National Park After Dark - Trail Tales 97: Hot Cowboys, Cold Nights & Bathroom Ghosts

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Today’s stories include cold camping, hot cowboys, haunted first dates, high evacuations, bathroom ghosts, and a bad night in the Badlands. 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: Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdark Support 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 today’s sponsors! Bellessa: EVERYONE who signs up wins a FREE WhisperVibeTM OR a FREE Rose toy with any WhisperTM order!https://www.bboutique.co/vibe/nationalparkafterdark-podcastKeeper Security: Get 60% off personal and family plansOllie: Feed the Obsession. Go to http://ollie.com/npad and use code npad to get 70% off your first box!Alloy: Try the original estrogen-powered M4 skincare from Alloy. Visit http://myalloy.com and use code NPAD for $20 off your first order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everyone and welcome back to National Park After Dark. We're here for another trail tales today, except today is a really special episode. Why? Because for the first time in podcast history, we are matching unintentionally. Oh, yeah. Ish. Similar by. Danielle and I are both wearing smoky bear hats right now and we did not plan it.

Did not. Did not. I got this at the smoky bear hats. Bear National Historic Park. Actually, I just put the National in there. That's really cool. I don't know if National is truly in there. The historical park. I got mine at Quake Lake. Oh. Yeah. From episode. Which we did a story on. One of those episodes we did about Quake Lake up in Montana. So, cool. Is that the gift shop? Go Smokey. Yep. Only you can prevent wildfires. I think that's what mine says, only you. That's what mine says too. Do you know the, I don't know if he was the original voice

of this is what I learned. One of the things I learned at the Smoky Bear Historical Park is one of the original voices of Smokey the Bear is none other than Sam Elliott, the wonderful and great. You're looking at me. Sam Elliott. You're like, I know that name, but I don't know who you're talking about. So he's in my favorite show of all time, 1870. Your favorite show of all time that you do not know the name of it. Why do I always do this? I have memory issues. What is it?

I've seen it. I know what you're talking about. Is it 1813 or something? No, it's 1883. I almost said 1873. So he's in that, but he's also super famous otherwise. He's in so many. He's in Landman, the Ranch.

He's in a Star is born. He's like the manager or Bradley Cooper's older brother. Oh, I know who you're talking about. Yeah, of course. He's such a iconic voice. Yeah. Well, I know his voice. I just didn't know his name.

That's very cool. I don't even know my favorite show. So you're in good company. Okay, well, yeah. So we're matching. I went with all camo today. Camo shirt, camo hat, feeling it. Yeah.

And I'm a yellow ray of sunshine. As always. Well, Sunshine, would you like to go first or second today? I think I'd like to go first. All right. All right. My first trail tale is titled A Bear on the Trail in San Diego. My dad passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in September of 2024.

We're assuming from a heart attack. I could tell so many stories about how awesome he was, how many people loved and adored him, and had the best things to say about him. But truly, we would be here for days. Suffice it to say, he is so deeply missed. One thing about my dad, he loved the outdoors. He didn't get to do it as much as he would have liked in the last 10 years of life, but the last time he got to visit my house here in California,

he got to take a hike with me, my husband, and my two boys. I rewatch videos from that hike all the time. Our family, me, husband, 13-year-old girl, 8-year-old boy, and 4-year-old boy love to be outdoors. And our first big national park trip was Yosemite when my younger. was about a year old. Last year, we took a National Parks road trip. We hit up Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Death Valley. I thought of my dad so often. Just two weeks ago, we took a quick trip to Mammoth Lakes, California for fly fishing, got skunked, and then met up with some of my in-laws

for a cousin camp near Sequoia and Kings Canyon, including my three kids, 10 kids in total. It was chaos, but super fun. All of these national parks, and I had yet to see a big. I was so desperate to see my first bear and missing my dad a lot, and I lobbed up the mental, hey, if I could see my first bear, it would make me feel like you're still around. I know you are, even if it's in my eight-year-old's personality or how my youngest carries your name or how I carry your sense of humor, and I try really hard to carry and share all of the things I love so much about you. But I'm just having a hard time and I miss you. Well, the trip came and went, no bear.

I even started saying, all right, I think it's just a hoax. I think bears aren't real. My kids rolled their eyes and said, Just because you haven't seen a bear doesn't mean bears aren't real. I berated myself a little, like maybe that wasn't fair to dad. A bit of an ultimatum, I don't know. Maybe dad is checking in on some of the other people that could really use his steady presence like I could, or a good joke. So I live in San Diego County.

back in 2020, they had a five-peak challenge going in Mission Trails Region Parks. It is not running in any sort of official capacity anymore, but you still get a five-peak challenge t-shirt in the visitor center, which is just 15 minutes from my house. And you know how it goes with these things? Insert Denzel Washington voice. I can't do that, so I'm just going to read it, but imagine I'm Denzel Washington. Oh, I'm leaving here with something. Q my sudden insatiable quest to complete the five-peak challenge.

But until he starts TK. in August, I am still a stay-at-home mom to my four-year-old son. His middle name is Michael after my dad, so for the sake of his privacy, I'll refer to him by his middle name for the rest of the story. One day, after revisiting my dad's last hike with us, I said, hey Michael, do you want to try to hike a mountain with me? He gave me an enthusiastic yes. We started with the Quay Peake Peak Trail and finished it in about three hours. He did amazing. One down, four to go. The next two summits we set our sights on were Cowles Peak and Piles Peak. Now here's the challenge. You can only access the Piles Peak Trail by summiting Cowles Peak. Cowles Peak is a popular hike in San Diego, the tallest mountain in San Diego County, and definitely a challenge but rated moderate. Piles Peak is rated difficult, especially because you have to hike back up Cowell's Peak. Peak to get to the trail to the parking lot. I also couldn't imagine trying to convince my four-year-old to attempt a separate trip to go all the way up that peak a second time to access Piles Peak. I laid out the plan for him so that, as best as a four-year-old can, he knew what he was in for.

We started at 8.30 a.m. I still had to drop off my other two kids at school, where I would have started earlier, and we made it to our first summit before 10 a.m. I had decided if we didn't make it to Cowles by 1130, we wouldn't attempt. Piles, but dang, this kid is a little mountain goat. After celebratory selfies in our protein bar view tradition, I pointed out Piles Peak to him and said, what do you think, Michael? You got another mountain in you? He showed me his muscles and said, yep. So off we went. The way up to Piles was pleasant and my little Herper counted 16 lizards, but man, the way back was the biggest mental and physical hurdle. Once we made it back to Cowles, the hardest bit was over, but the climb back down from

cows to the parking lot still was quite the feet. He said, I think I can make it down as long as we get to pet some dogs. That's really cute. With about 800 feet to go, we had seen four very cute puppers who loved giving Michael kisses. I asked him if that was enough dogs to get him to the parking lot, and he said, hmm, I think I need one more doggy to pet to make it to the parking lot. So, your girl starts praying for one more dog as he is finally. starting to break, which was completely fair. He's four and he had two mountains without complaining. He still wasn't complaining, just silent little tears forming at the corner of his eyes. Oh, that's so sweet. He's trying his best to hold it together. Yeah, he is. He's like, I really want to do it.

I just need some motivation with some dogs. I just need that one last hit of a good boy. To my great relief when I'm trying to decide if I can piggyback him and our backpack full of water without falling, the cutest dog maybe ever rounds the corner. Michael instantly wipes his tears and goes from dragging to jogging to this dog hollering. Does your dog like pets? It was my best guest, a Tibetan Mastiff, Alaskan Malamute mix, cinnamon brown with white nose, and one gray and one blue eye. The owner grins and says, Well, I'm not sure. We just got him yesterday. Are you okay with doggy's licking you?

Michael says, I love dog kisses. And the dog happily provided them. What's his name? Michael asked through giggles. The owner said, bear. I felt my heart jump all the way to my throat as I tried not to weep in front of the stranger when I could literally see our street parked car

in our view from the trail. A pretty cheeky way to do it, he always loved a play on words, but dad sent me a bear after all. Our hike was seven and a half miles total in an almost 2,000 foot elevation gain. I still have two peaks to summit to earn our t-shirt. It is also a two-peak push, north and south Fortuna. It's not quite as long, but rated difficult due to some challenging terrain. After this big hike, I certainly wouldn't try to force Michael to pull another two summit day.

At our dinner table after the hike, his dad asked him, That was a tough hike you did today. Would you like to do another two mountain hike? He grinned through mouthfuls of dinner and nodded enthusiastically. So I guess please wish us luck as we plan our last leg of the challenge. Hopefully dad sends him more dogs. Hell, maybe he'll even send a bear. Love y'all.

Thank you so much for reading. Aw, that had it all, you know? That was such a wholesome story. And your kid is such a trooper, a four-year-old doing two peaks. And I mean, he's a little. I say this all the time when people do cool stuff with their kids, but your kid is going to be cool when he grows up because you do stuff with him like this. Truly.

Yeah. I remember the only hike I ever did with my dad that I can remember at least. Yeah. I pitched a fit and wouldn't continue on. I'm sleeping giant in Connecticut. And he left me. He's like, all right. See you.

I love that story for you because I have such a similar one with my dad on Mount Wachucet and Massachusetts, and I remember throwing a tantrum crying and my dad physically carrying me up the mountain. And I don't even want to be like, oh, we were almost at the summit or we were halfway through or whatever. We were like at the bottom still. Pretty close to the start. We were pretty close to the start.

I've actually since then I've been to the same location of where I can remember throwing this fit. And it's really not that far. I still haven't revisited Sleeping Giant. I haven't been back. But I also remember about that day was when he left me and came back. And I don't know how old I was. I must have been maybe like eight or nine, maybe even a little younger.

But when he came back, I remember seeing a woman in a bright yellow rain jacket. or like windbreaker type of thing. Like it caught my attention. And I remember that because it was so bright. And I remember seeing her just kind of like off to the side. And right after I saw her, my dad came back. I had just seen her. And I remember saying something about it.

And I don't remember how it came up. But I remember him being like, wait, who did you see? Where? When? What did she look like? And looking around and not seeing anyone. and knowing him, he was like, oh, she's seeing like something paranormal. Yeah.

Because he was so into that. And I remember him really prying and probing and trying to get details. And looking at, I don't have enough memory to form an opinion of if I truly did see a lady or it didn't seem weird to me. But then again, kids do you see some creepy things? It's true. as kind of normal. You know, it's like, oh, they don't know the difference. So I don't know, but I just remember not refusing to go forward on that hike and him being very interested in this woman that I may or may not have seen that may or may have not been alive.

I don't know. But yeah. So anyways, going back to the writer's story, your kid is cooler than Cassie and I were. That's true. And look how cool we came out to be. Your kid's going to be way cooler than us. The size limit. Okay, so my first story is titled A Bad Night in the Badlands.

No. We've been there. We have had a bad night in the badlands. It wasn't bad. It was an adventure. Dear Cassie and Danielle, hello, I've been a listener and lover of your podcast since the beginning, and I've had a trail tale sitting in my back pocket for years.

It involves my then-boyfriend, soon-to-be husband, and our friend who will be officiating our wedding later this year, so I figured it's time to finally share it. In 2022, I went on a road trip from my home state of Massachusetts to the Dakotas with my boyfriend, Doc, and our friend Ali. Not only had Ali and I been traveling together since 2015, but we each spent our respective childhoods going on road trips and enjoying outdoor adventures, so we were used to these kinds of trips. However, this would be Doc's first ever road trip and his first ever time camping. And even though I had known to, Doc for a full decade at this point, we had just started dating a month prior, so the pressure

was on to ensure that he had the best time ever. I know couples don't have to share every single thing in common, but I'm an avid traveler and national park lover, so it was important to me that he had a great time. Also, quick side note, before you start wondering who named their kid Doc, it's his college nickname that he had preserved throughout the years. Anyway, despite a few bumps that occurred throughout the trip, we were having a great time. Some highlights included going to Cuyahoga, completing Diana's Dare at Indiana Sand Dunes, which I learned about from listening to the podcast, hiking the Painted Canyon Nature Trail at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, driving through the Needles Highway, and finding reprieve from the summer heat at Wind Cave

National Park. It sounds like almost a copy paste of what we did, which is exciting. Or at least what we did in like chunks. Because I've been to Caiholt. but I wasn't with you. I was up by myself. Yeah, and I've never been to Cuyahoga or Indiana Dune's yet yet. Oh, oh yeah, because Indiana Dunes and Cuyahoga I did on my own. And then you did Theodore Roosevelt before we went to the Badlands and Win Cave together. Yeah. So it's kind of like a conglomeration of everything. Anyway, it's a cool trip. We can picture where you are. And we did the needles. We did, we get it. We were picking up what you're putting down. This was my third time coming to this park and it's one of my absolute favorites, even now despite what I am about to tell you.

We arrived right at sunset when the park is at its most beautiful. We drove around for a bit, getting out of the car to appreciate the views of the sprawling clay-colored canyons and staying in the car to watch and admire grazing pronghorn. As the sun continued to dip into the horizon, we made our way to our campsite, not wanting to pitch our tent in the dark. Thankfully, we only had a short drive because I managed to snag a spot at the park campground, and when we got there, we were in absolute awe. The air was nice and cool, and it smelled of sagebrush and that distinctively sweet yet musty smell of the desert. Towering pastel buttes bordered one side of our view, while the expansive badlands lay before us on the other.

I had been fantasizing about camping here for years, and it felt like a dream come true. At least, for a little while it did. Beyond the badlands and far in the distance, I could see the unmistening, I checked my weather app, looked up the forecast in the surrounding areas, and even texted my dad, who always kept an eye on the weather wherever I was traveling. Such a dad thing to do. Robert does that for me all of the time. That's so sweet. Looking up the weather where you're going to be. There was indeed a powerful thunderstorm roughly 100 miles away. It was not supposed to reach the badlands, but something in my gut told me that it would. I spent the rest of the evening,

fretting about it while Doc and Alley tried to assure me that everything would be fine. At one point, they suggested taking the rain tarp off the tent to enjoy the night breeze, but I immediately shot down that idea. Later in the night, when we all should have been sleeping, I left the tent partly to use the bathroom, but mostly to stare at the approaching storm, even as my weather up continued to blatantly lie about clear skies. When I got back to the tent, a phone alarm began to chime. Doc, concerned, had it set when I left in case I was gone for too long.

That's what happens when you make your friends listen to National Park after Dark, while you're actually at a national park. The sound stirred him and Allie from their light sleep, and when they asked if I was all right, I responded, look outside. Ali peered out of the back of our tent at the dark cloud hanging over the badlands, and both she and Doc marveled at the lightning. And then shit hit the fan. It was like someone flipped a source.

switch. One second, there wasn't even a single drop of rain. The next, sheets of water were pelting our tent. The inside was quickly becoming soaked, our rain tarp doing absolutely nothing, and the wind was so powerful that Allie had to use her whole body to keep the tent from collapsing in on us. I had been worrying nonstop about this moment since I saw the storm clouds, but now that it was here, I actually felt a sense of calm. I thought of my dad, who always knew what to do when the weather took a turn for the worst during our camping trips, and suddenly, I knew what to do. We need to get to the car, I yelled over the rain. Are you crazy, Doc asked? We can't go out there. Well, we can't stay here, Ali replied. Also, all of my stuff is in here. I can't leave it.

Doc and I had left most of our belongings in the car, but Ali was using her duffel bag as a makeshift pillow. In our tent was also a lantern, the flashlights, phone chargers, and power banks, other important miscellaneous items such as wallets and car keys, and of course, our sleeping bags. We decided quickly that we couldn't leave it all behind, so we jumped into action. Doc pulled out his phone to give us light, while Ali and I stuffed most of our belongings into sleeping bags. Once we were done grabbing what we could, we tumbled out of the tent and made a bee line to my car, which was luckily nearby. Being in the rain felt like being hit by a million little pellets, and I even worried for a moment that the wind would knock me right over. After pilot,

stealing into the car, we spent a few minutes catching our breath and taking in what had just happened to us. Our camping supplies were soaked. We were soaked. And now the inside of my car was soaked. There was a long pause. And then Allie looked at me and said, we have to take down the tent. If we don't, the poles could snap.

I nodded and the two of us ran back out. It was so dark and the rain was so heavy that we weren't even sure if the tent was still there until we were directly in front of it. When our eyes adjusted, we could see the rest of the chaos. around us. Tents were being thrashed and held down by their owners. Camper doors were swung wide open with their documents struggling to keep them shut, and we even saw a wayward mattress that must have escaped a tent blowing around in the wind. Our site was flooded, and the water was already covering our feet, so we quickly began to break down the tent. A man who was staying in the site next to ours,

and who was literally trying to keep his tent from flying away, asked if we thought the storm would pass soon. No, we shouted in unison. Get your stuff and get into your car. We couldn't tell if our tent had been damaged, but we did take it down and shove it under a picnic table that was atop a big concrete slab. With that done, we booked it back to the car. The storm continued, but it weakened, and we finally decided it was safe to drive. We considered sleeping in the car, but again, we and everything else we owned was soaking wet, so we called motel after motel to try and get a room, but they were all booked out. I assumed every other camper within a hundred mile radius was doing the exact same thing as us.

Finally, we managed to secure a room and began our drive to a place near Wall Drug. We sat in silence until Doc broke it by saying, I got that all on video, by the way. Allie and I were surprised. He explained that if he was going to use his phone's flashlight, he may as well record what was happening. He passed his phone to Ali, who at first was watching the video quietly, And then she started to laugh.

I can't believe this happened to us, she said, between fits of laughter. We kept telling you we wanted to take the rain tarp off. Can you even imagine? It wouldn't have made a difference either way, I said, with a smile. Oh, and there's a second video, Doc chimed in. Ali watched that one too, and her laughter became even more boisterous. It was contagious. Since I was driving, I couldn't see the video and only heard it, but I was still laughing

along with them. The adrenaline had faded, we were all safe, and we knew we had a new travel story. to tell. When we got to the motel, the three of us sat together and watched the videos on repeat until we were too tired to stay awake. There's a lot more I could say, but I'm afraid this won't make it into a trail tales episode if I keep on rambling, so I'll end it with this. Our tent was unfortunately damaged and we decided to cut our trip short. Don't worry, we still got to enjoy the badlands the day after the storm. Since then, Doc has surprisingly agreed to go on many more adventures and to more national parks, but he still maintains that this was the best trip he

has ever gone on. If you made it this far, I hope you both enjoyed my story. I attached the videos for your viewing pleasure. Please feel free to share them. And remember, enjoy the view, watch your back, and always trust your gut feeling, Lindsay. So I sent you the first one. The second one is funny too. It's Doc just basically swearing a lot and being like, oh, fuck. But the first, it just reminds me so much. Oh my God, it's so much like ours except we didn't have rain. The wind is so crazy. It's so funny, I feel, for this so hard.

The wind, the rain, it's like, and we can just totally relate, not again, to the rain situation, but it is like a switch. It's like everything is fine. perfect, amazing, beautiful. And then immediately you're just in the middle of this crazy tornado of a storm that seems to have come out of nowhere. And it makes for a memorable experience. It's comical. Do we still have the video from our experience? I feel like if either of us have it, you have it. You're like the keeper of memories. I definitely have it, but it's probably on an old phone if it's not on this one.

I have a ton of pictures from our trip, but I don't know if I have this video from the Badlands. I remember showing you this when we went off that random dirt road and we ran almost into a bison and I had to have you back up. I'm like, back up, back up. And I was referencing this video. Bego, bag up. Reverse, tear. favorite video of all time because you didn't get it. I'm like, of course you don't get it.

You didn't get the reference. I get it. I've seen it now. I know it now. But no, that's the only video I have of our time in the Badlands. That's the only video. I have so many videos from the Badlands. I have a picture of our tent before the incident.

Oh, I also have a video of us when we went to the demonstration at Crazy Horse of the I forget what indigenous dance it's called, but remember that? Oh, yes, yes. Man was leading it and kind of showed us how to do it. I have a video of that. I have videos from inside the tent, but none from that moment. Yeah, well, I guess the time is coming gone. Forever lives in our memory.

All right. Well, anyway. Well, I just love that that was your soon-to-be husband's favorite trip. Sometimes when things go wrong like that, it just makes for a really great story. and you're all safe and it's just funny. He was a good sport. Yeah, truly. Little does he know that was a test.

It was a test to see. That's why you guys are getting married because he passed the test. That's right. My next story is titled, Jasper National Park Wildfire Evacuation, While on Gummies. Summer, 2024, I took a month-long camping trip from Colorado to Vancouver and across Canada with my dog, hitting several national parks in both countries.

My childhood best friend Lauren flew into Vancouver to join me for part of it. Immediately she entered what can only be described as a biblical sense of bad luck. Her flight got caught in the Microsoft shutdown chaos. She had major delays in reroutes. Her luggage got lost. And she landed too late to get the ferry to meet me on the island I was at because it was dark. And somehow that was just the beginning. We later got to Jasper National Park late at night and set up camp.

The next day, we're waiting in a lake and Lauren drops her phone into the water at some point, but we don't even notice until later. Gone. At this point, we're just staring at each other like, are we cursed? So naturally, we go get margaritas. We get back to camp and discover our tent has blown over. The wind is insane. We're piling boulders on it, double staking it, physically holding it down from the inside, while the walls are collapsing inward on us from the strength of this wind. Eventually, we give up, take some gummies, and decide to just chill in a tent and watch a movie while the wind slowly dies down. Around 10.30, while I'm very high and half asleep, an emergency evacuation alarm starts blaring on my phone. Just mine, because Lauren's phone is still at the bottom of a Canadian link, I wake her up and for some reason we both decide this wildfire evacuation might be optional. I texted my husband a screenshot of the alert and his response was basically, please let me know when you are not actively dying.

The gummies were peaking. We finally unzip the tent and step outside to see people at other sites in full panic mode. Families are sprinting around, cars are peeling out of campsites, the air is thick with smoke. Then we notice it's raining? No, it's ash. Black ash is absolutely dumping from the sky. guy onto us. At that point, we start frantically throwing everything into the car and join a massive line of evacuation traffic just sitting. The combination of panic and adrenaline with an abrupt

halt is a tough transition. I'm laughing, crying, calling my husband, convinced we're going to perish in Jasper National Park. Meanwhile, Lauren is in the passenger seat completely vibing, just chatting, looking around, enjoying the scenery, absolutely unbothered. We sit in a evacuation traffic for over two hours while my husband does all the actual problem solving from another country and figures out where we can go. Eventually, we end up in what I can only describe as an RV park slash golf course hybrid where they're letting wildfire evacuees pitch tents directly on the golf course. So we set up our tent in the pouring rain, passed out, and woke up the next morning next to a massive family reunion happening on the green beside us like none of us had just

fled a natural disaster. Anyway, the next day, we bought Evil Eyes and Sage Lauren head to toe before continuing the camping trip. A few days later, we spilled an entire bottle of wine inside our tent in Grizzly country, so honestly, maybe this wasn't bad luck so much as natural selection. P.S., big shout out to all the first responders that night. We will never forget the site of trucks heading into the park while we are all evacuating. I would be absolutely no help.

or benefit in any way on gummies in a situation like that. I don't know if I'd freak out, but I definitely wouldn't help. I would try my best, but gummies, I definitely am not a functioning person. I'm like a sleeping, not making important life decision kind of person. So I would definitely try, but I would be, especially driving and stuff, I would be a little. Yeah. I don't know. I think I would do it.

I would get there. But it wouldn't be great. It wouldn't be great. It wouldn't go really well. I would just hopefully I would make it out. Yeah. Okay. Note to never take gummies at the same time in case there's an emergency.

In case of emergency. Yeah. Yeah. No. Have you seen? I know you've been, which I'm so happy for you for, but you've been like pretty offline over the last couple months, which is great. But I have not been.

I mean, I have been kind of. but not as much as you. But, and I forget his name, but there's this creator who he's like a relatively new creator because he just decided to one day film himself making dinner while after taking gummies. And he's so funny. I think he's a stand-up comedian or something now. But he's so cute and funny. And he's just like, I think he lives in New York or something.

It looks like a New York City apartment type of thing. He's like, let's make dinner. But like, and then he just made. He eats gummies and then he's like, all right, I'll come back. And then like the next cut is him so high. Hello. He's so cute. Anyway, so that's the content I'm watching.

But moving on to my next story, it is titled Saved by the Hot Cowboy. Oh, okay. Which certainly got my attention. Save a horse ride a cowboy. Hi, ladies. Love the podcast. Am I on gummies? I don't know.

I think a couple people, we must have said something a little while ago about us intoxicated or high or something. And a couple people wrote in and said that we should do an episode while under the influence. And I ignored them. I would totally read a trail tale while on gummies. What? If the people want it, I don't know if I could do it. We'd have to, instead of sharing six stories each. I'd want to do it together though

I'd want to be recording together Okay which also we can't figure out sober We would have to We'd do it at your house and we'd set it up before And I feel like we'd set it up on your couch Like a girl's night And we'd take gummies and read trail tales And eat snacks

And you guys would have to listen to us chew on popcorn That sounds like a nightmare But if the people want it Really? I was saying that sounded so fun A nightmare to listen to. Like, I think we would have fun, but I don't know if as a listener, I could, I would want that. I hate chewing sounds. You hate when people to, newsflash to everyone.

Cassie hates when people talk on podcasts. She's like, get to the story. It's like a week. So, yeah. I like this chit chat. Get to the story. I'm here for a trail to. Yeah, Cassie doesn't want anybody talking on podcasts, which is interesting.

It's true. Okay. Why talk about the podcast? God damn it. Can I just read this? Get to the story. I'm waiting. Okay.

Hi, ladies. Love the podcast. Thank you. You've accompanied me on many long runs around Manhattan when I needed an outdoor escape from the concrete jungle. This trail tale is actually from 2020 when my friend and I decided to convert a van to see the U.S. I actually started the journey ahead of her while she was visiting family.

and linked up with my friend, Gem and Minneapolis. Together, we drove from Minneapolis to Wyoming, hitting all the classic world's largest, i.e. ball of twine, style attractions along the way. After my own heart. Love it. Along the way, we stopped at a brewery somewhere in the middle of nowhere, eastern Wyoming.

It was later in the day, and they let us know that we could camp in their parking lot. Sweet, this was a win-win for me, so I could continue drinking their delicious beers and not have to worry about driving. Jim went to the car to grab something and upon her return I heard the keys drop, but they didn't just fall onto the ground. They fell between the deck floor planks.

Great. The staff informs us that there are snakes that hide under the deck as well. All right. Double great. After a few unsuccessful attempts over about an hour, the staff came out with a drill and pulled up the deck boards and the keys were finally salvaged. The whole drive from eastern Wyoming to Yellowstone, I gave Gem so much shit for only.

almost losing our keys and making us potentially homeless since the car was also our house. When we were in Yellowstone, we took the van around the iconic park loop, taking in the sights of geysers and Buffalo. On our very last off of the day, we did a short hike up to a viewpoint. Halfway down, we realized Gem had dropped the lid to her water bottle, and I was teasing her again about dropping things. We went back to the car to try and find it. I immediately go to open the door. Shit. I locked the keys inside.

Of course, Gem now starts teasing me about losing things, and rightfully so. To make matters worse, we had no service and we're in the middle of nowhere. So we did the only thing we could do. We walked back out to the side of the road and stuck out our thumbs. However, this was peak COVID, so nobody was picking up strangers on the side of the road. We waited for at least an hour and we're losing all sense of hope, so we continued to stick out our thumbs and started walking in the direction of the park entrance a whole 10 miles away as it was getting dark. Finally, a car stops. We were so delirious at that

point that we thought it was a mirage. The window rolled down and I immediately meet eyes with an insanely hot cowboy. He tips his hat and says, do you ladies need a rad? Sure do. Sure do. We both shook our heads up and down in disbelieve and proceed to open the back door of the car. But before we jumped in, Hot Cowboy had to move his lasso that was in the backseat of the car to the trunk. Are you fucking kidding me with this guy? We learned he worked at a nearby ranch and is also a software engineer. Again, are you kidding? Who is this guy? He drove us to a tow company who was eventually able to help us unlock the car. We did get his info and did try to set up one of our friends with him, but sadly it did not work out. Anyways,

I hope you enjoyed my tale. I've attached a photo of us with said Hot Cowboy and his friends when we got to the tow company as well as some photos from that day. Enjoy the view, but watch where you put your keys or maybe don't. It could lead you to meeting Hot Cowboys, Lauren. I want this to happen to me. I love that there's a photo. Oh, there's a photo and I'm posting it. This could happen to you.

You just have to come to Wyoming. I have to be in the vicinity of Hot Cowboys. for this to potentially happen. There are cowboys everywhere in Wyoming. It's so funny because it's like this happened and they're in Yellowstone on the side of the road in Yellowstone. And I won't say his name, obviously, but when Cassie and I were in Yellowstone and in Lamar Valley last summer, last summer. And there was, we were wolf watching. There was some wolves out there. And so obviously a lot of people were gathered and taking out their scopes and photos and cameras and stuff for photos. And I just remember we're driving away.

And I see this insanely good looking guy step out of his car to get his telephoto lens. And I'm rubbernecking. I'm like, who is that? It's kind of here for the wild life. I'm like, oh, my God. And he was not a cowboy, or at least didn't look like a cowboy. So, and I guess we stopped and we started talking to somebody else. And that guy came up because, like, he's a pretty well-known photographer.

around there. And she's like, oh, yeah, that's so-and-so. I'm like, what? He's well-known. You know him? You know him? And I forgot. His name, forgot all about it for almost a year. And then, what, a week ago, two weeks ago? He comes up on my algorithm and I just sent Cassie a screenshot and like, found him. She's like, you're psychotic. One year later. I like his wildlife photography. I don't know what to tell you. Does have good photos. But you never know what's going to happen on the roads of Yellowstone. And we've always said that. We have always said that for sure. I don't know if I'd be brave enough to hitchhike. I mean, under the right circumstances, I could be, you know, if you're 10 miles away from any. Yeah, and you have no, I could do it. I'd have to be with you. I couldn't, I don't know if I could

do it by myself. Yeah. I mean, I'd have to be pretty desperate to do it by myself. But I feel like if we were together or something, I would be still wondering if we were getting murdered. Be like, look how cute and pretty she is. Like, take her first. I'm scared. She's wearing yellow. She looks like a sunflower. She's asking to be.

She's the ray of sunshine that is talked about in documentaries. It's like, I don't know. She lights up a room. She does. Don't light up a room. That's why I wear black so much. They all light up rooms and they all die. Just kidding.

I wouldn't offer you up. I'd fight for you. Thank you. I appreciate that. All right. I have another story, I guess. Is this the longest trail tales that's ever happened? I thought I was done. No, we're not even in an hour. Really? Well, if you stop talking, I hate when people talk on podcasts. Me too. I'm not here for the host. I'm here for the content of the stories. Yeah, and I have the content. Great. My next story is titled The Nosebreaker. Hi, NPAD, thank you for all that you share. I love listening to your podcasts on road trips, long work days, and occasionally sub-zero camping trips. My story takes place last year in a remote area of Interior Alaska, three hours from

Fairbanks on BLM land, aka the middle of nowhere. Temps here range from below negative 40 degrees in the winter to 90 plus in the summer. The week prior to our trip, the weather had been a balmy 20 degrees Fahrenheit above, and the forecast called for even higher temps, so we were excited to get out for the weekend of warm weather and sun after the long winter. My dad is an avid outdoorsman and very experienced with winter camping here, and I very much enjoy our trips together. This trip, I would be scojoring, and he would be bringing his dirt bike converted to a snow bike with a single front ski and a track in the back. Us and the abnormal travel methods. That's like Al's dream he talks about getting

Skajor. Getting that set up. No, the dirt bike set up. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. He talks about that every year. The trailhead to this particular hot spring we were visiting is a sock and a tree and it's

been that way since 2014 per a blog I read. Kai was extremely excited to be out. He lives to run and pull. According to embark, he has nine relatives who have finished the I diderod. Oh, that's so cool. And so he was taking his job very seriously while I was trying not to fall or run into tree. Skidjoring is great. We've done it for six years, but the trail this time of year was hard-packed and starting to form surface ice from the sun. It was only seven miles to the springs,

and we had packed light for the warmer attempts. We got to camp around sundown. I was chilly, so I got a few layers out. Luckily, I skied all the way in wearing heavy insulated carhart bibs. They were a lifesaver. Dad set up his tent. It had no floor, which was fine because the geothermal heat melted all the snow nearby and left patches of soft bare ground to set up. We fired up the wood stove the size of a shoebox and ate warm burritos before braving the cold, putting on our swimsuits, and jumping in the hot springs. This isn't your typical spa-esque hot springs. It's rough and ready. There's a river flowing around a bend off to the right and a mountain jutting straight up to the left with a 20-foot cliff and at the base is a tiny pool big enough for just a few people and deep enough

that if you sit on your butt, you have water up to your neck. There's a moose skull hanging from the rock cliff and a sketchy metal bench to sit on. And it's winter, so there's snow everywhere. People have piled rocks to corner off the hot pool from the rest of the river, and the bottom is mushy and full of algae. And it was cold. Not cold, cold, but lukewarm and not very satisfying after a long day. Getting out was maybe the coldest I've been in my life.

We huddled back in the tent and got in our sleeping bags. Kai curled up on the blanket I bought next to the stove and we all drifted off to sleep for a little while. We woke up regularly to add a log to the fire. I must emphasize we are in an uninsulated tent. The ground is slightly warmer than freezing and the stove is the size of a shoebox. I was pretty cold, but I think dad was colder and Kai was cold too. Despite having a coat and insulated booties, he was giving me very sad looks whenever I woke up. So I wrapped my overalls around him. At one point, we couldn't sleep. So naturally,

I turned on a podcast. The only episode I had downloaded at the time was the NPAD one where the guy goes exploring in his hot air balloon in the Arctic, and we know how that ended. Eventually, the sun came up. We ate breakfast and had hot tea, warmed ourselves up and got ready to head home. I loved that episode. Yeah, that's like one of my favorite ones, like in the top running favorite ones that you've covered. I really liked that one. I enjoyed it too. It was fun to research. Yeah. What was that it? Oh, the places we won't go. Oh, the places you won't go. Yeah. You won't go. Yeah. Yeah, that was a good one. Was that in Svalbard? Was it? I don't know. I feel like it maybe was. It was definitely the Arctic. I know there was a national park tie in, but yeah. I don't know. I guess who know. That's why we're

going to Spalbard. It was so fun to research. I forgot everything about it. It's my favorite episode. I don't know the title. Or where it took place. Yeah. It was good. We know that for sure. Dad packed up everything but the tent and stove and tried to start his machine, which sputtered repeatedly, so he had to stoke the fire some more, push and shove

the tent and maneuver it so that the engine was directly above the stove to warm it up. After an hour, it finally started. Kai and I were ready and we hit the trail. It was smooth sailing. The trail was less technical on this end, so Kai's speed wasn't a concern. But as we sailed along down a nice flat stretch of trail, my ski caught under a stick, the kind that curled over at some point and then got packed down enough and was just strong enough that instead of breaking, it stopped me dead in my tracks.

I fell head first, so fast I couldn't catch myself, smacked my head into the ground and heard a crunch. I instantly sprang back onto my knees, holding pressure on my nose as it started gushing onto the snow. Kai was whining and a bit unhappy to be stopped so suddenly, and I was silently listening for the sound of my dad's engine. He had turned off the bike after it warmed up because he wanted to give us a head start. I hear nothing, but the wind in the trees and Kai whining impatiently. A few minutes later, I heard the engine.

Dad pulling up with a smile, which immediately shifted to a concerned expression when he saw the blood. He confirmed my nose was broken and helped me shove some toilet paper up each nostril to try and pack it enough so I didn't have to hold it. Then he helped me out of my skis, and while I don't usually contone off-leash dogs, we let Kai run. We had no other choice. Somehow, Dad got both of us, my skis, and my pack onto the snow bike. I was a bit concussed and groggy at this point and was just trying my best not to fall off. That was definitely the scariest ATV ride of my life. Kai was running ahead of us and even tried to chase some birds as they flew up from the trail. I also accidentally burned through my glove on the muffler, but somehow didn't burn my finger.

At the trailhead, we met some fat bikers leaving, who told us they'd known a couple people who also broke their noses on this particular trail and joked that it should be called the nosebreaker. We made it to the hospital four hours later, only to find out that you can't get broken noses fixed at the ER, and urgent care didn't either. So I spent a whole week with a broken nose and two black eyes until I could get a minor surgery to put it back into place. Is that true? You can't get broken nose fixed at the ER? Maybe they just put a cast on it and then you have to go get surgery. Oh. Would be what I would guess. Yeah. They like refer you out to someone who does it. I guess it, unless it's severe enough, maybe it doesn't constitute an emergency. So.

Yeah. I would imagine they would just put like maybe some type of brace on it or something to hold it in place. But then I don't really know. It really wasn't that bad. I thought broken noses would hurt a lot more. I probably got lucky where it broke or something. While I was at the ER, I looked up the temperature record for that night, and it was negative 22 degrees Fahrenheit, a whole 42 degrees difference and not at all what we were comfortably prepared for. So that's my story of how I broke my first bone four hours from the hospital and listened to an NPAD story with my dad and dog about freezing while we were freezing. Don't try this at home. I love listening, especially, love the Alaska episodes. Warm wishes, Taya. Camping in negative, what did you say, 20-something degrees? Negative 22 degrees. No, thank you. Alaskans are built different. That is true. Even though she was like, yeah, we're going to a hot spring. It's like, oh, yeah, that does sound nice. Come to find out, it's a lukewarm. I'm not going into a loop. Spring in negative 20 degrees. No. Yeah. No, thanks. I have not. Never outside of surgery, I've never broken a bone.

Just like out and about. Yeah. I broke my pinky once. Doing what? Playing volleyball in high school. Oh. Like it got jammed. Yeah, I dove for the ball and I landed on it.

And now it's still like if you look at it, it's slightly crooked. You're going to be like, now I'm going to just look at that all the time. Remember that whole thing with Megan Fox and people are like, yeah, well, she has ugly thumbs. And then everyone was like looking at her thumbs. It's like, okay, she's the most beautiful person on planet Earth. And you're going to focus in on, you're just trying to tear her down. Okay. I would love for someone to look at me and be like the only thing that they could find wrong with me was like my thumbs.

Or your pinky. It's like, yeah, well, she broke her pinky. It's like, well, she has a weird pinky. I mean, like, thank you. Thanks so much. There's nothing else to say. You're right. Okay.

Okay, my last story. My last story is titled Cochiti Bathroom Ghost. Hey, Danielle and Cassie, thank you for all of the time you pour into National Park After Dark. I love listening, learning, and laughing to all the stories you share. Instead of like Live, Laugh, Love, where Listen, Learn, and Laugh. That's our logo. And we've always said that.

Since the beginning. My name is Hannah. You can use it. And I have a story I want to share that is a little spooky and a little funny. I hope you enjoy. In the fall of my eighth grade year, circa 2012, my class took a service trip to Cochiti, New Mexico. Cochiti is in the Santa Fe National Forest region and is a historic Pueblo of the Cochiti people, one of the Kerasan nations.

But from the perspective of me and most of my 12-year-old private school classmates, it was a tiny town made of mud buildings in the middle of nowhere. We were going on this trip to create relations with an apparent sister school and help them build a garden for their community. My entire eighth grade class got jammed into two Greyhound buses and drove from Denver, Colorado, all the way out into the middle of New Mexico. We set up camp out on the school's dirt soccer fields with tents and had access to the school's locker rooms and cafeteria, but to us, it was roughing it. So there we were, a gaggle of maybe 80 preteens with all the incredibly cringy puberty antics living on a dirt patch on the property of a falling apart school in a point I blow in the middle of the fall-dried New Mexican desert for an entire week.

Who thought this was a good idea? Please note, I now have a lot of gratitude for the exposure to different cultures my school gave me, and I have a lot of respect for the native people who are out there trying to hang on to traditions despite the oppression and poverty, but at the time, I was not as mature or wise. During our time here, we were encouraged to connect and make friends with the students at this sister school. During an awkward small talk conversation with a girl, I believe her name was Cheyenne, we found out we both ran our respective schools cross-country teams.

That was enough similarities for her, I guess, because I became her number one buddy. The second morning we were there, she invited me to go on a run with her. I was a little apprehensive, so I called over one of my other cross-country friends and said, hey, this is Cheyenne. She wants us to go out on a run with her. And luckily for me, my friend said, cool, I'll go change my shoes. The three of us went on a run on the trail behind the school. There were a couple of acres of land with worn out paths around it.

A shallow ravine splintered through the area. At one point in the run, we came to a spot where we could see down into a section of the ravine and noted that there were two old, banged up cars at the bottom of it. Clearly, they had been there for a while, but there was definitely something eerie about the area. My friend and I exchanged a quick look, and Cheyenne, noticing, slowed down to a walk. We all stopped for a moment to catch our breath, and Cheyenne began to tell us a story. She said that there was a family that used to live in the area. They had a daughter, and one night when they were driving home, the daughter screamed so loudly

that the dad swerved off the road and drove into the desert, crashing down into this very ravine. The daughter had died in the accident and the family never extracted the car. My friend and I exchanged another look at that. Was this girl messing with us? I asked, why are there two cars? Cheyenne turned around and looked me dead in the eyes and said, because a year after she died, someone else was driving on the very same road when they heard a young girl scream and drove off the road into the same ditch.

Now no one drives on this road anymore. We stood in silence for a moment. I think I just went, huh, okay. And then conversation over apparently, we ran back to school without any other problems. As the day goes on, Cheyenne continues to bring up the story of the dead girl, saying she was cursed by a witch and that is what made her scream so loud. Since the car still sits in the ditch, her spirit lingers in the area and sometimes she haunts the school. The story just seemed to keep growing. At one point, I said, how do you know any of this is real?

And she turned to me and said, because I see her sometimes. That's when my bored curiosity turned to actual fear. What? I blurted. She just kept looking at me and said, I can show her to you. I backed away a step and said something like, no way, you're teasing. At this point, I'm like, okay, she is totally messing with me. She's just trying to scare me. She insisted, I am serious. This afternoon, if you come meet me in the hallway, I will show her to you. I said, okay, let's do it, because I was hoping to call her out on a bluff and to get her to stop talking about this supposed dead girl. Later that day, I found her in the school hallway. I was hoping she would say, actually, never mind or something along those lines. But without hesitation, she led me into the girl's bathroom and fear started to slowly creep down my spine. What am I doing here and why did I agree to this?

I thought to myself. She said, stand right there and look into that corner. I'm going to turn off all the lights and you'll be able to see her figure in the light of the smoke alarm. That is when I started to panic. Was she going to hurt me? Was I actually going to see a ghost? I stood frozen in the spot I was instructed. She walked a few steps away and hit the light switch.

My heart dropped to my stomach and I waited for my eyes to adjust to the dark. I heard her walk back over to me and stand at my side. After a few heartbeats, I said quietly, I don't see anything. She shushed me and said, give her a minute. So we stood there in the girl's bathroom, in the complete dark, staring at a corner that was faintly illuminated by the red light from the smoke alarm on the ceiling, my heart hammering so loud I could hear it in my ears. After what felt like a half an hour, she said, I don't think she wants to come out for you. And I stressed, laughed uncomfortably. We exited the

bathroom and I immediately went back to my classmates in our great depression looking tent town. I told my friends what happened and most of them agreed that she was probably just messing around with me, but in my mind I was feeling more and more like she was being serious. Why would she have gone to such great lengths to convince me? When we didn't see the ghost, she didn't laugh or tease me. She seemed actually frustrated that this ghost didn't make an appearance for me. Who knows if the cursed girl's ghost really haunts the school or if Cheyenne ever really did see her? But she gave me one hell of a fright. I avoided her the rest of the week after that. Cheyenne, if you're out there, I hope you're doing all right.

The day before we left Cochiti, we were out at the community center working on the garden. In the morning, there was a dust storm, wind whipped us, and brought so much sand and dust with it. Then in the afternoon, it poured rain. When we got back to the school, 80% of the tents were wrecked. The sandstorm blew all our tents over and opened them and filled them with sand. Then the rainstorm turned all of that sand and dirt into mud that now filled our sleeping bags and covered all of our things. All of the students whose tents were wrecked slept on the floor of the school gym that night. Luckily for me, my tent was one of the few that stayed intact for us to sleep in it.

I was so relieved because I was not about to sleep in that haunted-ass school after all the stories Cheyenne had just told me. In hindsight, an alleged ghost in the bathroom feels very bloody Mary-esque, but I was maybe 12, so I cut myself some slack. For the cherry on top, whatever was in dinner that last night gave everybody food points for the six-hour bus ride home the next day. It was gross. My friends and I laugh when we remember that horrible trip in eighth grade. I have gone on many service trips in my life to unique, faraway places and have really enjoyed most of them, just not that one. That's my story,

and I hope you enjoyed. Enjoy the view, but watch for locals trying to give you the spook, Hannah. This is how I imagine you tried to make friends as a 12-year-old. Thank you. Like come into the bathroom and see this ghost I found. It seems like she was being genuine to me. I think so. I don't think she was messing with you at all. I think this was like a genuine story that was local to there. And I bet she really did have some paranormal experiences.

And she was like, this is my new friend. I'm going to show her my, I'm going to show her the ghost I've been seeing. And she thought it was probably a cool thing. And it scared you, which is reasonable. And you've remembered it all these years later. And you've remembered this girl, maybe her name is Cheyenne. I don't know. And I know that she described her differently.

But what I'm envisioning, I can't help it, is Wednesday Adams. Yeah. I was literally picturing you. I was like, I could see Danielle making friends like this as like a 12 year old kid. That's a huge compliment. Thank you for seeing that. You're welcome. Sorry.

Okay. Do you have another one? Or was that it? No, that was it. Well, thank you, everyone, for hanging out with us. If you are not completely sick of us yet, we do have two more stories that you can listen to if you are an outsider on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Mine is titled, When Stargazing with Your Crush, Watch Out for Shadow People. Ooh.

And mine is titled, Signs from a Loved One, All I Had to Do was Ask Nicely. Well, if you guys want to see or live. Well, if you guys want to hear the. Those stories come hang out with us because we are losing it. Yeah. And we're not even high. Not yet. But we could be.

It could be. You tell us. Okay. Well, thank you everyone for hanging out. See you next time. Enjoy the view. But watch you're back. Bye.

Bye. Thanks for joining us for another episode. We hope you learn something new and have another location to put on your list. If you want more MPAD content, make sure to follow along with our adventures on all socials at National Park After Dark. For more stories just like this one, with the added bonus of exclusive content, you can join us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to our YouTube channel. And if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform. I need to go home.

Kai and I were ready. we hit the trail. It was smooth sailing. The trail was less technical on this end. So Kai's was running ahead of us and even tried to chase some paragon as they flew up from the trail, Tarmigan. God. There's a P. I thought you were saying, I thought you were saying Peregrine Falcons. I'm like, what? Tarmigan. Kai was running ahead of us and even tried to chase some tarragon. Why words like this exist? Words. Mine is titled, when stargazing with your crutch, crutch.

When stargazing with your crush. Sorry. You got to start over it. Sorry.