National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 84

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Today’s stories include pizza in Zion, getting stalked, mule saviors, mysterious trapezoids, and pooping lake water. 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! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

Limitless. Now open your eyes. Go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally. Breathe. Expedia and Visit Scotland invite you to come step into centuries of history that await in Scotland. Castle Steepton legend, walk along cobblestone streets. Come share the warmth of stories passed down through generations. This is a place with a past that is fully present today and all yours to explore.

Plan your Scottish escape today at Expedia.com slash Visit Scotland. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. This is our Trail Tales episode where all of you write into us and tell us your stories out on the trails or wherever. And we're really excited because we have some good ones today. Yeah, I think you should go first. Set the tone. Like, let's just really set the tone. I'm here for it. I am happy to go first because mine is titled Water Where the Sun Should Never Shine. Debatable. I just think of nudists, and I'm like, hmm. It says water. Should never shine. Oh, right, right. Let's just find out what this is. Hi, Cassie and Danielle.

First of all, I love your podcast. You guys keep me company on long car rides, trips to the gym, and even long office work hours. Thank you for all the work you put in and for sharing everyone's trail tales. They are my favorite to listen to. I'm slowly listening to all of your trail tale episodes, and I just heard the call for embarrassing stories, better late than never. right? Sure is. Tell us your embarrassing stories.

I'm begging you. Please. And I did put a little like asterisk at the end after like the third or fourth round of asking for them. I'm like, please. Tell us something that's embarrassing that doesn't involve poop. And people have a really hard time with that because poop is the most embarrassing, arguably.

But we'll find out. My story comes from two and a half years ago in a little lake in West Michigan. One of my best friends, let's call her Sadie, suggested that my boyfriend, Gavin, now husband, and I come up to her cottage for a boating and tubing day with her and her boyfriend, who's now her husband, let's call him Carter. Sadie's dad, let's call him Mike. A lot of name changes here. This must be embarrassing. I know. They must protect identities at all costs.

Like witness protection for this story. Right off the bat. Well, Mike would be driving their speedboat and attempting to destroy us for the better part of the afternoon. Mike is a fun guy with lots of spunk. Sadie once told me that she knew Carter was welcomed into the family when Mike mooned him. Thankfully, I was never welcomed into the family. Gavin and I were so excited to spend a day with another couple. We arrived at the cottage, changed into our suits, and headed towards the boat.

It was at that moment we saw it. We wouldn't be tubing that day. Not exactly. Sadie's family had invested in a sofa tube. If you've ever ridden on one of these, you know the danger that. hold. Though these tubes look like a safe and easy tubing option, they are far from that. I'm sure if you ever had a gentle driver, these sofa tubes could be lots of safe and carefree fun, but not with Mike. Oh, no. I'm picturing a banana boat because that's all other than a classic

tube. I'm picturing an actual sofa. That's a tube. Just being dragged along. I haven't seen any other form of tube other than like a standard get whipped around or a banana boat when you're in like Mexico or the Caribbean or something. There's also, I bet you've seen these because they were really big for a while, the big unicorn or the big swan tubes where it's like a big circle that you can sit on its body, but then there's a giant neck and a swan. Attached to a boat? I don't know if people attach them to boats. Well, that's what I'm talking. Okay. Yeah, the lounging ones. That's what I'm For picturing for this is like a lounging tube that's being used otherwise. Gotcha.

Incorrect use, yeah. Who knows? The four of us mounted the sofa tube and began our descent into Mike's unforgiving water sport desires. The first few turns weren't bad. We screamed and squealed holding on to our significant others. Other boats sped past us, making the waves nice and choppy. Perfect for Mike's deadly desires. As our driver became more comfortable with the wheel, the four of us started to realize what we had

signed up for. Sadie had warned us all that her dad liked to make people fly into the high heavens, but I figured he would relax a little, seeing as we were just kids, and he didn't know Gavin and I very well. Well, I was wrong. I started to panic about halfway through the ride. Laughter turned into nervous yelps, and our hands stopped holding onto each other and started holding the straps of the sofa tube. The waves got bigger. Mike started making sharp returns, and my hands were starting to get sore from holding on. I can be very competitive. I didn't want Mike to win. So I squeezed my hands tighter and held on for dear life. That was until we hit one monstrous wave just right. Everything went into slow motion, scream splashing, and I saw my body getting farther and farther away from the

tube below me. I saw Mike manically laughing at the flying children. It was at this moment I thought, I'm about to meet my creator. We all know a person like this, though. We've all been on the other end of a tube where the person in the front you think that they're just going to send you for like a fun ride, but they want to fuck you up. They want to destroy you. Yeah. It's the angle. That's what Mike is doing. Just as quickly as my body had flown from the tube, it was descending at a frightening speed towards the choppy water.

I felt a smack on my butt and then silence. No screams, no maniacal dad laughter, just me and a weird feeling in my tummy. I resurfaced to hear laughter, cheering, and lots of you good. With a smile and a thumbs up, I climbed into the boat. It wasn't long before that strange tummy gurgling became a bit more urgent. I whispered to Sadie, my stomach really hurts. I feel like I have to poop, but I don't know. If only I had known what was to come.

The cramps continued on, and soon the entire boat, which was not a small number of people, and included my boyfriend, knew of my predicament. We were pretty far from the cottage, so they suggested I'd jump in the water and swim to the little island in the middle of the lake to relieve myself. How embarrassing but okay. The four of us jump in and I decided to do a little test to see what would happen if I tried to relieve myself from the pain while we were under the cover of lake water. I quickly learned that it was not harmless relief and I should certainly wait until we were back at the cottage. I told Sadie I really needed to use a bathroom. After a bumpy and agonizing trip back to the cottage, I ran inside.

So it is about poop. You spoke too soon. Everything comes back to poop. It does. Warning, this is a little bit icky. I sat down on the toilet and realized I couldn't decipher what was happening. I thought I had to poop, but why does it sound like I'm peeing? It's exactly what you're afraid it was. I had landed right on my bum, shooting at least a liter of water into my butt.

The four of us played a board game in the living room as I took incremented breaks to run, not walk, to the toilet. Unlike peeing, you can't control this vowel. movement. All the sudden, it'd be going and I had to boot scoop boogie to the restroom. Did I forget to mention that this room was right next to the living room? Nobody said a word, but I knew they could hear me. I proceeded to release Lakewater 12 times. Gavin and I had been only dating for four months in here I was, taking board game breaks to poop Lakewater. Four months is a trick. It's like... It's the testing point, honestly. It's the testing grounds. You got married. after this. So this wasn't a deterrent, thankfully.

Sometimes you got to poop lake water and that's just life. That's just how it goes. After the appropriate amount of teasing and what felt similar to a juice cleanse, I recovered. Gavin was a gentleman and only teased me a little bit. What a green flag. We stayed together and got married two years later. Thank you all for reading and listening. I hope this brought a little laughter and at the very least a cautionary tale. Don't land booty first. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. There could be a Mike waiting to whip you off the tube and into the high heavens, Bella. You must have landed hard to get that much lake water up there, right?

Yeah, yeah. You must have really been. Up to be some force up there. High heavens. It is right. My first story is titled, face to face with a mountain lion. Dats right into it. I honestly don't think I should be alive right now.

Yesterday I was mountain lion prey. For over 40 minutes, this animal stalked me and charged me three separate times. I can't explain the terror of going from being the one exploring the wild to realize I was the thing being hunted. That's so scary. I know. This is... Okay, hold on. I'll save my thoughts till after.

I had been camping all week in the San Juan National Forest. On September 26th, I decided to hike Hesperus Mountain. Hesperus. I don't know how to say that. sorry. I'd made it to almost 11,154 feet when I stopped to check the weather. That's when I heard rocks tumbling above me. I grabbed my binoculars, scan the slope, but nothing. I threw my pack back on, and that's when Indy growled. I turned around and 15 feet away, a mountain lion was staring right at us that had just come out from under the brush. I locked eyes with it for a split second

before Indy took off after it. I saw the black ring on its tail as it disappeared. I thought it was so rare to see one that I actually thought it was really cool. That moment was very short-lived. I called my dog back, heart racing, and tried to figure out what to do next. I contacted a couple people to say where I was and that I had seen a mountain lion, then got off my phone to save its battery. I knew what that meant. Mountain lions don't just show themselves like that. They stock. They ambush. I pulled out my bear spray, took the safety off. I even did a test spray to know what to expect because I wanted to be ready. But when it did come back, I was not ready at all. It had circled close again without me hearing a single thing.

This time, it was crouched, camouflaged, watching me. My stomach dropped. I yelled through rocks. Do you know how hard it is for me to look big and scary? I looked at my phone, and of course, no signal. I tried to call 911, but it didn't go through. I felt like a hostage and that there was no way I was going to make an escape alive. It got up from its crouched position on the rocks.

and started slowly moving towards me. Okay, and also, I'm going to note there is either a picture or a video attached to this, so I'll post it. And it's legit, like, kind of like on a rock scramble on a slope. So there's no, it's just right there. Yeah, and there's no trying to, it feels like there's nowhere you can really go either. Right. Yeah.

I step forward to spray out and on the ready. It came within 12 feet. beat. I pulled the trigger and instead of a powerful jet, I got a weak, rusty mist that blew right back into my own face. No, you peppers. You bear sprayed yourself while being stocked by a mountain lion. Yes, indeed. Not ideal. No. My lips and lungs burned. My dog flinched. The mountain lion didn't even care. Then Indy chased after it again. My 75 pound German shepherd versus this huge muscular cat. The size difference was sickening. By some miracle, the lion turned and ran again. I pushed forward, keeping high and in the open, always checking behind me. I was walking sideways,

trying not to turn my back on it. I thought maybe we had shaken it off, but when Indy jumped a log and I followed, I turned around and there it was. Five feet away. I am now face to face with this thing. Time shrank to nothing. It was just me that lion's eyes and the hiss it let out as it showed its teeth. I held the trigger down and sprayed like my life depended on it because it did. The hiss, those fangs, those whiskers were so close I could see them twitching. And then as fast as it appeared, it was gone. That was our chance. Indy and I ran like hell until we were back at the car. My lips and lungs still burning and dry from the spray. My pack was heavy and my lungs were out of breath. We covered one and a half miles back on the trail and across a couple

of streams. I cannot describe their relief when I finally saw the parking lot and we got into my car. We walked away unharmed and I don't know how. Going through that kind of interaction with the mountain lion, people are killed or seriously injured and sent to the emergency room. What I do know is that Indy saved me. She didn't hesitate, not once. That dog's bravery is burned into me forever. I keep her playing it, the rocks falling, the massive predator slowly walking towards me, the hiss in my face. I cannot believe we made it out alive. That was a close call for sure. I don't understand why it, I feel like if the dog was not there, it would have been a very different story. I agree. Because there was some hesitation there. Yeah. I also wonder if maybe it had cubs or something nearby. And that was why it was acting the

way it was, because it felt like it was following them for a long time and wanted them to know it was there, which I think is kind of not as normal when they're hunting and stalking as they kind of show up last minute and attack. And their stocking is really quiet. And I know they mentioned that they couldn't hear it and I was very clearly stalking them. But I wonder if it was stalking you because it was falling you to get you out of a certain area. Yeah, that could certainly be it. And I don't know, but in my mind, I always, when I'm thinking of that type of scenario, I think of that viral video of that guy in the canyon in Utah that came across. He's like, what is that? Like he was recording. He's like, what is that? And it was like a little fluff ball, you know, in the trail in front of him.

And he realized it was a mountain lion kitten one second before the mom came out of the brush and fucking like was just on him as he was backing up. But she was so like, yes, she was close and in his face. But she was really aggressive and like very persistent. This is more of like, I'm going to creep up on you and get close to you and then I'm going to go away. And I'm going to creep up on you again and go away. So I don't know. It's like a cat playing with its prey. Yeah.

Well, you're lucky, whoever you are. I couldn't help. And I know that this was a real mountain lion. And I'm not discrediting that I think that you saw a real mountain line. But I couldn't help. But think about a story that I saw yesterday that popped up. And it was like the headline was something along the line. of mountain lion turns out to be, or mountain lion sighting turns out to be an abandoned Frenchie.

What? And it was this dog. People were reporting, it was in California. They were like, there's a mountain lion. I saw a mountain lion. Blah, blah, blah. And it turned out that it was someone had abandoned their Frenchie puppy. And people were reporting a mountain lion.

And then a rescue came in and took the Frenchie. And now it's, I think it's up for adoption. But I don't understand how that ever happened to any. Why? A French bulldog looks nothing like. It doesn't have a tail. I know. I know.

I was like, this is why I can't trust mountain lion sightings. And then you tell me a mountain lion story. But I just was like, I know it's not a Frenchie. I know you get attacked by a Frenchie. We have photographic evidence on this one. We can be rest assured. We can verify.

Yes. Yes. Okay. Whoever thought that needs to brush up on their biology. Yeah. I did meet a bulldog yesterday named an English bulldog named macaroni salad. It was so cute. Wait, weren't we just talking about, oh my God. Also, I thought of, okay, so was this on our bonus episode we were talking about, somebody asked us the weirdest dog names we've heard. No, that was on, er. No, it wasn't. It was on my Christmas episode. Oh, right. Okay, good, good. Okay, so it hit me. Remember I was like, Her Majesty? Her Royal Majesty something.

Yes. Grubius. Came to me. Her Royal Majesty Grubius. She grubius. You're so right. I do remember that. Close the loop on that one.

Yeah. People should really be naming their pets, things like that. And macaroni salad. It's a perfect example. It's a perfect name. Okay. No notes. Please go on.

So good. So good. Everything you want for summer is at Nordstrom Rack stores now. and up to 60% off. Stock up and save on the brands you love like Vince, Sam Edelman, frame, and free people. Join the Nordi Club to unlock exclusive discounts,

shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. The next story is titled, The Night I Felt Most Alone. Hello, Cassie and Danielle. I have been thinking about writing this out for a while,

but kept not getting around to it. I love your podcast. and listening to the ones about the next park I'm headed to. As a side note, Cassie, your handmade wedding dress with all the botanical details was amazing. Thank you. I agree. I wish I was wearing it right now. I'm going to wear it for an episode one day just because I need to put it on again.

I think you should. I think I should too. I don't know what I'll wear, but it can be a moment. It will be a moment. We'll pick an episode. Maybe the first. Your anniversary. First one. Not until next September?

Time flies. You can't wait that long. You just had it on. It's already been too long. Okay. I've already worn it since then. We'll workshop it. You have? When? I showed it to my aunt. I went to her house and showed it to her. Yeah. So one of these episodes. I'll be a surprise to us all. I have to plan a botanical episode now so I can wear it. Okay. We'll come back to this. Okay. On to the story. My name is Zoe. I am a forest ecologist in Wildling.

firefighter in the great state of Virginia. No, our fires aren't quite as huge and impressive as the ones out west, but yes, we do get a decent amount of them, and depending on the conditions, they can get bad. This is the tale of the fire on Bull Run Mountain and when I felt quite alone. It was 1130 at night and I had gone to sleep per usual. I was on a call due to increased fire activity and I knew these 50 mile per hour gusts that I was likely to get one. Somehow, I made it all day without a call.

so I went to bed. Well, lo and behold, my radio and phone started going off. I woke up and grogly answered the call from dispatch. A bull run mountain was on fire, but Bull Run Mountain was not in my county, so why in the world was I being resurrected from my deep sleep? Well, the other forester slept right through all the calls. So I told them I would be on my way and dragged myself out of bed. I threw my hair into a quick braid, suited up in my nomax, and grabbed all of my pre- refilled water bottles and snacks I had lined up. And we were off. I called my favorite part-timer on my way out. These are the volunteer folks who we trained to help on wildland fire. He is a phenomenal dozer operator and Sawyer. Luckily, him and I are good pals, so he agreed to meet on top of Bull Run in the middle of the night. I arrived to the fire with engines blaring and brush trucks lining the mountain. I made my way up the mountain towards the flames. Multiple dead trees had fallen on the power line on the ridge and lit a fast-moving understory fire. I looked around and was actually slightly relieved. I could deal with this. I headed over to the battalion chief,

a bald man with a nice large mustache. I love that visual. That's how I picture all firefighters. Well, they have to have a mustache. It's like a prerequisite, right? I'm pretty sure you have to be able to grow a mustache to be a male firefighter. Yeah. And I didn't make that up. It's just the way It's just the way of the world. Thankfully. Thank God. I love that. A guy who can grow a mustache with the curl.

Oh, I don't want the curl. I don't think it's a, I don't like it, but I'm impressed. Yeah. You got to give them the flowers for that. Yeah. About that. So bald man with nice mustache to see what he had going on and remarked that it wasn't as bad as I thought.

He gave me an incredulous look. You know the one where the eyebrow cocked up that says, are you joking? then pointed up the mountain and told me to keep climbing. My stomach sank and continued up the mountain, which got steeper and rockier. I made it to the top, and it looked like a housecape. Every dead snag on the ridge was a blaze, lighting up the ridge line like a glowing path of destruction. Not only was the entire ridge on fire, it was aggressively throwing embers down the north side of the mountain, starting little spot fires that were spreading. This was going to be a good one.

I clambered back down and started giving orders for a line to be put in where we could access. My dozer operator arrived and unloaded our saving grace, or so I thought. The dozer could not make it up the sheer shale rock face. It was slipping and sliding down the mountain as the tracks tried to gain purchase. Well, there went the plan to push over the trees throwing embers and get some line in up on the ridge. We would have to use the saw, which we are not supposed to do in the dark, but not much can be done for when embers are threatening multiple neighborhoods and when Gus are moving the fire at 40 to 50 miles per hour. We got the trees down and began working in a line around the whole fire. This is where the

alone part part time. My part timer had worked his butt off, so I sent him home. At this point, it was just me and the brush trucks and the engines on the fire. After four hours, I had sent some of the fire departments to deal with the other fires breaking out over the county, but left some with me. I was on the ridge with a bow, saw cutting off flame ring brand, to reduce spotfire risk when I saw all of the lights and engines fading and leaving the scene. I looked around wildly as the crackle of fire and the great abyss of silence began to swallow up the night. I had gone from 20 or so pieces of equipment and engines with 30 firefighters to absolutely none. There is just something about being on top of a mountain at 4 a.m. with nothing

but the cold wind blowing and the slow, shore crackle of fire moving around you. For a few moments, I sat and stared into the darkness, absorbing the absolute silence after so much noise and orders and work. And I felt the most alone I have ever felt. It was the sheer lack of noise, the come down of adrenaline, and perhaps the possibility of what might be lurking about just outside the firelight or what could happen to me. We are not supposed to be on fires alone for safety reasons. It wasn't necessarily a scary feeling, but I felt completely utterly alone. No one was due to come back and no one was coming to help and the silence and darkness was unlike anything I had experienced. Anyways, eventually I came back into my command brain and started to get pissed. I called the fire

area department over the radio. I did not release you. Why did you all leave? Their response, well, we ran out of water so we thought we were done. My response was, you certainly know where to find it, refill and come back this fire is not contained. After some grumbling, they reappeared 45 minutes later with full brush trucks. So that is my story. of the night that I felt the most alone. It is a bit long, but so was that night. I was able to crawl into bed, reeking of smoke, even after a shower at 8 a.m. and was due back to check in on the fire four hours later. I also stepped into a stump hole that night and melted the laces right off my boots. So a good story, all in all, hope you enjoyed. That's so scary getting left

alone. I know you said you didn't necessarily feel fear, but I can just imagine you're fighting this fire and you think you have back up and you're not alone. And then you turn around and you just see everyone leaving and no one said a word to you. Yeah. That has to be. I mean, I know you said it's against protocol. Yeah. But that's very. And not to even mention anything to no. And just leave you out there fighting fire. Like sure, I got this whole massive thing by myself. It's like, thanks for thinking I'm capable. or screw you for forgetting me. Yeah.

Either one. 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, my next story is titled, Don't Smoke Sigs with Bears. What's up, my trail trekking homies? My name is Lizzie, and I have been listening since January 2021 when I searched for National Park podcast on Spotify, and a new podcast with two episodes appeared. I'll keep it short.

Love you, mean it. My husband, dog, cats, and I love your storytelling, and feel like you're just the neighbors down the road after all of these years. And sorry for that one time. I tried video messaging you on Instagram to show you Denali while I was drunk in Telkeetna one beautiful clear March day. Not my best work, but I just thought you would love it. Sue me. Did we even see that? Does that ring a bell for you? I feel like I do kind of remember that. I feel like not seeing it in the moment, but seeing a message later that apologize, like a miss video call and a message. I feel like it kind of vaguely do remember that. Okay. Anyways, this whiplashing tilt-a-whirl we're on called Life has taken me to some pretty cool, rad places over the years. I was a former school psychologist, but have since decided to return to school to pursue another master's degree in conservation. I was burnt out on working in the public education system, and I knew life wasn't meant to be lived miserably. So I quit my job, and I am now going to school with hopes of working outside in our parks. Good for you. That's awesome. Yeah, it was a terrifying choice, but guess what? The world kept turning and I am even closer to reaching my dreams. Now, at 30, I have lived and worked in six states, including Alaska, and the most recent being Wisconsin. So glad you finally got here, Cassie. As Lizzie McGuire said, I hope you got some cool cheese. She didn't. She tried. I tried really hard. Yeah, next time. Though I live in Wisconsin full time, I worked in Montana this summer on a trail crew in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. That's That's where we'll be-bop-boop in our time machines for this story.

I lived and worked at a backcountry ranger station 30 miles from the nearest trailhead, which was then another two-hour drive from the closest town. Some say remote. I say paradise. I remember them asking repeatedly during my interview if I could handle living in a very remote setting or how I would fill my time. My response, God forbid I relax or find a hobby. No cell service, no electricity, just you, your homies, some cross-cut saws and the prayer. It was truly blissful to be so unaware of the ongoings of real life.

All that mattered was when we were going to hang out by the river on our off days, bumming beers from passing rafters. My bestie, Kitty and I spent other days hiking local trails or spending the night in a fire lookout. Kitty is a wild child, and she's also six years younger than me at 24. She and I bonded right off the bat, explicitly asking, hey, so we're our best friends, right? After the third week of knowing each other. Just one of those dopamine rush friendships you find every once in a while throughout life.

One of Kitty and I's favorite nightly routines was rolling tobacco before bed and smoking it in the pasture overlooking the nearby mountain range, backlit with vivid orange and pinks of the summer sky. Now, I mention this because it comes back later in the story. Kids, if you're listening, don't smoke. It's not cool. Don't be me. But if you're a trail worker, dogging it in the backcountry, you light one up for yourself every once in a while, homie. Take a load off. Now back to the story.

This particular moment happened on my last day in the bob, right before my season ended, and the magic of summer floated away in tendrils on the winds of the upcoming fall. My job this summer on the trail crew largely consisted of clearing logs off the trail, digging and fixing tread, building signage, and other general trail maintenance work. Another crew member and I were on day eight of a nine-day hitch. For those who don't know, hitches are the term we used to describe our working days. We would work a nine-day hitch in various parts of the wilderness, then have five days off back at the station. Most of these hitches, we were all backpacking

or carrying what we needed to survive for nine days, as well as tools such as cross cuts and axes. I think my heaviest pack of the summer was 75 pounds, which I hiked with for 12 miles. Yikes. So you're jacked. So you're jacked. So you're jacked. That's what you're saying. The fittest person ever. Yeah. Luckily, this time I was carrying just a couple days worth of backpacking supplies. We had just arrived at our destination for the night, which was a forest service cabin we commonly worked at during the summer. My dudes, when I say I was tired, I was freaking tired. We had just finished a 32 and a half mile route overnight on the last two days of our hitch at our most exhausted. Yep. We hiked 19 miles that first day, rec clearing a trail previously

done in the season, also by yours truly. Then the second day, we cleared 13 and a half miles of trail climbing over 2,700 feet. So at this point, I was ready to kick back and relax at the cabin. I would probably need three to five business days off from that. Not just like I could hike that, no problem, but carrying packs and doing work at the same time. That's a whole other thing. That night at the cabin, it was quite the full house. Another trail crew was there using the cabin to work out of on their hitch. There were also two packers there as well. Packers work with stock within the wilderness area to move goods, and a lot of outfitting companies use packers with stock to transport clients and their supplies.

We saw a lot of them at Granite Park Shalais. Yeah, we did. That being said, that also meant there were about 20 mules and horses free roaming about grazing the fields after a long day of traveling. Daniel's literal horse girl dream. Okay. Yeah, I mean, yours too. You like horses, too.

I'm not the only horse girl around here. Don't pin it all on me. I'm more of a mule gal myself. Mules are cool, too. Yeah, I like meals. I just like their ears. They're just so cute. I have a thing for big ears.

I like their personalities. I think meals are fun. They're spicy. Yeah. Sometimes they're sweet. I don't know. I love don't know. I think donkeys are so, they can be, they're just so spunky and fun and some of them are

really, my experience, I know a few donkeys that are so cuddly and sweet and I just love them. and yeah. I mean, the horse. You got a mule. Perfection. I mean, there's like that phrase, right? Stubborn as a mule. They just have their own, yeah, minds of their own.

Okay, anyway, people know what mules are, I think. Okay. Who knows? People also thought a mountain lion was, a Frenchie was a mountain line. So who really knows? Good point. Good point. Google it if you don't know.

I'm dying. I'm trying to see that actually. Because I did see, this was years and years ago. This is when I was, I remember seeing it at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center when I was working there. And it was a post from like a Facebook community page in Manchester, New Hampshire. Why I was part of that, I don't know, I've never lived in Manchester. But maybe it was like a suggested post.

And it was from the news. And it was a picture that somebody had taken and people were losing their minds because they thought there was a mountain high in in the neighborhood. It was Bobcat. It was a house cat. Oh, God. That's bad. That's bad.

I'm like, what in the world? Clear as day, it was a house cat. Yeah. I was hiking. Yes, it was a tanish, but, and it was like kind of a blurry photo. But I'm like, look at the scale. First of all, just right off the bat. Look at the scale.

This thing is small. I was hiking with Ember once. She was on a leash and we were on a hiking trail. And someone was like, oh my God. I thought that was a coyote for a second. Amber looks nothing like a coyote. She's not even close. She's not even like a she's bright. She's not even close to color. Like she's not even the color. Like she literally, she doesn't even have the same length fur. There's nothing about her that even remotely resembles. Well, and that's a perfect example of why I am so neurotic, not even especially during hunting season, but pretty much always. I am and always have been super neurotic. about having my dogs on a leash. And it kills me because especially in off leash areas in the woods and like they live for that, you know, running around and stuff. But I don't trust anybody because

people don't know how to identify dogs, you know, and they're just like, oh, I thought it was a, I mean, you see it every hunting season. Somebody's domestic dog. It's usually a husky, but gets killed by somebody because they thought it was something else, a coyote, a deer, whatever the house. There was a dog near me that got shot. because they thought it was a bear and it was a dog that looked just like Tucker. Yeah. See, I mean, you could have put them next to each other and you would think that they were the same dog. That was how similar they were.

And I was like, this is. And where I live, there's a lot of hunting. It actually just stopped, but we're lucky enough that we have land where we can hike and walk on. But we haven't been hiking on the trails or anything. And the hunting season actually just stopped yesterday. So we'll go back out now. Yeah. They have just scary.

giant bright orange vests and everything. And I have bright orange things because people really... I put a bell on Chaska. Yeah. Jingle bell. Like it's a leather strap, a big... It looks like on like Santa Sled bell. Yeah.

It's like, yeah. So he's the most domesticated there can be. Don't shoot him. He has a jingle bell on. Okay. We're in the middle of a story. Okay. Anyways, okay, so they're at this cab.

There's a lot of other people there. With all the people in the cabin, it was so loud and not just the vibe for my last night under the starts of the Bob Marshall. So I made my way outside with the intention to sit by the river for a quiet moment and smoke one last rolled tobacco. Kitty gifted me before leaving. The pasture was a grassy 1.5 acres with a small corral and a barn with hitching posts along the sides. As I walked down the dirt path through the pasture saying hello to my four-legged friends, I took in the trees lining the grass, breathing in the fresh air, and moving my gate. to the beautiful evening sky. It greeted me with hues of pink emerging on the horizon of mountain peaks and I could hear the rushing of water of the Flathead River. When I reached the river,

I stood above the 20 foot embankment and decided I felt too lazy to go down to the river's edge, instead opting to perch myself on a boulder at the top. I settled in on the rock and smiled, cherishing this moment, capturing it through a mental photograph. Then I reached into my pocket and took out my smoke. As soon as I took my first drag, my gaze fluttered down to where the swing bridge met the riverbank. Alerted by something moving in my periphery, I saw a healthy sized black bear emerged from under the bridge walking in my direction. Though, remember, I am still about 20 feet higher in vertical than this bear. The bear was clearly very interested in smelling the shoreline for food, and it didn't notice me sitting as still as a statue up on the rock. However,

it was in this moment that I remembered one thing. I forgot to grab my bear spray out of my pack when I left the cabin. Now, I want to make one thing very clear. I love bear spray. Huge bear spray girl. I always have it on me when I'm outside because I know it's effectiveness. Especially living and working in that area of Montana, you should always have it with you when you're recreating outside. But even always can have an exception. And this evening was it for me. I think the fake comfort of the cabin 75 yards up the hill for me and the distraction of all that was going on in the cabin, I just hurried out of there, forgetting to grab it. I also hadn't seen a bear all summer.

So, I sat there, frozen, thinking of what I should do next. We are extensively trained in how to handle a bear encounter to avoid negative interactions, but this was unique in that I didn't have my deterrent and I was on top of a hill. I know normally staying quiet is not a good idea because you could accidentally sneak up on a bear and spook it. However, I had already done the sneaking accidentally and now I needed to think. Like I said, the bear had not noticed me and was clearly very focused on grazing along the shore. It was moving rather quickly, so I figured it would walk by in no time without even seeing me.

Since the bear had not noticed me and we were in such close proximity, I feared spooking it by announcing my presence might not end well either. So I told myself I would sit and wait while coming up with plans B and C, just in case. When I was coming up with an insurance plan, I turned my head to see a big old mule clopping down the path in my direction. Mules are curious animals, and this particular meal was also very social towards humans. It was clearly interested in seeing what I was doing and if I had any snacks, but as it lazily strolled towards me, it kicked a rock, making a huge noise. My stomach dropped and my head snapped back to the bear. The bear locked eyes with me, now fully aware of my presence and proximity.

I stood up and started backing away, seeing it began to walk up the embankment towards my location. When I got up so abruptly, it spooked the mule a bit, and it also noticed the bear. Like a chain reaction, the other mules caught wind of all this action, and being the prey-hurt animals they all are, they ran over to investigate what was happening. Within moments, mules move past me, forming a line side by side with the one already there, making a wall between me and the bear. See, love mules. At this point, the bear ran down the embankment and continued running down the river, and I turned and

moved as quickly as I could back to the cabin without running. You know, one of those comically fast walks where you just say shit, shit, shit over and over again in your head while you move. Yes, I know it well. It's like a speed walk, like, but you're like, you do this with your body, like, when you're trying to move fast, but you don't want to run. It's like your body just like propels you forward. The entire time I walked away, more mules and horses went to the herd and offered the same security. I bursted into the cabin and told the Packers what had happened. The one threw on his hat and came with me to see. My trailmate tagged along too. We walked back to where the mules were standing, yes, this time with bear spray, and the packer even carried a firearm. While walking down,

he told us a story of his mules running off a grizzly over and over again when it wouldn't leave them alone. Mules make close bonds among their herds, and in addition to companionship, the herd offers them protection. As we predicted, the bear was now 300 yards down the riverbank continuing on its way. Long story short, not all heroes wear capes, including mules. I truly think those mules saved me from a dicey situation. Thank you again for providing us all with tales from the trail and stories that fuel my sense of adventure. And remember to enjoy the view, but watch your back. Otherwise, I hope you have a mule around to watch it for you.

Lizzie. Now I've got to get a mule. I've been telling you. And donkeys are cool, horses, they're all cool. Yeah. I have a, the, this story kind of reminds me of, so when we were in glacier. So Cassie tends to get pieces of art everywhere we go on different trips. And I oscillate between things.

I don't have like one particular thing I like. I kind of just whatever. And we went to this art studio. I think it was on the west side of Glacier. I forget. But anyway, it was outside of the National Park. And it was a very small old art studio. It was in like a 1900s cabin.

It was near the world's biggest purple spoon. Yes. Right next door, actually. Yeah. So if you know where that is, if you know where that is, then you'll find it. You'll find it. But anyway, and we went in. And so we were like looking at all the art and stuff and there were so many beautiful pieces. But they're just tucked in the corner where a few casts of a grizzly print. And I was so, I was like, this is the coolest thing I ever seen. It's so cool. So basically this guy had been hiking the Bob Marshall Wilderness for years with all of this casting equipment looking for the perfect grizzly. print and he came across one, you know, after however long, the whole piece came with this information. And he cast it. And I was like, God, I really want that. But we carry, we travel with carryons. And I'm like, there's no way this thing is fitting in here. So I'm like,

whatever. It's just not meant for me. And like two weeks later, I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I emailed them and they sent me one. I bought it, obviously. But now it's hanging on my wall. And every once in a while, I'll just look at it and put my hand up to it. Be like, God, my God, it's so crazy. Like, this thing is just walking around the Baumarshal wilderness. Like, yeah. So it's a cool physical reminder of, you know, we think of bears all the time. Like, oh, you know, like bears around, bears, bears, bears, whatever.

But when you really have that, like, in your face of the size discrepancy and it has all the claws on? Oh, my God. It's just so cool. It's so cool. But anyway, cool story. Glad the mules had your back. Yeah. Thanks for sharing.

Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear up on that envelope.

It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. My next one is titled The Pizza Hut and the Narrows of Zion National Park. Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I have to do the obligatory gush about the pod. This is the first podcast I ever truly loved and listened to every episode from Go. You guys feel like friends I've never met and I love the unique and much-needed community you've built.

Well, thank you for being a part of it. Okay, story time. My dad's company is based out of Las Vegas, so we travel there a lot together when I was a kid, and that turned into fun, free vacations for me as an adult. Vegas for me is not what it is for most people. I've never really been one for clubbing or getting wasted. I love Vegas for the great customer service, five-star food, and proximity to the great outdoors, as it's relatively close to Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Death Valley, Red Rock Canyon, and ski destinations like Brian had. So on one of my trips to Vegas with my dad as an adult, I was planning on renting a car

and driving to Zion to hike the Nairouse. Back then, Zion had no lottery system for any of its hikes. I was planning on going solo because I've hiked solo my whole life and am very comfortable in my own company. That and my dad is, not an outdoorsman. He not only doesn't hike, but if it's not the Grand Canyon or maybe Yellowstone, he's probably never even heard of it as a park. He's not in great shape.

He has a very short attention span. And all in all, he's pretty much just living on another planet all of the time. time. Okay. I never want to be described like that. Which part? All of it. Short attention span, not living on this planet. Doesn't know what's happening. Let your dad hear this. So over dinner, the night before my hike, when he asked about my plans for the next day, I said I was renting a car and going to Zion National park. He had no idea what it was or where it was and is perpetually blown away by the fact that I left a hike and am willing to drive multiple hours to get to a great destination. In his mind, I've seen plenty of nature and basically, how different could any park be when you've seen like

five parks already? I've seen way, way more than five, but to him it's a ton. So he proceeded to ask me why I would spend my money to rent a car and drive a couple hours there and a couple hours back when I can hike at home. I live in South Carolina, which you know is kind of different from Utah. I honestly should have just said because I want to and left it at that. But instead, I tried to help him understand that the Narrows is a bucket list hike for a lot of people. And it's unlike pretty much any other hike I've done and how famous it is, you get the point. Well, another thing about my dad, if he thinks something is a once in a lifetime, he's sold. Doesn't matter how unprepared he is or if it makes any sense, if he thinks it might be something like that, he has real fomo.

And he has this sometimes wonderful and sometimes deeply disconcerting quality where he thinks, no matter what, he will be fine and everything will be fine and he can do anything, no matter what, not eventually, but today, this very day. I like that attitude. That's how you want to be described. It's a little dangerous, not fully. But like, I'm down for anything and I'm down for a now. Once in a lifetime, I'm sold.

me up. He said he wanted to come then, if it was such a great hike, I was crestfallen. He is not good company for hikes for many reasons that I've already stated, which compound on a hike. The Narrows is a lengthy hike and I wanted to enjoy it, but there was no way talking him out of it. So early in the morning, we head out. I tell him he should really eat something before we leave the hotel or at least buy something to take with him. He said he wasn't hungry yet and he would be fine. You know why? Because, and I quote, there will be a pizza hut or hotog stand or something there. My flabbers were gasted. I was like, where? He said, in the park. I said, Dad, there are no pizza huts in Zion National Park. He said, there will be at least a hot dog stand on the trail.

I said, I can promise you with absolute certainty that there will not be a hot dog stand or any kind of stand on the side of the narrows. There is not even a side for anything to be on. Yeah, there will. I'll be fine. Sigh. The confidence. You didn't even know what this was 10 minutes ago and now you are convinced there's hot dogs involved? I feel like there might be. You know better. I haven't done the narrows. I have been at the entrance of the narrows, but I haven't done the narrows. I would be shocked. My flabbers would also be guessed if there was. Okay. Hold on. Yeah. Okay. But just the way the story is leading, I feel like maybe there could be. Maybe he's right. Maybe there is. It's a secret pizza hut at the end that no one tells anyone about. It's a little known secret. Yeah. The most remote pizza hut that ever existed. In the world.

That's why it's so crowded. Everyone is trying to get to it. Everyone wants pizza hut. They're cheesy bread. Amazing. We arrive at the park. We go to the outfitters. You need waterproof waiters for the narrows because the water comes up to your chest and parts

and the you're in the river the whole time. He thinks nothing of the fact that we need all this gear to do the hike. nothing at all. I tell him how long it is. I plan to go 9.4 miles, normal for me, and he acts like it's nothing when he certainly hasn't walked more than half a mile or maybe a mile if I'm generous in a long time. But he goes to the gym, i.e. he rides a bike for 15 minutes and does a few machines and goes home, so he's fine. We get on the shuttle and get to the trail and start walking. There's a short little two-mile paved trail to the real part where you get in the river, and I'd say we were about 10 minutes into walking in the river in Zion National Park in the famous narrows, one of the most beautiful hikes in the world when he asked me a question, which sums up how my dad is in a nutshell.

He asked me, is it just more of this the whole time? Oh, my God. Sacrilege. I say, you mean one of the most gorgeous places you or I have ever seen? Yes, it is more of this. He's like, well, if it's just more of this, then I think I've seen it now. going to go sit on this rock and wait for you to finish. We are maybe two and a half miles in. It's a 9.4 mile hike. The hardest, deepest parts are yet to come. I'm like, dad, it's going to be a long time before I come back. That will be a long time of just sitting on this rock. You might as well just see the whole thing. He asked me, how far is the closest hot dog stand or pizza hut or whatever?

I am internally combusting. This is the most my dad shit I have ever heard. Dad, I told you. I told you there's not a Pizza Hut hot dog stand or restaurant of any kind on this trail. I told you to eat at the hotel. I told you to grab a protein bar at the outfitters. You didn't do it. He says, I bet there's something. Ask that guy next to you. I do it. Let it go. Just prove a point. When the guy looks at my dad like he's lost his mind, my dad finally believes maybe there isn't a pizza hut on the side of the narrows. But he decides to just sit on that rock. Okay, I tell myself, I told him what it was. I was honest about everything. He wanted to come. That's on him. I'm going to hike the narrows. So I do. I do the length I'm planning to do and I don't rush because I don't feel like I should be penalized for this. Whatever you want to call it, willful ignorance. I come back to the rock. He's not there. I'm mildly concerned. Not that he didn't stay, but where he might have ended up because he's not observant. He surely doesn't know what shuttle we took or where we came from. And he has no cell phone.

because he insisted on leaving his in the locker at the outfitters because he didn't want to carry it, nor did he want to carry the key to said locker. So I had the key and my phone and no way to reach my dad or find out where he was. So I went back to the outfitters and as I'm walking from the bus to the store, I see my dad laid out on a bench funneling a bag of cheese its into his mouth. He had no wallet or money. So my first question, where did you get the cheezits? I go got them on the IOU from the store. How did you know what bus to get on and where to get off? There's more than one bus? The man has the most insanely good luck in the world. He got on the first bus and got off on the first stop and it just so happened to be correct. He does not even remember

where we went or what it's called to tell people about it or try to say that he did it. But I'll always remember that my dad thought there would be a pizza hut in the middle of the narrows in Zion National Park. Hope 2026 brings all the blessings to you both. Taylor. Your dad truly is not on this point. I don't know where he is, but he's not with the rest of us. Honestly, it's a great story. And it's like, my dad, my dad, he went for it, wasn't impressed. I just never been that mentally unplugged in my entire life.

He's just a whole vibe. He's just doing his thing. He's so unbothered. I've never reached that level of not even close. Not even close. Even when I'm like recovering from surgery on Oxy, I'm still keenly aware of what's happening. I cannot relate to that. Painfully.

I'm on a whole other planet. Oh, yeah. 2026. It's January 1st. So this is out? Yeah. Wow. Happy New Year, everybody.

Welcome. Happy New Year. Ready to soundtrack your summer? With Red Bull Summer All Day Play, you choose a playlist that fits your summer. vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic, a deep end DJ, a road dog, or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track. Red Bull Summer All Day Play. Red Bull gives you wings. Visit redbull.com slash bright summer ahead to learn more. See you this summer. Okay, my last story is titled The Demon Trapezoid. Oh, again, getting right into this experience. Okay, I need

2026 call out. I don't need praises. Like, they're very welcome and I love them so much and we appreciate them. But just getting right into it is, it's like you're raw dogging. You know, it's just like, it's a jump scare for you. You need something. I need like a, hey. Hi. Hey, what's up? Hey, so this is my story. Like this is just, it's getting right into it. And maybe it, it's the tone of the thing. It's fine. It's fine. Actually, I take it back. You can do whatever you want. Just write in. I'll get over it. It's just hard for me. Okay.

This is an experience my brother, Eric Lynch, who is a professional Nordic combined athlete. Please feel free to Google him. And his then wife had while camping in Medicine Bow National Park near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, my hometown in August of 2025. Are you Googling him? Yeah, they asked me to. Okay. E-R-I-K. Lynch.

Do you have a visual? I'm a skier. Athlete Nordic combined is my passion. Yeah, I found them pretty quick. Great. I'm creeping them on Instagram as one does. Athleticism is his passion. He asked me to share. I have a visual now. Thank you. Okay, great. He asked me to share his story to see if anyone else has had an encounter like this, as he simply cannot explain what he and his then wife saw. So you can tell him on Instagram, I guess. Send him a message. Send him a message. He's going to be. be like, where is this coming from? Okay. They were setting up camp just off a hunting trail near

a stream, barely tucked into the tree line at the edge of a boulder field, which marked the top of one of the mountains in that range, not sure which one since there are so many. They both noticed a very large black trapezoidal shape with some white on it sitting very still in the boulder field up the side of the mountain, and they both said it felt like it was watching them. They both relayed that the shape was much too large to be a bear or a moose and taller than any of the trees in the area, and it was just sitting above the tree line. But the shape was sitting perfectly still as they kept an eye on it for about 30 minutes, so they turned their attention away from it and prepared their lunch. Then suddenly, they heard a sharp yell quickly followed by a hunter sprinting

down the trail in full tilt. The hunter didn't say a word to them as he passed, but he looked terrified. Eric and his ex looked up into the boulder field and the black trapezoidal shape was gone. About another 20 minutes after this hunter had booked it down the trail, a deer approached them as they were eating. Eric stated this deer walked right up to them, zero hesitation, and stopped three feet away. They both stopped talking and stared at the deer. My brother said the animal seemed off and had never seen a deer move or behave in that way. Its walk was jerky and its proportions didn't seem normal. After about four or five minutes of this deer lingering in very close proximity, it very slowly walked off into the forest.

They were thoroughly freaked out, but decided to stay the night at their site anyway since it was a perfect camping spot. I don't care personally about that. I would have been gone. Like, get me out of beer, actually. Like the weird shape, the hunter probably would have done it for me. Yeah. Seeing someone else react like that, definitely there's like a, I don't know, it's a like crowd reaction. Just you get vibes from someone else who's terrified would automatically terrify me as well.

Would you just see someone booking it down the trail yelling? Yeah. Whips by you? Doesn't say a word. And that weird thing that you were clocking for the better part of the now is now gone. Like what the fuck? I'm out there. Yeah.

I'll come back. Yeah. And then that weird deer? No. Also an alien? Also, it is the trapezoid. It's now a deer. Yeah. It was once a trapezoid and now it's trying to be a deer. I don't know. But they're like, but the spot, it's beautiful. Yeah, not if it's the last thing you see. Who cares? Okay, anyway. That night, as they were getting into their tent, Eric took off his shoes and socks, rolled up each sock and stuffed each sock into the toe of each shoe. In the morning, one of his socks was completely missing. They went through all of their

things three times over and looked all around the camp and the sock was nowhere to be found, but he insisted he tucked it into the very toe of his shoe. They packed up camp and went down to the stream one last time to dip their toes in before heading back to civilization, leaving their bags at camp. They were at the stream for about 15 minutes, and upon returning to pick up their bags, they immediately saw Eric's sock stretched out perfectly, resting right on top of their bags. The first thing that comes to my mind of what that could have been is a Navajo shapeshifter, but even that feels like a stretch. And while it does explain the deer, I'm not sure if it explains what my brother refers to as the demon trapezoid. Thanks for reading. It's like, I know the perfect

prank. I'm going to take this sock and then put it back. They'll never know. They'll be so freaked out. The trapezoid and deer didn't do it. We got to level up. We got to take this sock. Get the sock. It's aliens. It's aliens.

Yeah. That's the only explanation I can think of. I feel like the deer, like what I'm envisioning, especially when it said it was like moving and jerky movements and look disproportionate. it feels like glitchy and strange. I don't know. I just don't know why aliens would need to be a deer. Are aliens the deer?

I'm losing the plot. I don't know. Or the deer was recently abducted by the aliens and was put back. And now they're just all kind of wonky because they're re-finding. They're like, what the fuck just happened to me? Oh, so you think the deer was an abductee? Yeah. That's what I think.

Okay. Okay. I thought it was like doing recon. for them. It was like an alien disguised as a deer. It's like, don't worry about me. I'm just a deer. If aliens wanted to do something like that, they would do a bird. Because a bird could hang out in a tree and watch you, but a deer is a lot more obvious. See, I feel like they have remote viewing going on. They don't need to even bother with any of this stuff. That's so low level, you know. Which is why I think the deer was abducted for observation and then released and it was just feeling

all wonky from whatever happened. And then the deer was probably just like a doe-eyed walking up to them like, hello? Did you guys just see that? Yeah. Okay. Well, I don't have an explanation clearly

because I don't even know what I feel like the story is. But if anybody, as this writer requested, you know where to find Eric if you too have had an experience like that. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. We'd also love to hear it too, though. Yeah, that's true. Oh, yeah.

Keep us involved. Well, thank you, everyone, for hanging out with us. We do have two more trail tales for you today if you're on Patreon or if you're on Apple subscriptions. Mine is titled, A Light Too Bright, a Silence Too Deep, a Story of a Horsepack trip to Chateau Lake. And mine is titled Alaska and the Mysterious Critter that Almost Ruined Our Trip. Did I say Chateau Weird? I feel like I said chateau. It's a chateau. I'm over there. Oh, well, find out. Were you just abducted?

I just, am I glitching? I don't know. Find out. In our bonus stories. We'll see you all next time. Enjoy the view. Boatwatch you're back. Bye. See you. 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 N-P-A-D 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 that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit Progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $946 by new, customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank.