National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 65

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Today’s stories include dumpster lemons, haunted marathons, national park first dates, night hippos, hero dads and being saved by science. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers!For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @nationalparkafterdarkTwitter/X: @npadpodcastTikTok: @nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to the week’s partners!SelectQuote: Use our link to get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Everyone, welcome back to National Park After Dark. Thank you for joining us again for another Trail Tales episode. I'm Cassie. And I'm Danielle. And Trail episodes are ones in which we read listener emails about your experiences with pretty much everything. It doesn't have to have to happen in a national park. We've kind of expanded our horizons with that.

But it would be nice if it was like kind of tangentially associated with the outdoors just to stay on brand. The outdoors or the paranormal. I mean, we do ghost stories and sign stories all the time. Yeah, that's true as well. I take it back. It could be anything. Okay.

It can be anything. We just have to find it interesting. Right. That is true. And I am the keeper of the trail. I have the power. So you do have the power. You got to impress me first.

That you do. Okay, would you like to go first? Sure. My first story is titled Signs from a dumpster. Hi ladies, my story does not involve the outdoors, but I know how much Danielle appreciates signs from loved ones, and I'd love the opportunity to share a few I have received. To preface, I would like to include a trigger warning for pregnancy loss. A close friend of mine passed away years ago while I was in high school. This friend, whose name was Derek, was close to me and several of my siblings.

Shortly after he passed, I had a dream in which Derek showed me what the earth looked like from his point of view. It's hard to explain, but it was almost as if he now existed as the wind in the trees. He told me that in his heaven, someone named Lemon let him visit Earth every Wednesday to check in on everyone. But he said occasionally, he will sneak out of heaven and visit Earth. earth on other days as well. He was always a bit rebellious. Since that dream, every time I see a lemon, as silly as it seems, I think of him. Several years later, I was going through a difficult time. On a particularly difficult day, he crossed my mind and I realized he had not sent me a sign in a while, so I casually asked him to send me something. But he had to make it obvious, so I didn't miss it.

At that time, I lived in an apartment building with a shared dumpster in the parking lot. I went to throw away some trash and notice something new drawn on the dumpster. It was, what looks to be, an art palette with the word lemon on it. One thing we have always bonded over was my love for art. When he was always away at boot camp, he would write me letters that almost always started with a question, how's the drawing going? That was as direct of a sign as I could have hoped for. I'll include a photo I took of this drawing. Fast forward again a few days later, and my sister told me Derek had visited her in a dream. He was talking about her. her son, who was only one year old at the time. He then told my sister, the next one will be safe with me.

A year after receiving that message, and admittedly, forgetting about it, I found out I was pregnant. Shortly after finding this out, I lost my baby. After having locked myself in the house for a while, I decided to embark on a mission to find my husband a new sweatshirt, a dumb little mission to keep my mind off of things. While shopping, I found a shirt with lemons printed on it. I casually thought to myself, oh, hi Derek. But then, and quickly recalled the conversation I had had with my sister one year prior. And in that moment, I knew my baby was safe with him. I could go on and on about the signs he sent me throughout the years.

But I will just include one final one, as this one involves you two. While listening to NPAD, I was inspired by all the stories of signs from loved ones, and once again asked Derek for a sign. On that day, I was listening to Trail Tales, episode 27. In this episode, someone had written about their hesitation to begin a business, and had asked for a sign to guide them in making this decision. The sign they had received a big old lemon sitting on a tree trunk. I don't know how that lemon got there,

but it's crazy to think it served as a sign twice for two complete strangers. If that writer is listening, I hope you started your business, and I hope it is absolutely thriving. Thank you both for everything you do. You've given me a reason to seek hope in dark times and provide more laughs than you know. I wish you both all the happiness in the world, Sincerely Allie. Oh, Ali.

Beautifully written. What a beautiful sign story, too. And the fact that it also, you got a sign from someone else's sign within our podcast. It's just small worlds. It's very inception-like, and I love it. Yeah. And we do receive a lot of those sign within a sign type of things. So we are really happy to hear that by sharing other people's story, we can provide comfort to people that are needing it.

and seeking it. Okay, my first story is titled A Hippo in the Night. I do love hippos. You're, well, I almost said your favorite animal we saw in South Africa, but I know that isn't true. And my second favorite animal I saw in South Africa, the hippo just couldn't outdo the ostrich I saw. So, or ostriches, I saw. You were absolutely captivated. I was. 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. Okay, a hippo in the night. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. My name is Terry. I stumbled upon your podcast about eight months ago and a half.

enjoyed listening to your stories. They keep me entertained while I'm doing housework or weight training or other tasks that I'm not normally super excited about. Back in the 90s, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Comoros Islands, which are in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. About a year into our service, it was time to take a vacation. My Peace Corps friend, Elise and I wanted to go to Madagascar, but Elise's dad and brother were coming to visit her in the Comoros, and they wanted to go on a safari in Kenya afterwards. So it was decided that that I would join Elise and her family on safari in Kenya. Then once her family went back to the States,

we would continue to climb Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak. Kamar, our Shenzunai language instructor, who was also Elise's boyfriend, would join us. The first snag came when we tried to take the ferry from our island to the island of Grand Camor, where the international airport was. There was a dock worker strike and all ferries were canceled. There were no flights going to Grand Camor either. Elise, Kamar, and I were used to things not going.

is planned, but her father had limited vacation time and had booked an expensive safari, and he didn't want to miss any of it. After much stress and hand-wringing, we managed to hitch her ride on a small cargo ship that was leaving that night for Grand Camor, and we succeeded in making our flight to Nairobi the next day. After a nice safari, Elise's brother and father flew back to the states, and we felt like the real adventure was about to begin. We returned to Nairobi and did the best we could do to prepare for our trek on Mount Kenya. We rented warm sleeping bags and clothing and stock up on food. At that time, freeze-dried food was unavailable in Nairobi, so we bought jars of peanut butter and canned food. Before heading to Mount Kenya, we decided to take a quick trip to

Hellsgate National Park, which is one of the few parks where you are allowed to hike without a guide due to the absence of lions. I want to say, I'm scared to say it because if I'm wrong, people are going to be mad. But I'm pretty sure Hell's Gate National Park is the area that inspired there's like a rock formation in there that inspired Pride Rock for the Lion King. Well, let's look it up. So it's just so interesting if that's true and there's no lions there. Probably historically there were, I would imagine. Yeah, let me know if I'm right.

Yeah, you're right. It says Pride Rock from the Lion King was inspired by the real world rock formations in Kenya, including Hells Gate National Park. Okay. It feels good to be right every once in a while. Okay. We hiked in the park with an Israeli couple we had met on the bus. bus, then camped with them in a nearby campground on Lake Naivasha. This campground was a nice,

green, grassy area shaded by acacia trees along part of the lakeshore. There were bathrooms and hot showers, which were a real luxury for Elise and me. A few donkeys wandered around the campground. I think they were the mowing service. Much of the lake shore is surrounded by flower farms. The campground was separated from the adjacent properties and from the lake shore by thick hedges and a deep ditch. These were to discourage the hippos from where, wandering into the campground from the lake. A couple of night watchmen roamed around at night to chase errant hippos back into the water. After a peaceful night at the campground, we headed off towards the town of Chikoria on the lower slopes of Mount Kenya to begin our trek. The National Park Gate was

about 10 miles up a dirt road from town, so to save money, we decided to hike up to the park gate and camp there instead of hiring a ride. We were planning on taking five to six days to height to the summit at over 17,000 feet and then back down. The road wound up the mountain with very thick forest on either side. We could hear monkeys, elephants, and other unseen animals crashing around in the trees. The muddy road was marked with elephant and buffalo tracks, and the edge of the forest was littered with the remains of trees that had been knocked down by elephants.

As we hiked, we grew increasingly more nervous about the wildlife that we could hear, but not see. Buffalo were our biggest concern, as they are grumpy and prone to charges without much provocation. But the presence of elephants, leopards, and hyenas also had us on high alert. This just reminds me of the, like, it's just so out of our, our day-to-day experience that this seems so wild. But I just will never forget being in South Africa, you were driving. I was absolutely not going to drive our rental car. For context, it's because we had to drive on the wrong side of the road. It was just, it was just tripping me up so bad.

I just, I, it was a mental roadblock. I just couldn't get over. I don't even think I tried. We were on the wrong side of the car and the wrong. I shouldn't say wrong because it's different in different countries, but we were on the opposite side of the road and the opposite side of the car. And then we ended up buying renting as a automatic instead of a standard, even though standards are pretty like common there. They're more common because I was like, okay, I could normally drive a standard, but being on the wrong, the opposite side of the car, having the stick shift on the opposite side. and having and it was just like let's do one thing at a time let's go with an automatic yeah it's like

I can't that's almost too much well yeah as we're struggling and by we I mean you and I'm just like you can do it as I'm hitting curbs and like taking corners way too tightly just baboons come out of the force and just are crossing the road I'm like oh my god baboons and you like almost slammed on the brakes I don't think I ever imagined myself saying that as a passenger in a vehicle. Like, stop, there's baboons in the road. I'm like, I'm sorry, I know you're really busy, but I don't want to strike those animals. Okay, here we go. Sure enough, after several hours of hiking, we rounded a corner into the road to see a large mother elephant and her baby in the middle of the road right in front of us, about a dozen yards away. The mother penned us with her

eyes and spread out her ears, spurring us to quickly backtrack until we were out of their sight. We waited for a while, 30 minutes, an hour, until the elephants wandered back into the forest. Our nerves were really on edge at this point. This was so very different from being in a guided safari vehicle. As I mentioned earlier, we were not able to load up on lightweight camping food and gear. As a result, our backpacks were really heavy. We were hiking more slowly than we expected, and we had to take many breaks. After one of these breaks, Elise pulled a muscle in her leg while putting her backpack back on.

She was in a lot of pain and unable to go any further. We were about three miles from the park gate. Darkness was about an hour away and there was no place to camp and no fresh water before the park gate. With no other plan in mind, Kamar and I decided to run to the park gate and ask for help while Elise waited by the side of the road with our backpacks. Both Kamar and I were too afraid to go alone. But you left Elise by her though? Like she'll be fine. So we jogged the last three miles up the road just as it started to rain.

I remember singing as I ran so as to warn any potential animal of our approach. At one point, the heavy forest gave way to a couple of vistas. I saw a beautiful bull elephant, black from the rain, down in a gully, and a herd of buffalo off in the distance. At the park gate, we met a ranger who was about to drive down to the town for the night. We haggled and got him to give all three of us a ride down the mountain for something like $200. When we picked up a lease on the drive down, she tried to convince us all to try again.

But Kamar and I overruled her. Having problems at 9,000 feet was about enough. What if it had been at 15,000 feet? We were clearly not adequately prepared for this trek. Instead, we decided to go back to the lovely campground at the lake to lick our wounds and regroup. On our second night back at the campground, I woke up to hear chomping and snorting right outside of our tent. The moon was full and something very big was stepping on the corner of our tent and throwing its shadow onto the tent wall. I really wanted it to be one of those donkeys.

But I knew it wasn't. I was closest to the tent entrance, and without much of a plan, I quietly unzipped my sleeping bag and the tent fly. That's when Elise woke up. What's going on? She asked, Hippo, I whispered hoarsely. Well, lay back down and be quiet and he'll leave. So I did, but he didn't. At this point, something must have startled him and he ran right across the tent. I was out of the tent and up a nearby tree before I even knew what was happening. I watched as the hippo trotted off towards the lake, our tentfly wrapped around one of his legs. My heart stopped as he turned to look at me, but he then turned back towards the lake and disappeared into the night. Where's Elise? Kamar climbed out of the mangled tent and collapsed at the bottom of my tree.

The hippo stepped on me, he gasped. He was having trouble breathing and his chest hurt. I was sure the hippo had broken some of his ribs, maybe even punctured his lung. By this point, Elise had found her glasses and was also out of the tent. It was the middle of the night. It was cold. We had no vehicle and the nearest hospital was in the town of Navasha several miles away. I quickly wound my way through the campground looking for a vehicle. I found one amidst a group of tents and started yelling loudly that we had an emergency and needed a car. No one so much as unzipped their tent. Meanwhile, one of the campground guards had gone to a nearby flower farm, awoken the owner, and procured a vehicle for us. By 8 a.m., we were in a clinic,

drinking hot tea offered by a kind nurse and getting Kamar checked out. Luckily, he was not seriously hurt. He had a large bruise on his upper chest in the perfect shape of a hippo's footprint. And his shoulder was sore. All his other symptoms were probably just shock. Elise's tent didn't fare as well. The tent fly was shredded and the poles were bent up. She managed to get the tent repaired by a nearby tailor,

but we were not able to replace the poles. Despite his injury, Kamar was keen on continuing our trip. He was unable to carry a backpack with his shore. God, that's hard to say. It's a tongue twister. Soar shoulder. And we didn't have a functional tent anyway. Despite this, we managed to travel around Kenya for another week or so before heading back to the islands. Incidentally, about six weeks later, a coop and a countercoop in the Comoros led to the evacuation

of all Peace Corps volunteers. And I found myself back in Nairobi. But that's a story for another time. Enjoy the view, but watch your back, Terry. I guess it's better to be hurt by a hippo accidentally than having a hippo hurt you intentionally. And no truer statement has ever been said. And with that, enjoy the view, but watch your back. Imagine.

HIPPO. I'm imagining they're like, they got to be like the size of a dinner plate. Yeah. It would be my whole. Your whole. Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible.

Honestly, he wasn't more injured. I'm I'm picturing this that he wasn't more injured because it was so fast. Like maybe when the hippo was running through the tent, he didn't even really put his full, he or she, I guess, put their full weight on. Yeah. Versus if they had been slowly walking and it was like crunch, you know, or something had stopped him. Yeah. Yeah. Oof.

Hippos are, they didn't mean it, though. You can't just say that because you like their little ears. Yes, they can. It was truly an accident this time. It sounds like. It does, yeah. My story is titled, My Brother Saved Us with Science. Hi, Danielle and Cassie.

First, I want to say that both of you do an amazing job telling stories on your podcast in such an engaging and fun way, while still being respectful and sensitive to the more challenging topics. I really appreciate the diversity of stories you cover. They're also unique and interesting. I prefer to stay anonymous. But if you read this on the pod, please give a shout out to my little sister Emmy, aka smallish human. I got her hooked on the podcast a while back, and now we chat about the episodes and listening to your stories has even inspired us to hike

and get into the outdoors more. Cool. Love it. Yeah. This story might have been much longer if my brother hadn't saved us with science. but I hope you enjoy it anyway. To set the stage, it was February 2021, and my brother and I were on a ski trip in Colorado. He drove out from Ohio and his diesel four-wheel drive truck, and I flew in from the East Coast. I'm originally from Colorado and live here now, but at the time I was living on the

East Coast. My brother is a farmer, hence the truck, and though he's not from Colorado, he's generally one of the most well-prepared people I know. He's on the very short list of people I inexplicably trust. After skiing for a couple of days, we were both sore and decided to take a break by heading down to the mount, Princeton Hot Springs, and letting the hot springs work their magic. It was a beautiful, sunny day, about 35 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We were staying in Frisco, and after enjoying the hot springs, we started heading back, knowing some snow was expected that evening. We wanted to leave before the storm set in.

Spoiler alert, we were too late. As we got in the truck and started driving up Route 91 after getting gas, we immediately saw cars coming down the mountain covered in snow. Although it was still sunny and warm where we were, we could tell we were heading straight into the storm. Sure enough, we started up the mountain and hit snow. The warm weather had caused the first bit of snow to melt on contact, creating a slick layer of slush that was now covered in fresh snow.

The temperature was plummeting fast and expected to get into the single digits that night. As we drove up the mountain, we came across a small two-seater, front wheel drive only truck stuck on the side of the road. It wasn't even in a snowbank. The road was just so slippery that its tires couldn't get any traction. My brother, being Midwest Nice, decided to stop and help. We pulled off on the shoulder just ahead of the truck where we were uphill from the stuck vehicle. As soon as my brother opened the car door and set his foot down, he immediately slipped on the slush, grabbing the truck to steady himself. He looked at me, laughed nervously, and then went over to talk to the other driver. A few minutes. it's later, he returned, grabbed the toe straps out of the back, and carefully hooked them up. By this point, I was getting increasingly nervous. We were on a small shoulder on the side of the mountain, with no guardrails or snow preventing us from yeeding over the edge, and a steady stream of traffic passing just feet away. During a snowstorm. Once the straps were secure, my brother got back in the truck. I asked, what do you think? He replied, well, we'll give it a try,

and slowly stepped on the gas. We immediately started sluged. backward down the hill towards the truck. Realizing this wasn't going to work, he got out, unhook the straps, and let the other driver know that we couldn't help. When we got back in, he hit the gas again, but now we too were stuck in the same slushy mess. We tried a couple more times to get out, but to no avail. And worse, the more we tried, the more we slid down the mountain towards the truck and the edge of the mountain. At this point, I was really starting to panic. My brother, however, stayed calm. We sat there for a moment weighing our options when another larger truck pulled up in uphill of us.

This one had better tires and a winch on the front built for pulling tourists out of the snow. The driver got out, talked to my brother, and offered to try to pull us out. He hooked up the winch to our truck and started pulling. But instead of pulling us out, his truck started sliding down the mountain towards us. He stopped, unhooked the winch, and informed us that he wouldn't be able to help either. Then he drove off, luckily without getting stuck himself. My brother got back in the truck and said, Well, shit, now what?

I hadn't left the vehicle this entire time, but I was practically hyperventilating at this point. My brother sat in silence for what felt like five minutes, but was probably only like 30 seconds before having an idea. He had brought a large quantity of diesel exhaust fluid with him on his drive from Ohio. Earlier that day, he explained to me that DEF, which reduces pollution from diesel engines, is basically a mix of urea and water. Yes, like pee.

He knew it had a much lower freezing point than water and figured it might melt the snow just enough to give us traction. It was now well below freezing at around 20 degrees or so, but still dropping. He got out, went over to the driver behind us to make sure he could call an actual tow truck, and then came back to our truck. He knew that if it worked, we would not be stopping. He grabbed a few gallons of DEF and doused the tires and the snow around all of our tires. He got back in, waited a minute to let it melt and said, let's hope this works and gently stepped on the gas.

The tires caught traction and the truck slowly moved forward. I still remember the relief I felt in that moment. Though I knew the drive back would not be a walk in the park, I was just relieved to not be spending the night on the side of the road, praying we didn't get hit by another vehicle. We got back on the main road and didn't stop until we reached Frisco. A drive that normally would have taken 30 minutes took over an hour and a half. The whole time I was sending text messages of screenshots of our location to another family member so that if we didn't make it, they could send the cavalry.

Most of the drive, the visibility was so bad we couldn't see past the hood of the car. The reception is spotty up through there, so the Find My feature on my phone was often not up to date, but the text messages would sometimes get through. That night ranked in the top three worst snowstorm driving conditions I've ever experienced. I was so relieved to make it to I-70, and that's saying something. I know you know. Once we're back in town and safe, we celebrated with Mexican food and margaritas, then skied the next day. Now that I'm back living in Colorado, I always carry tire chains for my outback in the winter.

I also make it a point to avoid mountain driving in heavy snow whenever possible, and have an emergency kit in case I get stuck and have to spend the night. in the car. I thought about that day a lot, partially because it was traumatizing, but partially because I aspire to the level of calm that my brother had in that situation. I've been in a few less than ideal situation since then and have been able to stay level-headed and get out of those situations. So I guess that's growth. Anyways, enjoy the view, but seriously carry tire chains. I've been in a similar situation in Washington, not on a main road. We, Ian and I went, attempted to go to a trail that we shouldn't have that time of year with the vehicle that we had.

I mean, it was his Toyota Tacoma, but we didn't have any sort of things necessary. We didn't have chains. We didn't have any sort of emergency kit. We didn't have. We were just like, oh, let's just go and see if we can get to this trailhead. And we didn't. And we got really stuck. But more so than that, we were.

we legitimately almost slid down the mountain like toppled over the mountain off the side of the it was like an off road trail and to the point that i was so scared i got out of the car and i took the two dogs and i'm like if you want to continue trying to get the car out i'm not going down the side of the mountain inside this car which i know is going to happen so let's just call it and hopefully someone comes by and like two hours later a couple people on snow cats came by and helped us. But it was so close to the point that, you know, you're, you get maybe an inch or two advancing and then you slide back a foot out of control. Yeah. That's how that was. And we were so, like, I had to get, I couldn't even get out of the passenger side because it was dangling over

the cliff. Like, I had to go on his side and get out. That's so scary. Yeah. That's terrifying. I had not as close of a call as that is by any means, but I remember I was fresh out of college. and I was doing this driving job that had me driving around northern New Hampshire. And there happened to be a blizzard, and I was in a Honda Accord. I did have snow tires, I will say. But to get to my next location, the fastest way to do it would be to cross the Kangamangas Highway, which if you are from New Hampshire or if you've been up to the White Mountains, you know is this very windy road that goes through the White Mountains National Forest and it's beautiful, picturesque tons of mountains. However, in a blizzard, it's not the

ideal place to be. But I was like, yeah, you know, I saw other cars that like went up the road a little bit. And I was like, yeah, sure, this is fine. And I'm driving. And after a little while, I stopped seeing any cars at all. There's so much snow pile up that's on this road that there's no one else out there except I see someone on a snowmobile on the actual road. And I was like, that's not a good sign. I was like, I'm already, I'm already committed. I'm in it. Like, I'm here. I'm in it.

And I remember I was going around this corner. And there were, they had guard rails on the side, thankfully. But the guard rails, there was so much snow coming down that you couldn't really see the guard rails anymore because they were covered in snow. And, and also like little snow banks from like past plowing. Anyway, I start going around this corner. My car doesn't turn. I go straight into the snowbank. on the other side of the snowbank is a cliff drop. And my car goes up the snowbank and then slides back

down, turns around and faces the other direction to go back to town. And I was like, if that's not a sign from the universe that I should not be on this road right now, I don't know what it is. It literally turned you around. Were you just holding like, were you just like, I was just holding the steering wheel. And it had messed up my bumper. Like my front bumper, I'd actually hit something. And I remember I drove into town and there's a gas station pretty much right when you get off the Kangamangas and I stopped there and someone came out and they bunchie corded my car back together because I had like stuff dangling from my car and it was very nice of them and then I called my work and I was like hi I kind of got in a car accident I'm it the weather's really bad up here I'm going to go home and

they were like okay please do uh well it's nice but because there would be other jobs that would be like okay uh it would have been nice if they didn't send me up there in a blizzard in the first place that's true that is true and it wasn't until i got in a car accident that they were like oh yeah you should probably come home i'm like yeah it's snowed like two feet in the past hour so yeah i don't think i should be driving on the roads when there's like a national emergency or a state emergency alert to stay off the roads like maybe shouldn't have made me work today if it was me i would have been like okay but like are you mad at me. I remember I was nervous, like, that they were going to be, like, upset, but I was just like, I, my nerves were so high after that that I just had to get out of there. Yeah, of course.

Okay. My second story is titled Lights Mouse Scream. Okay. Hi, ladies. I'm a big fan of the podcast and just finished listening to the Grandma Gatewood story. She is such an inspiration, and I hope I am as adventurous as her when I turn 67. My own small through hike story takes place in Olympic National Park in May of 2024. I was on a backpacking trip with two friends along the Olympic South Coast Trail. It is a roughly 16-mile trail, a brisk walk compared to Emma's 2100-plus mile adventure that traverses beautiful beaches, rocky coastlines, creeks, small rivers, and old growth forest. However, you are at the mercy of the tides at a few points in this trail and can get caught at high tide during the long stretches of beach walking. You really get a variety of scenery and

landscapes on this trail, but you also have to maneuver through sketchy and muddy robes and ladders when overlanding into the bluffs. We planned to spend our first night at Toliac Point. This camping area was ideal as it had plenty of sites along the edge of the forest where it meets the beach. We set up our tents, refilled our water at a nearby creek, and gathered wood for a campfire. The rest of the early evening, we lounged on the beach while we ate our dehydrated meals and sipped on pineapple whiskey in front of our beach bonfire. Before we lost service, we had read that the KP index for the Northern Lights was going to be high that weekend. We told ourselves that it would be awesome to see them, but it completely slipped our minds by the time we got to camp. I blame it

on exhaustion and the whiskey. By 10 p.m., we had retreated into our own tents, exhausted from the hike, and wanting to get an early start the next morning to beat the tides before our next camp. I snuggled into my sleeping bag and had my eyes closed for a few minutes when I heard a rustling sound near my head. I reminded myself, I still closed, that I had definitely shut the zipper of my tent before crawling into bed and tried not to think of what critter or critters could be making that noise. After a moment or so, I opened one eye just in time to see a mouse scurry up the mesh wall of my double wall tent. Unfortunately, I didn't see where it went. Great.

Okay, keep calm. I told myself it's just a mouse. There is no way it can eat through that fabric, right? After another minute of internal mental reinsurances, I heard a scream in the distance. Could the mouse have made it that far already? Did it have more friends? Is someone getting murdered? I asked myself millions of questions that went unanswered and tried to listen for more sounds, but the waves crashing on the beach drowned out any possible murder occurring.

It sounded far enough away that I knew it could not have come from my friend's tents. Well, I wasn't about to poke my head out of my own tent. my survival instincts kicked in and said, stay in bed, dummy, and I did. After 30 or so more minutes of slight internal panicking and fighting the urge to have to pee, I miraculously fell asleep. In the morning, we woke up, ate our breakfast, and began packing up camp. I asked my friends if they had heard a scream too. They did, but had the same plan as I did to safely stay in the tent.

I chalked it up to a possible mouse encounter, but was still wary there may have been a murder. Then we set off for the six miles or so to our next campsite. We walked along the beach as the tide was out, allowing you to see the mossy rocks and sea life. Not far from our original camp, we passed by two girls, and they stopped us to chat. Excitedly, they asked, do you guys see the northern lights? Us? What? No, we went to bed early.

They then told us how the lights were on full display towards the northwest over the Pacific Ocean, just past 10.20 p.m. based on the timestamps of their photos. They had run up and down the beach, waking other campers up to share this once-in-a-lifetime view. Somehow our little camp was missed as it was tucked in between the trees, but that was the source of the screams. We were so bummed. The chance to see the northern lights this far south would have been spectacular. Fortunately, however, it did solve the murder-slash-not-murder case. We continued on to our next campsite.

That night, we stayed up later than we wanted to, and unfortunately, the northern lights did not miss. make a reappearance for us. When we returned home a few days later, my friend sent us pictures that she snapped right before she zipped up her tent that first night. There, you can make out the faint signs of the Northern Lights. She had not realized that they were in full display due to the brightness of her display when she reviewed the picture before going to bed. And it just ends. But that's sad and it reminded me of you a little bit. So that's- Chasing the Northern Lights. Yeah. So that's why I wanted to include it. Because it is is cool that that opportunity would have presented itself in such a beautiful place. I mean,

Olympic National Park is just stunning. And it would have been such a unique view to see something that you associate with, you know, the far north and Olympic National Park on the beach. Right. And it just reminds me of wanting to see the Northern Light so bad, but then just being sleepy, you know? I just like, I can't. I remember I did have a trip. The first time I did ever see the Northern Lights, and it wasn't the way that I saw them was not the full display where it's like so bright it takes up the whole sky and you're just the photos you see online it did not look like that but I was in Alaska and it was the very beginning of Aurora Borealis season it was in September and we had I have the alerts on

my phone for the KP index to come up and I was there with a friend and it was like KP index is really high tonight like check it out and And so before we went to bed, we were looking, didn't see anything, didn't see anything. And I was like, well, the height of it is supposed to be at 3 a.m. So I set alarms, like, pretty frequently throughout the night. And finally, at, like, I think it ended up being like 3.30 or something in the morning. I go outside and we're sitting there. And there, sure enough, are at the Northern Lights outside.

And they were all green. They weren't a bunch of different colors. and they were duller than the pictures that you see online if you Google it. But I could very clearly see them with the naked eye. It wasn't like I think in especially in New England, there's been a lot of like, oh, you can see the northern lights tonight, like go outside. And you can't see anything with your naked eye, but then you take a photo and it's like really bright. And you're like, wow, they're here.

Yeah, that just happened a couple months ago for us. Yeah. And you could see like maybe slightly. Like it was like, oh, the sky does look like it has like a. tinge of pink in it or something. But I wouldn't have noticed unless someone told me to look for it. In a picture, yeah, for sure. But. Yeah. And what I saw in Alaska was not that experience. I did. We very much saw them with our naked eye. It just wasn't the crazy light show that people go searching for. So, and I still have yet to see that. I saw them in Iceland. I saw them in the airplane on the way back from

Iceland or the way to Iceland, I forget. I think it was the way back. I think that's what you told me. I saw them from the plane, which was cool and they were really bright in that situation, but I have yet to see like a full light display, like how you see it in the pictures. I'm still waiting for that in real life. And I have to do some like Nordic winter trips to specifically see the northern lights. And they say that you should stay somewhere for like, because it's not guaranteed, but you should plan to stay somewhere for like seven to ten days to give yourself ample time to see a real show. That's no problem. Yeah.

You work from home. You can work from anywhere. I know. That's true. I got to just like go to Norway for like two weeks or something in the middle of winter. Yeah. Or lapland. Sweden.

Yeah. You're invited if you want to come. I'll consider it. It'll be cold. All right. Well, my last story, my last one before we do outsiders bonus stories, is titled Bryce Canyon After Dark. In the spring of 2021, after my first round of COVID vaccines and before the Omicron outbreak, I embarked on a solo road trip through Utah. I've been cooped up in my tiny Los Angeles apartment for a year and armed with the false hope that the pandemic was coming to an end.

I got in my 2008 Toyota Rav4 and drove east. The plan was to hit up a few national and state parks, swing through Salt Lake City for some spring skiing, Bachelor was still open, and through Lake Tahoe to visit some friends in the Bay Area before heading back home. The plan was also to bumble swipe my way through each destination. No better way to explore a new city than with the local. No better way to explore the Bryce Canyon hoodoos than with the fellow solo solo travel amateur photographer that you matched with at 6 p.m. who suggests you meet at the trailhead at 10 so he can snap. and photos at the full moon. Oh, God.

There's also... I know. Their next line is so funny. There's also no better way to get murdered. So I, because I'm only slightly reckless, shared my location with a friend, told her I'd check in after the date, and told Scott, the amateur photographer

sleeping in the back of his Toyota Tacoma on a mountain bike trip in Zion that I'd see him at 10. I wanted to enjoy the view. And Daisy, my friend with my location, would be watching my back. Scott looked like his photos, although he was, as expected, a bit shorter than he had claimed. That's expected. That's a ruthless thing to add. You know, I, what, there's something that I

have been very, I view myself as fortunate in this regard is I've never really had to worry about that. Like, I've never once been like, how tall are you? Because I'm 5'3. Like, chances are you're taller than me. Yeah. So that's not really a problem. Like I've never been like, okay, for this potential person, this is a factor that I really need to know beforehand. It's so funny.

My friends used to make fun of me in like college and stuff because I've always liked tall guys. And they're like, Cassie, you're 5 too. Like save something for the rest of us. That's what they'd say. Like especially my tall friends, they'd be like, come on. Like, you don't need that. You don't need that.

Like go for someone shorter. I'm sorry. It's just the way that God made me. I like what I like. I can't help it. But also, man, doesn't have to be taller than you. You can date. I mean, look at Zendaya and Tom Holland.

Tom Holland, Zendaya relationship is what I think we should all strive for. He's such. I don't know their relationship. Enough to know. Oh, it's my whole algorithm. But is it? Yeah. I don't know enough about them. I just know that they like love each other. They're so supportive of each other and they seem like really like best friends.

And I think that's just like the best foundation to have for any relationship, romantic relationship. If you're best friends, it makes life so fun. And it feels like they just genuinely care about each other. And it's, I don't know how it became my algorithm. Because I Like, don't even really, like, I'm not really fans of them individually. Yeah. But you like their relationship and Instagram has, has caught on to that. They really caught on. So anyway, this person is not meeting her expectations for height, but I guess was expected, which is hilarious.

We had the Navajo Loop and Queens Garden Trail mostly to ourselves, which was both lovely and terrifying. and we chatted about how different it was for men and women to travel alone. We stopped frequently so we could take photos, and the hoodoos under the full moon were truly an incredible sight to see. It would have been a perfect date if it wasn't for him breaking my number one trail rule, playing music from a speaker. Oh, nah. That is a pretty solid trail rule.

I can't, I got a... A few hours later and one slightly awkward kiss later, I sent proof of life to Daisy and crept into my motel bed alone. Scott, not a murderer, spent the cold night in his Toyota Tacoma, and the next day I drove toward Salt Lake City, ready to swipe again, Danny. That was the most unhinged story of putting this man on blast. He's just trying to have a good time. He's like, I just want to take pictures of the moon in the middle of the night,

And she's like, he was short, unimpressive. Awkward kiss. Awkward kiss. You know what? I like a girl who knows what she wants, and she clearly knew that this is not for her. So good for you. And good for you for not feeling bad for sleeping in a warm motel room while he slept in his truck. Yeah.

It's like, sorry. I just, sorry. I don't like you. I don't like you. This is awkward, and I got to get out of here. Yeah. Yeah, not the safe. first date, but you made it. Do it for the plot, as they say. Okay, my last story is titled

From Dad to Hero Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. I am super excited to write to you guys. My name is Gabe. Feel free to use names in the story. And I have been listening to the pod for about five to six months now and love every story. To be honest, I've been wanting to submit the story for some time after starting to listen, although I'm not sure why I hadn't yet. But today is the day, so let's get into it. family has been involved in our local Boy Scout troop since I first started when I was 11, 10 years ago. My dad became our Scoutmaster two years after I started and just recently left. In those eight years, he was a Scoutmaster.

Only one of the Scouts didn't reach the Eagle rank, which is amazing considering only 4% of all Scouts achieve that. He also took us on multiple high adventure trips in those years, including to the Boundary Waters, twice, South Dakota, and the Great Smoky Mountains, where this story takes place. In 2020, we went on the troop's third highest adventure trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. We spent about a week there which was filled with hiking, sightseeing, bike riding, and a whole lot of memories. One memory sticks out, however. We were on day three of the trip and like all the other days, we decided to go on a hike. The trail we went on, Big Creek Trail, was known for small waterfalls and a swimming hole called the Midnight

Hole. The scouts were stoked to be able to swim near the end of the hike and they all brought their swimwear along for it. When we got to the hole, it was absolutely beautiful. The water was so clear, but also you couldn't see down once you got about two to three feet in the water. I suppose that's why they call it the midnight hole. Above the main swim spot, there was a smaller hole and a small waterfall that connected the two. We were all having fun enjoying the cool water in each other's company when we saw another family join us in the swimming hole above ours. They were a young foreign family consisting of a mom, a dad, an older son, and a younger son who didn't speak much English.

Me and dad were on the jumping rock when it happened. All of a sudden, we hear the mom's screaming bloody murder as she watches her six-year-old son float towards the waterfall. The older son, who was probably in his late teens, swam towards him and grabbed his arm right before he went over. But the eldest son couldn't hold his grip on the slippery rocks, and they both went over headfirst. Gasp and screams rang out as they went over. The poor mother was on the edge of a rock looking down trying to spot her sons. I was yelling at her to get back, afraid that she too may fall and land on top of one of her sons. The teen popped up first and drifted to the side of the falls.

Dad pointed at one of the other adults to swim over and get him. Dad and I stood on top of that rock trying to spot the young boy for what seemed like 20 minutes, although I know it was no longer than a minute or two before we spotted his head under the dark water. My dad did not hesitate to jump in after him. There I was on top of that rock waiting for my dad to come out. from under the falls with this kid and then i saw them but dad was stuck between the rock and the strong current that was beating him into the rock he finally found the strength to use his legs to push outwards from the rock and get away from the strong current as he carried the boy back to shore

our other adults were waiting to perform CPR if needed luckily it was not and everyone walked away fine just a little shaken up of course but they were safe after one of our adults who was also an emt checked out the two boys we went back to the cabin We don't talk much about that day, but I know no one will ever forget it. As a kid, young boys often think of their hero being a comic book character or a famous sports player like Tom Brady. But that day, I got to see my dad do something most kids don't, save someone's life. From that day, until the day I die, my dad will always be my hero. Love you, Dad.

I love that story. It's so scary. I mean, it's so scary and it's amazing that your dad jumped in in such a dangerous situation to save. someone, but it's such a sweet story that you're able, you were able to see someone do something so beautiful and it was your dad. Well, again, I chose this one because it reminded me of something. And it's something that I haven't thought about in a really long time. And I don't know the details because, again, it's been a while. I have the news article actually that. So, okay, to backtrack, my dad also did something like this and he made the newspaper for it when I was really young.

He was working in Connecticut at some sort of, he went to Johnson in Wales for culinary arts, and he worked in the food industry after graduation and when I was young. And he was working at some sort of resort thing in Connecticut. And he was out smoking, chain smoking, because that's what he did, with two other guys. And they heard like screams for help. And the resort was located on the water. And they ran over and there were people drowning. And he jumped in right away and he helped save people's lives. And him and his two co-workers and they were all recognized in the paper.

And my dad was like, in the moment, he clearly didn't think about it. It just was the right thing to do. But after he made the papers and he got some recognition for it, he took the paper, made like a Xerox copy of it. On the other side of it, that was blank, he wrote me a message, just something about like doing the right thing and whatever. And he was like, love dad. And then he laminated it and gave it to me. And I have it in my mom's house, actually, in my old bedroom in a bunch of, in a file with a bunch of his stuff. That's really cute. Yeah. He did that. Yeah. So dads, sometimes, I know some people don't have great relationships with their dads, but I loved this story because it reminded me about a story. of my dad. So thank you for writing in. Yeah. Dads are great. Good dads are great dads. Put it on a

t-shirt. Okay. Another thing. What did you say earlier? Something about hippos was also pretty profound. Profound. I don't know. I don't know. I said it's better to be accidentally hurt by a hippo than intentionally hurt by hippo. Yeah, that sounds right. And good dads, what you just say? Great dads. Good dads. Good dad. Dads are great dads. Okay. All right. Let's go share some bonus stories with our outsider community.

Mine is titled On the Trail of Silver Heel. And mine is titled, That Time the Big Man Upstairs took ACDC's Thundercrack a little too literally. Okay. All right. Thundercrack. If you want to hear a full rendition of Thundersruck by Cassie, you can subscribe to us. It's a huge incentive. And I would be shocked if you didn't want to.

But if you're not an outsider and want to be, we have Patreon and Apple subscription services that you can sign up for. We share bonus stories there every Trail Tales episode, and that's what we're about to go do. Everybody else, we love you, enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye. Bye. Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale of your own you'd like to share, you can write to us at NPAD Stories at gmail.com or visit our

website at npaddpodcast.com. Bonus trail tales and content are available to Patreon members and Apple subscribers. Follow the show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X at National Park After Dark. And if you prefer to watch our episodes, you can find us on YouTube at National Park After Dark. And as always, if you enjoy the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressives save over $900 on average. Pop over to Progressive.com, answer some questions, and you'll get a quick quote with discounts

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