National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 56

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Today’s stories include life changing treks, Kentucky Bigfoots, dog rescues, evidence destruction, flying deer, bad feelings, heart shaped rocks and good girls in pink bandanas. 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 order.Lumen.me: Head to lumen.me/NPAD for 15% off your purchase.Marley Spoon: For up to 25 free meals, head to MarleySpoon.com/OFFER/NPAD and use code NPAD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Close your eyes. Focus. Listen to work getting done with Monday.com. Relax. As AI does the manual work, while your teams are aligned on a single source of truth. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform, so flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Notice you're limitless.

Limitless. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally. Breathe. Girl, winter is so last season. And now spring's 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. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. We're so excited to have you here for our trail tales.

We are. And we hope you enjoyed last, well, Monday's episode with Randy Minotaur. She's the author of the Death in series. If you didn't catch that, like Death in Glacier, death in Acadia. She's done a Rocky Mountain one. She's done a bunch of them. We found out she wrote over 90 books, which is a little wild. But yeah, so on the book, topic we have some fun news we finally did it we did we finally did it and we have created a national park after dark book club which has been highly requested for i want to say like two is shears now it's been like a while that people have been asking for it but we finally created it it's on patreon uh you can find our patreon in our links you can find it on our website if you go on patreon just type in national Park After Dark podcast and we'll pop right up there and check it out. It's available on two of our tiers that we offer. Yeah. So we picked our book for this month and each month we're going to choose a book. We just picked one that we really wanted to read for our first one. But for the next

however many months, we end up doing this, which is hopefully forever because we love to read. We're going to have like votes. We'll pick a few books each month and have everybody vote on which ones you guys want to read. And then we'll have a book club meeting, like breakdown, virtual meeting at the end of every month and go over the book. And it'll be fun. Yeah, it'll, it'll be really fun. And with it, we also have a Discord channel, which is on our Patreon now. And with our book club, we have a book club discord channel for you all to chat on, which is fun. And like Danielle said, we'll do polls so you can vote on what you want to read. and we'll talk about everything and go over the whole book club discussion guides and all of that

good stuff. Yeah. Cool. So on to Trail Tales. Yes. Do you have a preference? I would like to be told the story. Okay. All right. So the first story then is titled, Did We Destroy the Evidence of a Murder? Oh, okay. Yeah. It feels curious. Already into it. Let me start by saying thank you to both of you for all of the content over the years. Your well-researched episodes have not only entertained me, but opened up many interesting conversations between myself and my husband and with our preteen-aged son. One of our favorite episodes is the Jenny Lake Rangers episode about the Lightning Strike and Rescue. We listened to that one while traveling to the Teton's in 2023, and it was a wonderful conversation starter for the family. On one recent road trip in Germany, my son and I listened to

a particularly intriguing Trail Tales episode, which brought to mind a tale from way. back during the dark days of my troubled adolescence. A tale that has haunted me for years. Although this story occurred in 2001, it's a tale that has resurfaced in my memory many times, especially as I consume true crime stories almost daily. It is something that has stayed in my mind as a source of intrigue and unfortunately, maybe some guilt. After pausing the episode, I regaled my son with the story from long before his birth. When I finished, I looked at my husband, who rolled his eyes, having her the story many times over our 23-year relationship, but when I glanced back at our son, I saw him staring at me wide-eyed. After composing himself, he exclaimed, you have to send that one in.

After stewing on the notion for practically the entire 11-hour flight back to Denver, I decided to give it a go. As I've gotten older, the images the story conjure in my mind revolve less around what was destroyed, but on who destroyed it. The visions now center primarily on my friend, let's call him Mike, with his dark hair shining in the spring sun and his mischievous deep brown eyes crinkling at the corners while he plunged a dirty butcher's knife into the sand by the river. Mike passed away in 2021 at 40, and as I write this, I realized that at just two weeks shy of 41, I'm now older than my friend who was three years older than me in life. We'll talk about Mike more later. Nestled neatly in a valley surrounded by sandstone cliffs, the town of Lyons is

shell. Oh, my, sorry. I have read this, I swear, but it was a while ago. I love lions. Have you been there? I don't know. I don't know if we've talked about it. I don't know if I've been to lions. I feel like maybe I've driven through potentially, but I haven't spent any time there. It's definitely a pass by when you're going to Rocky Mountain. So probably, oh, the last time I talked to, remember, I went to go look at that house. It was like a really old. It's been on the, I'm like, wow, this house is so beautiful. It's been on the house for like four years. What's wrong with it? And I got there. I'm like, oh. Oh. Oh, that's. Everything is wrong with it. I do. I do remember. Like, never mind. Yeah, turned right around. Okay. So town of Lions is sheltered from the harsher weather of the

plains and mountains because it's surrounded by these sandstone cliffs. When I was growing up there in the late 1990s, it was a small town geographically and socially isolated from the wider world. The gateway to nearby Rocky Mountain National Park, most visitors pass through it quickly. Growing up in this isolated hamlet, much of our recreation revolved around the foothills and mountains surrounding the small town. At the confluence of two separate branches of the St. Brand River, it was, at least aesthetically speaking, an idyllic place to grow up. As teenagers, we gravitated towards the isolation of the South Canyon, where we searched for places to party or hike or both. We sought out small tributaries that cut into the canyon walls and allowed us access.

We discovered trout, swimming in tiny, isolated pools left over from the flooding, and we hiked in places likely not tread on in years. It was liberating, and it was something I finally wanted to share with my siblings. Unfortunately, we aren't very close, but to this day, hiking is one of the only things we all still have in common. On this particular day, I was hiking with two of my older brothers and one of our mutual friends, Mike. As we started at the rapidly flowing river, Mike took a couple steps back and then, without a word, ran towards the edge of a rock we were standing on. He landed easily on the other side of the river

and turned back with a grin. My brothers followed suit, so I, as the little sister, had no choice but to leap. It was easier than I expected, but I remember looking back at the rock we had just jumped from and wondered how we could ever make that jump the other way coming back. I filed it away in my teenage brain for later and followed my brothers up to the dry river bed that ran perpendicular to the river we had just crossed. After about 20 minutes of hiking, a cave materialized on the right bank of the dry creek bed. Ever the explorer, Mike ran up to it, eager to look inside. As teenagers, we weren't outfitted as hikers and nobody had a flashlight, so Mike's initial entry didn't go well. Not to be deterred, he started looking to make a torch, poking around near the mouth

of the cave, he found a bundle of what he thought were rags, which he triumphantly waved in the air, giving us all a look, one of the creepiest things I'd ever seen up to that point. A gray balaklava ski mask, the gaping maw of the mask's mouth hanging loose, with dark brown stains surrounding the faceless hole. Mike promptly wrapped the mask around the stick he was holding, and before we could protest, he lit it on fire. It burned surprisingly well, and Mike confidently entered the cave clutching his torch, only to be quickly smoked out. He emerged seconds later, bearing a butcher's knife and the same cocky, shit-eating grin he wore his entire life. After examining the brown stains on the knife's handle and blade, we decided, for some unknown reason,

to bring the knife with us as we turned around and headed back to the car. Nearing the river, we continued to talk about the weird shit we had just found. And before we knew it, we were staring up at the rock face we had just jumped over to cross the river, which was now looming over us on the other side. Suddenly, Mike made a declaration. Looking down at the knife, he said, I've got to get rid of this shit. And again, before we could stop him, he plunged the knife into the loose sand with a gleam in his dark eyes. Then he turned back towards the river where we quietly contemplated how we would get back over. Of course, we joked about a murder, but that seemed impossible, right? And it seemed like just that, a joke. We hadn't just found some stash place for a

murderer, or had we? To this day, I still don't know. I have looked up cold cases in Boulder County for years and wondered if any of them are connected. Would that evidence have made a difference in finding someone's killer or stopping someone who could have been responsible for more violent crimes? In 2013, catastrophic flooding ensured my continued ignorance. The town county and the entire region suffered severe damage. Any evidence was likely washed away. The knife broke into bits and scattered down the river. The mask long gone after Mike's torch attempt. There doesn't seem to be any way to conclusively say what we found in that cave that long ago spring day, and I guess I will never know. Should we have called the sheriff's department whom we despised in our immature teenage way?

Or should we have told our parents who likely wouldn't have really listened to us? We didn't tell anyone, and I don't know if my brother still remember. I'll have to ask them because it's too late to ask Mike. The last image I have from that day is leaping back over the river, which involved catching myself on a near vertical rock face on the other side of the white water. It was the last time I followed Mike on a hike. Anonymous. Wow, what a story. First off, I think of, yeah, maybe you might have found something and I can totally understand the guilt behind that, but I also think, you're a kid. You know, you can't put that response, that huge of a response. That huge of a responsibility on yourself. Kids do things and don't understand what they're finding all the

time. And who knows? It might not be linked to anything either. I mean, it's weird, a ski mask and a butcher's knife with remnants of maybe blood on it. It's a little sketchy. And the other thing is it was out of your control as far as what Mike was doing them. Mike was doing them, you know? So it would be one thing if you did that personally and we're like, God, I shouldn't have done. that, but you are a witness to it all and there's only so much you can do, especially as a kid, you know, a teenager in the early 2000s. Yeah. So understandable, but on both fronts because I also were sitting here saying, oh, don't, you know, cut yourself some slack, but I probably would be ruminating about this as well. Yeah. I guess the last thing that you could do to, if you're still

really gung-ho, that maybe something's there, you went into a dark cave. You didn't explore it fully. there could still be something in there. That's a good point. Yeah. I mean, if you are really feeling that this was something and you missed it and you made a mistake here, you could always call and just say, hey, this has been on my mind for a really long time. I don't know if it's anything, but I did find this years ago around this time. And maybe the sheriff's office would be interested.

Maybe they won't be. Maybe they'll be like, I don't really care. That was years ago. But if no one's been in that cave since, then it's really dark. Yeah. And then the ball is in their court. Like you get it off your chest. You say what you can say at this point in time.

And you can offer only the information you have. And then what they do with it is now their decision. Yeah. And you can report things anonymously if you're not comfortable reporting it yourself too. Yeah. Like as a known person. Yeah. And if you do, write in a trail tells because I want to know what happens.

What happens after? We'll be watching the news out of Lyons. Yeah. Yeah. Be like even lions. Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

Thank you for writing that in. 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. My story is titled, Trial by Fire, a ghost story from the Camino de Santiago. Hello, my fellow outdoor queens. I've been listening to your podcast nonstop for the last year since I discovered it while road-tripping solo from Nebraska to California for a new job. Listening to the Night of the Grizzlies by Firelight while camped at the Grand Canyon was a little too much for me. But I'm obsessed with the stories laughs and insights into history that I learned from this podcast. I just got Legacy of Luna and the third man factor to read on my flight to New Zealand in September. I fly Friday the 13th just to add some spook. You know, you just said like three of some of our favorite stories. I know. I'm like,

okay, tick, tick, tick. And the Jenny Lake one that this person just wrote about too. Yeah, it's like check, check, check. All of them, yeah. This person did want us to all know as an audience that there is a trigger warning for sexual assault. So keep that in mind. If you're going to keep listening to the story, you can always fast forward it a little bit and skip over this one. I was born in California,

but I left to travel the world in search of new experiences. Despite being robbed in Oahu, I continued my journey to Bali, Australia, and New Zealand, with only $3 to my name. Wow. I stayed in New Zealand. Please, yes.

Must have had it been working or something. I stayed in New Zealand. on a work visa for just over four years. Fast forward to 2022, I was considering applying for New Zealand residency when I was followed home by a stranger. To my horror, the stranger broke in and attacked me while I slept. So I decided to leave. I had already reported the incident to police, and they caught the perpetrator. With a trial set for September, 2004, there was nothing for me to do in New Zealand until then. I felt like I needed to escape and find something to live for. and that something turned out to be cheese. Yes, cheese. Whether it was Rich Brie, a pugnant

Gorgonzala, or a creamy mozzarella or barata, I traveled to Italy to stuff my face. I spent a month drinking and eating my way through the country. In a small Irish bar, I met a Venetian who shared captivating stories of his travels around the world with me. Even though I felt a glimmer of hope in that moment, it didn't last. I roamed Italy feeling lost and defeated, the shock of the assault started to fade and the raw feeling soon became overwhelming. I kept in touch with my new Venetian friend and confided in him about my situation. To my surprise, he suggested that I walked the Camino de Santiago. I couldn't believe it.

Here I was pouring my heart out and he simply told me to take a hike. But with nothing else to do, I agreed and asked, where should I start? I'm no stranger to having done multi-day tracks into the bush hunting and camping or walking, hitchhiking, across the west coast of New Zealand, mailing supplies and food packages in advance. But this Camino was basic. I was stumped by how little I needed to carry. But that worked for me because I didn't have much money after having eaten my way through my savings. I brought everything I needed and mailed everything I didn't to my friend in the U.S. I bought a ticket to France and left Italy within days. It didn't hit me that I was really going to walk the Camino Francis, the Frenchway, until I started

at the empty path ahead of me with no idea where to go. Just follow the signs, the Venetian had said. What was I doing following undetailed suggestions of a person that I had just met? Walking with new trail runners, none the less. Fast forward a few days, and I find myself walking alongside an older woman. She was nearly 70 who had been walking from England and across France. She'd become my trail mom. We are crossing the Pyrenees from, sorry if I'm not pronouncing these right,

Ron Ches, they wrote the pronunciations for me, which is really nice. Ron Chesvias to Zubari. We pass through beautiful woods of the Basque Country. We walk through the small towns of Espaniel. It is here that my walking companion takes a phone call, ushering me to walk around. I walk up the hillside into a darker cluster of pines. I keep my eyes on the ground, trying my best not to trip on the mud and fall in branches. out of the corner of my eye I see something flitter by.

I look up curious to see what kind of bird it might be when I see three female figures hanging from an outstretched tree branch. One figure on the far right side was smaller, slimmer and looked young, like a teenager with light-colored hair. The other two were a bit older and had dark hair. They all wore light-gray cloth dresses and scarves around their heads, holding their hair. I couldn't make out their faces as they were bent forward. I remember how they swayed gently and invisible.

breeze rocking them. The older ones black shoes pointed towards the ground for her footing. I held that image for a good moment, frozen. I breathed out, blinking rapidly, trying to process what was before me, but it was gone. I looked down at my skin feeling a harsh tingling as goosebumps raised. The forest didn't feel safe to begin with, but it sure as hell didn't feel safe now. I bolted up the muddy slope and pushed through the gate. It wasn't until I shut the gate. did I look back in case anything was chasing me. My heart was racing. I remember my walking companion with no phone signal, and I worried for her. I felt sick to my stomach. I put my hand on my knees and tried to breathe. My friend came through the gate a few moments later, and I attacked her with questions.

Did you see anything back there? Any women? People in the trees? Anything weird? People in the trees? Are you okay? No, I'm not. Did you see anyone? She shook her head. No, just you. I think I'd just seen ghosts. Look. I showed her my goosebumps and I told her what I had seen. We started walking over the hill and into another Erie forest. She asked, do you often see ghosts? No, I mean, I believe. Sometimes I see things, but I could just be tired. But this was clear as day, and for a good minute. I know I'm crazy, but this is real. I believe you, some people are more sensitive. Spain has history with an inquisition and burning witches. Maybe that's what you saw. We continued down the path through the forest. I was uncomfortable with how quiet the forest was.

Even our footsteps through the damp fallen leaves barely made a sound. We got to the Burkette, another small town, and it began to pour down with rain. We kept our heads down and pushed on. The towns were empty and it disturbed me. My friend explained rural areas like this and it was off-season to be here in October, but I really felt out of place. We walked quickly out of town and onto steeper hills on our way to Zerberra. It was only when we left the town that I started to relax.

I saw no more ghosts on my 790 kilometer or 491 mile trek across Spain. So a year later and randomly, the image of those hanging ghosts come back to me while listening to a trail tale of someone being followed on the Camino. I did some research. The forest we had walked was known as the Witch's Forest. It was believed a coven was living there or simply mistaken group of passerby or kids from the village sneaking out at night, but regardless, they were all killed. The town of Burkett at the other end of the forest was the central location for these burnings and left crosses in the forest to ward away witches.

I had seen the crosses at several points, but at intersections where the trail crossed, the road. I had assumed they were markers for those who had died in a car or other accidents. There's also a mural depicting the history in the town that I didn't see as we had rushed out because of the rain. I believe those women showed themselves to me in my darkest time of my life on purpose. While I was contemplating why me about my attack, I imagined they resonated with the pain and darkness having lived it centuries before. Now I begin my trial, looking for justice, knowing I can stand strong with the ghosts of these women who are silent but not unheard.

I have a ticket book to Portugal to walk the Camino, Portugal. The Camino changed my life. Enjoy the view, but remember to watch your back. your front as you may never know whose footsteps you're walking in. B.N. Camino. Wow. I have goosebumps actually. Yeah. That was deep. It was a really deep story. And to find it was really dark and heavy. And then to have that realization with these women that you're seeing. And it was just, yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll be thinking of you because it's, you know, September now, you said September 2024. And I don't know the extent of what you went through. But as someone who has had to, I haven't talked about it a lot, but years ago,

I had a stalking situation and I had to go to court and face this person and it's not easy to do. So I think that any sort of person who is in that position deserves some support. So we're sending it to you. Yes, absolutely. Okay. My next story seems like, it's going to be much lighter just based on the title. The title is Trailtail. I wish I could make this up the time we got R-K-Oed by a deer. Okay. Okay.

So here we are. I'm intrigued. Hey, ladies, love the pod. It's the only pod I can stick with and haven't gotten bored of. I'm sure that if you decide my trail tale is podcast worthy, I won't hear it for a while. I'm playing catch-up because I discovered your podcast in March of 2024. and have been binging ever since. I told myself I'm not allowed to join your Patreon until I'm fully caught up,

and I'm currently on episode 130. I want to apologize for the length of my story, any profanity, and any typos. My brain goes faster than my fingers. I wanted to submit so bad, but I just thought I was boring and had no stories until I heard a trail tale in episode 90-something that made me realize my memory was overlooking the most wild experience I've ever had in a national park and a moving vehicle. My name is Jason. Jason, like a guy, but I'm a girl, from Wisconsin. I grew up camping and loving the outdoors. My dad was an Eagle Scout, so of course, I learned all I know in the outdoors from him. And once they allowed females in the program, I followed suit to become one of the first female Eagle Scouts in the BSA. Very cool. Yeah. I enlisted at 19 years old in 2022 and got stationed in Utah with the Big Five, a dream come true. I've been with my now husband.

husband, Easton, for going on seven years, where high school sweethearts and have been long distance for a bigger portion of our relationship than we'd like. At the time, he was finishing his five years' masters in Wisconsin while I'm stationed in Utah. Easton came out to Utah to visit me in May of 2023, and we decided to take advantage of our four-day weekends. The summer consisted of Zion, Bryce, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Moki Caves, Moab, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Colorado National Monument, and Rocky Mountain National Park, four corners national monument, North Rim Grand Canyon. Wow.

I'm like, wow, it just keeps going. I didn't get to see the Grand Canyon because the entrance was closed, so we convinced it doesn't, so we're convinced it doesn't exist. And of course, Yellowstone. For this story, we'll be traveling to Zion. It was the last day of our Memorial Day weekend, May 29th, and we decided to take a drive through Zion since we were in the area. We both had never been, so we were really excited.

When it comes to road trips, I drive. Easton has a sedan and I have a full-sized truck, my baby. Note, this truck has been in my family since I was 14, and I bought it off of my dad when I moved to Utah. She's blue, and you guessed it, her name is also blue. So we made truck bed camping work. I love it and highly recommend. Anyway, we were in the middle of the park at this point going downhill,

taking it slow on some switchbacks, like 15 miles an hour or so. Switchbacks are switchbacks for a reason. In this case, at Zion, it was like a ginormous rock wall to my right and a cliff to my left. We're about halfway down when the oncoming traffic going uphill slows to a damn near stop and is obnoxiously on their dash taking photos of what I thought were rock formations behind us. Nope. A literal blink later, a fucking deer falls out of the... the sky, bounces off of my hood, of my truck, barrel rolls, and proceeds to fall, God knows

how many other feet down to the next ledge. Easton and I are looking at each other like, what the fuck just happened? The people taking photos drive right by us and exclaim, now I call that a hit and run. All I could manage was a half smile and a, I couldn't stop in the middle of the road or I would be blocking the road so we just kept driving on down in search of a pull off amongst the cliffs. I pull off on a scenic outlook. Easton runs up to where bits and pieces of blue exploded on impact while I'm pulling out tufts of deer hair off of my cracked grill simultaneously trying to reach my dad with one bar. Easton comes back. We assess the damage and my poor dad with the horrible service, I probably gave him a heart attack.

Blue was still drivable, and we were left with a few big dents, a broken headlight, and bulb, a cracked and displaced grill, and a ton of deer fluff. We were lucky. If we were only a few more feet forward, the deer could have been through our windshield. I was sad and disheartened because we had maybe planned on doing a hike, but at this point, I just wanted to go home. While we were on track for home, home being my government dorm room on base, Easton said, I think we should check out one more spot while we're down here.

and I was immediately not having it. I was bummed our trip was cut short and that blue was so broken. I was busy seeing only dollar signs and repair. Eventually, I caved and we decided to go wherever Easton had in mind. I wasn't too interested because I was overwhelmed with defeat and I knew he had just picked a place off of some random Google search. Google plans most of our trip, along with BLM campsites, by the way. Every time I asked, are we close or are we there?

He responded with, I don't know, We'll see with a smirk. Ugh, I was just still not feeling it. And I'm sick of driving. I started to see intense grade signs and my first thought was, seriously, after what just happened to blue? But we checked on.

Of course, there were switchbacks here too. We made it to the top and oh my, was it so worth it? No one was there. We had Cedar Breaks National Monument overlook all to ourselves. The canyons were so deep and the very top of the land features still had snow. It was desert and alpine all in one. The oranges of the red rock and the greens of the

trees made it feel like a painting. It was also windy and cold compared to the 100 degree weather we experienced at lower elevations, but I don't mind. I was taking pictures on my ancient little digital camera while Easton set up his tripod per usual for our boyfriend-girlfriend photo. So this wasn't out of the norm for our trip. We had been using his tripod through Easton's visits to capture all the awesome places we had been exploring. So we pose, smile, and after standing there for a few funny seconds waiting for the pictures to be taken, he gets down on his knee. I totally thought he was joking, but quickly realized he was most certainly not. I had been teasing him for the longest time that my left hand had been feeling a little light. I melted into his arms and cried, of course,

only because I was not expecting it at all. I was convinced he was waiting till we got closer to his college graduation. We hugged and kissed and enjoyed the gorgeous view, But I'd like to argue that my ring was the prettiest sight of all. It's a beautiful Alexandrite gem, my birthstone, with sapphire and diamond accents, my parents' birthstones. It turns out he bought that tripod before the trip to Utah and was lugging it around all this time just so he could find the perfect moment. So now we have a video of our engagement, and you can see the exact moment I realize he just wasn't messing around. We decided, fuck it, let's do it now, adopted a puppy, and got married at a courthouse in Provo, Utah, two months later on August 5th, three days before he had to fly home.

It was the best way to end an unforgettable summer and I wouldn't change a thing. I thought sharing this story close to our first anniversary would make it even more special for listeners. In conclusion, we had a very exciting day, to say the least, filled with lots of emotions, ups and downs, literally, and we all know everything happens for a reason. Side note and update, poor blue. She's an almost 15-year-old F-150. Unfortunately, she shut the bed later that year in October with some engine issues and we had to take her to the doctor back home in Wisconsin for repairs.

She's all fixed and running great. I also got a backup cam installed, which now makes me wonder how I ever threw it in reverse without one. If you've ever been emotionally attached to a vehicle, you understand. So I'm glad she pulled through. I attached some photos of the, I attached some photos of blue, my ring, and our puppy Jasper and some others from the engagement. y'all are the best can't wait to see if i can make it on the pod it was funny to share my story with you enjoy the view but also watch your up question mark j easton and jasper too that was that that was story took me for a ride i know i did not like the proposal at the end

was so sweet and so thoughtful and then like the car accident was so scary and sad and just a Just, I don't know if I really reacted appropriately when I was reading that, but just imagine being on a sheer switchback road and just a deer falling out of the sky and onto your car. That's crazy. Yeah. And I have been emotionally attached to a vehicle. My Jeep. And I cried lots and lots of tears when I switched cars a lot this year, month.

months a couple months ago yeah you just like the you hold sentimental value they go with you through a lot of things and my car that i was emotionally attached to i haven't had it in a long time but it was a toyota echo is have you seen them before that's not the black thing that you had when we worked at the hospital no i had a Honda accord okay okay i'm not with like i can't even imagine what you're saying right now. So a Toyota Echo, it was, I feel like you should just Google it because they're basically circles. I had a 2004, four-door black Toyota Echo. The tires are like 14-inch tires. It's super low to the ground. It is literally, people used to make fun of my car all the time. It was a standard, which was funny because people would come in and they just see like this circle car and they're like, oh my God, and it's a standard.

Yeah. But it was funny. I had it for a few years. And then I got a driving job and I had my echo and the clutch actually totally went while I was driving down the highway. And the only gear I had left by the time I got to a safe spot, I only had fourth gear left. Oh, gosh. And yeah, it was. And I had a pregnant woman in the car who was training me on my job. It was just like, so I had to go buy my accord, which you saw, which I never like loved the accord. I got it because it was cute, honestly. Like I thought it was cute. It was two doors. But I never actually like liked that car. And I was very happy to get rid of it. I almost said, yeah, but it was two doors. And it was awful. It was two doors. And my Jeep was two doors.

Yeah. Your Jeep was small, like sitting in your Jeep. It was so small getting in your Jeep. Well, and it's funny because, so it was a two-door Jeep Wrangler, and I took the, everyone who's familiar with Jeep knows there's the back seat, the like long seat in the back. And I almost immediately took it out because of the dogs. So, and then I put a net up behind like a big cage net.

right behind the passenger and driver's seat so that it was kind of like the dog's lair back there. So it was essentially just two seats. Yeah. And that's it. And it was just a little box and I love that thing. But now that I have room, I don't know if I could go back to that. Yeah. I test drove some jeeps and I think that they're really cool cars, but I just remember sitting in there and the windshield was so small.

And it was so close to your face. And it's so close to you. Yeah. I'm like, why do people drive like this? And it's loud. Yeah. Same thing. I didn't test drive it because it was way out of my price range.

But I looked at it on the car lot and I sat in a Bronco. And same thing. Their windshields are so little and you're so close. And I'm always closer because my legs are so short. I have to put my seat like way up. Oh my God. This is just so funny because I. I don't think I, I hope I have a video of it.

So I'll have to look. So when I went for my grief retreat, I rented a camper van to stay in just because I stayed in the van during the retreat and gave like the rooms and stuff to the participants. So I rent this van on outdoorsy. And it was a, it did the job. I'm not like shitting on it. But it was in 1999, like I'm not talking nice Springer van. type of thing you may be thinking of now. It was a renovated 1999 something. I don't know exactly what it was. It did the job and stuff, but the seat, I couldn't get close enough to the pedals.

And which, you know, in older cars, you have to really, like, crank on the pedals for them to go anywhere. So not only did I, I had to put the pillows from the back of the bed. To, like, push you forward. So you could actually reach. And to sit on. top of so I could see above the steering wheel. So I had a pillow behind me, a pill under, I had like a car seat. I made a car seat for myself. And I'm driving this wicked old thing. And it's just like the alignment was really off. Am I even going to make it? Because I had to drive three and a half hours from Denver to the sand dunes. And all I could think of, my mom's going to laugh. But my aunt Nita, who I got my first, first car from, she was super small and she had to do the same thing with pillows. So all I could think about was. was my gray on Nita. I'm like, oh, my God. Is this what it's like? But anyways, yeah, being five, whatever, you're five, too. Yeah. I mean, for my, I have a Toyota Tacoma, and I, one of the first things I did when I bought it is I could barely see over the steering wheel. So the first thing I did was I bought a mod for the seat to lift it up. So now I'm over the steering wheel. And it was actually the best thing I could have done.

because I remember I test drove it and I was like, I couldn't see over the steering wheel that well, but I also couldn't see over the hood of the car that well, especially on both sides of it. So I'm like, when I'm taking corners, I'm not going to be able to see if I'm close to something, if I'm going to hit it or not. And this is not great. Yeah. And I put these little risers on my seat and now I sit like an inch and a half higher or something. And it's and I could have even gone higher, but I was like, oh, no, this is good.

As long as you can see. Yeah. No, it's great. Now, before I couldn't. Which is a problem when you're trying to drive. But anyway, okay, enough about cars. Yeah, we all have our sentimental cars, I think. But, okay.

My next story is titled Another One for Dog Lovers. Hey, ladies, my name is Collette, and I am a longtime listener. First time, Tailteller. When Spotify released my year in review last year, I was surprised, yet not at all surprise, that I was in, the 0.01% of listeners by binge listening to all of your episodes some twice over the course of the summer and fall. That is about three years of shows in two months. I took you all along on so many of my adventures that I feel as if you were there with me. The knowledge I've gained from your

archive of shows has empowered me and infused itself on my trips and conversations. I'm so glad you've both found your calling and creating the show. As long as you're sharing, I'll be listening. It has inspired me to share as well. So I've written this story up about a recent July 2024 adventure. Here we go. Well, thank you. That's very kind. Many of us have a park that feels like a home away from home.

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia holds that title for me. It is halfway between my birthplace of Cleveland, Ohio, and my current home of Raleigh, North Carolina. I have a few good stories that harken back to my time spent here across the years. In even more memorable ways, I hold on to many descriptive little vinchnets from this park that dance through my mind, drawing upon the memories when I need a moment of joy. I believe these are called glimmers. Not enough for a trail tale, but enough for a poetic memory. I guess you just have to experience for yourself to know what I mean.

Every summer, I spend a week in Cleveland with my family. I pack up my car and make the drive north on Route 77. Along the route, the magic of New River Gorge is not far. I look forward to splitting up the drive by camping, usually solo, before continuing my journey. This summer, I had a special exception. I camped on the first drive and my partner, Austin, was able to fly into Cleveland and make the return trip with me, planning to stop again in New River Gorge. The hikes there are incredible, and we continually find new places to call our favorite. We decided to go to the Grandview Sandbar and hike up to the Grandview Overlook by the Little Laurel Trail.

The park website describes this as a strenuous. two-mile point-to-point hike with 1,400 feet of elevation gain. We decided to start at the bottom and ascend, though some folks start at the top and stop at the bottom to play in the new river. The trailhead at the bottom is unassuming. You might even think you're trespassing. It is described as an unmarked gate that you sidestep to begin. I've never met a trail I didn't think was beautiful, and this was no exception. Rhododendron is the West Virginia state flower, and even when not in full bloom, the laurel bushes create steep walls that are impressive in their height and depth. There are more moments of mountain views from one side to the river to the other, as well as

quintessentially appellation wood gorges that are nostalgic to me. We ooed and awed as we hiked together. We only pass by one other group, a couple and their two dogs, both of which were notably cute as fuck. My partner, or A.F. Sorry. My part. I swore a lot. Hey, if you write swears, we're reading them.

We're reading them. So I have been trying to tone it down. It's probably not working. But I've been trying. You're doing a great job. I've been trying to tone down my swearing because people like to be mean and tell me to stop swearing. They're like, stop fucking swearing. Yeah.

Literally. Oh, like, okay. God. Anyway, my partner and I are not only animal lovers, but in the midst of time, talking of adopting our first pet together. So we take every opportunity to know all the adorable floofs and shanks whenever we see them. We waved and said hello as we passed by, basked in the sweet doggo presence, and carried on. We made it to the top, took in the views, and spent a lot of time doing other trails while also desperately seeking more water to aid in the

descent back to the car on the humid July day. After over an hour hanging out on Grand View Overlook and surrounding altitude, we made our way to the trailhead for the descent before continuing to drive back to Raleigh. My partner even said, it is actually all downhill from here, meaning we put in the work and now we can coast down. After a hot day and refilled water bottles, that was a pleasant thought. Soon after he said that, we saw the half of the group at the upper trail head. Odd, we thought, one human and one dog. We were surprised to see them at all, given we spent so much time at the top, but thought perhaps they'd taken the dogs for a relaxing River cool down. Hey, how was your hike? My kind and friendly boyfriend asked. Well, began the woman,

she proceeded to tell us that Finn, their white lab, was suffering from a heat stroke and could not be moved. We read the panic on her face. Her husband remained with him while she continued onward to find help. They had called the visitor center and were told that they cannot help dogs. Frustrated and impassioned, we asked questions and began to help devise a plan. Surely someone could help rescue Finn safely and we were going to find a way. We advised her to call a larger resource office in the park. There are four visitor centers in the park. Grandview is one of the smallest. But if by chance they couldn't, we would do something. We estimated him at about 85 pounds, but when she said they tried to carry him together but couldn't, we found out that that was more

like 115 pounds. She went onward and we descended, hoping to find Finn quickly. She had stated that they were about three quarters of a mile back. Not too far, we thought. But with each step of decline, we were reminded of the steep elevation gain we had hiked earlier. During this realization, my sweet boyfriend was considering how he could be useful. As a former D1 heavyweight wrestler, he knew that if push came to shove, he could try to carry fin over his shoulders to safety. He had carried guys his size up and down stadium steps in the past weekly workout. We even joked that all his wrestling experience was ultimately just preparation to save Finn. As we continued, we realized that even with his strength and experience, it would be a huge challenge. We grew quiet as we wondered what would

happen and about Finn's state of well-being. About a mile down, we spotted them, hanging out on the trail. Finn laying down, but alert and smiling, which we were relieved to see. We shared some of our water, but Finn could not keep it down. Even though his temperament seemed well, it was clear. the situation was dire and no convincing could make that pup carry on. Cell service is spotty in this area, generally, and this trail was no different. We asked if the man had heard from his wife and he told us that he had no service. I checked my phone and nothing either. Lastly, Austin checked his, and despite not having any bars nearly the entire trip,

right here in the middle of Little Laurel Trail on the side of the mountain in West Virginia, he had some. We connected with the wife and she had found help. It might take a little while, but an ATV would be on its way to retrieve the man and his dog. There was a small shift in the way we were all feeling, one towards ease. No question about it, we stayed until the ATV arrived. We continued to provide care and comfort as best as two strangers can spontaneously do on a trail. To help move along for both Finn and as human, we talked, we got to know each other,

and gave some pets the words of encouragement in our puppy voices. you know the one. We found out coincidentally that the husband and wife met in Cleveland and one of their daughters happened to work in Raleigh as the bar manager of a cool mescal bar nearby to our house that we occasionally visit. Small world type of things. The ATV rumble was music to our ears and Finn's too as he perked up at the site of what he must have sensed as help. Austin lifted Finn into the ATV. We shook hands and said our goodbyes. Austin and I had finished our hike talking of nothing but what all had just transpired and the amazing connectivity of hiking specifically in a way that can bring strangers together.

We checked in having exchanged numbers to find that Finn was doing well. He got the help and rest that he needed. It almost couldn't end any better than that. But to really bring the connection full circle, we made our way over to the little mescal bar to meet the daughter of the couple and Finn's human sibling to tell the story of Finn's big adventure from our perspective. Enjoy the view. You might eat to rescue a dog on your way back. Wow. Heat stroke is no joke in humans or dogs. I just remember at the animal hospital, we would get faxes. Part of our job opening would be to look at the fax machine. That sounds so dated or emails. I guess maybe we switched to emails, but truly, yeah, the facts from nearby emergency vets about

patients of ours. If any of our patients were seen at an emergency clinic, they would fax the notes to us. And every summer, we always had heat stroke patients. And a lot of them didn't make it. A lot of the brachiosophalic dogs, like bulldogs and pugs. You have to be extra careful. Yeah, you have to be really extra careful. but it can happen to any dog and any type of emergency.

It just this story reminded me of a piece of equipment that is helpful for owners of dogs that are bigger like Finn is. There's a company that they make several different types of the gear harnesses, strap thing. It's called Fido Pro. And they're hiking things for dogs. So if something happens like heat stroke or your dog is now immobile from some sort of injury or sudden illness and you physically cannot move them, you can strap them up in this harness that makes it easy for you to care, quote unquote easy, doable for you to carry them to help. On your back. Yeah, on your back or there's. And like I said, there's a couple of different versions of whatever you're looking for.

But it's helpful for, I mean, even Chaska, he's, I think. about that all the time. He's only 52 pounds. But if it was just me and him and he physically couldn't move, I would need something like that. Yeah. I have to be really careful. Our older dog Tucker, he's over 100 pounds. And he is, he's nine now. And he's just kind of, he's in his cozy era. And summer is really hard on him. He's all black. So we, I have like a hard and fast rule with him that anything over 55 degrees, we don't go on hikes because he'll start taking breaks and he gets hot. And I just think, you know, if he ever couldn't move any further, then how are you supposed to? How would I carry him?

He's the same size as me, you know, and there's just no way. And I mean, we'll do other things. We'll go on short, like, we'll go on walks and we'll run around in the woods and he's got a big yard and stuff. but we're not going to go on a three-mile hike. Anything, I would say. So we don't go on hikes. If it's over 55 degrees, the longest will go will be like half a mile. Yeah.

And that's it. And that's, I mean, we used to do more than that. But wintertime, he's great. Wintertime, he thrives. September, it's getting cooler. He's already like rear going to go. He's like, hey, it's cooler out. Like, let's go.

Yeah. Like, yeah. But it is. It's scary. and it's when it's really hot out, you just have to be really cognizant of your dogs. And also, I think a good tip, if your dog's not keeping down water and you can't keep them hydrated, another really important thing is to get their body temperature, to get their body temperature lowered. And part of how you can do that is through their paws.

Ideally, if you could soak them totally, like, well, you don't want to cause shock to their body either. Yeah, you don't want to drop their temperature too fast and too suddenly. Yeah. Yeah, but their paws are a good way to, if you have like ice water on you or anything, if you can soak their paws if they're not drinking and won't, just temporarily. But yeah, you don't want to shock their bodies either. Yeah. Don't come in a nice bath. Yeah, I guess moving into the fall, maybe it's not as relevant.

But, I mean, no, people in the desert and stuff. It's still hot there. That's true. It's true. Yeah, so look out for your dogs. It's especially more difficult, you know, because dogs will just go, go, go until they literally can't anymore. It's not like people where it's like, oh, I'm not like suddenly feeling great. You know, dogs will just keep talking.

Well, especially they follow their owners too. So you have to be really, they might seem like they're doing okay, but you got to adjust. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we have to adjust. I mean, Tucker's old, Chaska's old. He's actually right next to me right now. He usually doesn't come up here for recordings, but he's.

He's here today and he's sleeping. He really wanted to hear this trail tales. He did. He wanted to be present for it. Okay. So my last story is titled, Everything is Not Okay, but it's okay. Enjoy your hike. Hello, Cassie and Danielle.

I've been listening to your podcast for a couple of years now, and I thought I would share a trail tale of my own that goes along with the third man factor episode. Danielle, I also lost the love of my life 21 years ago. He is still a hard one to replace. I'm sad I lost him, but so very. thankful that I knew him. I am who I am because of him. Sorry. Wow. That came out of nowhere. And sorry. Wow. Got me. The night he passed away, his mom and I were trying to sleep in my fiance and I's bed. I was sobbing and listening to our song on repeat when all of a sudden I had this

calm feeling come over me in a sense that everything was going to be okay. After, After that, I was able to actually fall asleep, and I know he is always with me. On to the actual tale. Okay. Just had to. All right. Thank you. Oh, my God.

Let's get through this. Okay. And we're on video now. I forgot about that for one second. Okay. Okay. On to the actual trail tale. In 2013, two friends and I were backpacking in the Sawtooth Mountains National Forest in

Idaho. It was something close to 70 miles. we didn't have a set itinerary, so we had many days to get that trail done, and we would decide on the trail how many miles per day we would hike. I'm the one in the group that wants to smell the roses and not rush the trip. Before the trip, as my mom was taking me to the airport, I confessed to her that I wasn't as excited about this trip as I normally would be because I had this feeling that something bad was going to happen while I was gone.

She reassured me that everyone was fine and that they would be until I got home a weekly. later. I'm usually really good about leaving her an itinerary of where I'm going to be, including which trails I will be on and the dates. As she dropped me off, she reminded me that I hadn't done that yet. I promised her I would text her after I checked in for the flight. I probably texted her something like Sawtooth Mountains Grand Jean Trailhead Loop. Fast forward through the uneventful flights and meeting up with my friends to drive to the trailhead. The three of us excitedly started our hike that evening. On the second night, while sleeping, I had this odd sense come over me. It was like my mom was speaking to me from above.

She said, Destiny, everything is not okay, but it's okay. Enjoy your hike. I never mentioned this feeling to either of my friends. They would probably think I was crazy or maybe not because one of them had already experienced another one of my premonitions on another trip. That is going to be another tale, though. We ended up doing the trail a lot faster than we thought we would, probably in part to me wanting to get out of there so I could call home. For three days, we took in the views, the eerie sunsets due to the forest fires in the area, the meteor shower, and talking to some other hikers we met from that same area we are from. It was obvious that we were going to finish the trail early, so we discussed what we were going to do with our extra days before we had to

catch our flights back home. Driving to the Oregon coast was what we all decided on. I had yet to see the Pacific coast. I would have been super excited about it, except I just knew I would not be going to the coast. All the while, I'm pretending like I was okay, but inside I'm thinking about what could be going on at home. Since it was my mom, I heard, I thought maybe something was wrong with her. Like I didn't feel like she was dead, but it just seemed like maybe she was really sick or something. I had all kinds of scenarios going on in my head. To ease my mind, I envisioned her to be at the hospital where I worked and that all of my coworkers were doing the best they could to keep her alive until I was back home. On our last night on the trail, one of my friends and I were having

a typical talk about what the first thing we wanted to do when we got back to civilization was. I finally told her that I just wanted to get into self-service to call home because I felt like something was very wrong. The next day, we packed up our gear for the last five miles to finish out the loop. As we finished the loop and returned to the trailhead where we started the trip just a few days before our spirits were high. We felt like we killed that trail, and we even had three extra days to do some other adventuring. Across from the trailhead, the camp hostess was checking the area, and we asked if she could take a picture of us. She said, sure, and as she was walking towards us, she asked, are any of you destiny? My heart just sank. I don't even think we took that

picture. I hesitantly said, yes, I was, and she responded that they had been looking for me for the fast five days. They had sent out notes in with other backpackers that started the trail after us, and even some rangers had hiked up the trail looking for me. I told her that we had been hiking pretty fast, so that's probably why no one caught up to us. If someone would have given me one of the notes while I was miles away from my phone, I don't know how I would have dealt with it. She said it had been a very busy week looking for me, as well as a kidnapper who was thought to have been in the area. He was there and they caught him. And of course, the forest fires in the area as well. The note said, call home, Kathy. My mom. I knew then that my mom was okay. But then,

who wasn't? She had called the Idaho State Police to see if they could get a message to me. Thankfully, she reminded me to tell her where I was going to be. She knew that the guy with me had driven his car out and would have Kentucky plates. They had left a note on his car too just in case no one saw us when we got back to the trailhead. The camp hostess gave me one of her personal calling cards so that I could use a pay phone at a nearby lodge to call back home. My mom answered, and as soon as she heard my voice, she started to break down. My six-week-old nephew had passed away of sudden infant death two days after I had left. She was worried I wouldn't be able to get home in time for his funeral, which was in another two days. My friends and I left the area

heading back to Boise and self-service so I could change my flight and get a hotel. One of the hardest nights to be away from my family. I did make it home in time to say farewell to my forever baby of a nephew. To end on a lighter note at the hotel that night, I was doing laundry to pass the time, and I talked to a woman firefighter. I told her why I was out there, and she said, You just hike 70 miles? Your feet don't show it.

I replied, sure they do. I can already tell that I'm going to lose. this toenail. Sorry for the long story, but thanks for reading. Enjoy the view. And I know I always have someone watching my back. Thanks for what you guys do, destiny. Premonitions, you got to listen to them. That's all I got to say. It's hard to know though. You know, it's hard to decipher what is anxiety and what is a premonition. Well, at first, when I was reading that, I was thinking kind of the same thing. As far as relating to that feeling, I have struggled a lot with, I mean, the amount of trips that we do for a couple of reasons. But at the base layer of that, it's anxiety

of something happening when I'm away. And that's because of, you know, just the sudden, like, everything, my dad suddenly passed away. Ian passed away, suddenly, blue passed away, suddenly. And thankfully, I was there for two of the three of those things, but they could have easily, it could have easily happened when we were away. Yeah. And I just have a really hard time with that now of being like something bad is going to happen, something bad is going to happen. But that's, I think, a lot to do with just the recent, relatively recent.

Like that feels more like anxiety. That feels like anxiety. And I know that I'm feeling that because of the things that have happened to me in recent years. I mean, my dad was 14 years ago at this point. But, I mean, Destiny was explaining that she lost her fiancé 21 years before. So I'm like, maybe that's not it. And, you know, that's not the anxiety that I feel. But I don't know.

Who knows? So that's kind of my first thought. But then I was like, I don't know. like you know she explained that she does this a lot and I don't know I don't get the feeling that this type of feeling happens to often yeah yeah it's so hard because just like knowing the difference and then if you do have these really strong feelings it's like you don't know if it's real you don't know what to do about it you don't know what's going to happen and then to have something like that happen is devastating I mean SIDS is such a scary thing for people

And I know a few people who have had kids with SIDS. And it's just it's it's heartbreaking. So yeah, it is kind of like, yeah, what do you do with that? What do you do with that? Where do you place it? What actions do you take? Especially if you don't 100% trust it. Yeah.

And also if you are someone who believes that like fate and fate or things are already written, things are going to happen. Like what do you what do you do in that? Like it's already. If you believe that things already are set to happen, then what exactly are you going to do? Yeah, it's tricky. But I saw this thing. It's like if it's, it's not exactly aligned with this, but it said if your body says no, it's a no and you can unpack the details later.

And I really loved that because it's so true. Like your body knows before your mind does and your mind can decipher those details later. but in a lot of circumstances you just got to go with your gut because it rarely leads you astray. It's true. All right, you have one more for us? Yes, I have one more. Mine is titled River People from Kentucky Love Their Bigfoot. Okay.

Thank God we're on it. It feels like a upswing. I don't know. They'll see. I actually have two stories, but the first really starts with my grandfather. He was born in the mid-1930. His mother died when he was only a few months old, and his father, like many men of the time, was not equipped to take care of a small child, especially one dealing with the grief of his beloved wife. He grew up being raised by various family members and at a young age, took up work along river boats going up and down the Ohio River.

He had no formal education to speak of, but he had a passion for knowledge and learning. He loved the river and spent most of his later life painting steamboats going to and from the Ohio River. River between Kentucky and Indiana. He was also an inventor. He created and submitted several patents for things including a combustible engine. He was an incredible person that had a mind like no other. He died when I was eight, but I have memories of sitting on his lap before I was even school age listening to him explain deep concepts about space and time and teaching me basic algebra. All of this is just to paint a picture of what a passionate, intelligent man he was. but one of his greatest passions was for Bigfoot.

I can remember me and my cousins all circled around him listening to tales of his time on the river and his encounters with the infamous wild hairy man. Whether these stories were true or products of his vivid imagination to delight his grandchildren, I do not know. But they are cherished memories. Years before YouTube was a thing and you had to Google to easily look up articles on sightings and theories, my grandfather had collected so many different Bigfoot resources and shown them all to us. I grew up watching and re-watching the legend of the Boggy Creek and the Patterson-Gimlin film.

We were a family of believers. I'm dating myself a bit here, but well before seatbelt laws were a thing, my parents and my aunts and uncles would load me and my cousins into the back of the truck and on late summer nights take us driving down the spooky roads in my hometown. My grandpa always said when looking for a big foot, he always follows the creek. One night, when I was around seven, the moon was out and so bright, and I was in the back of the truck with my mother, my aunt, my sister, and my three cousins. My mom and my aunt had inherited my grandfather's love for storytelling, and we would sit

in the back of the truck being entertained while they tried to delight and horrify us. On this particular night, it was so bright and all the countryside was illuminated with silvery moonlight. My aunt alerted my dad who was driving that she needed to pee. So he pulled over and unceremoniously got out of the truck and waded off into a cornfield out of view to relieve herself. On the opposite side of the road, several hundred feet away, but within a clear view, was a large white barn lit up by moonlight. I can remember it so clearly. But suddenly a large dark figure emerged and walked right in front of it. It was tall and appeared hairy. It was way taller than the barn door. For some reason, maybe fear. I did not say anything to anyone. I just watched this figure

as it made its way past us. For many years, I told no one of this experience. Doubt crept in as I got older. Maybe it was a silhouette, a shadow being cast on the barn, and that's why it appeared so large. But my mind kept going to the fact the night was so bright and you could clearly see everything in that field. If it was a man casting a shadow, I would have seen him. No, this was a large figure walking directly in front of the barn. Years later, around a campfire with my same cousins who grew up on Tales of Bigfoot with me, were talking about our favorite cryptid and doing our best imitations of the famous swing of the arms in the Patterson-Gimlin film. For whatever reason, I decided as a grown woman to share my story of what I believe to be a Bigfoot sighting. After I told my tale to my cousins, they went silent.

My sister spoke up. I remember that. I saw that too. Another one of my cousins chimed in, me too. For whatever reason, we had all seen the same thing and yet had remained silent. After hearing their versions of that night, I am even more convinced that what I saw was Bigfoot. The area this happened in is rural, but not exactly isolated. But as Grandpa always said, he always follows the creek.

And we just happen to be on Corn Creek Road. Now that I'm an adult and I live across the river in Indiana and can in fact look out and see Kentucky and the roads where we spent so much time huddled in the back of my uncle's truck. The town I live in is one of the largest historical districts in the country with nearly all the downtown area being claimed as historic. There is a bridge that crosses the river into Kentucky and in the evenings I like to walk it. It's always pleasant as you're walking back to Indiana to see this lovely little river town nestled against the hill. Last December, I had went out walking a little later than normal and my sister again was with me. The trees on the hill were bare and you could distinctly see headlights of the car going up and down the hill between their spindly branches. It was dark. Not very late, probably 8.30, but being in the middle of December,

it was very dark out. As we were walking back in, looking at the hill in the town, I happened to notice that above the hill, above the traffic, that there are six circular lights hovering in a perfect line above the treetops. They look like blowing fireballs. These were definitely not headlights. I tried to get my sister's attention, but apparently my pointing skills are not up to par, and she kept looking to the far left. Finally, she saw it, but just as each light one by one blinked, out of existence. I do not believe in aliens per se, which is probably weird for a big foot supporter, but I do believe that there are more things in the world that are way beyond our comprehension. I do not know what those lights are, but I did feel like I was in the middle of an unsolved mysteries episode. There is an old military providing grounds outside of town that I live in. I don't believe it's active, so I'm not sure if what I saw could be ascribed to some military operation or it's just some natural phenomena. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before and more than a few miles from my Bigfoot encounter. Anyway, love the podcast. It just reminded me so much

of growing up and listening to all the stories from my grandpa, my mom, and my aunt. Keep up the good work. I love the UFO surprise twist at the end. Yeah. I wasn't expecting that. You never know. I believe in UFOs. I believe in aliens. So, yep, maybe. I mean, I don't think you have to be. just because you're a Bigfoot believer, you don't have to be an alien believer and vice versa. Yeah, totally. I am totally both. But if I had to choose, which no one has ever asked me this, but I'm going to say it, if they're like, only one is real.

You can only believe in one of the two. I would say alien, for sure. Yeah, same. Yeah. I don't know, like, for Bigfoot, I believe that there is. a type of bigfoot that exists. I just don't know if it's, I believe it's what society is portraying it as.

I'm in, I'm of the belief that there certainly was some sort of bigfoot creature. I mean, just based on the sheer amount of different cultures and who have written and spoken about this creature for so many centuries and all across the world. and time. If it exists still, I don't know. I'm going to say maybe.

But there's like, have you heard of the belief that I'm not trying to laugh because I don't know enough about it to make it form an opinion? But there's a lot of people who believe that Bigfoot is like an interdimensional being. I have heard that before. And that's why we only see it periodically because it's coming from another realm or dimension. Which is interesting because is that the only, is that also grouped with like fairies and a lot of other things that people see? You know what I mean? Like it can just be big foot that's coming and going. There's got to be other. Yeah. Well, I know in Lake Champlain, Nessie that's there. There's that same

theory that it's an interdimensional thing. And there's even diagrams of it underwater, like, swimming into another dimension. And that's why we only see it. Like, that's why we've, have like that one photo of it. But it like goes off into another dimension. And there's like a theory that there's this, like door to another realm. Portal. Yeah, portal in Lake Champlain somewhere. Okay. See, I don't know. if I can get which is strange because I believe in other dimensions and I believe in like overlapping timelines and realities and whole quantum thing like I'm very on board with that but to say that the reason we haven't we don't have proof physical proof of these different things

is because they're interdimensional being seems kind of like just a far-fetched excuse it's like oh yeah duh that's why we don't have I don't know Whatever. I'm not trying to like discredit my own. And we don't know, you know. I certainly don't. I certainly don't. I don't. I wish to be proved. I just hope something comes soon of like with all the cameras and all the everybody having like a phone in their pocket. Let's get some hard proof. Yeah. It's a dream. Okay. Well, that's it. We're done. Except if you are on our Patreon, because if you are on Patreon, we have two more stories.

Or Apple subscription. Or Apple subscriptions. Yes. If you're an Apple subscriber or you're on Patreon, we have two more stories to read for you today. Also, as a side note, if you are interested in joining our Patreon, we just did a big revamp of it. So we have ad free. We have bonus stories. We have bonus content. Like. these two stories that are coming up. We have a Discord server that you can have access to. We have some exclusive merch that is offered on there. We have a book club that we mentioned at the beginning of this podcast. We do live streams monthly with everyone. So we have a lot of really stuff on there. Should we announce what we're doing for our live stream? Not yet. Okay. Okay. So each month we're doing something different for our live stream. This last month was September was trivia. And we So each month we're going to do something different and we're just in the talks of what we're doing for October and it's spooky themed. And it's fun. Yeah. So, okay, great. Well, let's do our two other stories for everyone and everybody else. We'll see you next time. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch you back. 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 NPAD Podcast.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.

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