National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 66

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

Today’s stories include slapping the bag, a mother’s intuition, geocaching gone wrong, being saved by spirits, synchronicities and sibling pranks. 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: @nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @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!Graza: Take your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/NPAD and use promo code NPAD today for 10% off your first order.Ollie: Use NPAD to get 60% off your first box of meals when you subscribe today.iRestore: For a limited time only, our listeners get $625 off their iRestore Elite when you use code NPAD at iRestorelaser.comThe Box of Oddities: Listen now wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Everyone, welcome back to National Park After Dark. I'm Cassie. And I'm Danielle. And welcome to Trail Tales. This is an edition of National Park After Dark where we share stories that you write us. Yeah, and we have a lot of them today. So let's dive into it. Would you like to go first or would you like me to go first?

I want you to go first. Oh, okay. My first story is titled, Camping Catastrophe with a Happy Ending. What kind of happy ending? I'm interested. We're about to find out. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I've been a big fan of your podcast for years now and have been racking my brain for a

trail tale to send you. I am an avid hiker, camper, and traveler, but surprisingly, I haven't experienced any scary or creepy situations, or at least ones that I don't think are worthy of a trail-tail episode. So I will provide you with an embarrassing one. I went to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, and my friend group and I took advantage of the beautiful Northern Arizona outdoors by hiking and camping often. We continued these trips when some of my friends moved to Phoenix for work. This story takes place in Goldkin Canyon, which is east of Phoenix and at the foothills of

the superstition mountains. We have been camping as a group together for years and pretty much followed the same schedule every time. Everyone arrives Friday. Saturdays are for exploring. Saturday nights are for partying and everyone drives home hungover on Sunday. Everyone sleeps in either tents or their cars and this trip I chose to sleep in the back of my 2015 Subaru Forrester named Sheila. She's fitted out with an air mattress, pillows, and blankets and protects me from the free-range cows and longhorns in the area. You could say she is my safe haven. For the most part, this was a great camping trip. It rained a little that Friday, and we got to see some incredible rainbows in the desert.

On Saturday, we hiked to a nearby waterfall and the wave cave, which is the cave with a rock formation that looks like a wave. When we were back at the camp that day, there was a guy parasailing over the campground and dropping teddy bears. We weren't sure the purpose of this other than just for fun, because there were no notes attached to the bears like for an advertisement or anything, but a couple people in our group kept the little bears. And that night, after our group dinner, we partied, and we partied hard. We bring multiple foldout tables to play drinking games like bangers, rage cage, and beer pong. Do you know, I know I'm old because I don't know what bangers or rage cage are. I was just going to ask you, do you know what the first two are? I couldn't even guess that's how old I am, apparently.

And I know it's probably a regional thing, but we used to call beer pong root. Yeah. But I at least know what that. It's a drinking game. They're drinking games, I'm sure. That's safe to say. Yeah, they said drinking games. Oh, but. Right. I want to know what rage cage is. It sounds dangerous. It sounds really dangerous and angry. Keep reading. I'm paying attention, but I'm going to ask the internet. Okay. It's also a tradition that someone brings a wine bag and carries it around the campfire so everyone can slap it and drink from it. Okay. I know that one. I've done that one. Oh my God. Slap in the bag. Done it many a time. times. Fronzia. Barely survived to tell the tale. Fronsia gave the worst hangovers. Use our code NPAD.

Oh my God, please. Save yourselves. Don't do that. What is, what am I looking up? I'm getting distracted. There's something exploding outside. We're talking about difficult memories. You're looking up Rage Cage. Oh, yeah. Rage Cage drinking game.

Oh, okay, wait. Rage Cage is a party drinking game where players can compete. to sink a ping pong ball into an empty cup while standing across the table. The game ends when the last cup is emptied. It's similar to games like Flip Cup and chandeliers. What? And then there's like, wait, I'm confused. I've never heard it called Rage Cage.

But it's not root. Rage Cage also called Slap Cup. We're beyond this. We don't even really need to know because of- We will never be in a situation where we have to play this. Yeah. Don't worry. Let's move on.

I'm pretty confident. side note i was taking acutane at the time and anyone who has taken that medication knows where this is going acutane is for acne but is highly encouraged not to drink while on it because it is so hard on your liver i took this advice very seriously but this particular weekend i said fuck it and i drank a lot at some point in the night most of the group is sitting around the campfire including myself when I decide I need to throw up. I walked behind my car so no one could see me throw up. Remember, Sheila is my safe space.

I figured it would be a quick, puke and rally situation, but I was so wrong. I threw up a lot and felt awful. Eventually, people realized I had been gone for a while and came to investigate. I assured them I was fine and I will go to bed when I'm done. Thankfully, I have good friends, and they made sure I had water and had someone to stay with me until I went to bed. That lucky person happened to be the guy I was sort of seeing at the time.

We had gone out on a few dates, but I was moving to Utah soon and he was in Phoenix, so we didn't really know what we were doing. Mostly I was the problem and was really hesitant about committing. Well, he decided this was the perfect time to have a private and serious conversation about our status and figure our shit out. Were we going to give this a real shot? Were we going to try long distance when I left? So imagine this. I am on my hands and knees with my forehead to the ground, because I feel so miserable, having a serious conversation with this guy who is sitting on the ground

next to me and every 10 minutes or so, I say, sorry, I need to go throw up real quick and I crawl about 5 to 10 feet away from him to do just that. This goes on for about an hour and by the end of it, I am completely sober. This is when I remembered the acutane and decided that's why I was having the reaction I was. I had never been so sick from alcohol before and thrown up so much. As for the guy making sure I didn't die. By the end of our conversation, he actually put his foot down and said, if I couldn't figure out what I wanted, then he was done waiting for me. It was super fair for him to feel that way, but was also not the best timing, considering I was at my absolute worst that night. I ended up reaching out to him a week later, asking to talk again. You know, when I wasn't throwing

up, near death, and he agreed. Turns out he's a real trooper and a good listener and is now my boyfriend. Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed that Sunday morning since my friends had never seen me so sick before. Another girl in our group apparently stepped in my throw-up at some point in the night and was relentlessly made fun of that day. Oops. I also had to drive the two and a half hours back to Flagstaff without being able to shower, so I was covered in dirt and smelling pretty rank. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my tail. I attached some pictures of the beautiful scenery from that weekend and Sheila the Subaru. And also a demonstration of drinking out of a wine bag. I love your podcast and recommend it endlessly to everyone. I've even bought some

books you've used for research or that were written by your guests on the show. Thank you for all the work you do. I can't wait for future episodes. Enjoy the view, but watch where you step. There might be some girls throw up on the ground. Alexa. That gave me so many flashbacks. Yeah.

Alexa, we've all been there. And also, I know he's your boyfriend now, but like read the room, you know? Yeah. Now is not the time. Who can have a serious conversation when you're that drunk also? Unless he was also pretty drunk, that he was also drinking, is my assumption. The amount of like, quote unquote, serious conversations I've probably had in similar states is so embarrassing. I remember in college, every person that I was like kind of seeing or dating at the time would always tell me that they loved me when they were really drunk.

And me as a college girl afraid of commitment was always like, you're just drunk? get away from me and then would never bring it up again be like i didn't hear you say that but then every time i i just remember it was like college drunkenness i know i'm amazing please please i know i'm amazing in my mess of a drunk state right now but please hold hold your emotions in i know oh my god i've said so much i'm so happy that like we were just before the kind of wildfires that social media turned into. Like we had Instagram and Facebook and stuff. Yeah. And clearly we'll still get, you know, the like 10 years ago today and Facebook and it's like some weird ass post or like I don't know because our generation, yeah, we had weird statuses and our generation always carried

the cool pics cameras out. But I'm saying we like we could at least, yeah, we made some decisions of like, okay, I'm going to physically upload these pictures from this camera onto this platform. form. It wasn't an instantaneous like Snapchat in the moment. We did have Snapchat. We're not that old. In college? Yeah, I had I snapchatted all the time in college. Okay, I was not of the people, I guess. I don't know. I snapped out of the time in college. In 2009? You had Snapchat. In 2012 and 2013, I definitely had Snapchat. Okay, but that's like the end. That was the end of our era. Junior and senior year are still the era. Oh my God. I'm just saying, well, all I'm saying is is I am so happy that we graduated when we did and I had my Slop Khabab era before now.

That's all I'm trying to say. I guess I think that that's a fair statement, but also we were in the era where we took our cool pics cameras out and we didn't filter through for the cute photos. Your friend just uploaded every single picture that they had taken that night into an album that they labeled TikTok on the clock, Kesha. and put 700 pictures. There was no, like, oh, do you like this one? There was no, no filters, no approval.

And no one even looked at them either. It's just like, this is what we did last night. And then there's a million pictures of you doing, God knows what. All of my, like, I do still have a Facebook technically, but I never, ever use it. If I was to get locked out or logged out for some reason, I would never be able to get back in because I don't know what my password is. I don't want it. It's just like automatically, you know, set up. In there, yeah.

All of those albums are still in existence, but they're just private. Same. I did the exact same thing. Yeah. And my tag photos you can't see because there's just no reason to see them. No. No. Okay.

Let's move on. I'm embarrassed. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistency. 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 first story is titled The Creepy Shadowy Man in the Alley. Oh, okay. Yeah, different. We're in a different thing. Very different. Hi there, Danielle and Cassie. My name is Sean Elise, and I wrote in once before for about a possible cryptid I saw, well, actually drove right over while heading to a hockey game. I am actually the one who recommended the book Ruthless River in the Patreon Discord. Oh, nice. Thank you. I love doing that story. Yeah, that was a really cool story. I've been a long time listener, and like many others have laughed with you, cried a little, okay, well, maybe a lot, healed some, grew, and learned a ton. Whenever my friends ask what I listen to, I always recommend NPAD first and

then tooth and claw. Ha! Take that bullet. always just kidding we love you i just wanted to thank you again for all the work you do and you two have such an amazing gift for telling real life stories i am just going to jump in to my story i grew up in northern minnesota near the boundary waters about two hours north of deluth on a chain of lakes in a region called the iron range it's very secluded and has that small town charm where everyone knows everyone when i was pretty young my parents kept our camper parked on the side of our garage facing into endless wilderness. It was a pretty small camper, not quite a pop-up, but in Jeff Larson's terms of measurement, about half a bus from trailer hitch to the back of the wheel wells.

That is a standard form of measurement he uses. It was secondhand bought from a nice elderly couple, and me and my two siblings were more than stoked when my parents bought it. That meant no more roughing it intense when we were on our family camping trips. Goodbye humidity and mosquitoes. Hello, A.C. unit. We didn't even have an AC in our house because up north our summers are very short and very mild. So naturally, we begged our parents to let us sleep in the camper when it was parked outside of our house so we could sleep in the AC. It wasn't that it was necessary. It just felt like a luxury that we had to utilize. My sister and I would have our friends sleep over in this camper, but for most of the summer, my brother and his friends got to stay in there since they were boys and they were older. We would watch movies and eat popcorn, make lots of prank calls, this was the early 2000s, stay up really late, play board games, gossip, and of course, we told lots of scary stories. Needless to say, this camper became a huge topic of argumentation. We would fight over who would get to stay in there, and being the youngest, I got left out a lot. I mean, no one wants their annoying little sister crashing the party. However, I actually got

to sleep in there alone on my days since my siblings got it way more often, and I didn't have as many friends as they did. I really didn't mind the solitude. It actually transatlge. It actually translated into my adult life. I prefer, even back then, to read my books and hang out in nature alone. I was 12 years old the first summer they decided they were going to let me sleep out there by myself. I was beyond ecstatic. I took multiple trips from our bedroom to the camper, bringing all of my comforts in there to make it the perfect refuge. I carried my big pillow in, next to my bowl of snacks, a water cup, some movies, a couple books, drawing pads,

just lots and lots of trips back and forth. The sun was going down, and with my sanctified. complete. I just had to go inside to use the restroom and I should be set for the night. This sounds so fun, by the way. Yeah, it sounds really cool. Another nostalgia thing, a little bit for me in a better way and less embarrassing way. My neighbors growing up had a 1970s-ish VW camper van and it too was parked in their driveway and me and their children who were a little bit younger than me, but we would always go out there and do almost the same exact thing. Just like hang out in there and just like gossip and do like little fun things. Yeah. Yeah. My childhood best friend, she had a little

camper that she would put. It was always in her driveway, but her parents would set it up for us to sleep in there at night and they'd bring us like popcorn and like. It's the ultimate fort, you know. It is, it is the ultimate fort. And there were no electronics back. then that you would use so it was just you brought games and snacks and you just hung out outside and it was really fun on my way back out i had to pass the alleyway like i had done about seven to ten times earlier it was actually a bit of a walk from our house side door past the garage and towards the entry of the woods where the camper stays parked in the distance a single street light flicked on and off on occasion nothing i wasn't accustomed to the alley only went up about 300 feet to a couple more houses

at its end. Where they sat was surrounded by the end of the woods as well. So other than a few neighbors up there, it's just wilderness. We do have black bear, white-tailed deer, silver fox, moose, bobcats, lynx, occasionally some cougars, coyotes, timber wolves, red fox. List goes on and on. But I was raised by a proper woodsman, so nothing scared me. Or so I thought. I felt very confident in what to do in a situation where I ran into one or a number of those critters. Luckily, I'd run into a bear from a distance and they'd scare themselves off most of the time. And I had seen wolves while in the deer stand, but that is such a treat. As I was passing the alley, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and a metallic pulse shot through my body. I froze. My camper was maybe 80 feet ahead of me,

and my house was about 100 feet behind me. I wasn't carrying a flashlight. I was mostly covered by darkness. The only light was coming from the dim, flickering street light halfway up the alley. I felt my breath slow and my ears become ultra-sensitive to sound. I was being watched. I could feel it. I could scream, I thought, and my dad would probably hear me. For some reason, I just stayed frozen. My mouth wouldn't move. It took all of my strength to use my peripheral vision to peek up the alley. Through the soft, yellow hue of the street light, I saw the outline of a man slowly walking towards me. I couldn't make out a single feature. He was just a dark, shadowy figure from where I stood. His pace was very eerie and life-like. Is this real? And if I could just get myself to turn around, I could just run. I don't think

he would catch up to me before I got to the side of the door, yet I still didn't move. I stayed completely still. He didn't make a sound as step by step by step he inched closer and closer. I didn't have any thoughts now. Strictly fear pulsing through me. I wasn't thinking about the consequences. My primal instincts completely took over and for some reason mine were forcing me. to be a statue. Like what the frick kind of survival mechanism is that? Now he was only about 100 feet away, then 80, 50, 20. And before I knew it, when my heart was about to explode out of my body, he grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me. Shauna, I didn't flinch, I finally unfroze and my thoughts finally came back into my head. I was able to look at his face, and it was my 16-year-old brother playing a

prank on me. But suddenly it wasn't a prank to either of us. He looked more worried than I did, while I just stared at him blankly waiting for my brain to reboot itself. He said, why didn't you run? I was just trying to scare you a little. What if I was somebody else? My mouth was really dry, but I managed to finally let out a nervous laugh and stupidly told him, I knew it was you. Huh, that's why I didn't run.

To this day, we haven't talked about it. I actually fell through the ice that winter while ice fishing with my dad, and again, I didn't scream for help. I somehow pulled myself out and limped my way back to my dad, soaking wet, and literally frozen in fear. But that's a whole different story. I have somewhat learned how to act appropriately in a survival situation. I moved out to Hawaii for nearly five years, then to Germany for two, and then to England for a year of study before landing in Tennessee for now. I've traveled through many states and countries by myself, and I want to one day through hike the AT. Listening to NPAID

inspires me weekly and reminds me to always enjoy the view, but watch out for scary older brothers, because you never know who's really lurking behind the shadows. Well, I'm really glad it was your brother. Yeah, I know it. Also, you can't be hard on yourself on how you react in fear. You know, everyone reacts differently, fight or flight, you know, and... Or freeze. Or freeze is a common reaction among not just humans.

Animals do it too. If you look at mice, if a mouse is caught by a cat, they freeze because they think that if they don't move, then they'll leave them alone. Oh, I was thinking of goats. Were they just like freeze and faint? Oh, yeah. Yeah, those two. Yeah, there's like, they've survived all this time.

Yeah, they're doing great. You're fine. Yeah, I just thought it was, it kind of just, it sparked kind of like this memory of, and maybe a question of pranks that you have either done or have had done to you, sibling-wise because they're always the worst. Sibling pranks are always the worst. I don't know if I had pranks from my siblings or my brother. I have a twin brother.

It wasn't really a prank. It was just straight out torture. Me. Yeah, torture. Like I remember he invited me into his room one time. I was like, come play. And I was like, okay. And I walk in the room.

And he was in there with my cousin. and they had both duct taped together a bunch of like plastic toys they had together and swords and whatever and they're like, okay, we're here, you're here and we're going to kill you. And then they started chasing me around and hitting me with swords. Okay. I'll reverse this. So I don't think that's a, I don't think that's a prank. It's just violence.

Well, I'll tell you something. And I'm the aggressor. Okay. Also not a prank. More torture. When I was young. Oh, so my sister, Alyssa, I have a half-sister, and she's six years younger than me. And for a time, I was her babysitter.

You know, like if my mom and stepdad went out, like, I would watch her. And I was also a child. This was the, you know, 90s, early 2000s. And I vividly remember, and we talk about it all the time and laugh about it now. But I vividly remember doing, I would be like, this is a game, it's a game. And I would blindfold her. and I would make her taste test like certain things and like be like guess what guess what I'm feeding you type of thing. But it wasn't nice.

I literally remember feeding her cat treats. Dog food, dry, not like wet animal food. That's a little much, but still kind of gross. Squirting like lemon juice in her mouth. And I'm like, to be fair, I'm like. I'm like 12 or 13 years old, so she's like six or seven. And I would, sometimes she would like. What are older sisters for?

Right. And sometimes she would like cry. And I'd be like, come on, get it together. Like this, you're fine. Like, you're okay. Nothing's happening to you. And half out of fear that like she would tell my parents when I got home. of like I'm like no you're fine

You're gaslighting her into totally This is normal all big sisters do this Yeah Like do you want to build character or not You know Like do you want to be funny when you grow up from trauma or no Right Or nah so and she's fine

She's great now so I She's hilarious I can think of one like prank I guess that I did But this was a it wasn't a frequent thing And I remember doing it one time one time only. And I was to my brother, and I still feel bad about it a little bit. We were like, we would drink out of the hose. And he came over and he was like, oh, what do I do? Like, how do I drink out of the hose? And we're like, oh, just put your mouth on it. So he put

his mouth on the hose and then I turned it on full blast and a bunch of water came out of his nose and his mouth. And he, yeah, I still feel bad about it. That's the gentlest prank, I think, ever. And he tried to kill you with plastic toys. I think you're fine. That's true. You did do that. You're like, and then I tried to drown him, so. Yeah, I was the only girl in my family. So I grew up around all boys and I had to learn to be tough. Yeah, you got to keep up.

Yeah. All right, you go now. Oh, it's my turn. Yeah. Yeah. We could just stare at each other for a while, too. We could. Although people listening will just hear silence.

Yeah. Just know that we're watching will just see us. Looking into each other's eyes, wondering what to do next. Well, that's to tell a story. So my next story is titled Geocaching Adventures that Didn't Go To Plan. Hi, Danielle and Cassie. I live in Montana and haven't been to many national parks, but enjoy rock hounding and being outside in general. I found your guys' podcast from a coworker and have been binge listening for a year when I'm going to work or driving in general and don't want to listen to music.

I love the information you guys share, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and enjoy hearing you guys laugh and your side stories or tangents you guys go on during the episodes. I work in a dermatology office, so here's the reminder to wear sunscreen, wear a hat if you can, and also try to use UPF clothing. Also get your moles, concerning spots, spots that aren't healing, or family history of skin cancers to be checked by a dermatologist. Even if you think it's probably nothing, we would much rather give you peace of mind and catch skin cancers, basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell, carcinoma and melanoma,

early, so treatment won't have to be a big surgery. I love that as a skincare queen myself. Thank you for that PSA to everybody. Yeah, so timely also because last night, my algorithm. And by, I don't know, like, if Instagram Reels truly has an algorithm or not, I'm not sure. I got rid of TikTok and now we'll never have it again because of the whole thing. Like, I legitimately can't get it back. Since you can't download it anymore.

But on Reels, I got this random. It had like 500,000 likes on it. And it was this guy basically, like, quote unquote, whistleblowing about how sunscreen is like a hoax. Or not a hoax, but like unnecessary because ever since sunscreen started becoming widely available, so too, did the rate of skin cancers increase? Like, he was trying to say that, like, there's a correlation between a rise in skin cancer in conjunction with people wearing sunscreen. and how, or cancers, different types of cancers, I should say, because of the chemicals and sunscreen. But like, but also he left out a lot. There's a lot of holes in that, clearly. Well, the first hole I can think of is sunscreen hasn't always existed. And the science to study skin cancers hasn't always existed.

So just because we have sunscreen now and the ability to measure and track skin cancers in people in cancer in general doesn't mean they're correlated. Correct. And trust me, it was. like there was so much attention on it in favor of him. Like there was a lot of arguments and people are just like what like what is this? But it was just so concerning that like I do think that there's something to be said about the type of sunscreen you use and I think for sure should do their research on that for sure because there is better quality ones and there's more natural ones and but sunscreen's important and it is very much proven that the sun causes skin cancer that's not to be debated that is a fact. Yeah, tell it to that guy. Pipe in.

And anyway, like the sun ages you. Put some sunscreen on. Right. Cassie's on a quest to be young forever. Age backwards. Right, right, right. Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Okay, this isn't a sunscreen thing. But I just appreciate it. Right, yeah, truly. You're speaking to my heart. Okay. And I wrote in really big letters.

Anyway, Billings is a city in Montana where the closest national parks are glacier and Yellowstone. We have a bunch of state parks in national monuments, such as pictograph, cave state park, Lake Elmo State Park, and much more. This story takes place on a trail in Billings called Skyland Trail, which is seven miles long and goes from Zimmerman Park to Swords Park. Locals just call this place the rims and can see the beautiful valley that Billings sits in and the beautiful rocky mountains that are far in the distance. In May of 2020, I know, dark times. I had been talking to this guy for over two months before we met in person. For our second date, we went to the rims to go geocaching. We were having fun seeing the geocashes,

but he kept trying to find one he swore he saw on the app the other day, but it was nowhere to be found. I found out later that he had actually come up there two days earlier and put a note in that geocash that we couldn't find asking me to be his girlfriend. He told me the note went along the lines of, Quote, I have had such a fun time getting to know you and spending time with you. I would like to take the next step and ask you to be my girlfriend. Dated May of 2020.

P.S. If someone finds this note years later, that means she said no. I was shocked, to say the least. That was the sweetest thing someone had ever done for me at the time and my heart melted. He has now done so many wonderful things for me and I'm so grateful. We started dating that same day anyway, but it is a funny memory that we share. We have now been together for five years this May, 2025, and we still haven't found that geocash. I think it's a beautiful memory in the outdoors with the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, and I hope it made you both smile.

Thank you guys for everything you have been and are still doing for this beautiful community. Enjoy the view, but if you're going to ask someone to be your boyfriend or girlfriend, do not put the note in a geocash. Love you guys, Paige. That melts my heart, too. It's a really sweet gesture. Also, because, like, I don't know, maybe I'm just out of touch or out of the game for so long. But is that something that, like, do you have that, like, formality of, like, will you be my significant other?

I think people still do it. Just for clarity purposes, I'm sure. Right? Not all the time. I think a lot of people just, like, slowly fade into it and assume. But, and Al and I don't have a cute story like this, but we had been dating for a long time. And one day we did have a conversation like, hey, where is this going? And what are we doing?

Right. And we want to make sure. But we were long. Yeah. And we were a long distance. So we were kind of like, okay. So one of us either has to move or we should probably like go our several ways if we're not going to ever live in the same state. Why not?

Then we keep it interesting. thing. Just stay. We've been dating for seven years and it's been long distance. We see each other twice a year. And those two times a year are fire. Are great. And then I'm independent. I mean, teach their own. I don't judge whatever relationship works for you. But I do think it is common practice to have some type of conversation at some point. If you are interested in pursuing, If someone is not interested in pursuing it further, I think people avoid it for a really long time. Yeah. Like intentionally.

Until it blows up and everyone explodes. Okay. Well, that's a really cool. Like, that's a very forward way of being like that I'm, there is no ambiguity or guessing. It's just like this person's really interested. And it's a cool way to just really state your purpose and show your interest and commitment. I think that's really sweet. Once again, it's never happened to me.

But, all right. Your episode this month or last month, if he wanted to, he would. Yeah, on Patreon. Here we go. And it's true. That guy, he wrote a bicycle from India to Sweden for the girl he loved. So if he wanted to, he would. That's right.

Okay, my next story is titled Fight or Flight and a Mother's Intuition. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I'm a new listener and have been binging your podcast for a couple of months now. Shout out to my hairstylist for sharing this podcast with me. She's in San Antonio and I won't share her name, but she will know who she is. My trail tale takes place at my childhood home. It was spring break 1992 and I was home from college for the week while my parents were away in Florida on a business trip. Home for me was on 140 acres in a rural area outside of San Antonio. My neighbors also lived on homesteads surrounded by lots of acreage, so there are no neighborhoods in the area.

Our place had a small lake slash large pond that was home to many fish and was the perfect watering hole for the native wildlife of deer, coyote, bobcats, badgers, raccoon skunks, birds, and rumor has it, mountain lions, albeit I never had seen one. On this particular day, my sister and I were home alone, but I needed to travel to San Antonio to do some shopping for a new suit that I would need for upcoming job interviews. I gathered my purse and headed out the front door. For context, when we were going out the front door, you step onto a covered port. About two to three feet to the left is a set of windows on the side of the house. The top of the windows reach close to the top of the covered roof and the bottom consists of a rock ledge that sits about a foot from the ground. Straight ahead is a walkway that leads to the circular driveway where my car was parked and to the right is the rest of the long covered front porch. Our family dogs love to hover around the parked cars and this day was no different. As I stepped onto the porch, they noticed me and proceeded to make their way to greet me.

While my eyes were focused on them approaching me, something caught my eye to the left, the side of the house with the windows. I turned to look to see what it was, and when I did, I was face to face with the head of a snake. I mean, his head was less than a foot away and about shoulder level to me. I looked him dead in the eyes, but immediately my fight or flight response kicked in, and I leaped diagonally to my right and cleared the front of the porch and into the yard in what seemed to be the smallest measurable amount of time possible. I mean, I think I may have moved faster than Usain Bolt. Before my feet even landed on the ground, I heard the buzzing, and I immediately knew that it was a rattlesnake. I continued to run in the grass along the front of the porch and then back around to the side of the house. For whatever reason, I banged on my sister's window and shouted help and then continued to the back porch where I retreated safely into the house.

By then, my sister had come running out of the room and asked me what was wrong. I could barely speak but told her about the snake. We made our way to the front door and peeked through the glass panels, and there it was, curled up on the window ledge. He was about three feet long, and it was then that I realized he had probably been perched on the rock window ledge, about a foot from the ground, and when I stepped out, I must have startled him, and he did what his instinct told him to do, which was strike. I cringe when I think about this, because it means he must have hit a full strike for his head to be as close to my shoulders, and I would guess he had probably even got even closer before I turned to see him. At about this time, the phone rang.

Yes, the phone on the wall. It's 1992, remember? When I answered, I heard my mother's voice ask, what's the matter? When I explained what had happened, she proceeded to tell me that she and my dad were in a business meeting with some attorneys, but she stood up and told my dad she had to call the kids. Incredible. A mother's intuition is no joke. The next part of the story is actually pretty sad.

My boyfriend at the time, now husband, was at work and not near our home, nor were either. of my brothers so I had to call his brother my now brother-in-law to come and take care of it believe it or not I felt so bad that this had to be done but none of us could attempt to remove the snake safely so my brother-in-law who was only about 18 at the time had to shoot it some people may not care about snakes but I have a tender heart for all living things even spiders who I will willingly ignore or catch and release if they are in my house I had lived in my childhood home for 16 years at that time and my parents still live there to this day That was the only rattlesnake I ever saw.

However, I can't help but believe there had to be numerous times that snakes could have been near wherever my siblings and I were out exploring nature, but they chose to stay silent, not seeing us as prey nor a threat. I have since seen documentaries that say that snakes really want to avoid humans, and they say that most rattlesnakes bite human victims who are deliberately messing with them. I'll never forget that day. I'm grateful that my fight or flight response kicked in, and I'm still amazed at my mother's intuition. I hope you enjoy the story and if you share it, thank you.

Enjoy the view, but watch your back and listen to your instincts. Take care, Shannon. It's really interesting that their mom called. Just in this like, hey, are you okay? Middle of the meeting. Just like, I have to go call the kids really quick. Yeah. I don't know if I've ever had any sort of. Actually, oh my God, I'm not a mom for the record. But I did have when we were in Alaska, our second trip in Alaska, our group trip, and we were hiking, and I was just like side by side with our guide at the time. And I had this overwhelming thought of my uncle Vincent. And me and my uncle Vincent are not close at all. Like I see him maybe once a year, like at the family Christmas party for two hours.

And I just like had this biggest, like I was just thinking of him so hard. And I was thinking like, am I picking up? on like an uncle energy or something, maybe from her or like what is going on here. And I just kind of brushed it off. And I ended up asking her about it later just to confirm. And she was like, I don't know. Like nothing's going on with my uncle. And so I was like, oh, weird. Like, and I just kind of wrote it off. And when I got home, my mom was like, oh, when you were in Alaska, my brother, Vincent, was hospitalized and almost died because he got bit by a venomous spider. Isn't that crazy? That's intuition. Yeah. That's. Intuition. Yeah. That's.

That is crazy. And I was just, it was so, I don't know if it was the exact moment or anything, but come on. Like that's not a coincidence. Yeah. Yeah, that's not a coincidence. So it's kind of like Danielle's intuition, not. Yeah. Yeah.

So maybe if I'm a mom ever, which I won't be. You'll have it. But I'll have it. Yeah. But you would have it. Yeah, I know my mom when I've had stuff going on with me, she can feel it. She knows that something's wrong. And if I'm like, and then when I come to her and I'm like, hey, this happened, she's like, I knew

something was wrong. I knew it. And it'll be even if I haven't talked to her, haven't seen her. And I just come to the house or something. And I'm like, hey, this happened. She's like, I knew. I knew something was up. There's something about it.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. My next story is titled, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Work. Hello, I'm a huge fan of the podcast. I listen to it whenever I am in my car, cleaning or outwalking. I love laughing, crying, and learning from you both. Thank you for the.

many hours of entertainment and for being brave enough to share so much of yourselves with your audience. I am not sure if this rises to the level of a trail tale, but I wanted to send you a note about what happened to me on my way to work this week. Since I was a teen, I have believed in past lives. The belief stems from a visit to Fort Ontario with my family when I was probably around 14 or so. I immediately felt a huge sense of familiarity to the place and I am convinced that I either lived or spent a lot of time there. Even as I write this, I think that I sound sort of nuts, but I can't explain how familiar the place felt. I live in northeastern Pennsylvania and grew up in a rural environment, just trees, no forts. For the past 20 years, I have lived in the suburbs of

Scranton, Pennsylvania, and there is no reason for that place to feel familiar to me. In 2019, it happened again, but this time it was a new place. I was lucky enough to chaperone a trip with my daughter's choir to Italy. It was amazing. We were all over the country. It was when we got to Rome, however, that I experienced a profound sense of belonging. I felt like I had come home. I don't know how else to explain it. I should have been a stressed out, fish out of water trying to chaperone teenagers in a major international metropolitan city. But I felt so comfortable and so relieved to be there. The reason I mentioned all of this is that I was thinking about this when I was driving to work this week, thinking about making

changes in my life. And just like that, the thought popped into my head that I really wanted to go home. But not my home where I live now. I wanted to go to Rome. Ha, that rhymes. Sorry, ADHD. And then I turned on your podcast and started listening to episode 224 mystery mashup. Danielle, can I just say that I almost got into an accident when you shared the story of Dorothy Eadie? Needless to say, I felt validated. I hope you enjoyed my little story. Thank you so much for doing what you do. you are often the best part of my day. Oh, that's nice. That whole story I was thinking of Dorothy Eadie. Like, this sounds so familiar to that story that you told of reincarnation and how she felt so connected to Egypt. And it just reminded me of that the whole time. They were writing it. So, yeah,

I agree. Yeah. And what are the odds? I mean, that's the only time we've ever done any type of story like that. Yeah. You know, and I love past life stories and connections. And just because I've struggled with this my whole life of like never feeling at home you know like where is home and I think it's because I'm not I know my soul knows that I'm not from here and I'm just continuously searching for somewhere that like I'm trying to find home but like home doesn't exist here for me and like I know that on a deep level and that's the that's deep and some people probably don't are like okay this house is nuts but that's my take so I like totally get the when you know you know and you're drawn to certain places and I definitely am a believer in reincarnation in that we've done all this before and there's a reason why you feel better in certain locations on on the planet versus others and even if you you rationally don't understand why like there is some sort of reason so I am on board with that whole thing maybe you'll find yourself in Antarctica I really hope not I'm really I'm home

I made it. This is where my soul has been searching. You better hope not either because this podcast won't continue. That's true. That would be really hard to do this podcast if you live in Antarctica. Yeah. It's not impossible, but it would definitely be a challenge. Yeah. I think I don't know what the Wi-Fi is like down there. So I would have to send it via satellite. I'd be pretty impossible at a research station. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. My last story is titled Signs, Visitations, and cats. Hi ladies, my name is Kat. I'm a long-time listener, first-time writer. I probably don't have to justify my love of animals to you, being fellow vet-med girlies, but let's just say that my therapist thinks I'm a bit on the autistic side and, coupled with some childhood trauma, I have a

really hard time connecting with people. I make very deep connections with my pets, though, and have always had a small zoo. Well, 15 years ago, a scraggly, orange, sickly, feral kitten fell into my lap was foisted really by a shelter volunteer who was trying so hard to get this pissy, terrified baby a home. I fell head over heels in love the moment I held him even though he stared up at me in horror through URI-crusted eyes. He was just an awful little thing. Your typical feral kitten, you know the type. I named him Vertigo for the thin, mangy, scraggly coat that stuck up at all angles. Over the years, Vertigo grew into my very best friend. He didn't like other people to the point of only tolerating my long-term fiancé, turned wife halfway through Vertico's life,

and for the last year or two of his life, but he was my sole cat through and through. He got me through all of my rough patches, my 20s, moving across the country, and so much more. Vertigo was about 16 pounds at a body score of 5 out of 9, which is great for everybody else who doesn't know what that means. Yeah, perfect. He had huge feet and grew a thick, orange double coat. He was a really beautiful cat. People used to ask me if he was a Maine Coon and he loved the snow.

He was an indoor boy, but I leech trained him and every winter we would go out and play in the snow. I have many a photo of him frolicing and leaving paw prints in the snow. It's the only time he ever wanted to be outside. Fast forward 13 years. Out of nowhere, one winter day, he had a respiratory distress episode and a collapsed lung. It happened so fast. He went from vibrant, happy, pawing at the window asking to play in the snow, to oxenobes. Cage dependent the next day to emergency euthanasia two days later.

My heart was utterly broken. I had had him since I was 17 and freshly moved away from my toxic family. He was everything to me. Grief does not begin to describe what I felt. My wife and I packed up our other pets and moved because I just couldn't stand to be in the apartment where such a tragic event had occurred. Two years later, after much debate, we decided to bring a puppy into our little family. I wanted a German shepherd.

I wanted an intact male so that he grew healthy and strong, but young, so that I could socialize him and train him the way I wanted to. I had very specific criteria for my future puppy. After months, I applied to a very specific German Shackbird rescue. They proceeded to dick me around for two months until the puppy I was trying to adopt was no longer a little five-month-old puppy, but was actually getting closer to eight months, and then they tried to drag things out some more. My wife and I were both feeling frustrated and downhearted. a vet tech and she's a computer engineer. The only thing that might have kept us from being an immediate candidate was that we didn't have a house, which was already stated as not a disqualification per the

adoption paperwork. And it was just a really shitty feeling overall. Throughout those two or so months, I began having little visitations, a cat-sized shadow in the corner of my eye ambling through the kitchen, or wait hopping up onto the foot of the bed at night when he thought my wife was asleep enough to not wake up when he wanted snuggles. I told my wife that I thought Vertico was trying to tell us something. With the stress and frustration of the puppy thing and the fresh grief of suddenly seeing my dead cat again, I decided I needed some nature therapy. We went camping on the beautiful Oregon coast. It was a six or so hour drive and a totally random place that I chose on a map because it looked stunning and it was. It was exactly what I needed. While we were there, my phone

somehow got a tiny signal for exactly enough time for an alert to come through. The website I had been using to search for adoptable puppies pinged that another dog matching most of my criteria became available in that random area where I had chosen to camp. It popped up with a photo of a scraggly, terrified, dirty orange shepherd mix. And my heart stopped. That was my puppy. I just knew it. We brought her home on our way out of Oregon after our camping trip. Four other people looked at her before us and they all passed on her because of how terrified she was. But if a feral kitten didn't scare me, Neither was a semi-feral, 14-week-old, 28-pound puppy. Here we are, eight months later, and Addie, short for ATV,

because she's truly an all-terrain, dirt, water, swamp, mountain-loven vehicle of a dog, is my very best friend. Her and Vertigo would have so much in common, from their coloring and origin story, to their love of snow and bonding with me and no one else. They're both goofy, in the same ways, love the same kind of toys and the same blanket, and Addie even tries to climb into the refrigerator every once.

in a while, a trademark vertigo shenanigan. Last night, I had a horrible dream about vertigo. A lot in my life is in flux right now, some good, some bad, but I woke up with a sore heart and needed some nature therapy. I chose a tiny little trail about 45 minutes from where I live, the kind of trail that I never would have chosen on any other day. I'm used to six to 12 mile hikes, not one mile with no elevation but something about it kept grabbing my attention and i knew it would have snow this time of year so i packed up addie and we went hiking there was fresh powder from the night before and not a single car or boot track in sight we had the whole trail to ourselves and it was a beautiful below freezing but sunny day the moment we hit the trailhead however one set of prints appeared cat prints not other

people tracks or dog prints or even wildlife tracks this kitty for whatever reason decided to walk on this little one-mile trail from start to finish earlier this morning. Addy and I followed his little footprints in the snow the whole way and it truly felt like Vertigo was walking in the snow with us right on cue right when I needed him. It felt like he was reminding me that he's still here and that he sent Addie to me. Sometimes our loved ones send us signs after they're gone, even if they're not people. Enjoy the view, but watch your trail for the sign you need. Love you ladies, keep up the magical work. Kat and Addy and maybe vertigo too that was such a sweet story i love that so much my heart like i almost lost it there at the very end um

but yeah god just so wholesome and ups and downs and just really a beautiful uh a beautiful trail tale thank you so much for sending it in and just like everything came together so nice and um cat did send pictures of vertico of addie and of the little paw prints in the snow. That's really cute. So I'll post them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I truly think that your animals find you at the time that you need them. And I think every pet, I say pet, but I think that that's such a small word for such a big person in your life. But any pets that you have that come into your life, I really think that they're there for a reason and certain ones find you for a reason too. Yeah. Or you find them for a reason. Or you find each other.

Yes. Amazing. Well, thank you, everyone, for tuning in to this week's trail tale. If you have one that you would like to write into us, you can go onto our website, NPADPodcast.com. And there is a submission link on there. We love to read them and put them on the show. So please continue to write into us. If you are not ready to be done with this episode and you would like to hear some more trail tales,

we have good news for you because on Patreon and Apple subscriptions, we have two more that we will be reading today that you can check out for some bonus content. And mine is titled Saved by a Ghost. And mine is titled A Sign from a Loved One. I'm on the Sign Kick. Sorry. Yeah, you are. All right. Well, we'll see you all next time. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch you're back.

Bye, everyone. 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 npaddipodcast.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.

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