National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 55

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Today’s stories include survival(ish) stories, good guy redemptions, unpredictable rescuers, invisible protectors and someone being naked - and someone being afraid. 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!Quince: Use our link to get free shipping and 365-day returns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hi, everyone. Welcome to our Trail Tales episode. Welcome to our first video that we've had for Trail Tales edition. If you're listening on Spotify or Apple or any normal streaming podcasts that you've been listening to us on, you can't see us but we did start a YouTube channel and we now have our episodes up to see us actually be able to talk in video and all that good stuff so if you are interested in watching us on YouTube you can go over just look us up National Park After Dark podcast and we're right there yeah and it's scary so be nice these are amazing this is what we look like hello this is what we

look like against my will you'll know just kidding um Yeah, it's a little strange usually. Like, I actually put on, like, a regular tank top today instead of, like, a baggy PJ set. I'm not going to lie. I have a nice, like, not an, it's just like a normal shirt that I would wear, but I'm totally wearing PJ bottoms. Oh, see, I'm actually wearing jeans.

Not that you can see that. Yeah, like mine are, I won't show you the whole thing, but I'm wearing, I'm wearing PJ bottoms. Your business on the top, party on the bottom or sleep on the bottom. Yeah. It's like people who work from home and they show up. up at their work video Zoom and they're like, yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm ready. And really, they have PJ Bottoms on and they've been up for like four minutes. Well, we are ready. We're professionals.

We're YouTubers now, I think. Officially, yeah. Yeah. So let's get to the stories. Do you want to go first? I would love to because my first story, the title is so funny. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. All right. The title is, he's naked and I'm afraid. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. I have listened to NPAD since the very beginning and I love you both so much. Listening to you guys feel like hanging out with two of my friends and I'm so happy to be part of the not so little community you guys have built. Thank you.

We're happy to have you. I wish I was writing in with something more lighthearted, but my story is more of a cautionary tale, if anything. Oh no, I thought it was going to be funny. Okay. Prepared. Well, it clearly states that there's a naked person in there afraid. Yeah, that's true.

I just, it was just a funny pun because of the show. So I guess I'm, I was off base there. I hope it helps women be more aware of their surroundings in the outdoors, especially in places that are seemingly safe and feel as though nothing bad can happen. For some background, I have always wanted to live in a city that has a national park in its backyard, with sick hiking and beautiful landscapes, and in a way I do. I currently live in St. Louis, Missouri, and we do, in fact, have a national park in our backyard. But unfortunately, it's gateway.

Arch National Park, so not much for hiking and beautiful landscapes, L.O.L. Other than the arch, one of the main attractions in St. Louis is Forest Park, which is considered one of the best and most beautiful urban parks in the U.S. It is always super populated by runners, walkers, cyclists, and families at all times, and typically feels like a safe place to be in a large city. For over a year now, I have been running a few miles through the park almost every single day and have always felt safe. That was until a few days ago. It was around 2 p.m. on a Saturday and I was walking my usual route through the park. There were tons of families around and just generally super busy since it was the weekend. I was about two miles into my walk when it began to rain

unexpectedly and I was wearing new headphones that weren't particularly water resistant. So I wanted to find a trail that had more of a canopy cover to hide from the rain until it passed. On my route, there is a fork in the trail where I normally take a right to follow along a golf course and stay in the more populated and open area. Instead, I took the trail on the left that goes through a part of the forest that's more dense trees. Once I turned on the trail, I see a man about 60 yards in front of me, and don't think anything of it initially. He was walking a bike next to him and wasn't wearing a shirt. He didn't seem particularly threatening, but as I got closer, I realized something was wrong. What I originally thought were light-colored biker shorts from a distance actually turned out to be tan lines,

and I realized that this man was completely naked. I was about 30 yards away when I made the realization and immediately stopped dead in my tracks and turned around. I started speedwalking back to the main trail. I was scared to actually run away from him because I thought that would provoke him to chase me. Once I turned around, I looked over my shoulder and saw him mount his bike and start riding after me.

Luckily, I was still close to the golf course and made it back fast enough to the more open area that he stopped chasing me and got off his bike at the fork in the trail. I was trying to be as calm as possible while walking away and kept my eyes on him. As I walked away, he stared at me and followed me with his eyes while he masturbated. Once I saw that, I started running. There was a couple heading in my direction on the trail, and I told them what happened and warned them not to go in that direction.

I walked with them towards the main road, so I was able to get away safely. I was so shaken and in shock and basically had a panic attack for the rest of my walk home. Once I got home and knew I was safe, I called the police to report what happened, and the police officer told me that I was the second person that day to report the same type of incident. Since then, I have been thinking a lot about what could have happened in all the different ways that that situation could have gone from bad to worse. What if I had been looking at my phone while walking and not noticed him until it was too late? What if I had trusted my instincts and turned around? I have walked the same trail hundreds of times and always felt so safe and like nothing bad would

ever happen to me. But that's not true. I hope this story serves as a warning to other women that you should always be aware of your surroundings, even in a place that you have always felt safe. Bad things don't only happen in national parks. They can also happen in broad daylight in your neighborhood park. Thanks for reading my story, enjoy the view, and not only watch your back, but also watch around you for crazy naked men in the park. Love Emily. Sorry I thought that was going to be funny.

That's so scary. That was not funny at all. And it reminds me of, it didn't happen to me. But when I lived in Evergreen, Colorado, there is a pretty popular park in the area that as soon as I moved, like two weeks after I moved, there was a similar individual doing this. And they did catch him after like a day or two or something, like pretty quickly. But it's just wild that that goes through somebody's mind of I want to do this to others. It's traumatizing. It's so scary. It is. Like that I've had, I had a friend who experienced something like this, but unfortunately in a closer setting than in a park. and it was just like she described it. And it's so scary and violating to walk into something like that.

And I think the story has such a good point to not be on your phone, to really be aware of your surroundings, which it sucks to have to be like that. But it's just you do. You have to like don't be staring at your phone. Don't be scrolling on Instagram. Make sure you look alert. Make sure you look like you know what you're doing.

Look like you know where you are to try. try and make someone not want to target you. Not that it's your fault in any capacity, but just to like take these extra measures to try and be safe is important. Yeah. Well, I think we all can kind of relate to the level of comfortability, especially if it's a trail you do literally every day. You just, it's human nature to get used to your surroundings. I do it. The normality of that. I do it all the time. Yeah, I have trails that I hike all the time and I don't even think twice about it because I'm like, oh, I'm out here all the time. I know what it's like, but you never know.

Like, something could be different that day. Yeah. I do it a lot in my car. Like, I do, I will. As soon as I get into my car, I lock the doors. Yeah. Automatically. And I think I'm in a good habit of that because for so long, I mean, up until a few months

ago, I had a Jeep Wrangler for over a decade. And it was, um, nothing was automatic. Like, everything was manual. Including the locks and windows. I know I'm like, yeah, well, fuck you too. Slowly roll it up. Slowly rolling up. But yeah, so I had to manually lock the doors.

So I'm just in a really good habit of that. But I still do the classic get in your car, look at your phone for like five minutes before you go anywhere. And in any place, like a parking garage, a parking lot or whatever. And I just always, every once in a while, I'll think, like, is someone staring at me or trying to do something surrounding me? And I just have my face down. I feel like someone's watching you and you look up and someone else. Yeah.

Yeah. Anyways. Be careful out there. Well, yeah. I'm glad you were okay also. Yeah. Physically. Maybe not. Yeah.

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Hi, Cassie and Danielle, this really isn't a trail tale but I had to throw it out there. I remember listening to Danielle's story about the Third Man Factor last May, never once thinking that I myself would experience it myself just a year later.

On May 29th of this year, I was driving home from work on a notoriously dangerous stretch of highway in western Montana known as Avaro Hill. I usually listen to NPAD on the way home, and on that day, I was listening to Cassie's episode on Quicksand. Little did I know that there was a deranged drunk man attempting to run people off the road for

hours. He sideswiped me near a guardrail and then pulled out in front of me. Since I hadn't seen him coming, I assumed that he was in such a hurry that he just didn't see me. But then, I felt the urge to call 911, so I did and continued to follow him down the hill. At one point, he stopped in the middle of the highway and I was forced to go around him. Then as I passed him, he rear-ended my vehicle multiple times and pushed my car off the highway at a high rate of speed. I rolled four times. That's so scary.

I was absolutely terrified and then I wasn't. As my car lifted into the air, I suddenly felt as if I was not alone. While my car crushed and rolled around me, I felt like I was in a bubble, rolling along with it, and perfectly protected. I heard no voices speaking to me and I felt no hands on my body, but I did feel like I was being shielded by some other force. When my car finally landed, I peeked into the back seat and said aloud, okay, we're okay, despite knowing that I was completely alone. I walked away with little physical injury, some of which the emergency room doctors attributed to me staying so calm and relaxed during the event. Honestly, I don't think I have ever been

relaxed a day in my life, but I certainly was in those moments and it has completely changed my perception around death. I would often have a pit in my stomach listening to survival stories in the past, but now I get how people are able to keep moving even in the darkest of days. Wow, what a story. That's so scary. I know. And then to have that experience and know that you're going to be okay, like in the midst of it. Totally third, third man factor. that you talked about. I agree. That's one of my favorite.

Every time somebody asks us about our favorite episodes, I never think to bring that one up, but now reflecting on it, it totally is one of my favorite episodes that I've ever researched and told on the show. But I've heard of this like bubble of protection and little physical injury despite a pretty traumatic crash with people who are under the influence or drunk or some way because your body's just like really loose and you're not tensed up and thinking about it but obviously this wasn't the case for this person so they were on the opposite end it's just interesting yeah exactly yeah yeah oh that's so scary road like road rage incidents drunk driving things like that are so so scary

and having someone who is drunk and filled with road rage running you off the road and then you actually get in a car oh my god that's so i'm glad you're physically okay and that's just oh my God, I can't. It's so scary. That's like a fear for me. A car crash? More like someone purposely causing my car crash, because I've been in car accidents before, and I do think they're scary. But having someone intentionally do that. Yeah, I guess I've never really thought about it until now. But I do have a reoccurring nightmare, which I actually had last night, which is so weird that it just like kind of brought it back up into the forefront of my mind. I always have a reoccurring nightmare that I'm driving around a big curve, like not taking a

corner, but you know when you're getting off a highway or something and there's a big, um, gentle kind of curve in the road. I have this dream that I'm going around the curve, but instead of making the curve, I just go straight and I lose control of the car and get to a crash and die. That is a nightmare. And it's so repeated. And I feel like obviously, stress dreams come from time to time when you have stressors in your life. But I feel like there's something more to it because I've had it so often and for so long. Do you have, have you looked up the meaning for it before? No. So I have a recurring nightmare too. It's not that one, but mine's pretty popular that I have. And mine is I have dreams that my teeth fall out. And it can be different

in each one, like sometimes they shatter, sometimes they slowly fall out individually. Sometimes like I'm eating something and they start falling out, but either capacity, it's always my teeth are falling out and I looked it up. And it said that often when you have dreams that your teeth are falling out, it's because you're really insecure about something in your life. And so whenever I have that, I kind of reflect back and I'm like, okay, what am I feeling really insecure about right now? What am I not happy with in my life right now? And usually I can turn around and find a connection to why I'm having that dream. So I wonder if your dream has some type of stress connection that you haven't put together yet. Well, I just Googled it and AI has something

to say about it. But it's so all over the place. That's what I'm saying. Dreaming about a car crash can have many different meanings depending on the scenario. Some common themes include feeling out of control, facing obstacles, dealing with challenges, fears, anxieties or vulnerability, fear of making the wrong decision and not trusting in yourself. It's like that's pretty. It's big. That's like a it's so big. But it's also relevant, I think, to a lot. I mean, you could attribute it to a lot of stress things. So like, I don't know, maybe thinking what's going on and maybe it maybe it's related because I know, I mean, with my teeth dreams, it's not always the same thing. Like not every single time. I'm like, oh, my eyebrows look so bad. That's a really bad example.

But either blindness or whatever is going around the internet. Every time I have the same scenario going on, but it's usually I can find something in my life where I'm like, oh, wow, I'm really not happy with this portion. What's going on? How can I fix it? I'm feeling really insecure about it. And it like goes into like some insecurities. And I've had this dream since high school. And it's not always, but it is whenever I'm in like constant high stress in like a period of my life, I have it more.

So I thought it had to do with finances for some reason and then I also oh my god actually now that we're on the dream thing I know people hate when you talk about dreams but um who hates when you talk about dreams I like it everyone really literally everyone this is news to me yeah it's like one of the most boring topics really I think um anyways so let me talk about it some more um I was just talking about this with somebody on our Acadia trip that we did recently. But I always, aside from the car crash thing and the nightmares about my ex-boy, that ex-boyfriend that I always have. One particular one. I also have repeated dreams of orcas.

They're always in my dreams. And I've never looked them up. So now I'm going to. and let's just for this random answer from just answers.com. It says to dream of a killer whale usually means that you're, oh no, this is bad for you. For me. This is bad for you. What do you mean your dream's bad for me?

The dream of a killer whale usually means that your bestie is facing major life changes, career opportunities, and worries, and the need to make quick decisions in her daily life. Killer whales or orcas are marine animals that symbolize serenity and peace, but they are very dangerous animals as well. What am I going through? I don't know. You tell me. I don't know. But it sounds really bad. Well, Auntieflow.com says something different.

I want to listen to Antiflow. They symbolically mean that we need to go deep within our own souls to understand and share our emotions. and that you haven't dealt with a stressful event that happened in your past. Okay. I don't know. They're all over the place. It doesn't really matter. Okay.

That's why people hate talking about dreams. That's and that's why. And we won't do it again. Okay. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've

already read twice. Off campus. Well, 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. All right, my turn for a story. My next one is titled SAS 751, The Miracle of, and they thank you very much, wrote out the pronunciation for this.

gut ruura ra got ruura ra the miracle of got ruura yes sounds right to me true so hi apologies as this is not exactly national park related but having heard your plain tales bad pun sorry and as a fellow arophobic person i thought you may find this interesting oh no i am i am half mexican and half swedish born in columbia when i was a baby my family moved to sweden and across the street from a lovely family, the Holmberg's. It was a typical Swedish family in the 80s, two sons, a gorgeous yard, and a lovely couple. The wife, Kay, was always very affable to us. She was very welcoming to us in a society that was still getting used to the idea of foreigners.

She has always maintained a nice friendship with my Mexican mother even to this day. The husband, pronounced pair, was nice but a little bit more stereotypical. Swedish, a bit formal if you don't know him well. He was a pilot for Scandinavian Airlines, but on his time off, he worked a lot in his garden. My mother says he built his own house from scratch, and, well, he used TNT to clear rocks. I can see why she would remember that. We also found it funny that he would strip down before entering his home. From a prudish Latin American culture, well, this was new. However, it was most likely to be clean as most Swedes have their washer and dryer right as you enter the mudroom. But that was a cultural difference for sure. When I was about

five in summer in 1991, we moved to the U.S. We kept in contact, but I was a kid, so I didn't entirely follow the goings on about everyone's lives. Who cares about gossip when there are P OGS and American Girl dolls? Am I right? Well, hold on. Pogs? Pogs. Oh, Polly Pocket. Is that Polly Pocket? No. Wait, what is Pogs? Oh my God. I just had. Are you kidding me right now? What are pogs? You've never played pogs? No, I had an American Girl dog. Cassie.

Doll, her name was Samantha. Okay, this is where we, here we are. We're diverging. I've never had American Girl doll, but I had Pogs. I collected Pogs. Okay. What is a Pog? Okay, so it was like,

there are like these little, like, flat, not coin things, but it was a game, but you had, you could collect all these different, like, little spherical, flat. I want to say they were like tokens but not really. I don't know. I'm never heard of my life. I can't believe you don't. I played Pokemon. I collected the cards.

I didn't play the game. Yeah, same actually. I had them in a like a binder. Yeah, with a cellophane protective sleeves and all that. Yeah. I had a holographic Charzard

and a holographic tail. Yeah, that's good. Do you still have them? No, I wish. I think they're worth like millions of dollars. or something now. Yeah. Okay.

So the pogs, yeah, they were like these, oh, here's a picture of one of somebody like putting them in that like sleeve thing that we were just talking about. Oh, yeah. To protect them. But yeah, they were just and they had all different things on them. And yeah, I can't even believe. They were like, it was a game. It was a game.

Oh, it's also called milk caps. I've never heard it called that. Maybe that was a regional thing. Yeah, I have. I don't remember this at all. I think I... Well, I guess the question is, were you team Pog or team American Girl Doll? And that will tell us a lot of if you were...

Well, I didn't know what my friend or more Cassie's friend. So... I know. I know. I know. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, going on.

Okay. Anyway, moving up for that in the story. I grew up and I get to see Kay again. She was always so kind to us as kids, giving us her old handbags and scarves and I even got her mother's gorgeous tea set once I got married. It was super sentimental and a generous gift. My husband and I get along with her great. This led to the curiosity about what the last few decades had brought. I did some light Facebook stalking and enjoyed seeing what her sons had done in life, great careers and one was even in the Swedish army for a while. Wonderful. I saw a pair on

Facebook and he had an eye patch. I asked Kay and she told me that it was due to cancer from years of UV exposure in the cockpit and inaccurate eye protection. He's fine now and rocks the patch, but that's just not fun. I continued doing research for fun, thanks ADHD hyperfixation, and Googled him. Imagine my surprise when I see that pair has his own Wikipedia page. What? Well, yeah. He was one of the deadheading pilots who was aboard and helped the pilot of the SAS 751 avoid catastrophe on December 1991. There are multiple articles about this particular crash and it is still widely taught in aviation schools worldwide. But here's a TLDR version. SAS 751 was a typical Scandinavian

Airlines passenger flight from Orlando Airport in Stockholm to Warsaw via Copenhagen. It actually still exists as a route with obviously more modern planes. This particular day, December 27, 1991, a McDonnell Douglas MD 81, Adana Viking, was operating the flight. Pair was a deadheading pilot in uniform. I forget which flight he was to pilot, but he was basically on the way to or from work. The next bit is a bit hard to explain, so I will quote, drama in the snow, the crash of the Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 on Medium.com. The issue began with the plane's fuel.

5,100 kilograms of it, to be precise, split evenly between, the MD 81's two-wing fuel tanks, leaving them each about 60% full. This fuel had been uplifted in Zurich and was carried to Stockholm at the flight's cruising altitude, where the outside air temperature reached a bone-chilling negative 62 degrees Celsius. The freezing point of aviation fuel is much lower than that of water, so these temperatures don't pose a safety risk from a fuel standpoint, but they do lead to a phenomenon known as cold soaking, wherein prolonged exposure to extremely low temperatures at altitude chills the fuel, allowing it to remain much colder than the ambient air temperature after the plane has landed.

Because the fuel in the tanks of the Dana Viking had been cold soaked on the flight over Zurich, its temperature remained far below freezing for many hours after the plane landed. Furthermore, because the wing fuel tanks in the MD81 are structurally integral, that is to say, the wall of the fuel tank and the skin of the wing are one in the same sheet of metal, the upper surface of the wings remain colder than the outside temperature as well. This effect was particularly pronounced in the inboard aircraft of each wing tank, which was the lowest part of the tank, and hence where the fuel tended to pool. The fact that this area would be especially cold was so well known and even had a name,

the cold corner. Therefore, as near-freezing rain fell over our, Orlando airport, the droplets came into contact with the chilled surface of the wings where they froze, forming a layer of ice, especially near the cold corners. Later, however, the temperature dropped to zero degrees Celsius, and the rain turned to snow, causing slush to start accumulating instead. At around 2 o'clock that morning, a mechanic observed nearly invisible clear ice on the wings of the Dana Viking, while slush had built up around the landing gear, but his shift ended hours later and no report of his discovery was ever passed on, nor was it required to be.

As the crew and passengers boarded, ground crews did their inspection, and a mechanic even brushed off slush from the wings, though no clear ice was found. But it was tough to see it with the naked eye. In fact, the best way to detect ice is through physical touch, which no one did. Standard operating procedures were technically followed and the plane took off. Sadly, though, the de-icing was not fully effective. I asked Kay, years later, what happened and she told me that pair immediately noted things were wrong. He quickly offered his help to the crew and went to assist Captain Stefan Rasmussen, who was also noting that things were not okay. Pair at that point was 47 and had been flying since he was only 17. Yes, at that age,

he had three decades of flying experience. He also had 920 hours on the MD 81 more than either cockpit crew member. Razmussen or first officer Ulf Cedar Mar. He realized that there was panic happening in the cockpit and went to help. The effect of what was happening when the plane was airborne, but neither engine worked. It was enormous glider in a storm. Per helped the guide and the two other captains and communicate with Orlando to come up with a plan. Pair's help was invaluable and he was able to bring a steady head and new perspective. He urged Rasmussen to keep staring straight and it helped him to avoid panic.

Rasmussen kept looking away and Pair kept telling him, him to keep looking straight ahead. No, you fly, you fly. He also guided Rasmussen as they were quickly approaching homes and streets. This was all happening before 9 a.m. So you can imagine people were out and about. Pair urged them to be an aim the plane for the forest, which must have been terrifying. Through the sirens, the panic, and the uncertain, he kept guiding Rasmussen and urged him until the last moment before crashing to just put the landing gear down and steer straight ahead. Pear also managed to yell directly into the cabin that everyone had to prepare for an imminent crash landing. But Pear did not have time to get to his seat. He threw himself last minute against the wall in first class that separated him from the cockpit right before impact.

Transcripts of how things went down exist, but to keep it short, let's just say the accident commission stated that Pear's actions during those seconds probably saved everyone on board from an even worse accident and a more bleak end. in the end they first hit a grove of trees then finally landed in a field the plane split in three pieces not including the wings you can find the image easily on google the most amazing thing no one died yes no one died not a single person says yes you read that correctly no one died oh wow people had vicious and life-altering injuries for sure but not one person died unfortunately that was not the news that k heard. She was told by authorities that her husband had died, but was heroic. For hours, she was left devastated, a young widow with two boys trying to figure out what life left ahead. But that was fortunately not true. Pair was very hurt. He had been knocked out and had multiple injuries, but he survived. It took years to get better, but he survived. Years later, we were talking to my husband's cousin, also a pilot, and he told me he knew all about Pair. Even in American aviation schools, His tale is taught.

How cool is that? S.A.S. 751 was eye-opening to the airline industry as a whole about the importance of de-icing correctly. Since 1991, no similar accidents have occurred. Sadly, the effect of the accident is still felt by those who experienced it. Rasmussen, though a hero, was deeply impacted with PTSD. He never flew a passenger jet again, even though he was a hero as well. There was also a young flight attendant who panicked through the crash landing instead of trying to remain. calm. Honestly, I don't blame her. However, she became a paraplegic because of how she braced herself.

The scars are still there on many, but yeah, they survived. Look, I hate flying, but I'm grateful for those who are good at what they do, those who pay attention to their training and their own humanity. Thank you to all three, Holmberg, Rasmussen, and Cedar Mark, for preventing a worst tragedy. Francesca. Well, now I'm thoroughly scared of what we have to do in a couple weeks. It reminds me so much of the story that I covered in D.C., the plane that crashed over the bridge there, because it was the same incident. The de-icing wasn't done properly, and they took off, and the plane nosedived immediately. And I'm thankful that we are not. We are not flying in winter. Yeah, that's true. It is, I think we've had another person write in about a de-icing situation as well, and something

went wrong but they caught it and it had to do with the de-icing so now I'm going to be window C all the way just like looking out but my problem is like I wouldn't even know if they did it properly you know like I don't know what I'm looking for if there's like a slight amount of ice should I flag things and like say something or it would that be I don't know I just I don't know we have to look into it a little more yeah but that's really cool that I mean obviously even though Everyone survived. There's a lot of injury. You can't have a plane break into three pieces in crash land and not have any type of significant injury, you know.

For sure. And I can't even imagine being K and being that emotional roller coaster of like your husband's dead. And then being like, actually, he's alive, but he's really injured. And it's going to be a long road to recover. It's just a lot of emotions to deal with very quickly and consecutively. Yeah. And it's so scary. Wow.

Okay. Let's move on from airplane stuff because not only am I going to Borneo and England and Germany with you. I'm going to Colorado in a couple days. Yeah, you're going to be on a plane very soon. Yeah. I'll be okay. Yeah. It's going to be fine.

My second story is titled No More Creepy Guys. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. While my wife and I have been hitting all of the parks around Seattle getting all of the junior ranger badges, yes. We are adults with four grown children and we pursue our love of national parks by collecting Junior Ranger badges. We've been listening to NPAD. As my wife was wondering why we're listening to the stories of horrible things happening to people and going to the places where these things happened, I picked up on a theme in

your stories and trail tales. Creepy guys. Creepy guys make me so mad. Not only because they're creepy and they do really bad things, they give us not creepy guys a bad name. But also, right, we talk about it a lot. Yeah, we do. But also, three quarters of our kids are women and I really want them to be able to explore the parks and not have to worry about anything. So I thought I'd write in for a trail tale to try and remind everyone that not all guys are creepy. I love that. My wife, Laura and I made a day of going to Mount Rainier

National Park. It was a beautiful day. We checked in at the Paradise Visitor Center to get our junior Ranger workbooks and got started. First of all, Mount Rainier is incredible. We first saw it from Puget Sound taking the ferry back to Seattle from Olympic National Park. We couldn't believe how majestic it is from 100 miles away. And then being on the mountain looking up was just breathtaking. Part of becoming a junior ranger requires that you do at least one hike. We decided on the Alta Vista Trail because it offers a really nice view of Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. And up we went. started getting really mad at me really quickly because of how steep the mountain is and because

of the thinner air at that altitude and because all we saw was up. Of course, she was joking about it all. Well, then, we saw snow in July, but we had to keep going up. I made it a point to keep encouraging Laura to make it to the top of the trail, always with a smile on my face, and when we finally did and got some amazing pictures, it was smiles all the way down. That is, until I asked her if we could take a quick, less than half a mile sidebar to Myrtle Falls. All was fine at first because the beginning of that trail is flat. About halfway through, it also goes up. Then I got in trouble again. But again, we made it, got some great photos of the falls and went down. After we were sworn in as Mount Rainier Junior Rangers, we hit the gift shop to look for another collection item, National

Park Games. We currently have National Park Jenga, National Park Trivia, National Park Yotsie, and are always looking for more, especially on this trip because we both forgot to bring any. National Park Monopoly, I think, is your natural next step. That's everywhere. I see in gift shops. In Acadia, it was in every gift shop. Really? I feel like I always see the trivia cards. That's like the big game, I guess, that I always see. Yeah, but they have that one already. Oh yeah, that's true. Right, right. Yeah. And I've actually, I'm going to admit this right now, I've never finished a game of monopoly ever in my life. I don't even think I know how to play. I've played it probably three times ever. I imagine I finished one. I imagine I've finished monopoly before, but I would say more often than

not you don't finish because that game can take days. Days? Yeah. Because you have to, the people that you're playing has to run out of money. And if they don't run out of money, you just keep playing until like the other person runs out of money. I remember my brother and I would play when we were kids and we would set it up and we would come back the next day to keep playing and like the next day to keep playing. I don't know. I feel like there are better ways to spend your time in the gaming world than monopoly. I don't know.

It's clearly a loved game. It's been around for it's a classic. It's a classic. It is a classic. Actually, Ian's grandfather gave us a monopoly, a really nice memorand. Monopoly set for Christmas one year. He's not going to listen to this. But it's still in the box.

It's still in the box. Fresh. I know. Fresh. You better open that today. You better start a game. I can't play by myself. Okay.

Anyway, we were talking to each other wandering around the store when she said that she was upset because all she wanted to do was beat me in a game called Boop. I didn't realize that as she said that she had stopped to look at something. I kept walking and replied to her, sorry, hon. As soon as I said that, I was coming up to another woman in the store who quickly stepped away from me. I thought it was weird as there was plenty of room in the aisle for the three of us, but then turned around and realized that I was actually alone with this random woman who obviously thought I was calling her hun to move out of the way.

Realizing what had just happened, I immediately apologized to the woman, pointed to Laura and said that I was actually talking to her. Laura looked up and started laughing, at which point so did this woman who then said that my actions were okay. I professed my apology again and all was right in the world. Except for that entire ride back to Seattle, Laura would not let me live it down. So just a little story to try and redeem guys out there that are not creepy.

We exist. There are those of us guys that try to make everyone feel comfortable and acknowledge when we screw up. There are good guys in the parks. So guys, don't be creepy assholes. Make friends and travel with them so you're not alone. Groom yourself. Super important.

Haircuts and trim beards are good things. So are showers. Although on the trail you can dress nicely, overalls and no shirt is a red flag. True. If you feel the need to talk to someone, keep it about the park. Recommendation for trails are welcome, but don't mention that a particular section of the park or trail is not crowded. But most importantly, give women, especially my wife and daughters, a way. wide birth. A smile and a high on the trail are fine, but just keep it moving. Don't linger.

If somebody wants to talk to you, they will, but it all depends on the criteria I mentioned above. And don't ruin it for me. Dave. P.S., if you can give a shout out to my baby sister, Amy, who is the best, and my oldest daughter, Marin, who really is my National Park Buddy, we all love you. Okay, so shout out to Amy and Marin. Hi. Hello. Thanks for listening. And Dave, thank you for writing in your redemption story because we talked about this a lot. I mean, our last trail tales, we harped on it as well, I think. I don't know. It kind of blends in together a lot. But we love men. I, it's a curse. We talked about it the other day, privately. It's a blessing and a curse. But yeah, there are just certain circumstances where you need to be extra cautious, even if you don't

think it's a problem just because of the situations that women find themselves in a lot. Yeah, just being respectful and making yourself known. And, yeah. You made a lot of really great points about when you're on the trail, proper trail etiquette with a woman who's by herself, especially if there's no one else around. You know, it's just to take extra steps to make people feel comfortable and also let women know that you're not the not the scary one. And without being like, I'm a nice guy, like immediate red flag. Red flag.

You're not. Red flag. Why are you saying that? Yeah. Why are you saying that? But just making steps to make women feel safer outdoors. and thanks for being one of the good ones. Yeah.

Thanks, Dave. It's helpful when you have women in your life. You're surrounded by women in your life, whether it's your mom or you're close with your mother or you have sisters or like in Dave's case, daughters. You know, it's helpful just because you see it firsthand more often than not from someone you love and care about. So, yeah. As the Krispy Chicken Sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud.

And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy. Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold, I'm juicy. Throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me, and baby, I'm a whole meal.

And with seven rewards, I'm just $4. Quiet. No. Krispy, saucy, and $4? Very. Only at 711. Valley 362326, participating stores only while supplies lastly out for full terms.

Well, my last story, right? My last story is, titled When Nature Calls, a Survival Story, Kinda. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. My name is Miranda, and I can't tell you how much I love this podcast. It connects with my love of nature, solo trips, dogs, and connecting with like-minded people. Thank you for creating this space. I've listened to every episode, join Patreon, and fueled all my road trips and house

cleaning sessions with your stories. I have so many stories of my own, but after listening to the heavy yet lovely trail tale episode 49, I figured I'd share a little love. by recounting my most embarrassing moment with strangers since no one was around to witness it. I live in a very wooded area in the mountains of Park City. My backyard faces dense trees and a large embankment that regularly sees wildlife. At least weekly, I have moose. Yes, they're real. Debatable in my yard. So I'm always careful when coming and going. We also have several neighborhood dogs that drop by for a visit most days, including my landlord's two dogs.

who come to my door every evening for their daily treat. That's cute. Needless to say, we get more four-legged visitors than two-legged ones. One night last summer, I was making dinner while my dog, Gracie Mae, sat on the couch in front of the doorway, staring me down for a piece of shrimp from the stir fry I was making. Yes, that little freeloader, who is my whole world, got more than one shrimp and a carrot. She is a 45-pound tiny-pity mix who loves food and her mama more than anything. I should mention I live in a mother-in-law apartment and have one of those mesh magnet screen doors

since AC isn't really a thing in most homes here. I was also jamming to some Sam Cook Radio, my favorite when dabbling in my not-so-hot cooking skills, and enjoying a glass of wine. It was around 8 p.m. and it was shaping up to be a lovely evening for eating dinner outside on my patio, which sits in the lower part of my yard near the edge of the trees. Let me paint a little picture of my yard quickly, as this is important for my story. My front door opens up to an eight-foot landing, then there is a grill, and after that a little step down to the lower part of the yard

that is about 10 feet from my front door. Okay, scene set. I had my back to the door when I heard Gracie let out one bark, as she does when the upstairs dogs come down and then go outside. I proceeded to the pantry to gather up the treats for the dog's clan. I walk out the door and immediately turn right only to see no dog. I was about three feet outside my door. This is when I heard Gracie, who was standing near the doorway, led out a little growl from behind me. I turn around to see a goddamn bear sitting up. Yes, sitting like a mirror cat behind my grill, no more than six feet from me. I have lived here for four years, and in Park City for 13, and although I knew we had bears, I had never seen one. Now there was one trying to join me for dinner. not even begin to describe the fear that shot through my body. So what did I do? Literally,

nothing you're supposed to when encountering a black bear. I can tell you what I did do, though. My feet moved so fast, but my body didn't. You know, like those cartoons where they start running in place, but don't go anywhere. So I think due to pure fear, I fell to the ground, somehow got Gracie, who hadn't moved into a W.W.E-style headlock and crawled inside slamming the door behind me. Meanwhile, this bear sat there looking at me, probably thinking, what an idiot I was, and this must be why they're far superior species. I did not represent humans well. Once inside, hyperventilating, utter chaos unfolded. When I fell, I sliced my foot open on the rocks outside my door. I had scared Gracie so much she had released her anal glands, and if you know this stench, it's anything but pleasant.

That is so true. Think of like rotten. Fries. Rotten fish and like, there's something else to it. There's something else. There's, it's like a hot garbage. Yeah. It's really. It's really bad.

You can't, it's kind of like how I imagine when somebody says when you smell a dead body, like a decomposing. Dead fish. Body. You never forget it. Yeah. I feel, no, like a human body. Yeah. But I'm saying anal glands smell like a.

decomposing fish. No, but I'm saying you know the phrase once you smell a decomposing human body you never forget it. It's like that. Like you never forget. You know that smell anywhere. Anywhere. Yeah, it's disgusting actually.

I can smell it just thinking about it. That's how bad it is. Right now, it's in my face right now. I'll always remember when we were vet-teching and in vet-med you have to express anal anal glands on dogs that can't express them naturally and one of the vets was doing it and she expressed their anal glands and it shot into her mouth. Was that?

I won't mention names but yeah. Okay. We didn't say her last name so people don't know. Yeah. But yeah, it's awful. It's most traumatizing. Anyway, like I can, I'm picturing this whole scene and it's just a hot mess and anal glands are just like the worst.

That's all you have to say is it's tragic. Anyway, continuing the story, both of us were shaking uncontrollably as I tried tending to hurt and the bleeding gash on my foot. This is when I noticed I was wet and sweaty, or so I thought, turns out during my five seconds of utter fear, I had peed my pants. Turns out my fear response to fall, flee, and pee in the, in the presence of danger. So here I am sitting on the floor of my apartment,

crying, bleeding, surrounded by the smell of dog booty juice and covered in pee. This was by far the most embarrassing moment of my 36 years, and the only one to witness it was a black bear outside my door, shaming me and probably laughing. Had the bear shown up 10 minutes later, I would have been on my patio, a ways from my apartment with a bear between me and my exit.

Yikes. Once I cleaned up my mess, I texted my landlord, bear outside now, only to find they were not home to rescue me. By the time I got my shit together, the bear had mozied off into the embankment next to my house and took a little snooze peacefully in the tall grass, probably very pleased with himself. What a dick move. When my landlord got there, I went upstairs to the balcony where we watched him from safety and I told them about my encounter. Don't worry, I had showered, changed into dry clothes, and wrapped my foot. I firmly believe that the bear was coming over for dinner, and had Gracie not seen him, he would have walked into my apartment. Can you even imagine?

Lord only knows what I would have done. I have a nice scar on my foot now, and for once in her life, Gracie was a guard dog, even if she did essentially pee her pants, too. DNR ended up relocating the bear because he started getting into trash cans over the next couple of days. When they weighed him, he was about 400 pounds and was moved higher up into the mountains away from danger. So yeah, I had a 400-pound black bear six feet away from me near the comfort of my own home, not a trail encounter. I wish I had a photo of him up close, but I will attach one from the view I got later, as well as a photo of my ferocious little fur baby. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. You never know who's going to show up for dinner.

Miranda and Gracie Mae. Aw. Well, you guys might have been a mess, but at least you are safe. And it reminds me my favorite, one of my favorite bear videos of all time, what is from a, it's not a ring doorbell because it's inside. It's like a security footage, security camera that's in someone's a living room or something. And it's facing the front door. Gotcha. And the bear literally, like, obviously doesn't use its hind like to kick it down.

But it flings that door open so hard. It like bursts off its engines. They're so strong. The wood flies everywhere. So it's not funny because obviously it's, that's terrifying thing to happen, but watching it is so funny. It literally, it looks like you just flicked it open and the door like explodes. Oh my God. Yeah. Last story for me is titled A Sign in Stone. Hello, beautiful travelers. Thank you so much for this podcast. I really appreciate the work you put into it. The stories you tell simultaneously quiet and feed my obsessive wanderlust, and I'm grateful for it. I'm only about a third of the way through your episode, so please bear with me if I explain anything that's already been covered. I really also enjoy trail tales, especially the ones that involve signs or situations that made the author feel like

they were where they were supposed to be. I was reminded of my own experience and felt compelled to share. My grandma passed away about 10 years ago. She was a great lady, and visits with her were always fun. She was quick-witted, easygoing, loved reading, and putting together jigsaw puzzles, and enjoyed birdwatching at her home. Though she and most of my family lived in Minnesota, she had a special place in her heart for the southwest, specifically Sedona, Arizona, and her home reflected this with the decor of southwestern patterns, cocoa pele, paintings of red rock scenery, and cactus plants. When she died, the one belonging of hers that I wanted to have, to remember her by, was a necklace with a worry stone that

she used to wear. It was a rough gray stone on most sides and one side had a thumb-sized groove in it. My grandma said if you were ever worried about something, hold the stone and rub the groove with your thumb and it will help you feel peaceful and calm. I had never heard of such a thing before or after she showed it to me, which is why I wanted it. It was something unique related to her. It wasn't found when her house was cleaned out, so instead I chose a green stone necklace with a cocoa pele on it. Fast forward a year and a half and my dad and a couple of couple of my uncles and their wives were going to take some of my grandma's ashes to Arizona and spread them in her favorite locations. I wanted to go along, but found out too late that the

trip had already been planned and I wasn't going to make it. I couldn't help but feel sad that I was missing the trip. On the day that they were flying to Arizona, it was my friend Cassie's birthday and she wanted to have a geocaching adventure to celebrate. For those of you who haven't heard of geocaching, it's a game of sorts where you use a GPS coordinate to locate specific, points of interests or oftentimes containers hidden by other cashers with logbooks that you can sign with your caching name. Some people leave trinkets in the containers for an added element of fun, and you can take one and leave a trinkin of your own in its place. Caching has taken me on so many interesting adventures to so many interesting and beautiful places I didn't know existed in my own

hometown area, so I highly recommend checking it out. I've only done geocaching a couple times. and it's really fun. I've never done it before and I know there's a lot around me because I've downloaded that app. I think it's called like geocash or something, but you download it and it shows you the areas and like gives you hints on how to find them and I've never actually done it. But it looks really fun. Yeah, it's a good way to kind of get the lay of the land and explore, close to home. Yeah, it's a final reason to go outside too. Yeah. Anyway, the cash Cassie wanted to find was a multi-cash, where you go to one set of coordinates, gather info at that location that then takes you to a next set of coordinates and so on until you locate the final stage, which is typically

a container. We had such a blast hunting down stage after stage that by the time we got to the final one near the Superior Municipal Forest in Wisconsin, any sad thoughts of my family in Arizona were replaced with the fun and joy that Cassie was having on her birthday. We opened up the container at the stage and there, to my complete surprise, was a worry stone with a cactus painted on it. It was like my grandma was reassuring me that everything was okay. I had to have it, but as I don't normally take part in the swag exchange, I didn't have anything on me to replace it with. Lucky for me, my car was a mere 100 feet or so from the trail, so I was able to find something of value in my glove box that I could exchange for this amazing sign from beyond. The worry stone now sits next to the Cocoa Paley necklace

on a shelf in my living room. And it serves as a reminder to not get caught up in worry or sadness, but to find joy in every day. Thank you for all you do. Sincerely, your friend in travel, Angie. What a cool find. I love that. And I love that you've kept it.

Yeah. I love the idea of a worry stone. I do that a lot with my own necklace, even though it's not a stone or anything like that. But I'll just take the angel wing and rub it a lot when I'm maybe not when I'm, maybe not when worry, we're anxious or something. I don't wear a necklace very often, but I feel like when I, I used to wear one for like years and I used to hold it a lot, just like kind of when I was thinking about things. Yeah, I have a kidney bean necklace.

I haven't worn it in years now. I don't know why. Just hiding somewhere. I don't know, but I remember you wearing it all the time, the silver one. Yeah. So I guess my story for people who are listening and don't know it, my kidney bean necklace is, is I've had two kidney transplants. And my first one was when I was a kid and I was in the hospital and I was 11 years old.

And my mom gave me her kidney. And when I woke up from anesthesia, I had a card on my side table with a little gift in it. And I opened the card and it said it was from a nurse that had taken care of me in pre-op. And she said, essentially the card said, it's patients like you that are. the reason why I do this job. Good luck with your new opportunity at life. And here's a gift. And she gave me a Tiffany's necklace shaped as a kidney bean that I wore every day for years and years and years. And then I haven't worn it recently. I don't know why. I just don't wear jewelry as much as I used to, but I still have the necklace. Like, it's still very much in my, in my home.

And stuff is just not around my neck. It's such a special gesture. And I wonder, have you ever kept in contact with her? No, I don't even know who she is, to be honest. I was so young and she wasn't my care nurse after that. And, you know, I, I just had the card from her. I can't find the card anywhere. And I used to have a box with all of when I, because I was young, when I had my surgery, they had like all the kids in my class write me a card to say like get well soon. I hope you feel better. And so I had like a whole box of all my memorabilia, I guess, from my transplant. And that card was in there and I can't find it. And so it's now just a memory. I don't know her name or anything, but it's always like a special memory that I have. And one of my most meaningful pieces of

jewelry that I have too. Definitely. If not the, well, your engagement is now. Yeah, that's important too. That's also up there. Cool. Okay. Well, that's a it for us for now. Yeah, for now for everyone who's listening or watching on YouTube, did I disappear? It's Daniel just disappeared. So it's a good thing. This episode is over. If you want to listen to the last two trail tales that we have, mine is titled Lost in the Woods with an unpredictable rescuer, which will be on Patreon and outsiders. outsiders only on Apple Podcasts. I'm here just in Daniels.

I'm just leaving. I'm here too. Yeah. Sorry. It's so funny that that happened that way. Okay, yeah. So we'll see outsiders. Or I'll see outsiders in a couple of minutes.

You won't see me. Yeah, enjoy the view. But watch your bag. 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 Stories at npadpodcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD podcast. Join our outsiders-only

community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show. For our exclusive discount codes and source information from today's episode, check out the show notes. For more information on our show, our book recommendations, merch updates, and more, visit our website at npaddpodcast.com. And please rate, review, and subscribe from 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. Drivers who switch and save with Progressives save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions,

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