Lost & Found: The Miraculous Survival of Truman C. Everts. Yellowstone National Park

Truman Everts, a 54-year-old bureaucrat, joined the 1870 Washburn Expedition to explore Yellowstone. After becoming separated from the group, he lost his horse, food, gun, and blankets. Alone for 37 days, he endured brutal storms, frostbite, a scalded hip, and even a mountain lion. His dramatic survival captivated the nation and helped inspire the creation of Yellowstone as America’s first national park. For a full list of our sources, visit npadpodcast.com/episodesFor 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! BetterHelp: National Park After Dark is sponsored by BetterHelp. Get 10% off. Blueland: Use our link to get 15% off your first order. Quince: Use our link to get free shipping and 365-day returns. SelectQuote: Life insurance is never cheaper than it is today. Get the right life insurance for YOU, for LESS, and save more than fifty percent at selectquote.com/npad Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:32Speaker 01

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• 1:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Picture this. You're dropped into the wilderness with nothing but your instincts. No food, no shelter, no help. Just you, the elements, and a landscape alive with unseen dangers. The wind is biting, the nights are cold, and the terrain is unforgiving. How long could you survive? Hunger gnaws at you, exhaustion weighs on every limb, and the mental strain of being completely alone becomes overwhelming. Water isn't just a convenience, it's a lifeline. How would you find it? Food becomes a daily question. What's safe to eat and what could kill you? Every rustle in the bushes,

• 1:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  every shadow between the trees could be a predator. How would you protect yourselves from bears, mountain lions, or venomous snakes? Your mind starts to play tricks on you. Hours stretch into days. Desperation becomes a constant companion. You have to make impossible decisions just to keep going. Would you have the skills, the patience, and the sheer determination to survive? Shows like Naked and Afraid or Alone give us a taste of the struggle. But the real wilderness doesn't cut you any slack.

• 2:22Danielle LaRock?

  In today's episode, we're exploring one of the most incredible survival stories from the early days of Yellowstone National Park. Before we dive in, though, we want you to ask yourself, if it were you out there alone in the wilds, how long could you last? And what would it take to survive? Welcome to National Park After Dark.

• 3:05Danielle LaRock?

  Hello, everyone, and welcome back to National Park After Dark. I'm Danielle.

• 3:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm Cassie.

• 3:10Danielle LaRock?

  And my answer is not long.

• 3:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  Same. Count me out. If I'm missing for like five days, just assume.

• 3:18Danielle LaRock?

  The worst.

• 3:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  Just assume the worst. Send in the cadaver dogs. I'm gone. I'm in a better place.

• 3:26Danielle LaRock?

  I, I, I think it's entirely dependent on where, of course, and Alone is one of my favorite. I haven't really gotten into Naked and Afraid too much because I feel like Alone is just a little bit more genuine.

• 3:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  I agree.

• 3:42Danielle LaRock?

  Not to take away from the Naked and Afraid experience because that also does not look easy, but I mean, with Alone, you truly are out there by yourself.

• 3:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, and Alone is a little different because Alone, they actually have survivalists on the show who have to go into these Arctic landscapes to survive through winter. And Naked and Afraid, it's not that it's difficult, but a lot of these people aren't trained in this.

• 4:07Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, or they're

• 4:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  They're just kind of out there.

• 4:09Danielle LaRock?

  Or they're just some sort of like outdoor enthusiast that on the side will do survivalist training or this or that, but they're not, they don't live and work professionally.

• 4:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Military backgrounds too.

• 4:21Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I could not, I mean, the Naked twist is definitely adds to it for sure. But um, yeah, I don't know. Not long, especially the bugs would get me, I think, because they're just so frustrating. And when I get frustrated, I can't focus on anything else. And that's a big player. I just saw on the news that Iceland has

• 4:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Three mosquitoes.

• 4:45Danielle LaRock?

  Nowhere safe except for Antarctica.

• 4:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Nowhere is safe. Yeah.

• 4:50Danielle LaRock?

  That's the last place that they've.

• 4:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  So much.

• 4:52Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, no mosquitoes. Well, you can't move there because our business would fail, so.

• 4:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know where I would live also.

• 4:59Danielle LaRock?

  There's plenty of bases down there. You can figure it out.

• 5:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 5:03Danielle LaRock?

  The wifi sucks, though, and I need a business partner, so.

• 5:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Be like, sorry, everyone. Listen to Danielle alone for the next six months. I'll be back in the, in the winter.

• 5:15Danielle LaRock?

  Well, um, so we're going to Yellowstone today for your story. Lovely. My favorite place, favorite park ever.

• 5:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yes, I know. And um, I think that this story is really fun. I'll get into it more, but we're diving into Yellowstone before it was a national park. And we're kind of doing my bread and butter today, which we're telling a survival story, which I always love to do. So I'm excited for this one.

• 5:38Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 5:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, let's dive into it. Do you ever think about how natural wonders in national parks get their names? Maybe you're driving through Lassen Volcanic National Park when you see a sign for Bumpus Hell Trail and ask yourself, Bumpus Hell? How did that happen? Well, sometimes these places of grandeur are named after indigenous people who lived on the land for thousands of years. Sometimes they're named after the people who displaced said indigenous people. And sometimes they're named after a guy who got so spectacularly lost, his rescue became the stuff of legend. Imagine you're fifty four years old, you can barely see without your glasses,

• 6:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  and you've just gone separated from your expedition party and what will later become America's first national park. You have no food, no supplies, and winter is coming fast in the Rocky Mountain wilderness. And of course, I must mention that the wilderness is filled with grizzlies, mud pots, mountain lions, boiling springs, and geysers that could literally cook you alive.

• 6:41Danielle LaRock?

  It feels like a video game. It's like when you're just dropped and you're just like, good luck. There's all these obstacles.

• 6:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Except you don't get the re-lives and can collect stars to re-up your, your lives or whatever.

• 6:53Danielle LaRock?

  Oh yeah, when you get like boosted or I don't know anything about video games. I shouldn't have even drawn that analogy.

• 6:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  For some reason, when you said it's like video games, I immediately pictured Spyro from PS one.

• 7:05Danielle LaRock?

  I don't even know what that is.

• 7:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Really? I don't consider myself someone who knows video games really well, but Spyro was like, it's like Spyro, the Lion King game, Crash Bandicoot, Nintendo, like none?

• 7:19Danielle LaRock?

  Banjo Kazooie? Do you remember that one?

• 7:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Kind of vaguely.

• 7:23Danielle LaRock?

  That was my thing. That was my one game. I'm like, I'm gonna master this.

• 7:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  Mine was Crash Team Racing.

• 7:29Danielle LaRock?

  That tracks so much.

• 7:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's my favorite.

• 7:34Danielle LaRock?

  I did go to trivia the other night and I learned something about video games. I'll give you the fun fact in case you ever need it in life. The first appearance of Mario in a video game was in Donkey Kong.

• 7:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, interesting.

• 7:48Danielle LaRock?

  Yep.

• 7:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow.

• 7:50Danielle LaRock?

  So there's that. The only video game that Banjo Kazooie is my thing and whatever, but and I'm so happy because this proves I've been doing something right in life. So many people have sent me the, the ad for the new Titanic game that's coming out in January or February.

• 8:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  I didn't even know that was happening.

• 8:11Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, I gotta learn how to play PS, whatever it is.

• 8:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  Or six?

• 8:17Danielle LaRock?

  I don't know.

• 8:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know. I'm still on PS two.

• 8:21Danielle LaRock?

  I need to learn whatever it is going to be, whatever console it's gonna be on. And I need access to someone with that console, cause I'm not gonna buy it, but um yeah, the new Titanic game is coming out and it looks so fun.

• 8:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  What do you do? Try to survive?

• 8:39Danielle LaRock?

  Try and survive the sinking of the Titanic.

• 8:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Interesting.

• 8:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  We should do an outsiders livestream of you playing the Titanic game trying to survive.

• 8:50Danielle LaRock?

  Oh my god, no.

• 8:53Danielle LaRock?

  You know, those like video or those videos of a couple playing a video game or something and the girl just has a gun and she's just pointing it in the air in circles and running into walls?

• 9:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 9:04Danielle LaRock?

  I don't think anybody wants me to see me do that for an hour. So.

• 9:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know. You guys tell us.

• 9:11Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, you tell us.

• 9:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  I kind of want to see it personally.

• 9:14Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, anyway, let's go back to Yellowstone.

• 9:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Anyway, going back into Yellowstone because I think it's it's definitely a favorite here and I think maybe it's one of the most well-covered episodes we or parks we've done since we started this.

• 9:30Danielle LaRock?

  Uh, that's a good question. I don't know.

• 9:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't know. Well, I'm not going to get super into the park because we have talked about it so many times. But for this story, Yellowstone wasn't even officially a park when our story subject Truman Everts hit the trail. In 1870, the northwestern corner of the newly formed Wyoming Territory was a blank stretch on the map of the continental United States. For thousands of years, this land had become home to numerous indigenous nations. People from at least 26 different tribes lived off the land, but in 1870, few white people had ever seen the geysers and hot springs that defined the region. Mountain men and trappers who passed through spun fantastical tales about boiling lakes, spitting geysers and petrified forests.

• 10:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Stories that were largely dismissed back east. Imagine going out west in this time and coming back home and be like, you never believe it. There's geysers, there's these huge trees, there's mountains that are higher than anything I've ever seen. And everyone's like, that's not true.

• 10:33Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 10:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  That can't be true.

• 10:35Danielle LaRock?

  Can't possibly be right.

• 10:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, no, it looks like this.

• 10:40Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it's it's a fun time to imagine being in when they're still. Mystery in the world and not images of every little corner of it easily accessible, which is nice, but also mystery is fun.

• 10:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I like to not look up places, pictures of places that I'm visiting too many. So I'm at least a little bit surprised.

• 11:02Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I did that with one of our trips. I think I was, I looked at the itinerary once and then a year and a half later, when the trip came around, I'm like, I've done no investigation into this location at all, and I have no idea what to expect.

• 11:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, surprise.

• 11:19Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, I just tell me what plane to be on and I'll, I'll be there.

• 11:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  When I went to, when we went to Antarctica, I didn't, of course, I've seen lots of videos and stuff of Antarctica and things, but when I saw the route that the ship was doing, I intentionally did not research the locations of Antarctica we were going because I wanted it to truly be when we pulled in to be the first time I had ever seen any of these places.

• 11:46Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 11:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  And it totally was worth it. But anyway, all these people are going and no one believes them that this exists. As the United States neared its centennial, the Mountain West remained sparsely populated by colonists and shrouded in mystery. Montana wouldn't become a state for another nineteen years, and Wyoming had only become a territory two years prior. Montana State University historian Kim Allen Scott, an expert on the Washburn Expedition, put it this way. Everyone knew there was something weird in the Northern Rockies, but nobody really knew what was in those particular mountains. It lent a mystique to it. That mystique is still alive today.

• 12:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yellowstone National Park covers a staggering 3,472 square miles, an area about the size of Puerto Rico. It's a region of incredible beauty and danger. The park sits atop a supervolcano, which fuels more than 10,000 hydrothermal features like geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and fumaroles. Some of these can reach temperatures hot enough to cook a person alive. And that's before we even get to the wildlife. The park is home to bison, cougars, rattlesnakes, and the highest concentration of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. It's a place where the wild is truly wild, a landscape that demands respect and caution.

• 13:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  It was into this untamed wilderness that our protagonist Truman C. Everett ventured.

• 13:18Danielle LaRock?

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• 14:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Everett was born around 1816. He was tall, thin, and so nearsighted that he was essentially legally blind without his glasses. A career government bureaucrat, Everett was no rugged outdoorsman. He spent the Civil War tending to wounded Union soldiers and was later appointed by President Abraham Lincoln as the first federal tax assessor for the Montana Territory, a position he held for years in Helena. But by the summer of 1870, the administration wanted its own man in the job, and Everett, a middle-aged widower, was unemployed. Enamored with the idea of exploring the unknown alongside Montana's leading citizens, he enthusiastically signed on for what was to be, in the words of historian Lee Whittlesey,

• 15:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  "a sort of between-jobs vacation for him."

• 15:29Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, Whittlesey. In Whittlesey, we trust.

• 15:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  We do.

• 15:32Danielle LaRock?

  I want a prayer candle with Lee H. Whittlesey on it, please. Somebody who's crafty and can do that, please make me that.

• 15:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  And then you'll have to put it on your shelf behind you so we can see it for every episode recording.

• 15:43Danielle LaRock?

  I will. I will. Yeah.

• 15:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  That would be so serious.

• 15:49Danielle LaRock?

  You can find it on our website. Thanks.

• 15:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Little did he know, this holiday would become a wilderness odyssey of grit, luck, and sheer incompetence that would, against all odds, help lead to the creation of the nation's first national park. The expedition he signed up for was officially called the Washburn-Langford Doane Expedition of 1870. It was the first professional effort to chart the unmapped northwestern quadrant of the new Wyoming Territory. The party of 19 men, including some of Montana's most respected citizens, left for Fort Ellis, mere present-day Bozeman, on August 22, 1870. It was led by Henry D. Washburn, the Surveyor General of Montana, and included businessman Nathaniel P. Langford,

• 16:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  and a military escort under Lieutenant Gustavus Stone. Their goal was to explore the uncharted Yellowstone County as far south as Yellowstone Lake. Langford later wrote that the explorers felt, "if even half the tall tales about the region were true, they would be, quote, 'amply compensated for all the troubles and hazards of the expedition.'" However, the trip was not easy from the start. Just a week in, Everett's got sick and had to leave the rest of the party for a few days to recover, foreshadowing what was to come. By September 8, the expedition had ascended what is now Mount Washburn, witnessed the wonders of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and explored the geothermal features around Mud Volcano.

• 17:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  They were mesmerized by a particularly large and regular geyser, which they famously dubbed "Old Faithful."

• 17:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, that's where it got its name.

• 17:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. The next day, September 9th, the team was navigating a dense pine forest near the southern shore of Yellowstone Lake. The terrain was horrific, with large tracts of fallen timber making progress nearly impossible. So they were forced to spread out, each seeking their own path through the thick woods. Everett's thought he'd found a clear path and kept going, eventually straying out of sight and sound of his companions. According to historian Whittlesey, his horse fell into a big mud hole, and that is what got him separated from the rest of the party. Separations like this had happened before, so at first, he didn't think anything of it. He rode on confident he would reconnect with everyone or find their camp.

• 18:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  He even came across a packhorse that had gotten loose, but decided to leave it, figuring he would find the group first, then return with help to retrieve it. As darkness fell, Everett's realized he was alone, but he still wasn't worried. He later wrote, "I had no doubt of being with the party at breakfast the next morning. He selected a comfortable spot, tied up his horse, built a fire, and he went to sleep." The next morning, September 10th, Everett's awoke at dawn and saddled his horse. The forest was dark and thick, and the fallen pine needles had obliterated any trace of the expedition's trail. He became confused, frequently dismounting to examine the ground for the faintest sign of travel.

• 18:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  He came to a clearing and dismounted to get a better look, but didn't tie up his horse, which had become a normal practice for him. But suddenly, there was a startling noise, and Everett's turned just in time to see his horse disappearing at full speed among the trees.

• 19:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, no.

• 19:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Along with everything that he had with him. His blankets, guns, pistols, fishing tackle, matches, food, and canteens were all gone. All he had left was the clothes on his back, binoculars, and a couple of knives.

• 19:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, no. Not the best position to be in, but it's like, I'm alone and I'm watching my horse ride away with... Literally everything I own.

• 19:32Danielle LaRock?

  I think in the show alone, you're only supposed to, you can only bring like 10 items with you, right?

• 19:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, yeah, it's not a lot. And I think Naked and Afraid, you can only have one thing.

• 19:42Danielle LaRock?

  In what?

• 19:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think in Naked and Afraid, you can only bring one.

• 19:45Danielle LaRock?

  No way, really?

• 19:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I think you can pick, like, people will pick a knife, pick a lighter, pick, I think it's only one thing. I haven't seen Naked and Afraid in a long time, but I'm pretty sure it's one.

• 19:57Danielle LaRock?

  Huh, yeah, interesting. Cause I always, in the beginning of Alone, when they're selecting their gear and kind of going through their pack lists and things, I do that thing where I compare what I would have brought against these seasoned professionals that know way more than I do.

• 20:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  How do you measure up?

• 20:17Danielle LaRock?

  Not good, I guess. But I don't know, some of the things I feel are definitely needed, but I would have chosen something else. And that's why I'm not on Alone and I'm watching it from my couch.

• 20:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, you're sitting on your couch, warm with heat and a blanket and lots of food in front of you that you picked up at the grocery store and you're like, stupid idiot.

• 20:41Danielle LaRock?

  I wouldn't have selected a gill net, but who am I to say?

• 20:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  Never.

• 20:49Danielle LaRock?

  Anyway. And then they always lose something. They always lose something and they can never find it.

• 20:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 20:56Danielle LaRock?

  And then that's usually their downfall.

• 20:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'll always remember that one guy who his strategy was, he didn't want to burn calories. So he was like, I'm just gonna sit here all day. And he just like slept through most of his journey. He's like, I can't-

• 21:12Danielle LaRock?

  He got kind of far, didn't he?

• 21:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, he almost won.

• 21:15Danielle LaRock?

  He's like, I'm gonna do the hibernating bear approach.

• 21:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  And it kind of worked. I think he was like second or third, like, there was only like two or three people left when he, when he tapped out.

• 21:29Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, he gained a bunch of weight intentionally beforehand, right?

• 21:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, yeah, also smart.

• 21:34Danielle LaRock?

  I mean, work smarter, not harder.

• 21:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's so true. He just made his, his thing was he just like made his house and then he's like, I'll just be here.

• 21:45Danielle LaRock?

  Wake me up when I'm a finalist.

• 21:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  So anyway, he watches all of his stuff ride off into the sunset without him. But still, the full gravity of his situation didn't quite sink in. Instead of trying to find the expedition's camp, he spent half the day trying to locate his horse. It was only after this unsuccessful search that the direness of his circumstance began to really take shape. He wrote and posted several notices in an open space, hoping his friends would find them, and then set off again in the direction he thought that they had gone. As the day wore on, anxiety gave way to the terrifying prospect of another night alone, however, this time without food or a fire. That night, he barely slept, tormented by the screech of nightbirds, the bark of coyotes,

• 22:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  the howl of gray wolves, hunker and fear, but still clinging to the hope of rejoining the rest of the expedition the next day.

• 22:46Speaker 05

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• 24:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  When Everett's got back to the place where he had left his notices, he found it empty. No one had come. And that's when it really hit him that he was lost. He had no food, no fire, and no way to get either of those things. He was alone in the wild, unknown wilderness, more than 100 miles from the nearest person. Wild animals were all around and hunger gnawed at him. The feeling of being completely helpless was overwhelming. It was in this moment of utter despair that a new resolve took hold of him. He would not perish in that wilderness. This single thought, he claimed, became his mantra. He would not perish in this wilderness. It became a source of life that revived his hope and energy throughout

• 24:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  his ordeal. While Everett's was coming to terms with being lost, the rest of the Washburn Expedition was growing increasingly concerned. They had made an agreement that if anyone got separated, they would meet at the southwest arm of Yellowstone Lake. When Everett's didn't show up, they began a search that would last a full week. They set signal fires at night and fired their guns into the air each day, hoping he would see or hear them. They left notes and caches of food for him along the lake. Warren Gillett, a man who was courting Everett's daughter, Bessie, stayed out all night hunting for his potential father-in-law. Which, I mean, how, I think about it, I'm like, what brownie points would you get if you rescued your person of interest's father in the wilderness?

• 25:44Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, you've made it.

• 25:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  You've made it. You're in.

• 25:47Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. What is she gonna say no to you?

• 25:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, you just rescued my dad. Let's get married.

• 25:54Danielle LaRock?

  Okay. Atticus, please get down.

• 25:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  If anyone's watching on YouTube right now, Danielle has a guest on the podcast.

• 26:03Danielle LaRock?

  My sister's dog just likes to stare very closely to me. And the more I try and push him away, the more he stays, so I just have to ignore him.

• 26:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  If you don't move, he can't see you.

• 26:16Danielle LaRock?

  Very, very still. See?

• 26:21Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, no, you're in. She's got, you're contractually obligated at that point to, because now she's gonna look so bad if she said no.

• 26:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  And no guy can ever compare for your father's approval. It's like, have you saved me in the middle, middle of the wilderness? No. It's like, my daughter can do better, and I know that for a fact.

• 26:42Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 26:44Danielle LaRock?

  He was like, this is the best opportunity that's ever happened to me.

• 26:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, he's like, I have to find this man.

• 26:48Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 26:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Unfortunately for him, he was even within four miles of him at one point, but he just had no idea. And he never knew how close he really was. Everett's, for unknown reasons, never made it to the agreed upon meeting point. And his potential son-in-law didn't find him. Everett's, meanwhile, was wandering aimlessly and felt weak from hunger. He felt no cravings, just a growing sense of faintness and exhaustion that he fought off, saying aloud, "This won't do. I must find my company." Gloomy thoughts of starvation or a more violent death consumed his thoughts, but he pushed them away, focusing on his immediate needs.

• 27:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  After days scrambling through the forest, he emerged at the foot of a peninsula to behold a magnificent sight. A broad, beautiful lake, which we now know as Heart Lake, glittered in the sun. Everett's dubbed the lake Bessie Lake after his daughter. A towering peak overshadowed the lake he called Mount Everett's, a name given by Washburn a few days earlier in a gesture that would become ironically prophetic. The landscape was teeming with life, swans, otters, deer, elk, and mountain sheep. As he sat by the shore, his spirits lifted when he saw what he thought was a canoe with a single oarsman approaching. He ran to the beach to meet his salvation, only to have his hopes crushed.

• 28:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  An enormous pelican flapped its wings, seemingly mocking him as it flew away.

• 28:16Danielle LaRock?

  I also mistake pelicans for people on canoes, so I get it.

• 28:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  You're not alone, Everett's. It's a common thought.

• 28:24Danielle LaRock?

  Mistake.

• 28:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Mistake.

• 28:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  But just as this happened and despair had set in, he made a life-changing discovery. While looking for a place to sleep, Everett's noticed a small, bright green plant. He pulled it up and found a long, tapering root, not unlike a radish. It was thistle. He tasted it and didn't immediately curl over, so he went for it. This was his first meal in four days. Overjoyed, he devoured the thistle and fell into a deep sleep under a tree. Everett's rest was short-lived, however. He was violently awoken by a loud, shrill scream. This was the unmistakable screech of a mountain lion at very close proximity. Everett yelled back and scrambled up the tree, climbing as high as he could for safety.

• 29:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  When he looked down, he saw that a cat was sniffing and growling right where he had just been sleeping moments before. For what felt like hours, a terrifying standoff ensued. Everett screamed, broke branches from the tree, and hurled them down at the pacing animal. The mountain lion circled the tree, lashing its tail and growling. Then Everett's tried a new tactic. He stayed completely still and quiet. He clasped the trunk of the tree and sat perfectly still, and the lion went silent, too. The quiet was almost more terrifying because now he couldn't see where this mountain lion was. After what seemed like an eternity, the mountain lion gave one last scream and took off into the forest. And Everett was safe.

• 29:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Exhausted but alive, he climbed down and to his own disbelief, fell asleep in the very same spot he had been sleeping before.

• 30:07Danielle LaRock?

  He's like, that was crazy.

• 30:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  That was a close one.

• 30:10Danielle LaRock?

  I'm so tired.

• 30:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm exhausted. To sleep in the exact same spot that this mountain lion was just hunting you in.

• 30:18Danielle LaRock?

  I mean, yeah, he's tired. He's sleepy. What are you gonna do?

• 30:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  He's a guy who could fall asleep anywhere.

• 30:25Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, he is also starving, right? So he probably doesn't have a lot of energy to... I think my line of thinking would be somewhere along the lines of, what are the odds it's gonna come back to this one spot?

• 30:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, and depending on the tree.

• 30:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's probably pretty hard to sleep in a tree.

• 30:43Danielle LaRock?

  And I feel like I'm not really sure behavior wise what was going on there, but mountain lions are excellent climbers. So if it really wanted to get him.

• 30:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  It could have.

• 30:54Danielle LaRock?

  It could have very easily. So I'm not exactly sure what was going on there, but I'm, it feels like it. The mountain lion was just done with him. So I feel.

• 31:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Plot twist.

• 31:02Danielle LaRock?

  Obviously he was safe.

• 31:09Danielle LaRock?

  That's actually probably.

• 31:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  True.

• 31:13Danielle LaRock?

  Might be very true. I'll never forget.

• 31:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  It was huge.

• 31:17Danielle LaRock?

  You'll never believe the size of it. The amount of posts that have been on my seemingly every page, except for, I will say, except for when I lived in Colorado, because it feels like Coloradans are pretty well versed in what a mountain lion truly looks like. But every Facebook community page that I have ever been a part of, at least quarterly, there are pictures of what is very clearly a bobcat and people losing their minds that it's a mountain lion. And there's one I will never forget. I think I took a screenshot of it because it was so.

• 31:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Funny.

• 31:49Danielle LaRock?

  Crazy to me. Couldn't be more apparent that it was a bobcat, maybe even a house cat. That had like a chopped tail.

• 31:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 31:58Danielle LaRock?

  And this person was so adamant that it was a mountain lion and it was in Manchester, New Hampshire. I'm like, yeah.

• 32:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think this is.

• 32:05Danielle LaRock?

  This is why we can't have nice things.

• 32:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  This is why we can't have mountain lions because.

• 32:12Danielle LaRock?

  It's just so embarrassing. It's, and I know, you know, not everyone is, can clearly identify wildlife, but there's a distinct difference between a bobcat and a mountain lion. And just please, they're not on Elm Street in Manchester.

• 32:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  Also, there's a huge size difference between them bobcats. I mean, they're big. If you put them next to a house cat, but they're not.

• 32:35Danielle LaRock?

  Their markings are different. Their ear shape is different. Their tails are different. Their body composition is different.

• 32:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Their fur is different.

• 32:43Danielle LaRock?

  You know, I was giving people grace and now I'm not. The more I think about it.

• 32:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, if you think a bobcat is a mountain lion, you need to have a serious anatomy conversation.

• 32:51Danielle LaRock?

  We need to talk. Hey, can I talk to you for a second?

• 32:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, come over here. I ju- I just want to talk.

• 32:57Danielle LaRock?

  Can I talk to you outside for a second?

• 33:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  I say that to Al whenever he's making me mad. I'm like, can you talk, can I talk to you outside for a second? We'll be like in our living room.

• 33:10Danielle LaRock?

  Gets his attention real quick, though, right?

• 33:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  It does. He says it to me too, though, and it's kind of just a running joke now.

• 33:16Danielle LaRock?

  Well, let's give, what is it, Everts?

• 33:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  Everts.

• 33:19Danielle LaRock?

  Everts, Everts. Let's give him a little grace for now. We'll see what else he does.

• 33:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  Or I guess it's Everts.

• 33:25Danielle LaRock?

  Everts. I don't know, though. He's on thin ice with me. He thought a pelican was a person.

• 33:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, so was it even there? Who knows?

• 33:34Danielle LaRock?

  We are, we're just taking his word for it.

• 33:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Which isn't reliable. So take this entire story with a grain of salt. Did we make this up? You decide.

• 33:45Danielle LaRock?

  Please continue.

• 33:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  This encounter with the mountain lion was a turning point for him. It drove home the brutal reality that Everts couldn't wait around hoping to meet with the rest of the group. He had to escape on his own, but a new challenge presented itself, and that was the weather. A dreary storm of snow and rain set in, and the wind pierced the tears in his clothing. For two days, as the storm raged, Everts sheltered under the branches of a spruce tree. While laying there exhausted and starving, a small bird hopped within his reach and he grabbed it, killed it, and ate it raw. As he crunched down on the bird, he thought, what a delicious meal for a half-starved man. I mean, yeah, all the birders are cringing.

• 34:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Gotta do what you gotta do to survive. On the morning of the third day, the storm finally began to ease. Everts set his sight on the streaming hot spring near the base of Mount Everts about 10 miles away. But before he could reach them, the storm returned with a vengeance. Cold, wet, and shivering to the bone, he pressed on until he finally stumbled onto the heated ground. There, he collapsed, letting the warmth of the earth seep into him. Thistle roots were plentiful, and a small boiling spring became his makeshift pot for cooking. For seven days, he remained there, wrapped in a constant cloud of steam that kept him alive and warm, even as it slowly cooked him in a relentless vapor. It's like kind of sitting in a sauna.

• 35:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  And just like never leaving.

• 35:17Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, because if you leave, it's the other extreme.

• 35:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, you're in the freezing or you're kind of like slowly cooking yourself alive. Uh, but I thought that this was a good point to add a little fun fact because bison also rely on Yellowstone's hot springs during the winter. Uh, so I wrote a little thing about that. So when the warmth melts the snow exposing grasses, it actually provides crucial food and some bison even eat the soil to get the minerals that are provided by the hot springs. The steam and heated ground create a little extra warmth, though their thick coats make it unnecessary. It is just kind of, I think it's just nicer. They don't necessarily need it, but it's kind of like a finding solace in really extreme winters that Yellowstone has.

• 36:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  And streams fed by the thermal areas often stay ice free, making travel easier for them. Yet these hot spots carry risks too, because thin crusts can collapse and a bison misstep could send it tumbling into scalding water.

• 36:19Danielle LaRock?

  Uh, did you see the, not to bring the vibe down, but did you see that video that was circulating like a couple of months ago? Of that wildlife photographer in Yellowstone who was filming bison? And one fell into a boiling pot hot spring and just repeatedly would like struggle to get out and then slide back in and struggle to get out and slide back in until it finally cooked alive.

• 36:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, my God, no.

• 36:46Danielle LaRock?

  Like, okay, I, I know that's nature doing its thing and what are you gonna do?

• 36:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  And hard to watch. Yeah. How are you gonna pull a bison out of a?

• 36:55Danielle LaRock?

  And you shouldn't, you can't.

• 36:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  No.

• 36:57Danielle LaRock?

  But to sit there and film it for five minutes or more was.

• 37:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Watching it stuff.

• 37:03Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Like, okay, I got the, I got the gist of it. I don't need to see it.

• 37:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  I mean, it's really what happens each winter.

• 37:11Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I know. It's just.

• 37:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  As it does happen. Yeah.

• 37:14Danielle LaRock?

  And that poor kid, oh my God. I know we talked a lot about various deaths in Yellowstone in one of the very, very earliest episodes. Like, I think episode like 11.

• 37:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, it was.

• 37:24Danielle LaRock?

  But most recently, there was a, I believe he was a college student. A couple of weeks ago that lost his life in one of the hot springs.

• 37:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, I hadn't.

• 37:33Danielle LaRock?

  Or geothermal features.

• 37:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  I hadn't heard that, but it's so important to realize that these are not like your normal hot springs that you can jump into and bathe in. Like, they are geothermal features and they are literally hot enough to bring you alive.

• 37:47Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 37:53Speaker 01

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• 38:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, Everett's reported that during this time, his mind was consumed with one thought. And although he had this warmth, he, what he really needed was fire. He knew he couldn't survive another storm without it, and it was his only defense against wild animals. He recalled everything he ever read about making fire, but none of those methods seemed within reach. As he considered his options, a gleam of sunshine lit up on the lake and a thought flashed through his mind, the glass from his binoculars. He quickly dismantled it, removed a lens, and focused the sun's rays through the glass and onto a piece of dry wood. As the smoke rose and a spark ignited, he was elated because now

• 39:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  he had both food and fire.

• 39:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  I have created fire. I did it.

• 39:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Did you ever in elementary school take a magnifying glass and try and light things on fire?

• 39:21Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 39:23Cassandra Yahnian?

  Uh, I used to do that as I remember I would in elementary school, I would take a magnifying glass out on the playground and I would try like on I would, but I think I would try to light like the pavement on fire. So it never worked.

• 39:35Danielle LaRock?

  What?

• 39:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  I wasn't, I just wanted to see if it worked because I had heard about it in science class and I never successfully did it. Thankfully, because I think starting a fire on your school playground is not.

• 39:47Danielle LaRock?

  They would have forgiven you. You would have been a child.

• 39:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, but I think I would have gotten in trouble for sure.

• 39:53Danielle LaRock?

  It's like, hey, can you not?

• 39:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Can you not light our school on fire, please?

• 39:57Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 39:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  We know you learned this in science class.

• 40:01Danielle LaRock?

  You're like, okay, I'm a arsonist in the making and then I'm going to go home and play whatever fast car video game.

• 40:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Crush team racing.

• 40:09Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 40:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Crush team racing. Two sides, two sides. Going back into the story, Everett's day at the spring was prolonged by another mishap. While asleep one night, as we had talked about with the bison, he rolled over, broke through the thin crust of the hot spring and severely burned his hip. This new injury, combined with his festering frostbitten feet that he had gotten from the storm, caused him nonstop pain. Everett's also had another problem. He had lost both of his knives. So instead, he sharpened the tongue of a buckle from his vest to use as a substitute.

• 40:47Danielle LaRock?

  What did I say? They always lose stuff.

• 40:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Always, every time.

• 40:51Danielle LaRock?

  It's where, okay.

• 40:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  This is innovative, though, to use a buckle that you have on your vest and just sharpen it.

• 40:56Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 40:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  You're like, he's, he's making do for a man with no survival skills, pretty much.

• 41:02Danielle LaRock?

  No, he is, he's doing great. He's just, you have one job and it's to stay alive and to do that you need the only supplies you have. It's not like you have to keep track of a bunch of stuff.

• 41:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  Your supplies, literally all your supplies you lost.

• 41:16Danielle LaRock?

  Well, that's not, I'm not faulting.

• 41:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  You have two knives and binoculars.

• 41:22Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, keep track of all this stuff. It's not like your hands are full with it. You just keep the knives in your pocket, like keep your pants on.

• 41:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  So anyway, he sharpens the tongue of the buckle to use as a substitute. And with this new tool, he cut the legs from his boots and made a pair of slippers. Then he mended his torn clothing with a thread unraveled from a handkerchief and tried to make a fish hook from a pin in his coat. So he's getting really innovative here. He's using like all these little things he has with him. And he's like, okay, what, how can I use this to help my survival? After a week at the springs, Everts set out again, this time with a new plan. He decided the shortest route to safety would be to cross the mountain barrier to the settlements in Madison Valley. It was a decision that he would come to regret. After a day of drudging through timber heaps and thickets, he made camp for the night,

• 42:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  keeping his fire alive by constantly waving at it. That night, the burn on his hip was so inflamed, he could only sleep sitting up. At one point, tossing and turning in his sleep, he fell forward into the fire, badly burning his hand. So his hips burnt, now his hands burnt, he's starving, frostbitten feet.

• 42:34Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, I'm, I'm, well, okay, I'm, I'm putting together, we've been doing this long enough that I pick up on certain things that you drop early on. And you kind of harped on the fact that he is nearsighted.

• 42:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  He is nearsighted.

• 42:50Danielle LaRock?

  And relies on his glasses heavily.

• 42:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  He does.

• 42:53Danielle LaRock?

  And he still has those though, right?

• 42:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  He does.

• 42:56Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 42:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  Despite his injuries, Everts continued on, eventually finding a camp less occupied by the rest of the expedition. He found no, no, and no food, but he did find a dinner fork, which proved invaluable for digging roots, and a yeast powder can that he used as a cup and dining pot. It was here that a bit of anger set in. He couldn't believe they forgot to leave him any food, but he never considered they might have cached it in spots that he had already passed. As it turned out, the expedition had left food for him right on the beach where he found the fork and can, but he just happened to never find it. Dejected, Everts followed what he thought was the party's trail. That night, he built a shelter of pine to protect himself from the wind.

• 43:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Later, he woke to the sound of cackling flames. His shelter and the adjacent forest had caught fire while he was sleeping. He escaped with his life, but his hair was cinched off. He also lost his precious buckle tongue knife and his fish hook. So his hair is burnt.

• 43:59Danielle LaRock?

  That was everything.

• 44:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  His hand is burnt, his hip is burnt, and his feet are frostbened.

• 44:05Danielle LaRock?

  And he's probably significantly underweight. I don't know how much time has passed.

• 44:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, he's starving. He is starving as well. So he's in rough shape.

• 44:14Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 44:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  After the fire, he abandoned the search for a trail and aimed for the lowest notch in the Madison Range. But when he finally reached the base of the mountains, his heart sank. It was an endless succession of inaccessible peaks and precipices. Scaling them was clearly impossible. It was at this moment of deep despair that Everts experienced the first of many hallucinations. An old clerical friend suddenly appeared before him and advised him to turn back. It said, "Go back immediately. There is no food, and the idea of scaling these rocks is madness." Everts argued, but the apparition insisted it was his only chance.

• 44:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  Delighted with the idea of travel, uh, of a traveling companion, Everts turned back, plotting a course down the Yellowstone River.

• 45:00Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, third man factor.

• 45:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's what I thought of immediately. Like, he's experiencing the third man factor for sure.

• 45:06Danielle LaRock?

  God, that was one of my favorite.

• 45:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  If you guys don't know what that is, Danielle covered it. Do you remember what number it was?

• 45:10Danielle LaRock?

  No, I don't. I remember I wrote it when we were, when I lived in Evergreen.

• 45:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think it's called the third man factor, right?

• 45:19Danielle LaRock?

  No, I remember I titled it "Spirit or Science: The Third Man Factor," or something like that. Episode 146.

• 45:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, so if you guys are interested more in what this phenomenon is, Danielle did a really cool episode on it and really dives into it. So he's experiencing this hallucination, third man factor, that's kind of helping him out. He's stoked, he has a friend, even if it's not real.

• 45:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  And his trek became a blur of days and nights. Everts lost all sense of time. And even though he was starving, he felt little hunger or pain. His waking hours were a struggle, but his sleep was filled with luxurious dreams of feasting at the finest restaurants in New York and Washington. Think you're laying out in the wilderness, just dreaming of

• 46:01Danielle LaRock?

  The best meal you ever had.

• 46:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  The best meal ever.

• 46:03Danielle LaRock?

  What would yours be? What would you dream about?

• 46:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  Hmm. What would I dream about? I feel like I would dream about desserts.

• 46:10Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 46:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like one of those dense, flourless

• 46:14Danielle LaRock?

  Oh.

• 46:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  chocolate cakes.

• 46:16Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 46:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  With like the molten lava or like the molten lava chocolate cakes with a warm, fudgy, like

• 46:22Danielle LaRock?

  You know, who does that so good? That's like so underrated. It's not a best of New York or whatever you just said. Domino's does an amazing molten lava cake.

• 46:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  I didn't even know they did that.

• 46:34Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, my God.

• 46:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  I just know their cheesy bread, which I would maybe also dream about.

• 46:39Danielle LaRock?

  I've had their cheesy bread from time to time, but the molten lava cakes are where it's at for Domino's.

• 46:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Interesting. I didn't even know that that was an option.

• 46:48Danielle LaRock?

  Fun fact, in college, my mom

• 46:52Danielle LaRock?

  like we still had a joint account or something, or she had like admin access to my, I don't know what. She was helping fund my life, of course, when I was early on in college. And she looked at my account and I don't know if she was being fresh or if she really thought that something was wrong, but she was like, hey, I'm not sure, like if someone took your card or if there's something going on, but there's so many Domino's charges, like

• 47:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, why are you eating molten lava cakes in Domino's every day?

• 47:21Danielle LaRock?

  It was a buffalo, no, it was, I was addicted to the buffalo chicken sandwiches and molten lava cakes. That was like what I lived on.

• 47:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, that's how I survived college.

• 47:30Danielle LaRock?

  Somebody took your card and is solely spending money at Domino's. I think it was her way of just being like, please stop fucking doing that.

• 47:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, this couldn't be you. This is ridiculous. Yeah, totally, Mom. Yeah, no, someone totally took that card. Yeah, I found it, though, so you don't have to. Don't cancel it. Don't cancel it. I found it. Yeah, so anyway. But it wasn't me. Shout out. Oh, I haven't had them in so long. Maybe I'll have.

• 48:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Maybe I'll have one tonight. Do you have a Domino's near you? I do. I think I do. Do it. Send me a picture. No, I'll have one delivered to you because you need to experience it for yourself. Domino's does not deliver here, so you're gonna have to like overnight it via UPS or something. No, it won't be as good. It's gotta be. When I visit, we can do it. We can do a girls' night sometime and we'll get Domino's. And they come with two, so it's perfect. Like, you can have one, I'll have one. Perfect. Wow, now I'm dreaming of. It's like, we're not even start.

• 48:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  We're dreaming as well. Oh. Well, this grand scenery that he had been in, that had once filled him with awe, now really, truly felt like it could be his demise. His thoughts turned to his daughter and the divine protection he felt that was guiding him through the trails. His hallucinations became more frequent and complex. His own arms, legs, and stomachs, stomachs, stomach, transformed into traveling companions he would converse with for hours. His stomach was particularly troublesome, constantly registering its complaints about the thistle root diet. Imagine your, like, burnt hand is, gets a face and is talking to you. Yeah. I have, I'm having a hard time. What is thistle root?

• 49:24Cassandra Yahnian?

  Um, thistle root is. I'm picturing chives. I know that's wrong. Um, it's more like how it said it was more like beets, like similar when you pull them up. Okay, yeah, okay, I see. I'm looking up a little bit here. Interesting. I would never think to eat this, but again, I. Desperation.

• 49:48Danielle LaRock?

  I mean, it looks like it's a people garden them.

• 49:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's just funny to me that he found this one thing and then like hasn't tried anything else.

• 49:56Danielle LaRock?

  He, I mean, I guess, don't.

• 49:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm not saying to stop eating that, but like.

• 50:00Danielle LaRock?

  Well, he knows it works. He probably it doesn't have knowledge about anything else. He doesn't want to risk getting sick. He knows that this is like doing the job.

• 50:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  But even like, like he didn't try to fish.

• 50:11Danielle LaRock?

  Well, he did with the fish hook.

• 50:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's true. That's true. He does have the fish hook.

• 50:14Danielle LaRock?

  Well.

• 50:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  I'm giving him shit. He did. He lost it.

• 50:23Speaker 01

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• 50:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Going back to his story, when Everts came across a worm spring swarming with minnows. Oh, going into his food sources.

• 51:05Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 51:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  He caught some and ate them raw. Luckily, he immediately vomited them up, saving him from what would have been a painful death from mineral poisoning.

• 51:14Danielle LaRock?

  What?

• 51:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Everts wandered on a walking skeleton, his skin clinging to his bones. When he passed Tower Falls, he found a hollow tree he recognized as a bear's den. Somehow he saw it as inviting as a couch, built a circle of fire around it and he slept there like a baby. It's like, oh, perfect. A bear den.

• 51:35Danielle LaRock?

  Couldn't be more. What could go wrong?

• 51:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Everts finally left the forest for the open country. One morning after a snowfall, he completely lost his bearings, and he eventually found the river again and set out one last time, his supply of thistles dangerously low. A few days later, while ascending a steep hill, Everts collapsed from exhaustion. He slept for an unknown amount of time before scrambling to his feet and continuing on. That night, as he gathered wood for a fire, he made a horrifying discovery. His glass lens to start the fire was gone. He felt that his only chance of survival had been lost. He lay down by the woodpile convinced his struggle was over. But as calmness returned, he summed his memory and concluded

• 52:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  he must have lost it where he had collapsed earlier that day. He staggered back five long miles through the darkness, and in the morning, found the lens right where he had slept. It was, he said, "the most joyful moment of his entire journey." The next day, another storm set in. Everts was convinced he had to keep moving, so he snatched a lighted branch from his fire and stumbled on. But that afternoon, while gathering sticks, the branch went out. As the clouds blocked the sun, he sat down with his lens and his last piece of wood, his life depending on a single gleam of sunshine. A moment passed, the cloud moved, and with trembling hands, he lit a fire. When he woke up, a raw, gusty wind penetrated his bones,

• 53:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  and a coldness unlike anything he had ever experienced overcame him. He stumbled blindly on, knowing death was knocking on his door. Just then, a thought flashed across his mind. "I will be saved. Struggle on," came an encouraging whisper. Gropping along the side of a hill, he saw a sharp reflection of polished steel. He looked up through half-closed eyes to see two inviting faces. "Are you Mr. Everts?" one of them asked. "Yes, all that's left of him," he replied, and fell forward into the arms of his rescuers, unconscious. It's like, no.

• 53:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  No, wrong guy. Keep on moving.

• 53:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Imagine it's like, no, and he's like clearly emaciated burnt. He's like, oh, never mind then.

• 53:53Danielle LaRock?

  It's like, okay, sorry to bother you.

• 53:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay. John Yellowstone Jack Barnett and George A. Pritchett were two mountain men who had set out in search of Everts after his friends in Helena offered a $600 reward for his recovery. They found him on October 16th, 37 days after he'd gotten missing, more than 50 miles from where he had gotten lost. This man with absolutely nothing survived for 37 days.

• 54:22Danielle LaRock?

  That's incredible. I know we've been giving him a lot of crap, but that is such an accomplishment. Yeah.

• 54:28Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like we said at the beginning, five days.

• 54:31Danielle LaRock?

  Tops.

• 54:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Count me out.

• 54:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thirty seven for this man. That's incredible.

• 54:36Danielle LaRock?

  In some of the harshest landscapes around, you know, it's not, it's no easy thing. So.

• 54:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  The men had actually been tracking what they thought was a wounded bear. Barnett later recounted, "When I got near it, I found it was not a bear and for my life could not tell what it was. It did not look like any animal that I had ever seen, and it was certainly not a human being. Everts was a horrifying sight, delirious and crawling on his hands and knees, his clothing was in shreds, he had no shoes, and the balls of his frosted feet were worn down to the bone."

• 55:12Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, my God.

• 55:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  On top of that, he weighed about 50 pounds.

• 55:18Danielle LaRock?

  No, 50 pounds?

• 55:20Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's the weight of a small child. He is literally skin and bones at this point. Barnett and Pritchett nursed him back to health. They moved him to a miner's cabin where he was given a bed and broth made from freshly killed game. His recovery was complicated by the fact that the fibrous thistles had turned into a solid, solid mass in his stomach, and he was in excruciating agony. A passing hunter provided an unlikely cure, a pint of rendered bear oil, which acted as a powerful laxative. The next day, Everts was pain free and on the path to recovery. It must have been such a rough night.

• 55:57Danielle LaRock?

  I don't even want to imagine what that was like.

• 56:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  Spilling your guts out, quite literally.

• 56:03Danielle LaRock?

  Poor guy.

• 56:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  After his rescue, Everts was given a gala banquet at the fanciest restaurant in Helena. The kind of food he'd only dreamed of in his feverish hallucinations was overflowing. However, Everts gratitude wasn't as overflowing as the food he was given. When he was told about the $600 reward offered for his recovery, Everts refused to pay, claiming he could have made it out of the wilderness on his own.

• 56:28Danielle LaRock?

  Honey, no.

• 56:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  Please, you were 50 pounds and you were lost when you were found.

• 56:35Danielle LaRock?

  You had bones for feet.

• 56:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  You weren't gonna, you weren't gonna make it. You did good. You did great. You made it 37 days, but you, you weren't gonna find your way out in time.

• 56:46Danielle LaRock?

  That thistle thing in your stomach?

• 56:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 56:49Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 56:50Cassandra Yahnian?

  You weren't gonna, you weren't gonna do it. His rescuers never saw a cent of the money and Jack Barnett later said, quote, "He wished he had let the son of a gun roam."

• 57:00Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, oh, okay. That's harsh. Well, hold on a minute. So somebody else said that he would pay $600.

• 57:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  His friends offered, but I think when he was found, his friends were like, all right, you can cover that. They saved you.

• 57:16Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it's like, I didn't ask. Yeah, that's unfair.

• 57:19Cassandra Yahnian?

  It is a little unfair.

• 57:19Danielle LaRock?

  I think that's unfair.

• 57:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  But also, I mean, it, it sounds like from everything that he was pretty wealthy and could have paid it.

• 57:28Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, there's also that. I don't know how to feel about this guy. I guess.

• 57:33Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, maybe the next thing will, um, help you.

• 57:37Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 57:38Cassandra Yahnian?

  Mount Everts, the peak that overlooks Mammoth Hot Springs, was named in his honor by expedition leader Henry Washburn. But Everts wasn't pleased. He preferred to be memorialized by the more majestic peak he had climbed near the south arm of Yellowstone Lake, now known as Mount Sheridan. He even petitioned for a name change, but was denied.

• 57:58Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, I'm swaying into the dislike category.

• 58:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, it's like you're getting a mountain named after you, which I didn't look this up. Um, but I would bet almost anything has an indigenous name.

• 58:09Danielle LaRock?

  Right.

• 58:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  That you are taking and you're getting this name because you survived for 37 days and they picked this beautiful mountain and you're like, that one's not good enough.

• 58:19Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it just feels a little ungrateful.

• 58:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  For sure. Ungrateful vibes for sure. I mean, You survived thirty seven days. That's amazing. And you made it. Um, but

• 58:29Danielle LaRock?

  Here's a scala. Full of food.

• 58:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, here's a gala.

• 58:32Danielle LaRock?

  And the Domino's lava cakes that you could ever wish for.

• 58:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not good enough.

• 58:38Danielle LaRock?

  No.

• 58:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  News of Everts' improbable survival became a national sensation. His firsthand account of the ordeal, Thirty Seven Days of Peril, was published in Scribner's Monthly and captivated the country. Combined with a national lecture tour by his expedition companion Nathaniel Langford, the story of Everts' survival lent great publicity and support to the growing movement to establish a national park at Yellowstone. And in eighteen seventy-two, Congress created what many call the world's first national park. In eighteen seventy-two, Everts was offered the first superintendent job at the newly created Yellowstone National Park, but he turned it down because there was no pay. Which is valid, but I also feel like he probably didn't want to go back.

• 59:25Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, she's like, I've had enough. Thank you for the, for the offer, but I'm gonna pass. Wasn't he a tax collector? What is he doing being a superintendent?

• 59:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, he had no experience. I feel like they were just giving it to him because he survived there for so long.

• 59:39Danielle LaRock?

  It was more of like a honorary position or something.

• 59:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  It seems like, it seems that way.

• 59:44Danielle LaRock?

  Well, either way, he didn't take it, so I guess.

• 59:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. The job instead went to Langford. And in a final quirky twist, the thistle on which he survived on is now known as Everts' Thistle, but it's spelt incorrectly because it is, it's Everts' Thistle, but his name is Everts. So it's E V E R T apostrophe S instead of S apostrophe. A misspelling that is oddly fitting to a man whose story is super messy, but also a man who wasn't appreciative of anything else named after him. The final thing was misspelt.

• 1:00:21Danielle LaRock?

  So close.

• 1:00:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  So close.

• 1:00:23Danielle LaRock?

  He almost had it.

• 1:00:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  Everts left the frontier and moved back east, settling into a quiet life with the US post office. He eventually remarried and fathered a child. And this probably is the last solidifying thing that we probably don't love Everts. Um, but he fathered a child with his 14 year old wife when he was in his seventies. So if you needed one last reason to not love Everts.

• 1:00:49Danielle LaRock?

  You know, I'll give you your accolades for surviving and that's it.

• 1:00:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:56Danielle LaRock?

  God, that I that is so disgusting.

• 1:00:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  I know people say like, it was of the time. And it's like, no, it's

• 1:01:02Danielle LaRock?

  It's still a 70 year old person and a child.

• 1:01:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  Like, it's always been disgusting. We just didn't talk about it then.

• 1:01:10Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, my God. Women and or children just suffered in silence and

• 1:01:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, and it was just like, consider the time.

• 1:01:19Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, God.

• 1:01:21Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow. So anyway, he dies. In Maryland, finally, he dies in 1901 at the age of 85, having outlived the perils of Yellowstone by more than 30 years.

• 1:01:33Danielle LaRock?

  Wow. What a story.

• 1:01:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's an interesting story, and I feel like it's one that's not. I mean, it's not untold. Of course, there's books and people write about it. But I feel like it's one of the lesser talked about survival stories.

• 1:01:46Danielle LaRock?

  Well, it feels kind of, I feel almost as if a lot of the survival stories we tell are of people who have put themselves out there in situation, like they were already camping or on an excursion or doing this thing. And they were prepared in some way and then got injured or lost from there. And at least had some sort of preparation. This guy, it just feels like he just accidentally wound up there and had to figure it out.

• 1:02:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, like he was on an expedition, but it seems like he was probably there heavily relying on the expertise of other people. And then got separated.

• 1:02:23Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. And then was like, oh, oh, shoot. Uh, no, I have to figure this out. Yeah. I mean, kudos to him for, for, it really is a story that shows that humans are just programmed to survive and will figure it out in any way that they can. It doesn't matter.

• 1:02:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  Resilient.

• 1:02:41Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, and resilience and just innovation and just getting it done um, in any way that they can. And I truly don't think he would have made it that much longer. So. But it's great that he had faith in himself. I mean, the It just goes to show like the, the lengths that men will be like, oh no, I could have done that. I could do that.

• 1:03:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  It's like, I was fine. Think you were 50 pounds, sir, and you didn't have skin on your feet anymore. It did when I read that part, though, it did remind me of the story I just covered recently, where the little boy was in a plane crash and he had to get off the mountain and his hands were so frostbitten that it was down to his bone and he just didn't even really notice or care in the moment because he was in such a survival mode.

• 1:03:28Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  And it was a little reminiscent of that where it's like, yeah, that had happened. But like I mentioned throughout the story, he wasn't feeling or paying attention to the pain for the most part. He was just, I think his body was just too tired to feel it maybe. And he was just so trying to survive that it just didn't matter until.

• 1:03:47Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, but I mean, this guy had the gift of retrospect and when he's healthy and back.

• 1:03:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, yeah. When he's back and he's like, I would have survived. Like, sir.

• 1:03:57Danielle LaRock?

  Come on. Yeah.

• 1:03:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  Just say thank you.

• 1:04:00Danielle LaRock?

  Just say thank you and move on and accept the mountain you've been given and.

• 1:04:04Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thirty seven days is an incredible feat. It's fine that you didn't make it out on your own. You did make it to a spot where someone could find you.

• 1:04:13Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. I mean, it's a cool story and I'm glad that you told it because I love Yellowstone history so much. And it's, it's interesting to hear a historic survival story because I think it's hard because a lot of them aren't well documented or we just get fragments and bits and pieces of them. And I think most of the survival stories you've told have been relatively more recent. So this one was fun.

• 1:04:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:37Danielle LaRock?

  Cool. Well, thank you, everyone for hanging out and listening to us talk again.

• 1:04:45Danielle LaRock?

  However, many weeks this has been, four years worth.

• 1:04:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  And we'll see you during our next episode. In the meantime,

• 1:04:50Danielle LaRock?

  Enjoy the view.

• 1:04:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  But watch your back.

• 1:04:52Danielle LaRock?

  Bye, everyone.

• 1:04:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bye.

• 1:04:54Danielle LaRock?

  Thank you for joining us again this week. If you love National Park After Dark and want to hear exclusive bonus stories, join us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Patreon subscribers have access to our National Park After Dark Book Club, live streams, Discord, and much more. If you prefer to watch our episodes, video episodes are now available on YouTube. If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform. And to follow along with all our adventures, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X at National Park After Dark.

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