Trail Tales 70

Today’s stories include life saving coolers, Fyre festival honeymoons, ripples in the space/time continuum, laughing lights, weird guys in the woods and a wilderness medicine origin story. Outsiders Only bonus stories available for Patreon and Apple Subscribers! Listen to Watch Her Cook on Apple and Spotify! Follow us on InstagramFor the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials at:Instagram: @nationalparkafterdarkTwitter/X: @npadpodcastTikTok: @nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page! Thank you to the week’s partners! Discover Moab: Find a list of lodging options and guide companies to plan your trip today at DiscoverMoab.com.3 Day Blinds: For their buy 1 get 1 50% off deal, head to 3DayBlinds.com/NPAD. Skylight: Go to SkylightCal.com/NPAD for $30 off your 15 inch Calendar. Armchair Explorer: Listen every week wherever you get podcasts. Factor: Use our link and code npad50off to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping. 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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• 0:30Speaker 01

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• 1:18Danielle LaRock?

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

• 1:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  And I'm Cassie, and you're listening to Trail Tales. If you're new here, this is our Thursday episodes where we come on here and we read stories that you have all submitted to us. And usually, they take place in the outdoors, or something creepy paranormal in a weird house.

• 1:39Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, that's been the vibe. I did ask for family lore, last time, or the time before, something.

• 1:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  And I saw people wrote in.

• 1:45Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, but there's none in this episode. Sorry.

• 1:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well.

• 1:50Danielle LaRock?

  Just something to look

• 1:51Cassandra Yahnian?

  Keep a lookout for that if you have some family lore you want to add into our Trail Tales edition. Cool. Well, do you want to go first?

• 1:59Danielle LaRock?

  How did you know? Is it because you heard me start to say that? I'll go first today.

• 2:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  Okay, go ahead. Tell me a story.

• 2:06Danielle LaRock?

  This story is titled Weird Guy in the Woods.

• 2:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Perfect.

• 2:10Danielle LaRock?

  Before I jump into my trail tale, I just wanted to start with a big thank you. My wife and I have been longtime fans of this podcast. We've been meaning to share this story for a while now. We really appreciate the way you highlight women's voices and advocate for representation. It hits home for me especially, being the dad of a four-year-old daughter. Back in our early twenties, my wife and I were living the van life dream. We traveled all over the US and Canada, visiting nearly every national park along the way. These days, we're a little more settled down, but we love reliving those adventures through your podcast. You help keep that spark alive for us. So with that said, here's our tale.

• 2:46Danielle LaRock?

  It was September of 2014. I remember the date very clearly, and you'll understand why soon. My wife and I were headed to her family's vacation home in the Poconos for a weekend escape. Most Fridays after work, we'd pack up the car with our dog and some supplies and head out of the city. For those unfamiliar, the Poconos are a region in northeastern Pennsylvania, full of dense woods and rolling hills. Mountains might seem like a generous term, but it's a beautiful, peaceful area, popular with folks from Philly and New York looking to unplug for the weekend. That Friday, traffic was heavier than usual. There were cops everywhere, but we figured it was just the usual Friday night stuff. DUIs, congestion, people rushing to get out of town. Eventually, we made it to the house, we had a couple of drinks, threw a frozen pizza in the oven, as one does, and went to bed.

• 3:33Danielle LaRock?

  The next morning, we were up early. That's our weekend routine, coffee and breakfast together. Then my wife dives into schoolwork and online classes, and I, well, I go fishing. I'm not some rugged outdoorsman or survivalist. I just really, really like hiking and fishing. The Poconos are perfect for that, with endless trails, lakes, and pockets of wilderness. On this particular morning, I decided to check out a spot in a nearby state game land. And for those outside of Pennsylvania, these are large Large tracts of public lands that are open for hunting and fishing. They're more remote and far less traffic than regular parks, which is part of what I love about them. I drove a short way and pulled into a quiet gravel trailhead. The signage was faded and the lot was empty. I checked the board to make sure hunting season hadn't started yet.

• 4:17Danielle LaRock?

  It hadn't, so I set off down the five mile trail, aiming for a lake at the end. When I hike solo, I usually bring my bear mace and play some music on a little Bluetooth speaker. Not because it scares bears, I know it doesn't, but just to let any wildlife or people know that I was coming. Plus, it keeps me feeling from too alone out there. I hadn't gone more than half a mile in when I rounded a bend and nearly ran straight into a man. We startled each other. He was big, mustached, wearing a camo hat and tight, light-washed jeans. But what really caught my attention, though, were the two guns holstered at his sides. No backpack, no water bottle, no jacket, just guns. It was odd. Hunting season was still weeks away and my car was the only one in the lot.

• 5:02Danielle LaRock?

  How did he even get here? Still, this was rural Pennsylvania, people carry guns and they take their Second Amendment very seriously. I tried to brush it off, but I would be lying if I said it didn't rattle me a bit. We passed each other in silence, eyes over our shoulders until we were out of view. I pushed on, trying to shake the unease. A mile or so later, the trail opened up into a series of hills. From the top, I could see movement ahead. Two figures walking dogs. As I got closer, the scene became clearer. Two men, each with a large German shepherd. When the dog spotted me, they lost it. Snarling, barking, straining against their leashes. The men didn't say a word. No apology, no acknowledgement, just cold stares.

• 5:45Danielle LaRock?

  "What the fuck?" I yelled, more startled than anything, but they just said nothing and kept walking. It was surreal. I remember thinking, "Why is this trail so suddenly busy at 6 a.m.?" Still fuming, I picked up the pace and made it the rest of the way to the lake. Thankfully, it was as serene as I had hoped, blanketed in a morning fog, still and quiet. I set up camp, chair, rods, a small fire, and a hot cup of coffee. Cups, nature called, so I stepped off the trail into the woods to pee. And that's when I heard it, faint engines and beeping in the distance. Suddenly, I felt watched, the kind of primal unease that makes the hairs on your neck stand up. But I told myself to just stay calm. When you're alone in the woods, you have to stay calm. I finished up, shook it off, and went back to my fire.

• 6:30Danielle LaRock?

  Not long after, I heard the sound of an engine again. A green pickup truck rumbled down the trail. Strange, since I hadn't realized vehicles could even get back there. It had Pennsylvania Fish and Game Commission printed on the side in yellow. My first thought, great, they're gonna hassle me about the fire or check my license. But instead, the officers rolled down their window and asked, morning, how's the fishing? Not too bad, I said. How about you guys? They didn't answer. Just another question. Have you seen anyone else out here today? Anything unusual? I told them about the hiker that I had seen. Why, I asked. No reason, one said. Just doing our rounds. They handed me a card and said, call us if you see anything else that seems off.

• 7:11Danielle LaRock?

  And then drove away. And that, that was enough weirdness for one morning. Between the armed guy, the dogs, and now the cryptic game officers, I decided I was done for the day. I hiked out quickly, drove home, and tried to shake the feeling. Later that night, just as my wife and I were getting into bed, my phone rang. It was my mom, which was unusual, especially that late. So I figured I should probably pick up. She sounded anxious right off the bat. You guys aren't in the mountain house, are you? Uh, yeah, why? There was a pause, and then she said, there's a sniper, a guy on the run. He killed a state trooper, and it's all happening right near the house.

• 7:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh, God.

• 7:49Danielle LaRock?

  At first, I thought maybe she was overreacting or misreading something on the news. Coming from a big, dramatic Italian family, this kind of behavior doesn't exactly raise eyebrows. But I opened my laptop and typed a few words into Google. Within seconds, there it was. Front page headlines. A man named Eric Freen had ambushed a Pennsylvania state police barracks. One officer was dead, another was in critical condition, and Eric had vanished into the woods. The same woods I'd been hiking throughout that morning. Suddenly, the whole day came Into focus. The strange encounters on the trail, the dogs, the camouflage guy with the guns, game wardens with their cryptic questions. It just all clicked.

• 8:29Danielle LaRock?

  To make things worse, the house we were staying in had this huge glass sliding door that looked over the forest and the lock had been broken for months. We had meant to fix it, but hadn't gotten around to it. They always say sliding glass doors are like the worst doors to have, and I have always had a sliding glass door in almost every single house I've ever lived in.

• 8:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  I've never heard that, that they're the worst doors to have.

• 8:50Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, they're like, I think it's just something about the ease of access they can provide. And that's why you always want like a wooden dowel.

• 8:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I've always seen that you have those or the metal ones just so you can lock them so you can't open it. But I guess the thing with a glass door is that they're easy to break, not easy to break, but right, breakable.

• 9:12Danielle LaRock?

  That night, as we lay there trying to sleep, we started seeing lights sweeping through the trees. First faint and then brighter and brighter. It wasn't flashlights, it was a search helicopter scanning the hillside with a spotlight that eventually lit up our back door like it was center stage. It was clear that the FBI had the same thought we did. If you were trying to hide, this community, mostly empty vacation homes tucked into the woods was the perfect place to do it. We didn't wait around to find out. We grabbed our dog, packed up in record time and hit the road, driving fast down dark, winding mountain roads until we reached the highway and fell at least somewhat out of reach. Later, we found out just how close we had been.

• 9:53Danielle LaRock?

  Eric Frean had been spotted several times in the exact area I had hiked that morning. He was eventually captured a few miles from our house, holed up in an old airplane hangar. They found his makeshift campsite scattered through those same woods, filled with ammo, explosives, even a journal where he wrote about the attack in disturbing detail. Every now and then I think back to that hike and wonder if I had taken a different turn or stayed just a little longer at that lake. Would I have crossed paths with him? It's one of those things you try to not dwell on, but it definitely stays with you. Anyway, hope you liked my story. Enjoy the view, but watch out for weird dudes in the woods. With guns.

• 10:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow, that's a close encounter like that.

• 10:33Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 10:34Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's scary. And the whole time when you were telling the story, I was thinking that the first person that they came across that was just carrying guns and walking around was sketchy. And then I was thinking, maybe this was Eric and it was gonna come around. But now it makes sense that they were seeing police officers. They were seeing, uh, they were seeing the police dogs that were in the woods. And it, yeah, all kind of.

• 10:59Danielle LaRock?

  I thought for a second, they encountered the act Eric.

• 11:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's what I was thinking too.

• 11:05Danielle LaRock?

  But I don't, I guess maybe not.

• 11:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't think so.

• 11:07Danielle LaRock?

  I feel like he would have been violent.

• 11:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. And it sounds like, I think that they would have said that because I'm sure this person's face was plastered everywhere.

• 11:16Danielle LaRock?

  Right.

• 11:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  After that. So I'm sure they would have said that. But I, I'm guessing it was just police officers who were acting very, I don't know. I feel like if there's something going on and you're searching for a very violent person in the woods and you see someone alone walking in the woods to hike, you should say, hey, we have an active investigation. There's someone loose who just killed some, killed a police officer. We believe they're around here. It would be better if you stayed out of this area. Like, you know, like, I feel like.

• 11:44Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 11:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  For public safety, you should tell people what's happening.

• 11:48Danielle LaRock?

  You would think that, but I feel like we hear in different stories, especially years ago, maybe the protocol has changed, but there's a lot of like mums the word about that. Like everything is kind of kept under wraps to not cause public panic or whatever. Like we, you know, I don't.

• 12:06Cassandra Yahnian?

  I mean, which is a valid point. I mean.

• 12:09Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 12:09Cassandra Yahnian?

  But I think that there's a difference between public panic where if you're, if you go to the lake and there's forty people there and you're like, hey, there's a mass murderer on the loose. Everyone's gonna get up screaming, you know, but if there's one singular person alone and vulnerable in the woods, I feel like even if you don't give details like, hey, this is an active investigation. We suggest that you leave and not give like further detail. Fine. But I don't, I don't know. I just think I would be really upset if I was walking in the woods and I saw all these weird things and I was totally alone. And then I found out that there was a, I was really close to someone who was very violent and the police did nothing to try and protect me.

• 12:51Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, totally valid. And it's not like, yeah, you're screaming fire in a crowded theater as far as. Yeah, well.

• 12:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  Glad they're okay. Yeah, me too.

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• 13:35Cassandra Yahnian?

  Well, that was a really interesting story. My story, my first story of this episode is titled, "A Little Blue Cooler Saved My Life." Hi, Cassie and Danielle. I love the pod. You all have kept me company on my long commutes to and from work for the past years. I work as a college professor and have shared your pod with colleagues as a resource for talking about environmental issues in their classes. My story is a survival story with maybe some supernatural flavorings. Before I get into it, two things are important to know. One, we were too ignorant without realizing our ignorance, which led to common sense to not even show up on our radars. Two, canoeing with a partner is a real good test of a relationship. We failed that test.

• 14:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Canoeing is a real, is a real test of a relationship. Al and I have gotten into- It's the ultimate arguments on canoes.

• 14:26Danielle LaRock?

  It's the ultimate teamwork, you know? You have to be in sync and yeah.

• 14:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. When I was 20, which was a long time ago, 1900s in fact, my partner at the time and I decided to rent a canoe from an outfitter on the St. Croix River in Minnesota. National park tie-in here is that the river is part of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. We were going to paddle about seven miles down river from Taylor's Falls, where we rented our gear, to Osceola Landing. It was mid-May and a beautiful sunny spring day with a little bristness in the air. We loaded the canoe, a smaller cooler with our lunch in it, and extra sweatshirts. My girlfriend at the time bragged about what a great paddler she was. In hindsight, the extreme level of bragginess- Perhaps should have been a red flag. She sat in the front and I was in the back. I should say here that I am by no means an expert at canoeing.

• 15:16Cassandra Yahnian?

  I can get in, I can paddle, I can steer enough to not have us crash, and I can balance well enough to not tip over. Anyway, as we're paddling along, my girlfriend keeps leaning way over the side of the canoe to paddle. It was so bad that I couldn't even paddle because I had to work hard to counterbalance since the canoe would tip so much. I asked her nicely and calmly to not lean so much. She immediately got defensive and my simple request quickly escalated to her yelling at me and I had no idea what I was talking about and how she used to teach girls at camp how to canoe. I wanted to fire back, "Well, did they all drown because you suck at this?" But I bit my tongue. This is so funny because I resonate with this so hard.

• 16:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  And it's so funny because there's something about when you go on a canoeing trip with a partner and if you are not on the same page, that like you don't get over it. This person said this happened in the nineteen hundreds and you can tell that they're still mad. And that's how I feel about similar.

• 16:21Danielle LaRock?

  Coming through their words.

• 16:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, and Al and I have had a couple. We don't do tandem kayaking or anything because we just, that is a place where we throw hands.

• 16:32Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, that's where you draw the line.

• 16:36Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's where our relationship draws the line, but it's just so funny. I just really resonate with this already. Okay, here's where things went even more wrong. I think we were probably doomed from the beginning, but we made this much more difficult. This was nearly thirty years ago when we still got regular, actual winters with measurable snow in Minnesota. Then in the spring, all the snow melt made our rivers wider and more faster flowing. We ended up getting off the main channel of the river, thinking it would be pretty to paddle in the trees. And it was beautiful and peaceful. But the arguments my girlfriend and I had about paddling techniques didn't result in any helpful changes. And as you probably guessed, we tipped.

• 17:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  And if we didn't make this nearly impossible already in our ignorance and remember what I said at the beginning about common sense being out the window, we weren't wearing our PFDs. So we were in the water, our canoe is mostly sunk, we were still holding on the edge of it, and our PFDs paddle and cooler got carried off by the very fast moving current. My girlfriend had put her extra sweatshirt on and when we tipped, she was having a hard time not getting swamped by it. So I helped pull it off her and it too went down the river. When we were in the water, I remember thinking, well, fuck. Panic had not set in as I think I was in a state of some kind of shock, like, did this really actually just happen? My mind was swirling all over the place and I couldn't form any kind of coherent thought.

• 18:03Cassandra Yahnian?

  It wasn't until I saw how badly my girlfriend was shivering. The water was really cold and she was a very petite person. I knew at that moment, we had to figure something out. And I knew we had to try and get back to the main channel of the river if we were to stand any chance of another canoe or boat seeing us. My hope was diminishing quickly because we had gotten quite a ways off the main channel. And we hadn't seen any other boats of any kind that day. I ended up seeing a place we could veer off to the left toward the main channel. There were more trees and down limbs, so I thought at least we could try and tangle ourselves up there, enough to maybe climb a tree and get out of the water. We were still holding on to the canoe, which was mostly underwater. We managed to kick frantically and steer ourselves into the web of trees.

• 18:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  There was a limb down in the water and I thought if we could get the canoe on the other side of it, I could bail out the water. So we sunk the canoe under the limb and pulled with all of our might to come back up on the other side. Somehow, we were able to do that. I got up on the down limb, kneeling, and all I had were my own two hands to make a cup and bail the water out as quickly as I could, while my girlfriend with her bluing lips continued to shiver so badly. With my knees and my back screaming at me as I had no other support other than to try and stay balanced on this floating limb and bail water out, I frantically worked to get the water out. Then, I feel something tap my foot. I turn around and there- Was our little blue cooler.

• 19:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  The last time I saw that thing, it was traveling down the river with everything else. I immediately grabbed it, dumped its contents out into the river. Hopefully, Mother Nature will forgive me for polluting in that instance, and used it as a bucket to clear out the canoe. After some time, I was finally able to get enough water out that we could get back in and try to get back to the main channel and head downstream. Now, if you remember, I had referenced losing only one paddle when we tipped. Somehow, we managed to hang on to the other one. Using all the extra energy I could muster, I paddled us as fast as I could downstream to Osceola Landing. We got there, got out of the canoe, and piled in the van to head back to our car. And by this time, others had arrived, so there were a number of boats that staff needed to load up.

• 20:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  Not one of them asked us where the rest of our gear was. Now, I'm not a religious person. If anything, I'd say I'm pretty agnostic. But even in my agnosticism, I'm convinced that something or someone was watching after us that day. I have no way to explain how our cooler ended up at my foot when we both saw it heading downriver. And it wasn't some other random cooler because it still had our lunch in it. I shudder to think what would have happened if that thing didn't somehow make its way back to us. My father loved to canoe the St. Croix River. He did it regularly, either by himself or with his brother. When I was 12, he and I did a trip down the river together. It was the first and only time we did that. He passed away unexpectedly when I was 16.

• 20:57Cassandra Yahnian?

  You both have talked about how there are no coincidences. And the more I have listened to your pod and your own experiences, the more I have come to believe that too. As I think back on this story, I wonder more and more if it was my father that saved us that day. That's my story. Lessons learned. Where are your PFD? Know some basics about understanding water conditions, and don't get off the main channel of a fast-moving river if you don't know what you're doing. And lastly, if you can't canoe together peacefully, get out of that relationship.

• 21:25Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, no.

• 21:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  And no, thankfully, I am not with that person anymore. My now-wife and I canoe very well together. Anyway, thanks for sharing my story. Enjoy the view, but watch your back because you never know when a little blue cooler will show up there to bail you out, figuratively and quite literally. Shaun.

• 21:46Danielle LaRock?

  Well, you have some thinking to do. You and Al need to get into a canoe and work it out before September 6.

• 21:52Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think we're just gonna avoid canoeing together, you know?

• 21:55Danielle LaRock?

  Okay.

• 21:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  We don't need to. We both have-

• 21:59Danielle LaRock?

  You don't need to do everything together.

• 22:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  No, we have a paddleboard and we have a kayak and they're separate and it's great.

• 22:05Danielle LaRock?

  Well, I think that you had some help from somewhere or someone with that one. But I only, I have one memorable canoe capsizing event and it wasn't nearly as dramatic, but it's kind of seared into my memory because me and my stepdad would go fishing at this like local lake and we would take the canoe out. Talk about no help. I was no help. I was probably making it harder. But yeah, we were canoeing and fishing and something happened. Don't know what, but we capsized and we were in pretty shallow water. Like he, he's six, six, so he

• 22:46Danielle LaRock?

  could stand and I was freaking out. I don't know what age I was, maybe like 11 or 12. I was kind of freaking out, whatever. He basically just like righted it again because he was just like in the muck but standing. He righted it and when he did, a bunch of water and debris and stuff got in it and it had a turtle had washed inside.

• 23:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Oh.

• 23:07Danielle LaRock?

  And I begged to keep that turtle. And he's like, yeah, you know what? Hell, yeah. So-

• 23:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  He said yes.

• 23:17Danielle LaRock?

  Um, and so we brought it home and my mom was like, absolutely not. Like, and that's the first time I heard about salmonella and like, why?

• 23:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  You can't keep that. Yeah.

• 23:30Danielle LaRock?

  So, yeah, we brought it back, but it was an adventure and I think about that turtle a lot. It was just like a little box turtle.

• 23:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  No. I have one capsizing story too, actually, that I totally was lost in my memory until the story. It was also with an ex, an ex of mine and we were canoeing on a lake.

• 23:51Danielle LaRock?

  And I don't remember why we capsized. I feel like he was like messing with me, like as a joke or something and we ended up capsizing and we-

• 24:01Cassandra Yahnian?

  Also did not have, maybe we did have life jackets. We probably had to because we rented them. So we probably, this was so long ago. This was over 10 years ago. And but what I do remember about that day is that I was really thankful because we were in the middle of the lake. We could see the shore that we had to get to, to bring the canoe back. But we hadn't, there was no one else out there. So there was no one to come help us or anything like that. And I remember being really thankful because I was also the useless one in this scenario. Because he swam me and the canoe all the way back to the shore. You couldn't swim. I could swim, but I just like held on and swam like behind the boat.

• 24:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  He dragged the whole canoe.

• 24:48Danielle LaRock?

  Oh.

• 24:49Cassandra Yahnian?

  And me, pretty much, back because I was, I was swimming and I was trying, but he was actually the one who got us back. Like, there's no way that I could have dragged a cap-sized canoe back to shore. Um, but he did. And that relationship also didn't work out, but it had nothing to do with that canoe.

• 25:08Danielle LaRock?

  Imagine when he reflects back, he's like.

• 25:10Cassandra Yahnian?

  That was the moment.

• 25:11Danielle LaRock?

  That whole thing. And the canoe day, oh.

• 25:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, he's telling the story like this. And I'm like, he saved me.

• 25:18Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah. You're like, yeah, I barely even remember that. And it's like what he thinks about.

• 25:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  He's like, the reason it didn't work out.

• 25:25Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 25:30Cassandra Yahnian?

  One of my favorite things about decorating our home is finding furniture that's both functional and beautiful. And Article has been such a great discovery for that. I recently got their Jokana vinyl media unit in walnut, and it's such a beautiful piece. Al got me a record player for Christmas last year, and I have been searching for the right furniture to put it on. And this one is perfect. The walnut finish gives it that classic mid-century modern look that I love. And it's practical, but it also feels like this huge statement in our living room now. I was also really impressed with how securely everything was packaged when it arrived. You could tell a lot of care went into making sure the furniture was protected during shipping, which is something that I really appreciate when I'm ordering larger pieces online. Article's furniture.

• 26:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  is thoughtfully designed with beautiful styles that are easy to mix and match throughout your home. They prioritize quality and craftsmanship without the designer price tag and make it easy to find pieces that feel cohesive in your space. They also offer fast, affordable shipping, customer support seven days a week, and even free interior design services if you need help pulling a room together. Plus, there's a 30-day satisfaction guarantee so you can shop with confidence. Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.com/NPAD and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. That's article.com/NPAD for $50 off your first purchase

• 26:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  of $100 or more.

• 27:01Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, my next story is titled "The Outpost Between Worlds." Hi Danielle and Cassie, after years of being a faithful listener, I am finally writing in. I'm an outdoors woman based in southwestern Montana and have spent a good part of my adult life chasing adventure in wild places. I've got my fair share of stories, close calls with grizzlies in Yellowstone, backcountry skiing with mountain goats and glacier, but the one I'm about to share is something entirely different. It's not a classic lost in the woods tale, it's not quite supernatural, not exactly time travel, but it lingers in a way none of my other stories do. And truthfully, I've never told anyone before, so here it goes. I was 23, the oldest guide at an all-girls backpacking camp, full of confidence from

• 27:46Danielle LaRock?

  weeks in the backcountry. After over 40 straight days in the wilderness with only brief returns to civilization to swap out groups, I was feeling invincible. Tired, sure, a little sloppy, maybe, but a pro, right? Our final trip of the season was a special one, a hybrid backpacking and horsepacking expedition through Sentinel Valley just west of Yellowstone. The girls in our group alternated hiking and horseback riding, and the guides did too. On this particular day, I was hiking with a group on foot while the horse group took an alternate route and planned to meet us where the trails met. We were heading towards our rendezvous point, an easy, mostly downhill downhill three mile stretch on a wide, clearly marked logging trail. It was a straight shot. No problem. About three fourths of the way through, we stopped for a water break.

• 28:31Danielle LaRock?

  Nothing unusual. Spirits were high. We were laughing, relaxed, feeling accomplished at the end of a significant backpacking trip. Then something strange happened. Without any thought or discussion, without any reason, I led the girls off the main trail. There was no indication to go that way, no marker. I hadn't seen it on the map. I just went and brought six teenage girls with me. I guided us onto a narrow, winding, barely there, overgrown, single track. It weaved through a stand of massive boulders and popped us out into a clearing. As soon as we emerged from the rocks, it was like we stepped into a different time. The trail opened up into a wide drainage surrounded by thick woods and cliffs.

• 29:14Danielle LaRock?

  It was stunning and it was eerie. There, tucked into the landscape like a forgotten memory, were the remains of an old outpost. Weathered hitching posts, crumbling horse corrals, rusted tools in the grass, the kind of place trappers or miners might have used in the 1800s. And yet, it didn't feel abandoned. It felt like whoever had been there had just stepped away for lunch. We stopped for lunch around mile three, assuming we'd just beat the horse group to the meeting spot, but they didn't show, so we waited. And then, something shifted. I don't know if I fell asleep, fainted, or slipped out of time altogether, but I was no longer in present time.

• 29:54Danielle LaRock?

  I saw the clearing again, but it was alive, busy. I saw a woman in turn-of-the-century settler's clothing. She looked directly at me and smiled, and then just returned to her work. Just as quickly, I snapped back. The girls were still eating, but everything felt altered. I stood up and abruptly said, "We need to go back." We retraced our steps through the boulders, back to the wide logging road, and hiked quickly towards the correct meeting spot. We found the horse group just a half a mile down the main trail, visibly shaken and clearly relieved. That's when I found out we hadn't been 30 minutes late, as I had assumed. We had been missing for four hours.

• 30:31Danielle LaRock?

  Hours.

• 30:32Cassandra Yahnian?

  What?

• 30:33Danielle LaRock?

  The rest of the group had been searching and yelling for us for hours without finding a trace of us, even though we were less than a half a mile away. None of the girls I was with could explain it or account for the time lapse either, and I certainly can't. And my co-guides, let's just say they weren't exactly thrilled with this mystery. I honestly don't know, but years later, I came across a detail that gave me the chills. In 1876, the Point Dexter and Orr Cattle Company brought the first cattle operation to that very valley. One of the ranchers, Rachel Orr, is said to have named it Sentinel Valley in honor of the nation's 100th year of independence. When I read her name, something deep inside me lit up. Had I somehow encountered Rachel Orr herself?

• 31:17Danielle LaRock?

  I've always had a reverence for women in the wild, those who came before us, who shaped these rugged places with grit and grace. That day changed something in me. Maybe Rachel was watching. Maybe she approved of what I was doing, leading girls into the wilderness, teaching them how to move through the mountains with confidence and with strength. Thank you for creating a space for the stories that don't quite fit into any one box. This one's been sitting in my bones for over 15 years, and it feels really good to finally let it breathe.

• 31:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Wow, that is, we've, I've never heard a story like that, that we've told on the podcast, and that is so interesting.

• 31:55Danielle LaRock?

  I know.

• 31:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  It feels so unexplainable, but it's just, how do you, how do you think you sit down for lunch for 30 minutes and you're gone for 30 minutes? And there's four hours and you have this weird experience during it?

• 32:09Danielle LaRock?

  And none of the people you're with can explain it either.

• 32:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  They also think you're gone for 30 minutes.

• 32:15Danielle LaRock?

  Total, that entire group. And just like the inexplicable, after 40 days of doing this, just randomly getting up and being like, we're gonna go over here, just totally diverge from the plan.

• 32:25Cassandra Yahnian?

  When you clearly know the trail, you've been here.

• 32:29Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, and the only time that we've even touched upon time lapses or missing time, I think, is when we've talked about extraterrestrial or UFO encounters or things like that, especially harkening back to the Alagash.

• 32:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  But this feels like interdimensional.

• 32:45Danielle LaRock?

  Yes, it feels like a ripple in time or like a rip in the dimensions or something like that, just like a peek through because you know, the whole like quantum theory type of interdimensional thing and I forget exactly what it's called, but the theory that essentially all time is happening at once, like the past and present and future are not that, it's just how we perceive it and it's actually everything is happening all at one time. So like that explains like a rip in time, you're just seeing into a different version of this world.

• 33:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 33:17Danielle LaRock?

  And so what we perceive as the past and Rachel Orr in the 1870 something is really happening now at the same time that her and her group were there and that's like that little glimpse was just like kind of this fluctuation of, I don't know, it's just so interesting and I think that that's quite the experience to have and I wonder if those girls think about it too.

• 33:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, or if they had an experience that maybe you're not aware of too.

• 33:44Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 33:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  In those moments, yeah. Well, thank you for feeling safe to share it here because we think it's really interesting.

• 33:51Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, thank you so much.

• 33:57Speaker 05

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• 34:01Speaker 05

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• 34:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  Moving on to the next story, mine is titled "Honeymoon Adventure for the Ages: Fire in Denali National Park." Hi Danielle and Cassie, my name is Holly and I have been a huge fan of your podcast almost since the beginning. I found you guys over the summer of 2021, looking for something to listen to, coming up to my new job and long commute. I heard the Jenny Lake Ranger episode and was hooked. Yeah, that is very new. That is very, very beginning. So you have been with us the whole time. We believe you. Yeah. You probably don't remember Danielle, but I reached out to you because I had visited the Wolf and Wildlife Sanctuary you worked at in Colorado, and you sent me an adorable picture of you with some of the wolves. Oh, that was nice of me. That was nice of you.

• 35:12Cassandra Yahnian?

  I don't remember, but it sounds like something I'd do. I'll start by saying I am more of an outsidey person than an outdoorsy kind of gal. I'm a little percy when it comes to being comfortable, sleeping, showers, and plumbing. I feel that. However, I still grew up appreciating nature and hiking every vacation with my family and now with my husband Carl. Carl and I just got married right up against the border of Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes in May of 2024, and planned a honeymoon cruise to Alaska. We're not huge fans of the heat, so we wanted a summer destination that wouldn't be too hot, but with lots of outdoor adventures as well. So we knew Alaska would be perfect. If you haven't done the cruise through the inner passage, it is so worth it.

• 35:54Cassandra Yahnian?

  We did a week on the cruise, starting in Vancouver and traveling up with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. The highlight was cruising through Glacier Bay National Park and seeing otters, seals, and glacier calving. After the cruise, we docked in Anchorage and then took the train up to Denali National Park, down to Talkeetna, and then Kenai Fords National Park. The main story I wanted to share starts when we got off the boat and boarded the 180-degree glass dome train to travel from Anchorage to Denali. The train was absolutely stunning, and we were quickly rewarded with a clear view of the mountain early on and was visible for a lot of the journey. That's really exciting because you don't see Denali that often. It was really exciting.

• 36:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  And seemed like a good omen for the land portion of our trip. Spoiler, it wasn't. We make it to Denali in the evening and almost instantly go to bed after wandering around the lodge for a bit, which was run by the Princess Cruise Company. The next morning, we get ready to hike and go on our bus tour through the park and off we go. We were lucky again to get a clear view of the mountain going through. We did some small little hikes throughout the day. When it was time to turn around, our guide began telling us how lucky we were to get such a clear view, because oftentimes in the summer, the mountain produces storms or the smoke from wildfires makes the view hazy. And how lucky for us, as he summoned one, we turned around the bend back towards the visitor center

• 37:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  and we all stared in horror as the giant plume of black smoke and red flame was visible not too far off in the distance. The bus driver said there was nothing coming in on the radio, which meant that it wasn't something to worry about yet. And we all hesitantly got off the bus at the visitor center. My husband and I collect stickers from all national parks we go to, so we went to the gift shop before heading to the main visitor center. We were hoping all was contained, as the driver said, and wanted to get as much time in the park that we could, just in case. However, just when we approached the main building, we were immediately told by the rangers to turn around and get back to the buses. The park was being evacuated and the fire was only a mile out from the entrance.

• 38:00Cassandra Yahnian?

  My stomach dropped as we all waited and waited for the buses. With the fire so close to the road, we were told we may not be able to get back to the lodge for our stuff and might be immediately shipped off to the McKinley Lodge on the other end of the park for evacuation. Holy fuck, our passports and medications are in the hotel. What the hell are we going to do? My husband and I were beginning to panic a bit as we sat on the bus and waited for any kind of information. We then heard the buzzing of a close by plane and watched as smoke jumpers leaped out almost directly in front of us. Looking back, it was super cool to see those heroes in action, but absolutely terrifying that you could see the people landing because you're so damn close to the fire that they're trying to extinguish. After almost an hour of waiting and wondering and rising panic,

• 38:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  they finally told us they could take us. To the lodge. We get back to our room and immediately Carl and I start packing as we're assuming they're going to evacuate us at any minute, seeing as the fire was just point five miles from the lodge. In the middle of packing our things, the lights and air conditioning are cut off. Electricity is completely out and everybody else at the lodge is out on the decks trying to see what's going on. We can see the smoke cloud getting bigger and you can see the wall of flames from across the little creek. Thinking they're about to call an emergency evacuation any second now, we try to refill our water bottles and realize the water was turned off as well. Carl and I decide to go to the front desk to see what the hell is going on and when

• 39:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  we're hopefully leaving. On the way to the main lodge, we run into an employee who tells us there are no plans for evacuation because of the quote "river" between us and the fire. They had the gall to call it a goddamn river. I could throw a stone from one end to the other. It was a tiny strip of moving water, but okay, we totally believe you.

• 39:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's so frustrating and scary. With nothing else to do, we head back to our room to be near our stuff just in case. We're sharing binoculars with our neighbors and looking at the giant flames and the planes dropping water in the fire retardant. My husband and I had two bottles of champagne we won on the cruise that we had brought with us and with no electricity to preserve it, we decided to indulge to try and calm our nerves. I have a hilarious picture of Carl drinking straight from the bottle in front of the flames that I will attach and feel free to share. Another few hours pass and we go in to inquire about any other changes and to ask about food, water, and a bathroom. We discover they brought in a few porta potties for the time

• 40:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  being, and by a few, there ended up being five total for 500 guests. Disgusting.

• 40:34Danielle LaRock?

  It's like the, um, what is it, like the fire festival?

• 40:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  I was just thinking that too. It's like, here's a sandwich.

• 40:42Cassandra Yahnian?

  Literally a fire festival.

• 40:44Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 40:45Cassandra Yahnian?

  For food, since everything was going to spoil, they had a massive barbecue for everyone with beef, chicken and veggie burgers. Finally, things are looking up with the prospect of food and our two bottles of champagne. We order food and they come back with the most dry and disgusting chicken burgers we've ever had and then stick us with a bill of $25 per shitty burger.

• 41:06Danielle LaRock?

  Are you serious?

• 41:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  You can't charge for food when you are not giving hotel guests bathrooms.

• 41:12Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, I understand.

• 41:14Cassandra Yahnian?

  The audacity.

• 41:16Danielle LaRock?

  There's like extenuating circumstances and stuff, but yeah, you can't charge people. It's like, yeah, you're doing the best you can, given the circumstances, everything's on fire, but don't charge people for that.

• 41:27Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, you can't charge people for that when you, they don't have electricity, running water or a bathroom in the hotel that they have paid to stay at.

• 41:35Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, porta potties are, I can't do them. I would rather go in the woods 1,000%.

• 41:41Cassandra Yahnian?

  Just, yeah.

• 41:41Danielle LaRock?

  Everything about porta potties, and I think it's, it stems from, was it Jackass or Wild Boys? When, it must've been Jackass.

• 41:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  It was Jackass when they put them in the porta potty and then like rolled them down the hill.

• 41:54Danielle LaRock?

  Or like catapulted them into the air or something. I don't know what it was. It makes me want to throw up right now. Like there's something about human excrement that just makes me, that's my line. That's my line in the sand. I just can't do it. I can't do it, man. I can dissect animals. I can clean whatever comes out of them. I can do whatever.

• 42:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  When it comes to people.

• 42:17Danielle LaRock?

  Get away from me.

• 42:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, porta potties, I can do a porta potty if it's necessary and hopefully it's well cleaned. But if I'm staying at a hotel to avoid those kinds of cert, like, you know, if you're camping and there's a porta potty, it's like, okay, I get it. But if you're in a nice hotel and they're making you use a porta potty, that is, like you paid for more than that.

• 42:38Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, you're sounding outsidey right now. That's very outsidey of you to say.

• 42:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Thank you, I think.

• 42:47Cassandra Yahnian?

  Anyway, going back into the story, they had really nice restaurants when there wasn't a natural disaster happening, but were only able to serve crappy burgers with a few chips on the side while letting everything else on their menu go to waste. Upside down spaghetti face. To recap, there's a wildfire 0.5 miles from our location, no electricity or plumbing, only five nasty porta potties, and they're charging us $50 for garbage crisis burgers. We agree with you clearly. At this point, we're hot, exhausted, hungry, and I'm completely trashed from my bottle of champagne. We then go back to our room and try to sleep for the night.

• 43:23Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, yeah, she is. Cold, take a champagne, I forgot about that.

• 43:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  The next day, we were already scheduled to leave, and we were given the all-clear to load up the bus and head out. After almost two days of traveling, hiking, sweating, the bus ride was almost enough to make me want to take my chances with the fire lodge rather than the many stinky, unshowered people on the bus. But we all boarded the buses and were off to the town of Talkeetna, where our rooms weren't ready for us because of the guests who were supposed to move on to Denali, but couldn't because the park was closed. The bright side of all of this is that our Talkeetna excursion was visiting the Iditarod Running Dog Sled Kennel, where I got to meet the dogs, pet the puppies, and got peed on by one of the pups. Totally worth it. Thank you for reading my trail tale and keep up the wonderful work. Holly.

• 44:09Danielle LaRock?

  Holly, if you can get through that in your honeymoon, I think you're laying some pretty strong foundational work.

• 44:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  For your marriage.

• 44:16Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 44:17Cassandra Yahnian?

  Congrats.

• 44:18Danielle LaRock?

  And Talkeetna is so, like, it's hard to be upset in Talkeetna.

• 44:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah. Talkeetna is such a special place. It really is. I love it there.

• 44:27Danielle LaRock?

  Okay, that was a lot. Well, my last story is actually also Alaska-based.

• 44:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  Cool, I love Alaska.

• 45:10Danielle LaRock?

  This last story of mine is titled Dad's 50th State and the Lights That Spoke Back. Hi Cassie and Danielle, my wife Becky is a National Park After Dark outsider and has no idea we are submitting this story. Gotta have some surprises left after being married for 20 years, right? Love it. Oh, surprise Becky. Our sons and I love hearing her favorite episodes whenever we do a family road trip. You've been in the car with us on many adventures. Thank you for creating some epic content focused on some of our favorite topics. Our youngest son Gavin thought you would both appreciate hearing this tale. Dad passed away very unexpectedly in June of 2017. He was just 62 years old.

• 45:51Danielle LaRock?

  He had a brain aneurysm struck out of nowhere and a week later, he was gone. He was my hero and one of my biggest mentors, one of my best friends, and he was incredibly close with our sons, his grandsons. His death hit our entire family hard. About a year after he passed, I was going through old text messages when I came across one that stopped me in my tracks. It said, "Well, guys, I'm down to one state yet to set foot in, Alaska. We're in Nevada tonight and on to Oregon tomorrow." He was so close, one state shy of a dream he had chased for years, visiting all 50 states. And somehow, he had left Nevada for number 49, which still cracks me up. I immediately called my brother. We started talking about

• 46:34Danielle LaRock?

  that message about dad and almost jokingly, I said, "What if we take some of his ashes to Alaska? Let him hit number 50." You know those moments where a silly idea suddenly turns serious because deep down, it's exactly what you need to do? Within minutes, we were both pleading with our wives, asking for permission like little kids hoping for a sleepover. Except this one involved plane tickets, rental cars, and a cabin thousands of miles away. Thankfully, our wives are amazing and they were fully on board. We booked the trip for Labor Day weekend. We flew into Anchorage, drove to Seward. Our rental home sat just off a beautiful bay nestled in the mountains. The view from the patio was breathtaking and we knew instantly dad would have loved this place. We hiked in Kenai Fjords National Park. We took a

• 47:18Danielle LaRock?

  Cruise, we saw killer whales, puffins and salmon. We shared stories. We had space to be alone and space to be together. Through it all, Dad was there. You could feel him. Sometimes I could have sworn he was standing right next to me. Then came Saturday, September 1st, 2018. About 9:45 at night, the sun had dipped just enough to turn the sky deep blue behind the mountains. That's when Gavin, my son, walked into the bay and scattered some of his grandpa Pete's ashes into the water. In that little moment, on the edge of the bay, Dad finally reached his 50th state. We returned to the cabin and gathered on the deck, lights on, stories flowing, belly laughs rolling. Dad would have loved that night. Just family, laughing, living and remembering.

• 48:03Danielle LaRock?

  Then, something strange happened. As we were sharing a moment of laughter, the deck lights started pulsing. Not flickering, not turning on and off, pulsing like a heartbeat. We all stopped, jaws dropped, and time felt suspended. Someone got up, flipped the switch, turned the lights off. When we turned them back on, they were normal, just regular lights. We nervously joked about it, but we'd been out there the past few nights. Same time, same lights. Nothing like that had ever happened before. Eventually, we settled back in, more stories, more laughter. Then, it happened again. The lights pulsed. Not a glitch, not our imagination. They pulsed again, right as we were laughing. And in that moment, we knew Dad was with us, laughing along.

• 48:48Danielle LaRock?

  Playing one last prank, or maybe reminding us it was getting late and it was time for bed. Here's the kicker. We hadn't realized the name of the bay we'd put Dad's ashes in until right before we arrived in Alaska. Resurrection Bay. Yep, we unintentionally put Dad to Rest into Resurrection Bay. It felt like a sign, like confirmation that something bigger was at play. We've always had stories in our family. Odd things that happen after someone passes. Things that felt too meaningful to be coincidence. But I'll admit, I used to be the skeptic. The guy in the back of the room thinking, maybe it didn't happen exactly like that. But after this, I believe. I believe that those we love are still with us even after they're

• 49:28Danielle LaRock?

  Gone. We just have to slow down, open up, make space for the silence, for the signs, for the laughter. Because if we do, really do, we might just feel them again. Thank you both for all of the joy you've brought our family throughout our adventures. Thank you both so much for using your platform in a powerful and positive way. Please know you are having a profoundly positive impact on the lives of so many. You too are the best. Thanks, Mike.

• 49:56Cassandra Yahnian?

  I loved that story. I thought it was beautiful.

• 49:58Danielle LaRock?

  And so sweet.

• 49:59Cassandra Yahnian?

  So sweet. And I mean, they say that lights flickering is one of the biggest paranormal signs. So.

• 50:06Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah.

• 50:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  I think.

• 50:07Danielle LaRock?

  This reminded me, it didn't happen to me, but same type of thing after Ian passed away, his. So I think I've talked about it before on the show or not, I'm not sure, but him and his family have had a property on an island in one of Maine's lakes for, they literally bought the property, his family bought the property in the 1800s. Like it has been there for hundreds of years and they have a cabin and now it's kind of like a whole compound. There's a bunch of different little buildings and stuff on it, but pretty basic with no running water or like they have a generator and stuff for electricity, but.

• 50:44Cassandra Yahnian?

  Pretty minimal.

• 50:44Danielle LaRock?

  No electrical work, pretty, yeah, and outhouses and things like that. But anyways. So after his celebration of life where we, he didn't have a funeral. He had a celebration of life in our hometown, but also we went up to his family's lake. And that's where we spread his ashes in that lake. And later that summer, his family was out on the porch laughing and sharing stories about him. And just like that was Ian's favorite place to be. And the lights on the porch were flickering when they were talking about him.

• 51:18Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 51:18Danielle LaRock?

  And it's just like, even if it's something electrical or whatever, it's like, don't take that away from people. Like outwardly, you know, like, like Mike was saying, like, he was the one in the back of the room, like thinking to himself, like, ah, maybe. And that's fine. I think you can always have your doubts and stuff, but to like, keep it to yourself. Because for somebody who's taking meaning and comfort and solace out of an experience like that, like, don't take that away from somebody, you know?

• 51:48Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I, and I also just think with this story and your story, I mean, to happen at that exact moment, we always say,

• 51:57Danielle LaRock?

  You know, I know.

• 51:58Cassandra Yahnian?

  No such thing as coincidences. I'm not doubting or taking away from any of that. I think it's totally real.

• 52:04Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, me too. Thanks, Mike, for sharing.

• 52:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah.

• 52:08Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, it's special to have a close family like that.

• 52:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yes. All right, moving to my last story. Mine is titled, "My First Brush with Wilderness Medicine." Hello, Cassie and Danielle. I first want to say that I am a huge fan. I am right in the middle of a move and your podcast is the perfect thing to keep me company while packing. Your stories are so captivating and informative of the parks that so many love to visit, so much so that I decided to share one of my own trail tales. This took place in the summer of 2017. I had just obtained my first job in the park service at a state park in the high desert of Oregon. While there, a friend of mine, Justin, contacted me saying he wanted to go whitewater kayaking in the area and was wondering if I would be interested

• 52:53Cassandra Yahnian?

  in catching up and camping with him. Justin and I had met the previous winter while contra dancing? I don't know what that is.

• 53:01Danielle LaRock?

  Contra dancing?

• 53:02Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, but I want to know. And had become fast friends, bonding over our love for the outdoors. I was excited to see him again, so I agreed. That evening, I drove 45 minutes into BLM land outside the west entrance of the park to scout for a place camp. I found an amazing campsite that was a short walk away from the view of the three fingered jack. The site itself was a small clearing right off the road, surrounded by tall pines. Justin arrived, we cooked dinner, caught up, watched the sunset, laughed, sang, and dozed off. In the middle of the night, I woke up and Justin was not in the tent. I called his name, thinking he must have gone to the bathroom. However, there was no answer. Odd. I grabbed my flashlight, put on my clothes, and left the tent in search of him. He was nowhere to be seen in the immediate

• 53:46Cassandra Yahnian?

  area surrounding the tent, or in the woods either. I continued calling his name with no reply. After several minutes of searching the campsite, I decided to walk back to the cars. There, I found him. Passenger door to his car was open. Justin was sitting in the passenger seat with his upper body slumped against the passenger door. I thought I saw vomit on the ground. I ran over to him, grabbed his shoulders, sat him up, and started trying to shake him awake. I saw he was breathing, but was unresponsive. So I slapped him a couple of times, sorry, which did the trick. When Justin opened his eyes, he was trying to speak, but was not forming words properly. And the right side of his face wasn't moving. Oh, no. Did Justin just have a stroke? What was I supposed to do now?

• 54:31Cassandra Yahnian?

  I had no idea where his car keys were. I could not drag him to my car. He was too heavy. The nearest cell service was at least a 30 minute drive from me. While pondering the fastest way to get him to help, he actually continued to look more and more alert. I asked him what the last thing he remembered was, and he replied, I was eating Taco Bell. I reminded him that we were in the woods and there was no Taco Bell nearby, to which he replied, "Nah, I was eating a quesadilla." He then triumphantly whipped out a Taco Bell bag from God knows where and held it in the air.

• 55:05Cassandra Yahnian?

  His face was beginning to look a lot more and more symmetrical. He's like, so he wasn't lying, he had Taco Bell.

• 55:12Danielle LaRock?

  He had some emergency Taco Bell.

• 55:15Cassandra Yahnian?

  That's why I went to his car. He's like, I can't eat this camp food.

• 55:22Danielle LaRock?

  Smart.

• 55:22Cassandra Yahnian?

  But unfortunately caught in the act.

• 55:26Cassandra Yahnian?

  I took a deep breath. Justin was actually a lot more oriented than I initially thought. I looked back at the ground and what I thought was vomit was actually a taco that had been dropped. I asked him what happened after that, to which he replied, I took an Ambien and two shots of vodka. Naturally, Justin must have fallen asleep while sitting up mid taco and slumped against the passenger door. The cold night numbed the side of his face exposed to the elements, which mimicked stroke symptoms. I sat up with him for a little bit before we both went back to bed and I attempted to sleep. This was my first brush with wilderness medicine. And while I am grateful that my friend did not have a stroke, it felt pretty intense. I continued working in the park service for five years before deciding to go to, to go to nursing school.

• 56:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  After graduating, I worked in the ER for two years. And to bring the story full circle, remember how I said I am packing while listening to your podcast? I am packing because I recently accepted my first position serving as a nurse in one of the clinics in Yellowstone National Park. I am so grateful for this opportunity to facilitate safe recreation in some of the most beautiful areas on the planet. As always, enjoy the view, watch your back, and please don't mix sedatives.

• 56:37Danielle LaRock?

  Having two shots of vodka is not a joke.

• 56:40Cassandra Yahnian?

  No, and on your second time hanging out, you're like, who is this person? What is happening? Why are you doing that? We went to bed.

• 56:52Danielle LaRock?

  Yeah, she's like, I'm partying. I don't know about you, but.

• 56:55Cassandra Yahnian?

  I've got a date with Taco Bell and an Ambien in my car.

• 57:04Danielle LaRock?

  I haven't had Taco Bell in years.

• 57:07Cassandra Yahnian?

  Years.

• 57:08Danielle LaRock?

  So long, but I could house a quesadilla right now and it's not even noon.

• 57:13Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, I love quesadillas. I can't speak to Taco Bell. I am not a fan, candidly. I think I've only eaten Taco Bell once in my life when I was a kid. It was the Taco Bell KFC when they were like, combination.

• 57:27Danielle LaRock?

  I think they are still comboed.

• 57:29Cassandra Yahnian?

  Are they? I remember I went in and I got like fried chicken and Taco Bell and the same thing.

• 57:35Danielle LaRock?

  Oh, and yeah, one of each.

• 57:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  Violently ill after, so that was.

• 57:40Danielle LaRock?

  Last time I had fried chicken, I was with you and Al and I threw up everywhere.

• 57:43Cassandra Yahnian?

  Yeah, you did.

• 57:44Danielle LaRock?

  In Joshua Tree. I'm like, okay, I get, and I had said fateful last words. I'm like, I haven't had fried food in so long. The next morning, I was packing my brains out. Okay, anyways, well, thank you, everyone, for sharing your stories. I have one more, and so does Cassie. Mine is titled, "Despacito in Galstones."

• 58:08Cassandra Yahnian?

  Despacito.

• 58:10Danielle LaRock?

  Cito.

• 58:11Cassandra Yahnian?

  And mine is titled Sign From My Mom. And these are two bonus episodes that you can hear on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. So go hang out with us over there. If you are interested in submitting your own trail tale to be featured on the episodes, you can go over to our website, npadpodcast.com. And there's a submission link there for you.

• 58:31Danielle LaRock?

  Perfect. Well, uh, thank you all for hanging out. We'll see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

• 58:37Cassandra Yahnian?

  But watch your back.

• 58:38Danielle LaRock?

  Bye, everyone.

• 58:39Cassandra Yahnian?

  Bye.

• 58:40Danielle LaRock?

  Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale of your own you'd like to share, you can write to us at [email protected] or visit our website at npadpodcast.com. Bonus trail tales and content are available to Patreon members and Apple subscribers. Follow the show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X at National Park After Dark. And if you prefer to watch our episodes, you can find us on YouTube at National Park After Dark. And as always, if you enjoy the show, please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

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