National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 38

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

Today’s stories include circling hawks, dumb ways to die, trail angels, Maya Rudolph-ing on Mount Washington, dispatching mamas, shark scares, hallucinating on the dunes and butterscotch smelling pines. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers!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  or Apple Subscriptions 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!Prose: Use our link for a free in-depth hair consultation and 50% off your first subscription. Plus 15% off and free shipping on all future subscription orders.Athena Club: Get started with Athena Club today by shopping in-store at Target nationwide.Hello Fresh: Use our link and code npadfree for free breakfast for life.CoPilot: Use our link to get a 14 day free trial with a personal trainer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope. It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Oh. Like we were just in a game of chicken of who is going to say hi first.

We were in a game of chicken for at least 15 seconds because I can see it on my recording. Like who is going to start this episode? Hi, everyone. Welcome to another Trail Tales episode where we are here to read stories from you back to you of all of the crazy trails and fun adventures people have. Yeah. that's what these are all about and I am so ready to hear your first one. But first, before, we just want to say real quick that surprise we're going on vacation

next week from episode. So next week we will not have an episode coming out. We just want to prepare you all for next Monday when nothing shows up. But that's, I think this is the only, we took one other Monday off ever and we ended up releasing an episode anyway. So we're actually taking this one off for real. There will be nothing coming out next Monday. But the following Monday, we'll be back on our normal schedule. Yeah, we really mean it this time. Okay, guys, we're not allegedly releasing an episode. Yeah, so every year, every year, like we've been doing this forever.

The last couple of years, we plan to have two weeks of vacation, quote unquote, vacation time, which we usually spend preparing other episodes. But either way, it's on paper, it's a vacation. So allegedly next week we'll be on it. But I think we'll really be on it next week because we are done our NPA group trips. Next week, we'll be back from Madagascar and closing out the year. So you can find me probably in a coma somewhere. Like I am not going to be talking to anyone.

I will not be leaving my house until 2024. for it. That's only a couple months. Yeah, that's two months of staying inside my house. See, I feel like, and this is just a prediction, but I feel like it's going to come true, we're going to get back. Because here's the surprise to everyone. I have to drive back cross-country. Cassie's like, come November 3rd, we're done with the group trips. It's amazing. I'm like, yeah, I get to land in Boston, but I'm driving cross-country back to Colorado. So, So sometime in November, I'm going to be done, allegedly. But guess what?

That's the beginning of the holiday season. And everyone is going to want to see you and visit with you and want you to come over and do all of these things. So we say we are not having obligations and we're not leaving. But I guarantee you it's only a matter of time. Yeah. I feel like you're just going to hang out until Thanksgiving in New England. No, no. I don't.

That's far too long. No. No. I feel like you're going to be here. Then we'll see. Okay, let's share some stories. That's a map of us. Okay.

Go ahead. You go first. Oh, okay. I was not prepared for that. Okay, so we're starting off a little somber here. So let's take it down. Take it down a notch. We're about to make you all depressed.

The title of this one is a 911 dispatcher's flight 93 experience. Oh, okay. Really take it down. Mm-hmm. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. First of all, love you both and love this podcast so much, but I'll save the gushing. Your flight 93 episodes sparked me to write in. I grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, roughly 20 minutes from where the flight went down. I was in second grade when this happened, and I remember how scary it was for us kids. But this story is about my mom. I do have permission from her to tell her story. So first and foremost,

my mom is amazing and so strong. She was a 911 dispatcher for many, many years, and with her story, she tells, I have no idea how she was able to do it for so long. But I digress. On 9-11, 2001, my mom was working at the neighboring county's 911 center. She did work for Somerset County, too, but it was a few years later. On this day, however, I recall her telling me that the TVs they had all switched to the planes hitting the towers, and she locked eyes with her co-worker, and both went, oh, shit. Seconds later, all the lights on the consoles lit up from incoming call, She was working EMS dispatch that day, but shifted to take the influx of calls coming in. Somerset County actually got so many calls that their system couldn't keep up.

So when this happened, the neighboring counties got the overflow. People were calling for all different types of things regarding the crash. People asked if they could shoot down whatever they saw in the sky, asked what they should be doing to help, etc. They had no idea what to do. This wasn't something that happens in our small area of Pennsylvania, and this was definitely not something anyone prepared for before. People then started calling about a low-flying plane and subsequent crash. There were also calls that another unidentified plane might be flying to the Johnstown Airport, which we all lived by. Mom said the decision was made to man every EMS and fire station in the

county to prepare. While fielding all these calls about the plane crash from the ground, my mom would get calls of just static, muffled voices, screaming, people saying, oh my God, oh my God, and tell them I love them. Herself, along with other dispatchers, got calls from people on the plane attempting to make sure people knew what was happening and to have their last words known. It still makes her emotional knowing

she was the last person to hear some of the victim's voices and how scared they were. In the midst of all of this happening, my mom got a call about a toddler who was choking on a silk flower. So in the middle of this national crisis, hearing people calling from the plane, watching people die on the news channels, my mom had to switch modes and teach someone how to do CPR

on their toddler until EMS could get there. The toddler survived. Mom said it was like a slap in the face, that other people had real emergencies too, and you couldn't send all the resources to the crash scene, but you still needed to save other lives. I can only imagine the emotions she was feeling. My mom also volunteers with the Red Cross and knows many of the people who help to recover what they could of the victims of the crash site. Wally Miller, the coroner, really is as great of a guy as he's been written. He truly went above and beyond for the victims and their families. He recovered as much he could, did DNA testing on everything he could, and just overall really did his absolute best at providing closure to the families. He is an outstanding guy. Mom still has never been able to

bring herself to go to the memorial. I've gone with my dad, and when you walk in, you hear the voices of the passengers. Mom doesn't want to go because she doesn't want to hear their voices again, as she hears them in her head enough. And I surely can't blame her. Her and the other dispatchers had it tough. They're all so strong, so resilient, but they're all affected by that day decades later. Emergency dispatchers are a special sort of people. Thanks again for all you do, ladies, and I appreciate you so much for covering this story. I wish my area was known for other things other than this event. It is beautiful and has lots of recreational activities to offer, but I value you covering the story with such respect and remembrance about the heroic victims of Flight 93 and all the emergency responders in my neck of the woods. Lots of love, Elizabeth. It's so hard hearing firsthand account. I mean, I know it's your mom, but still firsthand accounts of people hearing what went down that day. And it's decades later, it still hurts the same way that it did.

when it happened. Yeah, it was a tough episode and you did a great job doing it. And I know that you got a lot of positive feedback about it as well. And yeah, it's just, I don't think emergency dispatchers get enough credit because they are also part of the group of people who are first responders. And I think that they get maybe forgotten a little bit because they're not running into a burning building, but they're literally the front of the line when it comes to, like, fielding calls and coaching people. I mean, she just saved that mom. I don't think you said her name. So I'm sorry, but mom saved, you know, a toddler's life by instructing someone on how to give CPR over the phone. You know what I mean? I mean, dispatchers are there in the height of the trauma of whatever's

happening if someone before the situation's resolved or before help is there is, is dispatch, you know, like when the police get there, when firefighters get there, there's someone there to help and dispatch, you're there for the trauma where you're the first person who can offer any type of help without physically being there. So it's a huge responsibility. I actually, I don't know what it is with my algorithm or whatever. And I don't have TikTok, but I do use the reels on Instagram, kind of like, it's the same shit. But anyway, so I was on that And I think I watched like one or two videos too long about, they're like videos that have the voiceover of actual 911 calls.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And so now that's like all of my algorithm. That's a tough algorithm to have. It is. But there was one I listened to actually last night. It was really cool. It was about, I think it was somewhere in the UK.

And this woman working dispatch got a call from like a three year old kid that he was like, my daddy's like fell down and he's not getting up. And she's like, is he sleeping? And she's, and he was like, no, he sleeps. He snores when he sleeps and he's not snoring. And then basically she coached him through giving her information. And basically, long story short, the dad got stung by a bee. He was allergic to a bee. Oh, I've heard that. Yeah. And it's like, oh my God. It's just the anxiety you must feel because you have all this information, but you're not there. to help and you just have to use your voice, which... You kind of have to figure out what's going on with people who might not know what's going

on. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't envy that. I mean, I've had to call 911 in a very awful situation, and I just do not. I just don't know how people do it day in and day out. So being on the other end of that. Yeah.

Respect. Yeah. 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, switching gears, my next story is titled, Hawks brought me a message from the universe. Hello, Cassie and Danielle. I'm Rachel, and I am. absolutely love your podcast. My sister recommended y'all a while back when I first started solo traveling to national parks, but I wasn't into podcast quite yet. Now I've been shooting through every episode while I'm at work. I've laughed and cried out loud with y'all while my coworkers give me

worried looks. I just have to laugh it off and point on my earbuds, L.O.L. My tail is a tough one. Might be triggering. Might be a bit taboo. Might be too long, but it might be the sign someone else listening needs. Two hawks delivered a message from the universe and it changed my life. I was born in Colorado where both sides of our family would come together in the mountains for picnics and a dip in the river, but that was it. I was raised in Georgia and straight out of high school met a guy who partied with all of the same crowd. The more time we spent together, the more it made sense for him to just move in with me. This was my first quote unquote serious boyfriend. We partied away five years of our relationship and nothing changed. We had no future goals or plans. He was. He was a very quote unquote serious. He

was a gamer that worked crazy hours and drink his nights away. Arguments were inevitable and everyone knew how crazy it was to be around. I had become so lonely for our fifth anniversary, I bought myself a Juno, an energetic medium-sized pit mix that inspired me to start hitting the trails, just the two of us. I invited him and he refused. He was so close-minded once he responded with, why would I want to go real zip lining when I have it on my video game right here? I started finding new things that I enjoyed and figured out that we were no longer aligning, so I decided to move out. He won me back with promises of travel. I wanted a travel partner and I wanted us to enjoy it, but every trip became a disaster. He hated me for dragging him away from his games. He also resented me for leaving. He did lots of

shitty shit and said many cruel things. Once he mocked me for being inspired by Kara and Nate, a cute couple's blog that travels around the world. He said, do you really think that's real? That you can find a guy fall in love and travel around the world. He made me doubt myself in many ways. I don't remember the first time he put his hands on me, but he convinced me it was my fault. I made him that way. By this time, my family and friends had already heard every other sob story I had ran to them with and were fed up with him. Embarrassed by every decision, I stopped bothering them about it at all. Sometime later, I found out he cheated and I moved out in the heat of the moment only to accept all the lies and promises. I was moved right back to the time.

into my comfort zone. I think I just became numb to it and just learned to keep my distance. I was in my self-made cell living as glorified roomies. I continued my short day hikes further and further, never telling anyone where I was going. I found peace in the woods and felt more at home amongst the trees, safe and alone. 2020, about eight and a half years in, as soon as restrictions lifted, I booked a solo flight to Colorado because it was away from home, but it would be close enough to family if I needed. Being a Georgian beginner hiker, I didn't even know what a crampon was. So when I pulled into this mountain trailhead, it was covered in ice and snow. I hadn't even learned the importance of hiking boots yet and had no grasps of the dangers of the Rocky Mountains. I was ill prepared.

After a short struggle down the hill and a run-in with three aggressive-looking bucks on the trail, I decided to backtrack. I drove to look at a mountain, a picnic area with spectacular views of the city, I figured I was sure to have an easy lunch spot. This too was more of a challenge than I thought. I just scurried under a tree with a grassy patch and I sat and enjoyed the silence. I started contemplating life. What was I doing here alone? What was I doing here alone?

Then a hawk caught my attention as it flew over my head towards the mountain right in front of me. It just stopped and hovered over a tree. Not circling, hovering. Like a helicopter. I was confused and blinked extra to make sure I was seeing it correctly. then from the right swooped in a second hawk and it circled the first hawk one two three times and it broke off soared in my direction and dove within ten feet of me and my tree it led out an echoing screech and disappeared into the sunlight behind me my mind instantly connected it to my relationship he was the stagnant one and i would leave him a third time i felt so sure in my soul this would be the last time i poured some water on the mountain as my sacrifice and things Thanks. Learn that from swamp people, but I think they use tobacco, and returned home. I didn't leave immediately, but I had my things packed. It took a football tackle into a bathtub and I was done.

While he was gone, my sister and her husband helped me load my car and their truck within an hour, and I left the rest. Now to wrap up my literal decade-long story. I couldn't be more thankful for the friends and family that helped me. In 2021, I solo traveled to four national parks and expanded my hiking abilities. That summer, I cried out asking the universe, for just a real connection with someone, and ironically, the next day, I received a message from one of my ex's random friends asking if I'd like to meet her friend. She said that from my social page, she thought that we would really hit it off. When I first saw this picture, I was not impressed, ha ha. Yet, I risked it and ended up finding the man of my dreams. Luckily, he's just

bad at taking selfies. We connected instantly and on our third hike at the top of Chia Mountain, he asked me to be his girlfriend. He encourages and inspires me every day, and and has helped created a peaceful, loving home for Juno and me to share. Since then, we have visited mammoth caves and kayaked underground in Kentucky, through the ocean to an abandoned fort in Louisiana, through bioluminescent bays, climbed volcanoes, and ziplined the forests of Costa Rica. We swam with the gators and manatees in Florida and snowshoot up the mountain and big hole valley just to deboggin down.

We have made so many memories and many future plans. Each of us take turns picking out the next destination. October 11th, we will be celebrating our second anniversary by visiting all four national parks in Colorado. Best believe, we'll be listening to NPAD. Happiness is a real thing, and you might find it once you get out of your comfort zone. I'm here with the universe screeching at you to stop flying in circles and take that dive, and before you know it, you'll find your day in the sun. Life doesn't have to be so hard.

You can love again, and remember what it feels like to feel excited about life. Trust the universe. You deserve the world. you just have to walk out of that door. Come enjoy the view. We got your back. Wasn't that so good? I love how you ended that.

And congratulations on escaping an abusive relationship. That in its own is so well deserved. And I think that there's a lot of people, including people who are listening, who can really resonate with what you've been through and might currently be going through it. So it's really heartwarming to hear a story where it turned out you got out of it

and you're doing really well. So we're very happy for you. Yeah, absolutely. Like you're just living your best life. Yeah. Good for you. You deserve it. Yeah.

You made a tough decision. I mean, eight years. Even, I think that's a big thing that a lot of people who have never experienced a situation like that. We're on paper. It's like, okay, yeah, so I don't get it. Like, if it's bad, then just leave. And it's, I hate that.

Can we all stop saying that? Please stop saying that. If you have ever said that to someone, apologize and never say it again. Yes. So, yeah, I mean, it's tough all around. So congratulations and happy. I mean, this came out. I was like, oh, is this coming out on October 11th? Like, I checked and I said, and it's coming out in November. I know. Okay, close enough. But hope you had a great time in Colorado. Yeah. Okay. My next one is titled, is titled haunted or hallucinating in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Haunted. You don't even know what I'm about to say. I know. I know. I'll be the judge. I'll be the judge. I'm the reader. I'm the judge and the trial and execution.

No, the judge, the jury. I'm not just kidding. Ah, that's what it is. Thank you. You're welcome. Dear Danielle and Cassie, of course, I have to mention how much I love your podcast before I tell my story. It has truly given me a deeper understanding.

of our national parks, our country, and beyond. And I think I have a semi-unique perspective, which I will explain more later. My story takes place on the South Manitou Island in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. I was on a backpacking trip sponsored by the National Park Service with the focus being learning some mapping skills and leave no trace principles. We were called Wilderness Ambassador Youth. Yes, we got really cool patches and honorary badges at the end. As well as I can recall, there were five girls and four boys. boys all high school age, plus one male leader, one female leader, and two female interns. The trip itself was pretty uneventful with your usual backpacking shenanigans,

freeze-dried meals, purple fingers after dipping too long in Lake Michigan, re-aggraving an ACL injury, and experiencing true expansive dark sky. One day, we hiked up over the back of the island and watched the boats go by in the passage. It is amazing how far you can hear sound across water. We got to the last night and we were camping in a designated campground before catching the ferry back to the mainland the next day. This is the setting for my story. That night, in our exhausted sleep-deprived state, five of us had decided to try and spend the night on the beach in our sleeping bags. The campground is located on the side of the island with the ferry dock along the bay. South Manitou Island is a big U-shape. We stayed up late telling stories and laughing so

hard. I blame the sleep deprivation. All of a sudden, we quieted down. The beach was giving off a weird sound. The waves were slapping the beach in a very rhythmic pattern. As we listened further, it was unmistakable. It sounded like there was someone walking the beach, but there was no one there. All at once, we sprang up and backed away from the beach. I'm a very realistic thinking person, so of course I scrambled to think of an explanation. I thought back to the boats we saw a few days before, So I said, there must be a boat out there on the lake that is making these waves. So, you know, the waves just keep going until they hit something. My new friends were eager to accept this explanation.

We heaved a sigh and went back to our night. The next morning, we were telling the rangers about our experience, and they told us about another possibility. As you can probably guess by the buildup, the island has a history of hauntings. Some scary, some nice. And there is a not-so-nice legend about this beach, As told to me, in the late 1800s, a ship arrived in the Bay of South Manitou Island and began dumping things overboard into the water. The local people discovered those objects to be bodies.

The ship had been infected by cholera, and the captain's solution was to dump the infected and dip. In order to protect themselves, the residents of the island quickly buried the people in a mass grave. But not all those bodies were completely dead. The mass grave, where these people were buried, is said to be just. north of the campground on the bay. I'll give you a moment to recover. Now, this is where I have to give my not-so-shameless plug for you to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes if this story hasn't already piqued your interest in now. The ghost stories continue with some people giving the island the title of the most haunted place in all of Michigan. There is phantom piano music, the story of Ronnie Riker,

the tragedy of the lighthouse keeper's family, a haunted life-saving station. The National Lakeshore also holds many other stories of early settlement of the area, award-winning rye bread, perch dunes, bear, otter, old-growth forests, the buzzwords are endless. Also, I live there for nine years of my life with my very own mother currently being the chief of interpretation and visitor services of the park. Okay, is this an ad? Is this an ad? I know. I'm like, and this is a paid advertisement. If you use her code N-P-A-D-40, you can get 40% off when you visit her mom at I'm like, was I just like, at the interpretive center

bamboozled really quickly. Okay. My unique perspective mentioned at the beginning is because of being a park rangers kid. I grew up in them, sleeping bear being the fourth park my mom has worked at during my childhood. I think it's about time I wrap this up. Whether or not you think I did witness the spirit of someone buried alive or just regular shipping traffic, I hope you have liked the story enough to do some. research on Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to enjoy the view and be thankful for modern plumbing, Alexa. I mean, I am thankful for modern plumbing, but. All right, Judge, jury, an executioner. Hallucinating or Haunted. I'm going to say it was hallucinating. Why? Because she mentioned several times that they were sleep deprived.

And water does make, like, weird, like, I don't know. Sometimes you, I feel like I hear. things when I'm near water and I know for a fact that it's not anything paranormal and you're it's at night you're with a bunch of other people you're rattling each other up like I don't know I just I feel like it's not paranormal but I will say I am inspired to look into whatever you just pitched us essentially yeah you didn't get haunted but you did convince everyone who's listening to go visit your mom yes All right, my next story is titled Dumb Ways to Die in Yellowstone.

Dumb ways to die. Dear Danielle and Cassie, I want to start off by saying how much I love the podcast. I am a national park junkie and appreciate all the hard work you two put into researching them so your listeners can experience the history as well as the splendor of these sacred places. Your stories bring another appreciation to the parks and I believe that appreciation and courage protection. So thank you for contributing to the appreciation and protection of our parks that they so deserve. After listening to one of your more recent trail tale episodes where a woman encounters a bear cub in Yosemite, it prompted me to share an experience I had while living and working

in Yellowstone National Park. For a little background on myself, my name is Leslie and I am a travel nurse who spent two seasons working in Yellowstone and another two years in a hospital outside of the north entrance of the park. As an emergency nurse in this region, we, We were trained and quickly made familiar with wildlife attacks that included elk, bison, and grizzly bears. In addition to my time spent living, hiking, fishing, and camping in Yellowstone, my father has been bringing me to the park every year since I was two years old for our annual fishing trip. We still go to this day. He is 71 and I am 34. My affinity for Yellowstone runs deep and inspired me to read several books on the park.

Some of these books included Death in Yellowstone and Taken by Bear and Yellowstone. Yellowstone. Needless to say, I was not ignorant to the dangers of the park. I consider myself versed on the potential dangerous wildlife encounters and more importantly on how to avoid them. On that note, I will share with you my close call with North America's most deadliest mammal. It was a June day in Yellowstone and my plan was a day hike with my now husband Matt. We had planned to hike a heavily traffic trail near Mammoth Hot Springs. The trail was about eight miles round trip and took you down into the canyon to view an impressive waterfall and then loop back out to the peak of an old volcano. It was early in the morning when we arrived at the trailhead. We gulped down our coffees

as we began to unload our day packs and checked for our essentials. The essentials always included water, snacks, camera, and bear spray. As we unloaded, I heard a long, eerie cry in the distance. I said to Matt, did you hear that? Must be a weird-sounding bird. Matt listened as the bird made its long, unusual call again. It was unlike any bird call we had ever heard. We shrugged it off, put on our packs, and proceeded on our way. I had hiked this trail twice before and was excited for Matt to see the views. The trail starts through a wide open valley where you can see the Grand Loop Road for probably the first half mile. I scrambled down the trail, taking it all in. Look, Matt, an elk. A lone cow elk stood atop a slope looking down at us. She was running back and forth,

but wasn't spooking from the general area. Look, Matt, I exclaimed again. Increasingly giddy over all the wildlife sign we had seen so far in a short distance. Grizzly tracks. Although grizzly tracks would dissuade most hikers, seeing bear tracks is not an uncommon occurrence on backcountry trails in Yellowstone. The standard recommendations for hiking in bear country are to carry bear spray, do not hike alone, and make noise.

Check, check, and check. I felt comfortable proceeding on the trail with caution and shouting, Hey, Bear, this trail attracts a slew of hikers every day, and at this point, I could still see the parking lot and cars driving by on the Grand Loop. We continued down the dirt trail through the vast valley. On the left-hand side, we passed a small patch of trees. It was at that point, I stopped dead. I felt the blood rushed from my head to my feet.

Matt? I said, without moving my teeth, Bear. Roughly 20 feet from us stood a grisly sow on her hind legs, surrounded by her two cubs feasting on a calf elk. Their blood-covered snouts glanced over at us and hurriedly continued to devour the calf. 20 feet? Is that what you just said? Yep, 20 feet. So close. If you have read any of the warnings on grizzly encounters,

they always emphasize that the most aggressive bears are statistically. One, a surprise bear, hence making noise. Two, a sow with her cubs. and three, a grizzly on a kill. Perfect. Matt and I had encountered the trifecta. Matt stood next to me also not moving. Get your bear spray in your hand. Matt held tightly to his can of a bear spray in one hand and me with the other. I could still hear the cars in the background. That is how close we were to the trailhead. But my mind at this time had lost all rational thinking. My brain could not connect my hands to the bear spray. It fumbled in my sweaty palms as I simply backed away slowly. all my energy into not running and screaming in the opposite direction. My feet were moving, but I remember nothing but stark white fear. The sow watched us intently as we receded into the distance. I can only assume since the kill was so fresh, they were too busy getting their fill to worry about us that time. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful. When Matt and I made it safely to the road,

we were able to watch and observe the pair's feeding. As we watched and admired the true wildness that was happening before our eyes, we could see other hikers start to set out down the trail. We waved our arms to alert them since the bears were completely concealed by the trees. As we created a scene, cars began to slow down in a crowd form to watch the bears. Bystanders offered us views through their scopes and binoculars. We politely declined as we had already gotten close enough. Looking back now, Matt and I can't help but laugh at our full heartiness. The obvious signs were casually dismissed.

The weird bird sounds that was actually the elk cow. die and cry, the lone cow elk refusing to leave her post, and frantically running back and forth, and the grizzly tracks we followed along the trail. I have a profound respect for wildlife and would never intentionally cross a line to invade their space. My watch clocked us at a quarter of a mile onto a trail that receives dense human activity. It served as a reminder that no matter where you are in the park, you are always dead center in the wilderness, that is Yellowstone National Park. You must always remain bear aware, even if you are stepping onto the trail or miles into the back country. It also gave us a very literal meaning to enjoy the view, but watch your back.

Keep up the great work. Thank you for listening to my story. That's my nightmare. It's a really cool thing to see, but seeing it that close. Yeah, no, no, no. That's so scary. That's, like, actually my nightmare. It's just stumbling upon a grizzit, despite all efforts, otherwise, you know? Like, I have been actively. trying to avoid this and here I am. Oh my God. And I can just like picture the sow just standing up like blood all over her face like who goes there.

Are you next? All right. My last tale is just titled Trail Tale. Hey Cassie and Danielle. My name is Hillary, but you can both call me Hill. My wife and I started listening to your podcast a few years ago and there are so many trail tales about signs that it felt wrong not sending this story into you first because of how huge the sign itself is. I'm going to give you a bit of a backstory first, then get into the

meat of the story where the national parks come into play. I come from the bustling Midwest metropolis of normal Illinois, home of Illinois State University, Rivians manufacturing plant, and more rows of corn and soybeans than people. When I was growing up, my family took a near annual trip to Phoenix to visit my dad's sister and her family and always had the best time trading the cornfields for the sowaros and mountains. I distinctly. remember a Thanksgiving trip to visit them where we ate a full turkey day dinner on a wooden park bench beneath a Suaro cactus in the middle of the desert. Like, who does that? Sounds like a good Thanksgiving. Like, that's like kind of the best. I've always wanted to do a Thanksgiving hike.

And like meal. Hike meal. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think that would be cool. I don't want to be one of those Thanksgiving like 5K people, but I would be a Thanksgiving hike out and eat person. Yeah, right? Depending, I guess, where in the world I was. I don't know if I want to carry a dead turkey out to the middle of bear country, but Vermont, I would. Yeah. I don't eat turkey, but. Location dependent.

I'm the youngest of my cousins on both my moms and my dad's side of the family, but I'd still loved hanging out with my aunt's three sons, all of whom are several years older than me, and all of whom are total and complete badasses. When my sister and her boyfriend, now husband, moved out to Phoenix for school, My aunt's oldest son, Jeff, took them in and let them live with him with zero hesitation. Not many people would do that, especially in a small apartment, but he saw a family in need and he opened his doors to them. A couple of years after they lived with him, Jeff came out to normal to help us celebrate my sister

and brother-in-law's wedding, and he brought his girlfriend with him. Guys, I've never seen my cousin as happy as he was at that wedding. He didn't have the easiest life growing up. He learned a lot of really difficult life lessons through experience. but man, when he was with her, he was a completely different person. You could feel his love for her every time he looked at or talked about her. His energy was so calm when she was near him, and for the first time, and who knows how long, he was genuinely happy. His entire life had led him to her. A few mornings after the wedding, when they were back home, something happened and she didn't wake up.

Just like that, his light was gone. Jeff came to live with my parents and I for a while after that. I was in high school and this guy that I'd long distance grown up with was now living in my home, trying with everything in him to get through the most painful moment in his life. And I never once saw him show that pain. I could feel it, but I never saw it. I learned who he truly was while he was with us. He didn't talk to me or treat me like I was a kid, the baby of the family. We had real conversations that mattered to my 16-year-old heart.

He helped my marching band get on and off the field on Friday nights, and during competitions on Saturdays. He taught me about death metal and how to take care of long hair. I loved that time in my life so much because of him. Eventually, he moved back to Phoenix and life went on. I graduated high school, moved an hour away from home, started college, and lost touch with the guy who went from being my cousin to my brother. Then came October of 2006, three years after his light went out.

He made the decision to leave this world to end his pain. The thing is, when he ended his own life, he took the broken pieces of himself and gave them to everyone who ever loved or cared about him. Jeff's death may have ended his pain, but it didn't end hours. It started it. I was broken for a long time after he died, and if I'm being honest with myself, part of me still is and always will be. The year after he died, I decided to move across the country to where I am now in Arizona to be closer to him and his family. It's been many years since my move from Illinois, from my parents and my parents. sister's family, and I've grown to cherish the solitude of those long drives back to visit them, or visiting new places out west with my wife. It's become healing for me, hours in the car,

seeing new places, living new experiences, hours upon hours to think about and work to understand why life is the way it is. And I swear, Jeff is right there with me every time I hit the road. He's been my co-pilot this whole time, my forever guardian angel, and I've gotten through some very, very close calls on the road because of him. This brings us to last October when my wife and I took a road trip to Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks during my fall break. Our first night in Joshua Tree went off without a hitch. We hiked all over, saw the most beautiful star-filled sky, cooked over the open campfire,

and enjoyed our first night out of the city and the stress of everyday life. This was the perfect start to our trip. Day two took us out of Joshua and into King's Canyon to the hotel we were staying at that night at the bottom of the canyon. The road down into the canyon is your typical mountainous road, a lot of twist and turns, plenty of gorgeous views and pickup trucks hanging over the side of cliffs. Wait, what? That's not supposed to be there. So check it out. About halfway down the road to the hotel, we drove her on this bend and right in front of us is a white pickup truck with all of its doors open. Its back wheels three feet off the ground and the center of the truck somehow balanced on the top of a boulder being used as a guardrail for a sheer drop off the side of this huge cliff. A family and another pickup had pulled over and the dad was trying to get cell phone reception to call for help when he flagged us down.

There's a naked dude jumping out from behind the bushes down the road, he yells at us. I'm sorry, what? If my wife and I had gotten a dollar for every time we said, what the fuck in the next 10 seconds, we'd have at least $7. So now we've got a pickup truck hanging over the side of the cliff and a naked guy in the same direction as our hotel, plus about seven hours of driving behind us that day. We had no other option but to continue, so onward we went.

Half a mile later, we come upon the gentleman, who had almost driven his truck off the cliff and had somehow lost all of his clothes. I won't get into it because this very well likely was a mental health crisis happening in real time, but we were able to drive past him and continue on our way. As women, neither my wife or I were equipped to help this man, so he made the decision to find a ranger station to report it. We stopped at two on the way down to the hotel, but both were empty as it was past closing time. At one of the ranger stations, I picked up a few brochures about the plants and

wildlife in the parks we were visiting, so we'd know what to look out for over the next few days. A few minutes later, we finally made it to the hotel and reported what we had experienced to the guy at the check-in, who had already heard about it from another guest and reported it to the National Park Service. Thankfully, an ambulance was able to come and help him shortly after. That evening, I was looking through the brochures that I had picked up, and I started looking at the guide to pine trees. Right there, in the middle of the first page, was a tree called the Jeffrey Pine, the same name as my cousin. Its branches start several feet up the trunk, and it's characterized with large, spiny pine cones, needles and bunches of three, and an overwhelming smell of sweetness,

much like butterscotch. Here's the thing. We would have never gotten those brochures if we hadn't encountered the naked guy and stopped at the ranger stations, and I never, ever would have known that the Jeffrey Pine is even a tree to be on the lookout for. That brochure had to be the sign, right? Nope, not yet. We spent the next four days of our time in the park searching for the telltale signs of

Jeffrey Pines. We saw so many kinds of pine trees. took so many hikes, explored so many hidden corners of the parks, but could not find a Jeffrey pine the entire time. If I'm being honest, I was really sad. This trip that we were on coincided with the 16th anniversary of his death. And when I saw that pine tree in the brochure, it felt so, so significant, almost like he was trying to let us know he was around and checking in on us. And then, it just never happened. I couldn't find the Jeffrey Pine in Kings Canyon, Sequoia or Yosemite, no matter how hard I looked or smelled. We packed up on the last morning of our trip

to get ready for the 12-hour ride back home. The route we took brought us through the Sierra Nevada's, but we first passed through the Inyo National Forest. About 13 feet into the drive through this forest, I started to realize what I was seeing. The pine trees that we were surrounded by had their branches starting several feet off the ground, and the pine cones on the ground were massive. My wife told me to pull over before I had the chance to make the decision myself, and when we opened the car doors, we were hit with the smell of butterscotch so strong. It was as if grandma had shoved two Werther's originals up our nostrils. I found the pine tree brochure on the bottom of the car to verify what my body was already

telling me that I knew. We were standing at the edge of a forest of Jeffrey Pines on the anniversary of his death. Hello sign and hello Jeff. I hugged the closest tree I could find and felt the warmth of his embrace all those years before when he left our house for the very last time to move back home. We'd finally found his pine tree, and there were millions of them in front of us. I took a few minutes to sit with him to remember all the amazing ways he had shaped my life. The entire trip that we took was amazing, but for this to be the last aspect of it was just so,

so special. Also, I found out while researching the story that the grove of Jeffrey Pines that we drove through in the Inyo National Forest is the world's largest. We didn't actually plan on taking that route. We just kind of ended up there as our trip progressed. Or he led us there. The grief that I carry from losing him has changed over the years. I'm at the point where I can see the positives that have come into my life after his death. And I'm so thankful for the chance to reflect on his life and my own so often,

especially when I get to do so in nature. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, please call or text 988, the suicide and mental health crisis line, text home to 741-741 to chat with a crisis counselor or reach out to someone who you can trust with your life. If you're going through it but aren't at a point of crisis, I highly suggest some nature therapy. Before I sign off, I want to remind you all that your life matters, that you hold significance and importance to everyone around you. You're allowed to make mistakes and fall apart. You're allowed to have bad days.

You're allowed to feel everything that you're feeling. and you're allowed to ask for or accept help when you need it most. Because your life matters and this world is a more complete place because you are in it. Cassie, Danielle and listeners, much love to you all and thanks so much for listening. Enjoy the view. And when life gets hard, I'll always have your back. Hill. What a special story.

That was really... You got your sign and the way you ended it, I think is really meaningful to a lot of people listening. I agree. And now I want a Wothers. Like I've never craved Wothers before. until this moment. More than right now. Until this very moment.

And I think forever more I will think of your cousin when I see or smell butterscotch. All right. Well, that was a really beautiful note to end on. And I don't think we can do it any better. So for outsiders. Except for the fact that I still have one story left before the outsiders. No way. You're lying.

Yeah, I still have one more. Oh, no. Okay. Well, it was still. It's very short. It's very short. I'm like, you can't go because that was a perfect ending. It's okay.

I'll allow it. Oh, thank you. It's very short. Mine's titled Badlands Trail Magic. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. I want to slight trigger warn this that there is a reference to a murdered child. My husband and I love taking our two girls, age six and three, camping. The good old fashioned sleep in a tent kind of camping.

However, in July 2022, a mom, dad, and six-year-old daughter were murdered in their tent at Makwoketa, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, caves state park. Likely by a stranger camping in the next site, who then died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The nine-year-old son survived and ran for help. After this incident, I cannot, anxiety-wise, take the girls' tent camping. It's a weird thing that if just my husband and I get murdered, meh, but the girls, hell no. So when a friend offered us their small camper for a trip to Badlands National Park, we did not hesitate to say yes.

Our first day I wanted to check out the notch trail. It has a wood ladder that I wanted to check out but thought the girls wouldn't be interested. The six-year-old Anna really wanted to try and was so proud of herself at the top. Coming down, she was terrified. Here comes our trail angel. This young woman, probably low 20s, went as high as she could alongside of the ladder and started cheering Anna on, encouraging her that she could do anything. Anna made it all the way down and was absolutely beaming. She pushed herself and accomplished a really hard thing. For the rest of the trip, both of the girls were cheering for each other and us, go, daddy, you can do it, etc. Even if the task was stepping over a rock. I attached, I love that. I attached a picture of my husband going up the ladder for reference. Not only did our trail angel boost Anna's confidence, she made me remember that the outdoors really is for everyone, including kids. Kids, especially little girls, need to be outside to push themselves in safe ways to show that they can do hard things. I think this trail angel not only encouraged Anna, but she was what I needed to push me past my anger that the killer took my piece away in the outdoors. We all can do hard things with

regards to the outdoors and we all deserve to. I wish I would have told the young woman, thank you. Enjoy the view, especially when it's little girls learning they can be outdoor badasses. Catherine. All right, that was a good note to end on too. A good note to end on for sure. And we've done the Natch Trail in Badlands, so we know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah. I can see how that would be harrowing for a smaller child. Yeah. It's a steep ladder on a little cliff. Yeah. All right. So now we're really done. Kind of. Yes. Kind of. We have two more for outsiders to stick around or join Patreon or Apple subscriptions if you're not there already. Yeah. So we'll see everyone in two weeks. We mean it. Oh yeah. Not next week. Yeah. No. We're not doing it. Because we're going on

vacation this time. Do not disturb silent. Out of office. You can disturb us a little bit, but we're not posting an episode. So enjoy the view. But watch you're back until two weeks from now. Bye. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale or story suggestion, send us an email at

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