-provoking podcast from two amazing women? Nothing. Y'all are it. I'm blushing. I know. Thank you.

Anyways, since my return, I've listened to all of your episodes, mostly with my 10-year-old son, who is now a die-hard NPAD fan and supports his merch. He loves trailt and always wants to submit one, which made me think of a unique experience I have only shared with him, and I decided I wanted to share it with you. We'll have to go way back when I was a nirvana-loving, flannel-wearing, young Jen Exer at the age of 15. While not in a park of any sort, I spent each fall deer hunting with my father in rural lands of western Alabama. I'm an outdoorsy kind of girl, and this time with my dad has always been special to me. It was an afternoon hunt, and I had seen nothing all day.

not even a squirrel, which seemed odd, but time in the woods is always time well spent. It was getting dark and I had to walk back up an old logging road to meet my dad. The road was surrounded by the thick Alabama jungle of closely planted young, eight-foot pine trees and vines. As I was walking up the road in the dark, I heard a small thump right behind me. I turned with my flashlight and seeing nothing, continued up my hike. Within a short time, I continued to hear small sounds behind me and finally determined the sounds were similar to if someone was throwing rocks,

albeit small ones, and they were hitting the red clay road. At this point, my heart did begin to beat a little faster. Calm down, I told myself. The woods can play tricks on you. And as I turned to walk back up, I saw one of these small stones, about the size of a golf ball, sail past my flashlight, and land in front of me. I froze. What the hell?

I quickly turned and nothing was there but the jungle. of pines. With a new hitch in my giddy-up, I quickly turned and started to walk faster up the road, only to have another stone land four feet in front of me. It was following me. It had my full attention. I turned and in all of my teenage angst shouted, I don't know who you are, but I have a gun. Leave me alone. I heard nothing. The woods were eerily quiet, not a bug, nothing, but the pounding of my heart. I was nowhere near any home or any form of civilization. And if someone were in the pines, I would have heard them making their way in the thick brush and briars. This stuff is thick, y'all.

Heart pounding, I began to run up that hill, with the sound of one last, larger rock being thrown behind me. I made it up to the top of the road and could hear my dad on his four-wheeler approaching. I was shaking, scared, and had no idea what the hell just happened. See anything? My dad asked when he arrived. Not a thing, I replied. I had no idea how to explain what I had encountered, so I didn't. I also never went back to that field.

Flash forward to being a much older Gen Xer and with my aforementioned first child, at the age of five, he became fascinated with Bigfoot and all things Sasquatch. Since then, through television programs, conventions, and books, I have learned more about Mr. The Sasquatch than I ever thought possible

during the last five years of my son's life, including the fact that they are known to throw rocks to either get people's attention or to ward them off. Mission accomplished, dude. When I learned this Sasquatch fact, this long ago event from my past came bubbling back to my memory and with it all of the feelings. It still makes my heart race just writing this. I finally told my son about my encounter a few years ago, to which he assured me was very squatchy,

and he is one of the only people I've ever told, except you now, and I suppose you're gazillion listeners if you ever choose to share this. I can't explain that day, and I don't think I will ever be able to. While I don't think my husband believes, we love the outdoors and my two boys and myself are always looking out for signs or the presence of Bigfoot, whether it's in the deserts of Utah, the forests of Oregon, or the hills of Kentucky. Whenever someone tells my son they don't believe in Bigfoot, including my dad, aka his grandfather, we just look at each other and know that he is out there. Thank you for reading my tale, and we love the show. And the fact that Danielle also believes in Mr. The Squatch gets her some major street cred from my son. Keep up the great work and watch out for those possible squatch rocks at your back. I've attached a photo of my son at the North American Bigfoot Center and boring from our Oregon trip in 2021.

I love that. Love it. I love it. Especially the last little part about her and her son just kind of like exchanging some glances of like. They're on the same page. They've bonded over this. Yeah, it's like he's real. We know.

We don't need to hear it from anybody. else because that's how me and my dad were. And so I just love that. And I mean, what, someone can inform me. But other than Bigfoot, what intentionally, and other primates intentionally throws rocks at you like that. There's no other explanation. It's Bigfoot. Well, my next story is titled, My Good Boy, Reese. Hi, ladies. I have debated submitting the story for a while now. Even though it's not some wild story that happened in the middle of the woods, I thought you two would appreciate it since you are vet texts. I first want to introduce the fluffy hero of this tale, our four-year-old golden retriever Reese. As with most goldens, he is a huge, goofy leg who has never met a stranger. Picture

Doug from up with his translator saying, I have just met you and I love you, except Reese would be shouting it while he accidentally knocked you over in excitement. My story happened to this past New Year's My husband is a youth pastor and his kids beg him every year to do a lock-in at the church so they can play games and snack all night to bring in the new year. With him at church, I was home alone with our almost one-year-old asleep in her room and Reese chilling in our living room with me. He usually spends his evening bringing us toys and begging for snacks for a bit before collapsing on the floor for an evening snooze. I had decided to stay up just long enough to see the new year arrive, send a happy new year slash goodnight slash love you, tech.

to my husband and then go straight to sleep. A few minutes before midnight, I went to the front door to let Reese out for the last potty break and as soon as I opened the door, Reese charge forward while growling menacingly. I rolled my eyes because he often does this if he sees an animal in the yard, large or small, even though they pose zero threat to him whatsoever. For context, some of his other fears include suitcases, certain squeaky toys, balloons, and trailers. I relate to that so hard because Chaska's newest fear is the stove. It's like, okay, I don't understand, but it's clearly a big deal. Right, exactly.

And he's been fine for eight and a half years with stoves of all kinds until now. Until now it's a thing. Yeah. I was just about to tell Reese to hurry up when I heard a man's voice coming from the darkness at the end of our short driveway, just outside the circle of light cast by the light at our front door. Didn't mean to startle you, he said, as I was clearly startled. Not expecting to have someone walking up my driveway in the middle of the night. There was not a car in sight, only him. Reese continued his low growl, standing in between me and the man. Rees,

shh, Reese, come here, I pleaded. This was not to make the man more comfortable, but only because I was scared that if he approached Reese, my boy would melt into the people-loving teddy bear that he is, practically proclaiming new friend and thrown off balance by his happy tail wagging. Reese didn't listen to me though. He stayed firmly planted between me and the stranger. The man proceeded to ask me if I had a phone that he could use. He said his car had run out of gas nearby and he needed to call for a ride home. No way was I letting him closer to use my phone. The man also said that he lived on Rocket Road, which is not that far away. I told him, you can go to my neighbor's house across the road. He has a phone that you can use. Now, my neighbor is an

avid hunter. Just recently, we had a break in near us, and that person called our neighbor to help. He held the robber at gunpoint with a shotgun until law enforcement arrived. That's a story for another time. The man considered this for a second, glanced at the growling dog in front of him, and said, uh, never mind, I'll just walk home. Rocket Road is not that far away, so I have to wonder why he didn't just do that to begin with. Also, to me, it appeared that he had been walking from that direction instead of towards that direction. And what was he doing out and about at midnight on New Year's Eve? Did he just decide to go get gas in the middle of the night? But who knows? Maybe this man was genuine. But I guess when you see 100 pounds of dogs coming barreling at you, you come up with another plan

real fast. I brought Reese back inside and only then did I grasp how unusual his behavior was. Normally when he is spooked, Reese does that same low growl, but always runs to my side or to his crate with his tail tucked between his legs. However, this time, he wouldn't move, not even coming to me when I asked him to. I have course showered him with lots of treats and good boys once we were safely back inside. I have listened to the podcast from the beginning and want to thank you both for fueling my wanderlust in between trips. I enjoy the stories for sure, but I also love learning facts about each individual park. My husband and I are on a mission to visit all of the national parks and have checked off 12 so far. Our daughter now has visited her second and I have had

fun earning junior ranger badges for her at every national park site. You can earn those at any age, by the way. We see adults getting them all the time. Most recently, we visit South Dakota and you two are partially to thank for inspiring us to go there. We hit all the highlights and ended our trip by climbing Black Elk Peak in Custer State Park. I have never felt stronger than I did when I hiked to the top of South Dakota with my 30-pound toddler on my back. My husband didn't enjoy the hike as much and turned out he had COVID the whole time. Again, a story for another time. Attached is a video of our ferocious beast that I posted for his third birthday last year with the caption, He is beauty, he is grace, he catches the ball with his face.

Thanks for all the laughs, outdoor advice and stories. Keep them coming, Gwen. Aw, he protect. He protect. He attack. Well, it sounds like Reese is a really good boy and dogs know, you know, like there's no part of me. I don't know what he was up to, but there's no normal scenario where someone would be walking around in the middle of the night and try and come in and use your phone. without a really valid explanation and like proof of that. You know, like it's just weird. And also I think it's pretty normal. Like, it's just weird to me for a full grown man to approach a woman alone in the middle

of the night. I think it's pretty normal that like if there's other options in the area that you would approach someone else before you would do that. Like obviously if you're in the middle of nowhere and there's no one around and you come across a woman, of course. but if you're in a full neighborhood and you ask to come into a woman's house when she's alone at midnight, it's just, it's weird. It's sketchy. Yeah. And it's 2022 going on 2023. Why that whole like, do you have a phone I can use is something that I think is pretty outdated. Yeah. You know what I mean?

You have a phone. Like maybe do you have a charger I could use and I'll plug it into the side of your house while I sit outside? You know, like, it's not, yeah, it's sketchy. I had a trail tale from one of my friends. I had a friend who had a very similar experience. She was at her house and she was alone and her dog was home and her dog is similar. He loves everyone. He's a super kind, gentle soul. And someone knocked on the door and she opened it.

And it was this really creepy guy that was standing there. And her dog, who usually greets everyone and is happy, started growling and his hair was standing straight up. And he said, oh, can I come in and use your phone? And her dog, her dog is a rescue dog, and they think he was a fight dog at one point, like he was a bait dog. And he, he's a little squishy potato, but he looks mean. He's got like a scar across his face. He's got like a chunk. He looks like he's ready to throw down. And he started growling and hair standing up and like chomping his teeth at this guy. and she's like, I've never seen him do this before. And she was like, nope, no, absolutely not.

My dog doesn't like people, sorry. And shut the door on him. Two weeks later, she saw him in the news for shooting up a grocery store near her house. Oh, my God, that's terrifying. Yeah. So I 100% believe that, like, I don't know what he was up to, but dogs know. And they know bad vibes. They know bad intentions.

And I'm sure your dog, like, caught on to that. Yeah. Reese knew what was up. Yeah. All right. My last one is titled, Moose Aren't Real. I'm telling you, it's the titles. It's the titles.

I would say in New England, they are not. I have been trying to see a moose in New England for years, and I have never seen one. So. Okay, well, this is up your alley, 100%. Subconsciously, maybe that's why I chose this one. Hi, ladies. I give you all the love and accolades that you receive with every email. I love both of you so much and I look forward to your episodes every week.

My story doesn't take place in a national park, but it's on the Cancamangas Highway in New Hampshire. Oh, home sweet home. I just graduated college and I was taking a solo New England road trip to celebrate. I spent the previous summer in New Hampshire and loved it. I saw all kinds of wildlife that summer, but no moose. So my goal for this trip, see a moose. I was about halfway through my trip when I got a call from my mom. My cousin had died.

I was in total shock and devastated. I knew I'd have to change my plan and head home early. That night, I decided to take a drive on the highway to clear my head, reorganize my plan, and hopefully see a moose. It was around dusk, so I knew that was a good time to see them, especially near water. Early on in the drive, I came to a bridge with a river underneath. I parked my car, got out, and just stood on the bridge. All of a sudden, I just got this feeling like I needed to go.

I quickly got back into my car and began driving. Not 25 meters down the road, a bear crossed right in front of me. So cool, but not a moose. Next, I came to a pond that I'd hiked before. I pulled over, got out, grabbed my flashlight, and started hiking on the trail that went around the pond. Again, I just got this feeling like I shouldn't be doing this. I wasn't too far on the trail,

so I stood there for a second, looking over the pond, then followed my instinct to return to the car. Once again, I began driving, and before the pond was out of sight, I saw two bears, a mom and her cub. I had this surreal feeling and felt lucky to be in my car. If I had continued walking around the pond, I might have run straight into them. I kept driving until I reached another small bridge that went over a stream.

It was practically dark at this point, but I just wanted to try one more time to see a moose. I got out of my car with my flashlight once more and just stood over the bridge hoping to see something. There was a small trail on the side of the bridge that I could use to get down to the stream. I started walking and almost immediately thought to myself, Caitlin, this is stupid, turn around, and so I did.

I got back into my car and turned around to start heading back to my hostel in North Conway. And for the third time, within 100 meters of where I was just standing, another bear crossed the road right in front of me. Wow. Although I never saw a moose, it's still so special to see a bear in the wild, let alone four of them in a two-hour span. I'm not sure what I believe, but I genuinely. I genuinely think my cousin was looking out for me that night.

That being said, I am absolutely convinced that wild moose do not exist in the continental United States. I've spent months in New England and quite a bit of time in Colorado and nothing. Of course, I say this jokingly, but if I don't see a moose before I die, moose aren't real will be the epitaph on my grave. As you've said many times before, always trust your gut. If something is telling you to turn around, do it. I do a lot of solo hiking, and as a petite woman, I'm always thinking about my safety. One last hot tip.

If you're hiking alone, ask the people you pass. Hey, have you seen any wildlife? Oftentimes, they'll give you a funny look and tell you no. Sometimes they'll ask if you're okay. But regardless, you'll find out if they've seen anything, and they will almost certainly remember the girl that asked them if they've seen any wildlife just in case something happens. Thanks for reading.

Love you, ladies. One last thing. We were recently at the Stanley on our honeymoon road trip and had the same experience you had. Christian was our haunted ghost tour guide and David was working at the wine bar. Both were absolutely fantastic, but the unofficial David tour was the best part. So cool to hear you guys talk about it. Oh, that's so cool. Isn't that awesome? Yeah, I love that because that was such a fun experience at the Stanley. Wow, so cool. Sprinkled in hometown, New England, New Hampshire. and relating to the same story that we have. I know. And I just think it's so funny because literally where are the moose? You know what I mean? In New England, I know I've heard. I've heard that they're prevalent, especially in Maine.

And I know plenty of people who have seen them, but I am not one of those people. I've never seen a moose in New England. I have. I've seen one in Colorado and two in New England, in New Hampshire. But that was a long time ago in New Hampshire. I'm sure. And it's just, it's kind of ballsy to be driving the cancumangus at dusk, like intentionally looking for moose also. But, um, yeah, especially deer too. Like those things just hop out at you. Yeah. I would say my best luck. And I said this on the podcast before, but my best luck was in Jackson,

Wyoming to see moose. I saw lots of them. And I recommended it. And I was like, I guarantee you'll see a moose. And then some people messaged us and was like, I went and I did not see a moose. So I'm not guaranteeing you'll see one but if you go to Jackson, Wyoming, there's a lot roaming around in the teetons. Yeah, she can't really promise. I can't guarantee. Yeah. But I'm like kind of promising. But if you stay there long enough, you'll see some. All right. Well, I have my next story. And it is titled Codiac Bears, Abandon Islands, and Heartwarming Homecoming. Hey Wonderful Podhosts. My name is Mariah. Like everyone else, got to start by saying I am obsessed with your podcast and talk about it all the time and recommend it to every person I encounter who loves the outdoors.

I have listened to every episode and good portions of them more than once. Also, I am pumped to get to wrap your new merch. My story takes place on the remote and abandoned a Fognac Nileak Island, I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, of Alaska, which neighbors Catmai National Park and Codiac Island. My longtime friend in hiking slash travel buddy, Ali, and I convinced our parents to let us go to Alaska for a few weeks, quote unquote, by ourselves, when we were 17, though we met up with her aunt and uncle for a while who lived in Kodiak.

We had absolutely nothing planned for this trip other than our flight there. When we got there, we discovered we had gotten an opportunity to join their neighbor's family vacation and we accepted. We spent a week on a yacht that her mother owned. Her mom is an Alaskan native woman who grew up on a Fogna Island before it was decimated by a tsunami in 1964. She was seven at the time. I will call her O. They also, safely evacuated and she has not returned since. But while we were there passing through the islands around Kodiak towards Katmai, she made the request to stop back at a Fognac Island. This island is very densely forested and has essentially zero marked or visible trails at this point

anymore, as the vegetation has overtaken the land again since the tsunami. She says, I want to show you where I grew up. Follow me. And headed off through the middle of the island. Everyone questioned the idea for a minute, because if any of you have seen Jurassic Park, y'all know that the biggest dinosaurs hang out in the middle of the island, and so did Codiac grizzly bears. We were passing full skeletons of deer and other small animals and fresh bear scat, which was a little terrifying, but O was insistent on going despite our concerns of bears. But we had a big group and bear knowledge and carried deterrence, so we carried on. Sure enough, after a few miles of hiking, we came to a few notice. remnants of old buildings. The next part was so incredibly touching and memorable to experience. As we approached the ruins, you could see the memories light up in O's eyes. She started excitingly

explaining to us where her home was, where she went to school, and where she played with her friends, though there was nothing left of it. The only buildings still having some resemblance of remaining structure were the church and the cemetery, which kind of gives me chills. She brought us to see where her grandparents and other family members had been buried in the cemetery. It was a sad but happy moment for her to return to this place so near and dear to her heart. It was incredible the memory she still had of this place, despite not having been back for 53 years until that moment. It was an experience we could, it was an experience we could never have expected or planned for. It is the most special travel memory I have, and it's very dear to my heart to have witnessed something so unique and see a piece of history from someone who experienced, it firsthand. Thankfully, we never had any close-up and personal bear encounters while trekking to the village. Hope you are able to enjoy this little piece of history. I am excited to continue up with the future wonderful stories you guys will share. Cheers. Mariah. Wow, that's really sweet. It's a really cool story. I mean, I just, I can imagine the emotions that were being felt when you're with someone

who has such a history in this place that was destroyed by a tsunami and I looked it up and a lot of people in the tsunami and I don't know specifically that island but the tsunami also affected lots of other areas so just to come back to your home that was destroyed in that and to have these memories and to be able to navigate it even though the landscape has changed so much I just I can imagine the emotion that was and the energy that was happening that whole trip and it's a very special memory yeah like the emotional ties just never leave you it doesn't matter how much time is passed well thanks everyone for joining sending us your stories as always we love to read them and padstories at gmail.com is where you can send them if you would like to have a chance of being featured be creative with your

titles i mean you don't have to have a title i'm just saying they just catch our eye faster we do try to go through all of them but they just catch our eye faster if there's an enticing title yeah so we will see outsiders on patreon for two extra stories but for every one else in the meantime. We will catch you next week. Enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Goodbye. 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 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, 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. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet.

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