287: Trail Tales 66

Summary

National Park After Dark
Episode 287: Trail Tales 66
Release Date: March 13, 2025

Hosted by Danielle and Cassie from Audioboom Studios, Episode 287 of National Park After Dark delves into listener-submitted stories in the "Trail Tales" segment. This episode features a collection of six captivating tales that explore a range of experiences in and around national parks, blending elements of adventure, fear, humor, and heartfelt moments. Below is a detailed summary of each story, interspersed with the hosts' engaging discussions and notable quotes.

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Introduction

Cassie and Danielle warmly welcome listeners to the episode, setting the stage for the "Trail Tales" edition where they share stories submitted by their audience. The hosts express excitement about the abundance of stories received for this episode.

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Trail Tale 1: Camping Catastrophe with a Happy Ending

Submitted by Cassie
Timestamp: [00:59]

Summary:
Cassie narrates an embarrassing yet ultimately heartwarming camping experience in Gold King Canyon, Northern Arizona. Accompanied by friends, the trip follows a familiar pattern of hiking, partying, and camaraderie. Amid the festivities, Cassie admits to breaking the rule of not drinking while on Accutane, leading to severe illness that night. Her struggle culminates in a vulnerable conversation with a burgeoning romantic interest, who becomes her boyfriend despite the rough start. The story concludes with humorous aftermaths, including muddy drives and playful teasing from friends.

Notable Quotes:

• "[00:59] Cassie: 'We partied hard... drank a lot.'"
• "[04:41] Cassie: 'That's pretty confident.'"
• "[06:45] Cassie: 'I hope you enjoyed my tale... There might be some girls throw up on the ground.'"

Hosts' Discussion:
Danielle and Cassie humorously discuss drinking games like "Rage Cage" and share personal anecdotes about drunken confessions and sibling pranks. The conversation highlights the camaraderie and occasional chaos of group outings.

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Trail Tale 2: The Creepy Shadowy Man in the Alley

Submitted by Shauna Le
Timestamp: [11:13]

Summary:
Shauna recounts a chilling encounter from her childhood in Northern Minnesota. While alone on a summer evening, she perceives a shadowy figure approaching her through a dimly lit alley. Paralyzed by fear, she later discovers it was her 16-year-old brother playing a prank. The story touches on her learned survival instincts and subsequent experiences with fear, including an incident of falling through ice. Shauna emphasizes the importance of trusting one's instincts and the lasting impact of traumatic experiences.

Notable Quotes:

• "[11:45] Shauna: 'I wasn't carrying a flashlight... I was being watched.'"
• "[19:34] Cassie: 'Well, I'm really glad it was your brother.'"
• "[20:01] Shauna: 'Or freeze is a common reaction... Animals do it too.'"

Hosts' Discussion:
The hosts empathize with Shauna's experience, discussing the "fight, flight, or freeze" responses to fear. They share their own stories of sibling pranks and the complexities of reacting under stress.

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Trail Tale 3: Geocaching Adventures that Didn't Go to Plan

Submitted by Paige
Timestamp: [24:12]

Summary:
Paige shares a romantic and serendipitous geocaching story from Montana. While on a hike with a new romantic interest, she discovers a geocache containing a heartfelt note proposing a relationship. Despite the initial shock, this gesture leads to a lasting relationship five years later, although the original geocache remains unfound. The tale underscores the magic of outdoor connections and the unexpected ways love can manifest.

Notable Quotes:

• "[29:40] Paige: 'That was the sweetest thing someone had ever done for me at the time.'"
• "[29:42] Cassie: 'It's a really sweet gesture also...'*
• "[31:45] Cassie: 'He rode a bicycle from India to Sweden for the girl he loved.'"

Hosts' Discussion:
Danielle and Cassie reflect on formal declarations of relationships versus organic developments. They discuss the importance of clear communication in long-distance relationships and share personal insights on commitment.

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Trail Tale 4: Fight or Flight and a Mother's Intuition

Submitted by Shannon
Timestamp: [30:06]

Summary:
Shannon recounts a frightening encounter with a rattlesnake at her childhood home near San Antonio during spring break in 1992. While preparing to leave for an errand, she comes face-to-face with the snake, triggering a powerful fight-or-flight response that keeps her frozen. Ultimately, her 18-year-old brother-in-law must shoot the snake, leading to reflections on intuition and survival instincts. Shannon also shares a related experience where her intuition subconsciously warned her of her uncle's medical emergency.

Notable Quotes:

• "[36:45] Shannon: 'I had to call his brother... had to shoot it.'"
• "[37:59] Cassie: 'That's intuition. Yeah, that is. That is crazy.'"
• "[38:04] Danielle: 'It was so... like, that's not a coincidence.'"

Hosts' Discussion:
The hosts discuss the reliability of maternal intuition and how it manifests in critical moments. Cassie shares a personal anecdote about sensing a family member's emergency, reinforcing the theme of unspoken connections.

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Trail Tale 5: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Work

Submitted by an Anonymous Listener
Timestamp: [42:56]

Summary:
An anonymous listener describes an experience where their belief in past lives resonates with a personal incident. While driving to work, inspired by the hosts' discussion on past lives, they have a profound moment of realization that aligns with a story from the podcast about reincarnation. This intersection of personal belief and external storytelling almost leads to a near-accident, emphasizing the powerful impact of intuition and synchronicity.

Notable Quotes:

• "[41:04] Cassie: 'I almost got into an accident when you shared the story of Dorothy Eady.'"
• "[42:26] Danielle: 'I really hope not,' referring humorously to finding oneself in Antarctica."

Hosts' Discussion:
Danielle and Cassie delve into the concept of past lives and reincarnation, sharing their own beliefs and experiences. They humorously discuss the logistical challenges of podcasting from extreme locations like Antarctica.

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Trail Tale 6: Signs, Visitations, and Cats

Submitted by Kat
Timestamp: [50:11]

Summary:
Kat shares a deeply emotional story about her bond with her pets, particularly her cat Vertigo. After Vertigo's sudden death, Kat and her wife adopt a German Shepherd puppy named Addie, who brings joy back into their lives. Kat experiences what she believes are signs from Vertigo, including paw prints in the snow and visiting shadows during a solitary hike. These signs reaffirm her connection with her late pet and the love shared between her and Addie.

Notable Quotes:

• "[42:56] Kat: 'It truly felt like Vertigo was walking in the snow with us right on cue.'"
• "[48:57] Danielle: 'I almost lost it there at the very end, but yeah, yeah. God, just so wholesome and ups and downs.'"
• "[49:42] Cassie: 'I think every pet... is there for a reason.'"

Hosts' Discussion:
Danielle and Cassie express heartfelt support for Kat's story, discussing the profound connections between humans and their pets. They emphasize the comforting nature of such signs and the unspoken bonds that transcend physical presence.

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Conclusion and Wrap-Up

As the episode concludes, Cassie and Danielle encourage listeners to submit their own trail tales via their website or email. They also promote additional bonus content available to Patreon members and Apple subscribers, teasing upcoming stories titled "Saved by a Ghost" and "A Sign from a Loved One." The hosts emphasize the importance of enjoying nature responsibly and staying vigilant on the trails.

Notable Quotes:

• "[51:07] Danielle: 'Enjoy the view, but watch your back.'"

Final Thoughts

Episode 287 of National Park After Dark is a rich tapestry of personal stories that highlight the multifaceted experiences one can have in the wilderness—from humorous mishaps and family pranks to moments of profound intuition and heartfelt connections with pets. Danielle and Cassie adeptly guide listeners through each tale, providing insights, empathy, and their characteristic warmth. This episode serves as a testament to the unpredictable and deeply personal nature of adventures in and around national parks.

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Connect with National Park After Dark:

• Submit Your Trail Tales: npadpodcast.com or email [e-mail]
• Bonus Content: Available on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions
• Follow Us: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X (Twitter) at National Park After Dark
• Watch on YouTube: National Park After Dark
• Support the Show: Rate, review, and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

[Cassie]

Not all meals are created equal. For instance, breakfast has the spicy egg McMuffin for a limited time and lunch doesn't. McDonald's breakfast comes foreign. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark. I'm Cassie.

[Danielle]

And I'm Danielle. And welcome to Trail Tales. This is an edition of National Park After Dark where we share stories that you write us.

[Cassie]

Yeah. And we have a lot of them today, so let's dive into it. Would you like to go first or would you like me to go first?

[Danielle]

I want you to go first.

[Cassie]

Oh, okay. My first story is titled Camping Catastrophe with a happy Ending.

[Danielle]

What kind of happy ending? I'm interested.

[Cassie]

We're about to find out. Hi Cassian, Danielle, I have been a big fan of your podcast for years now and have been racking my brain for a trail tale to send you. I'm an avid hiker, camper, and traveler, but surprisingly, I haven't experienced many scary or creepy situations, or at least ones that I don't think are worthy of a trail tale episode. So I will provide you with an embarrassing one. I went to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, and my friend group and I took advantage of the beautiful Northern Arizona outdoors by hiking and camping often. We continued these trips when some of my friends moved to Phoenix for work. This story takes place in Gold King Canyon, which is east of Phoenix and at the foothills of the Superstition Mountains. We have been camping as a group together for years and pretty much follow the same schedule every time. Everyone arrives Friday, Saturdays are for exploring, Saturday, Saturday nights are for partying and everyone drives home hungover on Sunday. Everyone sleeps in either tents or their cars and this trip I chose to sleep in the back of my 2015 Subaru Forester named Sheila. She's fitted out with an air mattress, pillows and blankets and protects me from the free range cows and longhorns in the area. You could say she is my safe haven for the most part. This was a great camping trip. It rained a little that Friday and we got to see some incredible rainbows in the desert. On on Saturday, we hiked to a nearby waterfall and the Wave cave, which is the cave with a rock formation that looks like a wave. When we were back at the camp that day, there was a guy parasailing over the campground and dropping teddy bears. We weren't sure the purpose of this other than just for fun because there were no notes attached to the bears like for an advertisement or anything, but a couple people in our group kept the little bears. And that night after our group dinner we partied.

[Danielle]

And.

[Cassie]

And we partied hard. We bring multiple fold out tables to play drinking games like Bangers, Rage Cage and Beer Pong.

[Danielle]

Do you know I know I'm old.

[Cassie]

Because I don't know what Bangers or.

[Danielle]

Rage Cage are just gonna ask you. Do you know what the first two are?

[Cassie]

I couldn't even guess. That's how old I am, apparently.

[Danielle]

And I know it's probably a regional thing, but we used to call Beer pong root. Yeah, but I at least know what that it's a drinking game. They're drinking games. I'm sure that's safe to say.

[Cassie]

Yeah, they said drinking games.

[Danielle]

Oh.

[Cassie]

But.

[Danielle]

Right.

[Cassie]

I want to know what Rage Cage is.

[Danielle]

It sounds dangerous.

[Cassie]

It sounds really dangerous.

[Danielle]

Keep reading. I'm paying attention. But I'm going to ask the Internet.

[Cassie]

Okay. It's also a tradition that someone brings a wine bag and carries it around the campfire so everyone can slap it and drink from it. Okay, I know that one.

[Danielle]

I've done that one. Oh my God.

[Cassie]

Slap the bag.

[Danielle]

Slap in the bag. Done it many a times.

[Cassie]

Barely survived to tell the tale. Franzia gave the worst hangovers. Use our code. Npad.

[Danielle]

Oh my God. Please save yourselves. Don't do that. What is. What am I looking up? I'm getting distracted. There's something exploding outside. We're talking about difficult memories.

[Cassie]

You're looking up Rage.

[Danielle]

Rage Cage Drinking game. Oh, okay, wait. Rage Cage is a party drinking game where players compete to sink a ping pong ball into an empty cup while standing across the table. The game ends when the last cup is emptied. It's similar to games like Flip cup and chandeliers. What? And then there's like.

[Cassie]

Wait, I'm confused. I've never heard it called Rage Cage.

[Danielle]

But it's not Root. Rage Cage, also called Slap Cup. We're beyond this. We don't even really need to know.

[Cassie]

Because we will never be in a situation where we have to play this.

[Danielle]

Yes. Don't worry.

[Cassie]

That's pretty confident. Side note, I was taking Accutane at the time and anyone who has taken that medication knows where this is going. Accutane is for acne, but is highly encouraged not to drink while on it because it is so hard on your liver. I took this advice very seriously, but this particular weekend, I said it and I drank a lot. At some point in the night, most of the group is sitting around the campfire, including myself, when I decide I need to throw up. I walked behind my car so no one could see me throw up. Remember Sheila is my safe space. I figured it would be a quick puke and rally situation, but I was so wrong. I threw up a lot and felt awful. Eventually people realized I had been gone for a while and came to investigate. I assured them I was fine and I will go to bed when I'm done. Thankfully I have good friends and they made sure I had water and had someone to stay with me until I went to bed. That that lucky person happened to be the guy I was sort of seeing at the time. We had gone out on a few dates but I was moving to Utah soon and he was in Phoenix so we didn't really know what we were doing. Mostly I was the problem and was really hesitant about committing. Well, he decided this was the perfect time to have a private and serious conversation about our status and figure our shit out. Were we gonna give this a real shot? Were we gonna try long distance when I left? So imagine this. I am on my hands and knees with my forehead to the ground because I feel so miserable having a serious conversation with this guy who is sitting on the ground next to me and every 10 minutes or so I say sorry, I need to go throw up real quick and I crawl about 5 to 10ft away from him to do just that. This goes on for about an hour and by the end of it I am completely sober. This is when I remembered the Accutane and decided that's why I was having the reaction I was. I had never been so sick from alcohol before and thrown up so much. As for the guy making sure I didn't die by the end of our conversation he actually put his foot down and said if I couldn't figure out what I wanted then he was done waiting for me. It was super fair for him to feel that way, but was also not the best timing considering I was at my absolute worst that night. I ended up reaching out to him a week later asking to talk again, you know, when I wasn't throwing up near death and he agreed. Turns out he's a real trooper and a good listener and is now my boyfriend. Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed that Sunday morning since my friends had never seen me so sick before. Another girl in our group apparently stepped in my throw up at some point in the night and was relentlessly made fun of that day. Oops. I also had to drive the two and a half hours back to Flagstaff without being able to shower, so I was covered in dirt and smelling pretty rank. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed my tale. I attached some pictures of the beautiful scenery from that weekend and Sheila the Subaru and also a demonstration of drinking out of a wine bag. I love your podcast and recommend it endlessly to everyone. I've even bought some books you've used for research or that were written by your guests on the show. Thank you for all the work you do. I can't wait for future episodes. Enjoy the view, but watch where you step. There might be some girls throw up on the ground.

[Danielle]

Alexa, that gave me so many flashbacks.

[Cassie]

Yes, Alexa, we've all been there. Unfortunately.

[Danielle]

I know he's your boyfriend now, but, like, read the room, you know. Yeah, now is not the time.

[Cassie]

Who can have a serious conversation when you're that drunk? Also.

[Danielle]

But unless he was also drinking.

[Cassie]

They're all drinking. That he was also drinking is my assumption.

[Danielle]

The amount of like, quote unquote serious conversations I've probably had in similar states is so embarrassing.

[Cassie]

I remember in college, every person that I was like, kind of seeing or dating at the time would always tell me that they loved me when they were really drunk. And me, as a college girl afraid of commitment, was always like, you're just drunk. Get away from me. And then would never bring it up again. Be like, I didn't hear you say that. But then every time I just remember it was like, college drunkenness.

[Danielle]

I know I'm amazing, but please, please.

[Cassie]

Know I'm amazing in my mess of a drunk state right now. But please hold. Hold your emotions in.

[Danielle]

Die.

[Cassie]

No drinking. Oh, my God.

[Danielle]

I've said so many. I'm so happy that, like, we were just before the kind of wildfire that social media turned into. Like, we had Instagram and Facebook and stuff.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Danielle]

And clearly we'll still get, you know, the, like 10 years ago today and Facebook and it's like some weird ass post or like, I don't know, our.

[Cassie]

Generation, yeah, we had weird statuses and our generation always carried the cool pix cameras out.

[Danielle]

But I'm saying we, like, we could at least. Yeah, we made some decisions of like, okay, I'm going to physically upload these pictures from this camera onto this platform. It wasn't an instantaneous, like, Snapchat in the moment.

[Cassie]

We did have Snapchat. We're not that old.

[Danielle]

In college.

[Cassie]

Yeah, I had. I Snapchatted all the time in college.

[Danielle]

Okay. I was not of the people, I guess. I don't know.

[Cassie]

I Snapchat all the time in College.

[Danielle]

In 2009, you had Snapchat.

[Cassie]

In 2012 and 2013, I definitely had Snapchat.

[Danielle]

Okay. But that's like the end. That was the end of our era.

[Cassie]

Junior and senior year are still the era.

[Danielle]

Oh, my God. I'm just saying. Well, all I'm saying is I am so happy that we graduated when we did and I had my slob kebab era before now. That's all I'm trying to say.

[Cassie]

I guess I think that that's a fair statement. But also, we were in the era where we took our cool pics cameras out and we didn't filter through for the cute photos. Your friend just uploaded every single picture that. That they had taken that night into an album that they labeled TikTok on the clock KE$HA and put 700 pictures approval.

[Danielle]

There was no. Like, there was no. Do you like this one? There was no. No.

[Cassie]

No filters, no approval, and no one even looked at them either. It was just like, this is what we did last night. And then there's a million pictures of you doing God knows what all of my.

[Danielle]

Like, I do still have a Facebook technically, but I never ever use it. If I was to get locked out or logged out for some reason, I would never be able to get back in because I don't know what my password is. I don't want. It's just like automatically, you know, set up in there. Yeah, all of those albums are still in existence, but they're just private same.

[Cassie]

I did the exact same thing.

[Danielle]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

And my tag photos you can't see because there's just no reason to see them.

[Danielle]

No. No. Okay, let's move on. I'm embarrassed. My first story is titled the Creepy Shadowy man in the Alley.

[Cassie]

Oh, okay.

[Danielle]

Yep. Different. We're in a different.

[Cassie]

Very different.

[Danielle]

Hi there, Danielle and Cassie. My name is Shauna Le and I wrote in once before about a possible cryptid I saw. Well, actually drove right over while heading to a hockey game. I am actually the one who recommended the book Ruthless river in the Patreon Discord. Oh, nice. Thank you. I love doing that story.

[Cassie]

Yeah, that was a really cool story.

[Danielle]

I've been a long time listener and like many others have laughed with you. Cried a little. Okay, well, maybe a lot. Healed. Some grew and learned a ton. Whenever my friends ask what I listen to, I always recommend NP 80 first and then tooth and claw. Ha. Take that, boys. Just do it.

[Cassie]

We love you.

[Danielle]

I just wanted to thank you again for all the work you do. And you two have such an amazing gift for telling real life stories. I am just going jump in to my story. I grew up in northern Minnesota, near the Boundary Waters, about two hours north of Duluth on a chain of lakes in a region called the Iron Range. It's very secluded and has that small town charm where everyone knows everyone. When I was pretty young, my parents kept our camper parked on the side of our garage facing into endless wilderness. It was a pretty small camper, not quite a pop up, but in Jeff Larson's terms of measurement, about half a bus from trailer hitch to the back of the wheel well. So that is a standard form of measurement he uses. It was secondhand bought from a nice elderly couple, and me and my two siblings were more than stoked when my parents bought it. That meant no more roughing it in tents when we were on our family camping trips. Goodbye humidity and mosquitoes. Hello AC unit. We didn't even have an AC in our house because up north our summers are very short and very mild. So naturally we begged our parents to let us sleep in the camper when it was parked outside of our house so we could sleep in the ac. It wasn't that it was necessary, it just felt like a luxury that we had to utilize. My sister and I would have our friends sleep over in this camper, but for most of the summer, my brother and his friends got to stay in there since they were boys and they were older. We would watch movies and eat popcorn, make lots of prank calls. This was the early 2000s. Stay up really late, play board games, gossip, and of course we told lots of scary stories. Needless to say, this camper became a huge topic of argumentation. We would fight over who would get to stay in there. And being the young youngest, I got left out a lot. I mean, no one wants their annoying little sister crashing the party. However, I actually got to sleep in there alone on my days since my siblings got it way more often and I didn't have as many friends as they did. I really didn't mind the solitude. It actually translated into my adult life. I prefer even back then to read my books and hang out in nature alone. I was 12 years old the first summer they decided they were going to let me sleep out there by myself. I was beyond ecstatic. I took multiple trips from our bedroom to the camper, bringing all of my comforts in there to make it the perfect refuge. I carried my big pillow in next to my bowl of snacks, a water cup, some movies, a couple books, drawing pads. Just lots and lots of trips back and forth. The sun was going down and with my sanctum complete, I just had to go inside to use the restroom and I should be set for the night. This sounds so fun, by the way.

[Cassie]

Like, yeah, it sounds really cool.

[Danielle]

Another nostalgia thing. A little bit for me in a better way and less embarrassing way. My neighbors growing up had a 1970s ISH VW camper van and it too was parked in their driveway. And me and their children who were a little bit younger than me, but we would always go out there and do almost the same exact thing. Just like hang out in there and just like gossip and do like little fun things.

[Cassie]

Yeah, yeah. One of my childhood best friend, she had a little camper that she would put it was always in her driveway, but her parents would set it up for us to sleep in there at night and they'd bring us like popcorn.

[Danielle]

And like, it's the ultimate fort, you know?

[Cassie]

It is, it is the ultimate fort. And there were no electronics back then that you would use. So it's just, you brought games and snacks and you just hung out outside and it was really fun.

[Danielle]

On my way back out, I had to pass the alleyway like I'd done about seven to 10 times earlier. It was actually a bit of a walk from our house side door, past the garage and towards the entry of the woods where the camper stays parked in the distance. A single street light flicked on and off on occasion. Nothing I wasn't accustomed to. The alley only went up about 300ft to a couple more houses at its end. Where they sat was surrounded by the end of the woods as well. So other than a few neighbors up there, it's just wilderness. We do have black bear, white tailed deer, silver fox, moose, bobcats, lynx, occasionally some cougars, coyotes, timber wolves, red fox. List goes on and on. But I was raised by a proper woodsman, so nothing scared me, or so I thought. I felt very confident in what to do in a situation where I ran into one or a number of those critters. Luckily, I'd run into a bear from a distance and they'd scare themselves off most of the time. And I had seen wolves while in the deer stand, but that is such a treat. As I was passing the alley, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and a metallic pulse shot through my body. I froze. My camper was maybe 80ft ahead of me and my house was about 100ft behind me. I wasn't carrying a flashlight. I. I was mostly covered by darkness. The only light was coming from the dim flickering streetlight halfway up the alley. I felt my breath slow and my ears become ultra sensitive to sound. I was being watched. I could feel it. I could scream, I thought, and my dad would probably hear me. For some reason I just stayed frozen. My mouth wouldn't move. It took all of my strength to use my peripheral vision to peek up the alley. Through the soft yellow hue of the streetlight, I saw the outline of a man slowly walking towards me. I couldn't make out a single feature. He was just a dark shadowy figure from where I stood. His pace was very eerie and unlifelike. Is this real? And if I could just get myself to turn around, I could just run. I don't think he would catch up to me before I got to the side of the door yet. I still didn't move. I stayed completely still. He didn't make a sound as step by step by step he inched closer and closer. I didn't have any thoughts now. Strictly fear pulsing through me. I wasn't thinking about the consequences. My primal instincts completely took over and for some reason mine were forcing me to be a statue. Like what the frick kind of survival mechanism is that? Now he was only about 100ft away then. 80, 50, 20. And before I knew it, when my heart was about to explode out of my body, he grabbed both of my shoulders and shook me. Shauna. I didn't flinch. I finally unfroze and my thoughts finally came back into my head. I was able to look at his face and it was my 16 year old brother playing a prank on me. But suddenly it wasn't a prank to either of us. He looked more worried than I did. While I just stared at him blankly waiting for my brain to reboot itself. He said, why didn't you run? I was just trying to scare you a little. What if I was somebody else? My mouth was really dry, but I managed to finally let out a nervous laugh and stupidly told him. I knew it was you. Huh? I that's why I didn't run. To this day, we haven't talked about it. I actually fell through the ice that winter while ice fishing with my dad. And again, I didn't scream for help. I somehow pulled myself out and limped my way back to my dad, soaking wet and literally frozen in fear. But that's a whole different story. I have somewhat learned how to act appropriately in a survival situation. I moved out to Hawaii for nearly five years, then to Germany for two and then to England for a year of study before landing in Tennessee. For now I've traveled through many states and countries by myself and I want to one through hike the at Listening to NPID inspires me weekly and reminds me to always enjoy the view. But watch out for scary older brothers because you never know who's really lurking behind the shadows.

[Cassie]

Well, I'm really glad it was your brother.

[Danielle]

Yeah, I know it.

[Cassie]

Also, you can't be hard on yourself, on how you react in fear. You know, everyone reacts differently. Fight or flight, you know, and.

[Danielle]

Or freeze.

[Cassie]

Or freeze is a common reaction among not just.

[Danielle]

Just.

[Cassie]

Not just humans. Animals do it too. If you look at mice, if a mouse is caught by a cat, they freeze because they think that if they don't move, then they'll leave them alone.

[Danielle]

Oh, I was thinking of goats, where they just, like, freeze and faint. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Cassie]

Those two.

[Danielle]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

There's like.

[Danielle]

And they've survived all this time.

[Cassie]

Yeah, they're doing great. You're fine.

[Danielle]

Yeah, I just thought it was. It kind of. Just. It sparked kind of like this memory of. And maybe a question of pranks that you have either done or have had done to you sibling wise. Because they're always the worst. Sibling pranks are always the worst.

[Cassie]

I don't know if I had pranks from my siblings or my brother. I have a twin brother. It wasn't really a prank. It was just straight out. Torture me. Yeah, torture. Like, I remember he invited me into his room one time, and he was like, come play. And I was like, okay. And I walk in the room, and he was in there with my cousin, and they had both duct taped together, a bunch of, like, plastic toys they had together and swords and whatever. And they're like, okay, we're here, you're here, and we're gonna kill you. And then they started chasing me around and hitting me with swords.

[Danielle]

Okay, I'll reverse it.

[Cassie]

I don't think that's a. I don't think that's a prank. It's just viol.

[Danielle]

Well, I'll tell you something. And I'm the aggressor.

[Cassie]

Okay.

[Danielle]

Also not a prank. More torture. When I was young, so my sister Alyssa, I have a half sister, and she's six years younger than me. And for a time, I was her babysitter. You know, like, if my mom and stepdad went out, like, it was. I would watch her. And I was also a child. This was the, you know, 90s, early 2000s. And I vividly remember. And we talk about it all the time and laugh about it now, but I vividly remember doing. I would be like, this is a game. It's a game. And I would blindfold her, and I Would make her taste test, like, certain things and, like, be like, guess what? Guess what I'm feeding you type of thing. But it wasn't nice. I literally remember feeding her cat treats. Dog food. Dry, not like, wet. Like, animal food. That's a little gross, but still kind of gross. Squirting, like, lemon juice in her mouth. And I'm like. To be fair, I'm like 12 or 13 years old, so she's like, 6 or 7. And I would sometimes. What are your sisters for? Right? And sometimes she would, like, cry, and I'd be like, come on, get it together. Like. Like this. You're fine. Like, you're okay.

[Cassie]

Nothing's happening to you.

[Danielle]

Half out of fear that, like, she would tell my parents when they got home, Like, I'm like, no, you're fine. You're gaslighting her into totally.

[Cassie]

This is normal. All big sisters do this.

[Danielle]

Yeah. Like, do you want to build character or not? You know?

[Cassie]

Like, do you want to be funny when you grow up from trauma or. No.

[Danielle]

Right? Or not, so. And she's fine. She's great now. So I. She's hilarious.

[Cassie]

I can think of one, like, prank, I guess, that I did, but this was a. It wasn't a frequent thing. And I remember doing it one time and one time only, and it was to my brother, and I still feel bad about it a little bit. We were like. We would drink out of the hose, and he came over, and he was like, oh, what do I do? Like, how do I drink out of the hose? And we're like, oh, just put your mouth on it. So he put his mouth on the hose, and then I turned it on full blast, and a bunch of water came out of his nose and his mouth, and he. Yeah, I still feel bad about it.

[Danielle]

That's the gentlest prank, I think, ever. And he tried to kill you with plastic toys. I think you're fine.

[Cassie]

That's true. He did do that.

[Danielle]

You're like. And then I tried to drown him. So, yeah.

[Cassie]

I was the only girl in my family, so I grew up around all boys, and I had to learn to be tough.

[Danielle]

Yeah. You gotta keep up.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Danielle]

All right, you go now.

[Cassie]

Oh, it's my turn.

[Danielle]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Danielle]

We could just stare at each other for a while.

[Cassie]

Tell. Good. Although people listening will just hear silence.

[Danielle]

Yeah. Just know that people watching will just see us looking into each other's eyes, wondering what to do next.

[Cassie]

Well, that's to tell a story. So my next story is titled Geocaching Adventures that Didn't Go to Plan. Hi Danielle and Cassie. I live in Montana and haven't been to many national parks, but enjoy rockhounding and being outside in general. I found your guys this podcast from a co worker and have been binge listening for a year when I'm going to work or driving in general and don't want to listen to music. I love the information you guys share, the good, the bad and the ugly and enjoy hearing you guys laugh and your side stories or tangents you guys go on during the episodes. I work in a dermatology office so here's the reminder to wear sunscreen, wear a hat if you can, and also try to use UPF clothing. Also get your moles concerning spots, spots that aren't healing or family history of skin cancers to be checked by a dermatologist. Even if you think it's probably nothing, we would much rather give you peace of mind and catch skin cancers, basal cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma early so treatment won't have to be a big surgery. I love that as a skin care queen myself, thank you for that PSA to everybody.

[Danielle]

Yeah, that's so timely. Also, because last night my algorithm and by I don't know, like if Instagram Reels truly has an algorithm or not, I'm not sure. I got rid of TikTok and now we'll never have it again because of the whole thing. Like I legitimately can't get it back.

[Cassie]

Since you can't download it right anymore.

[Danielle]

But on reels I got this random it had like 500000 likes on it and it was this guy basically like quote unquote whistleblowing about how sunscreen is like like a hoax or not a hoax, but like unnecessary. Because ever since sunscreen started becoming widely available, so too did the the rate of skin cancers increase. Like he was trying to say that like there's a correlation between a rise in skin cancer in conjunction with people wearing sunscreen and how or cancers different types of cancers. I should say because of the chemicals in sunscreen. But like. But also he left out a lot. There's a lot of holes in that, clearly.

[Cassie]

Well, the first hole I can think of is sunscreen hasn't always existed and the science to study skin cancers hasn't always existed. So just because we have sunscreen now and the ability to measure and track skin cancers in people and cancer in general doesn't mean they're correlated.

[Danielle]

Correct. And trust me, it wasn't like there was so much attention on it in favor of him. Like, there was a lot of arguments.

[Cassie]

And people were just like, what?

[Danielle]

Like, what is this? But it was just so concerning that.

[Cassie]

Like, I do think that there's something to be said about the type of sunscreen you use, and I think for sure should do the research on that.

[Danielle]

For sure.

[Cassie]

Because there is better quality ones and there's more natural ones and. But sunscreen's important, and it is very much proven that the sun causes skin cancer. That's not to be debated. That is a fact.

[Danielle]

Yeah. Tell it to that guy. Pipe in.

[Cassie]

And anyway, like, the sun ages you. Put some sunscreen on.

[Danielle]

Right. Cassie's on a quest to be.

[Cassie]

I'm on a quest.

[Danielle]

Young forever.

[Cassie]

Age backwards.

[Danielle]

Right, right, right. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. This isn't a sunscreen, but I just appreciate it. Right. Yeah. Truly.

[Cassie]

You're speaking to my heart.

[Danielle]

Okay.

[Cassie]

And I wrote in really big letters. Anyway. Billings is a city in Montana where the closest national parks are glacier and yellowstone. We have a bunch of state parks and national monuments such as pictograph caves state park, lake elmo state park, and much more. This story takes place on a trail in billings called skyland trail, which is seven miles long and goes from zimmerman park to swords park. Locals just call this place the rims and can see the beautiful valley that billings sits in and the beautiful rocky mountains that are far in the distance. In May of 2020, I know dark times. I had been talking to this guy for over two months before we met in person for our second date. We went to the rims to go geocaching. We were having fun seeing the geocaches, but he kept trying to find one he swore he saw on the app the other day, but it was nowhere to be found. I found out later that he had actually come up there two days earlier and put a note in that geocache that we couldn't find asking me to be his girlfriend. He told me the note went along the lines of, I have had such a fun time getting to know you and spending time with you. I would like to take the next step and ask you to be my girlfriend. Dated May of 2020 p. S. If someone finds this note years later, that means she said no. I was shocked, to say the least. That was the sweetest thing someone had ever done for me at the time, and my heart melted. He has now done so many wonderful things for me, and I'm so grateful we started dating that same day anyway. But it is. But it is a funny memory that we share. We have now been together for five years this May 2025, and we still haven't found that geocache. I think it's a beautiful memory in the outdoors with the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. And I hope it made you both smile. Thank you guys for everything you have been and are still doing for this beautiful community. Enjoy the view, but if you're going to ask someone to be your boyfriend or girlfriend, do not put the note in a geocache. Love you guys.

[Danielle]

Paige, that melts my heart, too.

[Cassie]

It's a really sweet gesture also, because.

[Danielle]

Like, I don't know, maybe I'm just out of touch or out of the game for so long, but is that something that, like, do you have that, like, formality of, like, will you be my significant other, my girlfriend? I think people still do it just for clarity purposes. Sure. Right.

[Cassie]

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

[Danielle]

Right? And, well, you want to make sure.

[Cassie]

But we were long. Yeah. And we were long distance. So we were kind of like, okay, so one of us either has to move or we should probably, like, go our separate ways. If we're not gonna ever live in the same state.

[Danielle]

Why not?

[Cassie]

Then we keep it interesting. Just stay. We've been dating for seven years, and it's been long distance. We see each other twice a year now.

[Danielle]

And those two times a year are. Fire Are great.

[Cassie]

And then I'm independent. And I mean, teach their own. I. I don't judge whatever relationship works for you, but I do think it is. Is common practice to have some type of conversation at some point if you are interested in pursuing. If someone is not interested in pursuing it further. I think people avoid it for a really long time.

[Danielle]

Yeah. Like, intentionally.

[Cassie]

Until it blows up and everyone explodes.

[Danielle]

Okay, well, that's a really cool, like. That's a very forward way of being like that. I'm. There is no ambiguity or guessing. It's just like, this person's really interested, and it's a cool way to just really state your purpose and show your interest and commitment. I think that's really sweet. Once again, it's never happened to me, but. All right. Your bone. Your episode this month or last month. If he wanted to, he would.

[Cassie]

Yeah. On Patreon.

[Danielle]

Here we go.

[Cassie]

And it's True. That guy. He rode a bicycle from India to Sweden for the girl he loved, so if he wanted to, he would. That's right.

[Danielle]

Okay, my next story is titled Fight or Flight and a Mother's Intuition Hi Cassie and Danielle. I'm a new listener and have been binging your podcast for a couple of months now. Shout out to my hair stylist for sharing this podcast with me. She's in San Antonio and I won't share her name, but she will know who she is. My trail tale takes place at my childhood home. It was spring break 1992 and I was home from college for the week while my parents were away in Florida on a business trip. Home for me was on 140 acres in a rural area outside of San Antonio. My neighbors also lived on homesteads surrounded by lots of acreage, so there are no neighborhoods in the area. Our place had a small lake slash large pond that was home to many fish and was the perfect watering hole for the need of wildlife and of deer, coyote, bobcats, badgers, raccoon, skunks, birds and rumor has it, mountain lions, albeit I never had seen one. On this particular day, my sister and I were home alone, but I needed to travel to San Antonio to do some shopping for a new suit that I would need for upcoming job interviews. I gathered my purse and headed out the front door for context when we were going out the front door, you step onto a covered porch about 2 to 3ft. To the left is a set of windows on the side of the house. The top of the windows reach close to the top of the covered roof, and the bottom consists of a rock ledge that sits about a foot from the ground. Straight ahead is a walkway that leads to the circular driveway where my car was parked, and to the right is the rest of the long covered front porch. Our family dogs love to hover around the parked cars and this day was no different. As I stepped onto the porch, they noticed me and proceeded to make their way to greet me. While my eyes were focused on them approaching me, something caught my eye to the left, the side of the house with the windows. I I turned to look to see what it was, and when I did I was face to face with the head of a snake. I mean, his head was less than a foot away and about shoulder level to me. I looked him dead in the eyes, but immediately my fight or flight response kicked in and I leaped diagonally to my right and cleared the front of the porch and into the yard in what seemed to be the smallest measurable amount of time possible. I mean, I think I may have moved faster than Usain Bolt before my feet even landed on the ground. I heard the buzzing and I immediately knew that it was a rattlesnake. I continued to run in the grass along the front of the porch and then back around to the side of the house. For whatever reason, I banged on my sister's window and shouted help. And then continued to the back porch where I retreated safely into the house. By then my sister had come running out of the room and asked me what was wrong. I could barely speak, but told her about the snake. We made our way to the front door and peeked through the glass panels and there it was, curled up on the window ledge. He was about three feet long, and it was then that I realized he had probably been perched on the rock window ledge about a foot from the ground. And when I stepped out, I must have startled him and he did what his instinct told him to do, which was strike. I cringe when I think about this because it means he must have hit a full strike for his head to be as close to my shoulders. And I would guess he had probably even got even closer before I turned to see him. At about this time, the phone rang. Yes, the phone on the wall. Well, it's 1992, remember? When I answered, I heard my mother's voice ask what's the matter? When I explained what had happened, she proceeded to tell me that she and my dad were in a business meeting with some attorneys. But she stood up and told my dad she had to call the kids. Incredible. A mother's intuition is no joke. The next part of the story is actually pretty sad. My boyfriend at the time, now husband, was at work and not near our home, nor were either of my brothers. So I had to call his brother, my now brother in law, to come and take care of it. Believe it or it or not, I felt so bad that this had to be done. But none of us could attempt to remove the snake safely, so my brother in law, who was only about 18 at the time, had to shoot it. Some people may not care about snakes, but I have a tender heart for all living things, even spiders, who I will willingly ignore or catch and release if they are in my house. I had lived in my childhood home for 16 years at that time and my parents still live there to this day. That was the only rattlesnake I ever saw. However, I can't help but believe there had to be numerous times that snakes could have. Wherever my siblings and I were out Exploring nature. But they chose to say. But they chose to stay silent, not seeing us as prey, nor a threat. I have since seen documentaries that say that snakes really want to avoid humans. And they say that most rattlesnakes bite human victims who are deliberately messing with them. I'll never forget that day. I'm grateful that my fight or flight response kicked in, and I'm still amazed at my mother's intuition. I hope you enjoyed the story and if you share it, thank you. You enjoy the view, but watch your back and listen to your instincts. Take care, Shannon.

[Cassie]

It's really interesting that their mom called.

[Danielle]

Just in this, like, hey, are you okay? Middle of the meeting. Just like, I have to go call the kids really quick. Yeah, I've never. I don't know if I've ever had any sort of. Actually. Oh, my God. I'm not a mom, for the record, but I did have when we were in Alaska, our second trip in Alaska, our group trip, and we were hiking, and I was just like, side by side with. With our guide at the time. And I had this overwhelming thought of my Uncle Vincent. And me and my Uncle Vincent are not close at all. Like, I see him maybe once a year, like, at the family Christmas party for two hours. And I just, like, had this biggest, like, I was just thinking him of him so hard. And I was thinking, like, am I picking up on, like, an uncle energy or something, maybe from her? Or, like, what is going on here? And I just kind of brushed it off. And I ended up asking about her about it later just to confirm, and she was like, I don't know, like, nothing's going on with my uncle. And so I was like, oh, weird. Like, and I just kind of wrote it off. And when I got home, my mom was like, oh, when you were in Alaska, my brother Vincent was hospitalized and almost died because he got bit by a venomous spider. Isn't that crazy?

[Cassie]

That's intuition. Yeah, that is. That is crazy.

[Danielle]

And I was just. It was so. I don't know if it was the exact moment or anything, but. But come on. Like, that's not a coincidence.

[Cassie]

Yeah. Yeah, that's not a coincidence.

[Danielle]

So it's kind of like Danielle's intuition. Not.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Danielle]

You know, so maybe if I'm a mom ever, which I won't be, you'll have it. But I'll have it.

[Cassie]

Yeah, but you would have it. Yeah. I know my mom. When I've had stuff going on with me, she can feel it. She knows that something's wrong. And if I'm like. And then when I come to her and like, hey, this happened. She's like, I knew something. Something was wrong.

[Danielle]

I knew.

[Cassie]

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

[Danielle]

There's something about it. Yeah.

[Cassie]

Yeah. All right. My next story is titled A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Work. Hello. I'm a huge fan of the podcast. I listen to it whenever I am in my car, cleaning or out walking. I love laughing, crying and learning from you both. Thank you for the many hours of entertainment and for being brave enough to share so much of yourselves with your audience. I am not sure if this rises to the level of a trail tale, but I wanted to send you a note about what happened to me on my way to work this week. Since I was a teen, I have believed in past lives. The belief stems from a visit to Fort Ontario with my family when I was probably around 14 or so. I immediately felt a huge sense of familiarity to the place place, and I am convinced that I either lived or spent a lot of time there. Even as I write this, I think that I sound sort of nuts, but I can't explain how familiar the place felt. I live in northeastern Pennsylvania and grew up in a rural environment. Just trees, no forts. For the past 20 years I have lived in the suburbs of Scranton, Pennsylvania and there is no reason for that place to feel familiar to me. In 2019 it happened again, but this time it was a new place. I was lucky enough to chaperone a trip with my daughter's choir to Italy. It was amazing. We were all over the country. It was when we got to Rome, however, that I experienced a profound sense of belonging. I felt like I had come home. I don't know how else to explain it. I should have been a stressed out fish out of water trying to chaperone teenagers in a major international metropolitan city. But I felt so comfortable and so relieved to be there. The reason I mention all of this is that I was thinking about this when I was driving to work this week, thinking about making changes in my life. And just like that, the thought popped into my head that I really wanted to go home. But not my home, where I live now. I wanted to go to Rome.

[Danielle]

Ha.

[Cassie]

That rhymes. Sorry, adhd. And then I turned on your podcast and started listening to episode 224 mystery mashup. Danielle, can I Just say that I almost got into an accident when you shared the story of Dorothy Eady. Needless to say, I felt validated. I hope you enjoyed my little story. Thank you so much for doing what you do. You are often the best part of my day.

[Danielle]

Oh, that's nice.

[Cassie]

That whole story, I was thinking of Dorothy Eady. Like, this sounds so familiar to that story that you told of reincarnation and how she felt so connected to Egypt. And it just reminded me of that the whole time they were writing it, so. Yeah, I agree.

[Danielle]

Yeah. And what are the odds? I mean, that's the only time we've ever done any type of story like that. That.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Danielle]

You know, and I love past life stories and connections and just because I've struggled with this my whole life of, like, never feeling at home, you know, like, where is home? And I think it's because I'm not. I know my soul knows that I'm not from here. And I. I'm just continuously searching for somewhere that, like, I'm trying to find home, but, like, home doesn't exist here for me. And, like, I know that on a deep level. And that's the. That's deep. And some people probably don't. Are like, okay, this host is nuts. But that's my take. So I like, totally get the you when you know, you know, and you're drawn to certain places. And I definitely am a believer in reincarnation and that we've done all this before and there's a reason why you feel better in certain locations in the. On. On the planet versus others. And even if you. You rationally don't understand why, like, there is some sort of reason. So I am on board with that whole thing.

[Cassie]

Maybe you'll find yourself in Antarctica.

[Danielle]

I really hope not. I really, like, I'm home. I made it.

[Cassie]

Really. This is where my soul has been searching.

[Danielle]

You better hope not either, because this podcast won't continue.

[Cassie]

That's true. That would be really hard to do this podcast if you live in Antarctica. Yeah. Yeah.

[Danielle]

I mean, it's not impossible, but it would definitely be a challenge.

[Cassie]

Yeah, I think I don't know what the WI fi is like down there.

[Danielle]

So I would have to send it via B. Impossible at a research station. Yeah.

[Cassie]

Yeah.

[Danielle]

Okay. My last story is titled Signs, Visitations, and Cats. Hi, ladies. My name is Kat. I'm a longtime listener, first time writer. I probably don't have to justify my love of animals to you being fellow vet med girlies, but let's just say that my therapist Thinks I'm a bit on the autistic side and coupled with some childhood trauma, I have a really hard time connecting with people. I make very deep connections with my pets though, and have always had a small zoo. Well, 15 years ago, a scraggly, orange, sickly feral kitten fell into my lap. Was foisted really by a shelter volunteer who was trying so hard to get this pissy, terrified baby a home. I fell head over heels in love the moment I held him. Even though he stared up at me in horror through uri crusted eyes. He was just an awful little thing. Your typical feral kitten. You know the type. I named him Vertigo for the thin, mangy, scraggly coat that stuck up at all angles. Over the years, Vertigrow grew into my very best friend. He didn't like other people, to the point of only tolerating my long term fiance turned wife halfway through Vertigo's life and for the last year or two of his life. But he was my soul ca through and through. He got me through all of my rough patches, my 20s, moving across the country and so much more. Vertigo was about 16 pounds at a body score of 5 out of 9. Which is great for everybody else who doesn't know what that means.

[Cassie]

Yeah, perfect.

[Danielle]

He had huge feet and grew a thick orange double coat. He was a really beautiful cat. People used to ask me if he was a Maine coon and he loved the snow. He was an indoor boy, but I leash trained him and every winter we would go out and play in the snow. I have many a photo of him frolicking and leaving paw prints in the snow. It's the only time he ever wanted to be outside. Fast forward 13 years out of nowhere, one winter day, he had a respiratory distress episode and and a collapsed lung. It happened so fast. He went from vibrant happy pawing at the window, asking to play in the snow to oxygen cage dependent the next day to emergency euthanasia. Two days later, my heart was utterly broken. I had had him since I was 17 and freshly moved away from my toxic family. He was everything to me. Grief begin to describe what I felt. My wife and I packed up our other pets and moved because I just couldn't stand to be in the apartment where such a tragic event had occurred. Two years later, after much debate, we decided to bring a puppy into our little family. I wanted a German shepherd. I wanted an intact male so that he grew healthy and strong but young. So that I could socialize him and train him the way I wanted to. I had very specific Criteria for my future puppy. After months I applied to a very specific German shepherd rescue. They proceeded to dick me around for two months until puppy I was trying to adopt was no longer a little five month old puppy, but was actually getting closer to eight months. And then they tried to drag things out some more. My wife and I were both feeling frustrated and downhearted. I'm a vet tech and she's a computer engineer. The only thing that might have kept us from being an immediate candidate was that we didn't have a house, which was already stated as not a disqualification per the adoption paperwork. And it was just a really shitty feeling overall all throughout those two or so months. I began having little visitations, a cat sized shadow in the corner of my eye ambling through the kitchen or weight hopping up onto the foot of the bed at night when he thought my wife was asleep enough to not wake up when he wanted snuggles. I told my wife that I thought Vertigo was trying to tell us something. With the stress and frustration of the puppy thing and the fresh grief of suddenly seeing my dead cat again, I decided I needed some nature therapy. We went camping on the beautiful Oregon coast. It was a six or so hour drive and a totally random place that I chose on, not because it looks stunning and it was. It was exactly what I needed. While we were there, my phone somehow got a tiny signal for exactly enough time for an alert to come through. The website I had been using to search for adoptable puppies pinged that another dog matching most of my criteria became available in that random area where I had chosen to camp. It popped up with a photo of a scraggly, terrified dirty orange shepherd mix and my heart stopped. That was my puppy. I just knew it. We brought her home on our way out of Oregon after our camping trip. Four other people looked at her before us and they all passed on her because of how terrified she was. But if a feral kitten didn't scare me, neither was a semi feral 14 week old 28 pound puppy. Here we are eight months later and Addie, short for ATV because she's truly an all terrain, dirt, water, swamp, mountain loving vehicle of a dog is my very best friend. Her and Vertigo would have so much in common. Women from their coloring and origin story to their love of snow and bonding with me and no one else. They're both goofy in the same ways, love the same kind of toys and the same blanket, and Addie even tries to climb into the refrigerator every once in a while. A trademark Vertigo shenanigan. Last night I Had a horrible dream about vertigo. A lot in my life is in flux right now. Some good, some bad. But I woke up with a sore heart and needed some nature therapy. I chose a tiny Little Trail about 45 minutes from where I live. The kind of trail that I never would have chosen on any other day. I'm used to 6 to 12 mile hikes, not 1 mile with no elevation. But something about it kept grabbing my attention. And I knew it would have snow this time of year. So I packed up Addy and we went hiking. There was fresh powder from the night before and not a single car or boot track in sight. We had the whole trail to ourselves and it was a beautiful, below freezing, but sunny day. The moment we hit the trailhead, however, one set of prints appeared. Cat prints. Not other people tracks or dog prints or even wildlife tracks. This kitty, for whatever reason, decided to walk on this little one mile trail from start to finish earlier this morning. Addie and I followed his little footprints in the snow the whole way. And it truly felt like Vertigo was walking in the snow with us right on cue, right when I needed him.

[Cassie]

Him.

[Danielle]

It felt like he was reminding me that he's still here and that he sent Addie to me. Sometimes our loved ones send us signs after they're gone, even if they're not people. Enjoy the view, but watch your trail for the sign you need. Love you, ladies. Keep up the magical work. Cat and Addie and maybe Vertigo too.

[Cassie]

That was such a sweet story. I love that so much, my heart.

[Danielle]

Like I almost lost it there at the very end, but yeah, yeah. God, just so wholesome and ups and downs and just really a beautiful. A beautiful trail tale. Thank you so much for sending it in. And just like everything came together so nice and Cat did send pictures of Vertigo, of Addie and of the little paw prints in the snow.

[Cassie]

That's really cool.

[Danielle]

So I'll post them.

[Cassie]

Post that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I truly think that your animals find you at the time that you need them. Them. And I think every pet. I say pet, but I think that that's such a small word for such a big person in your life. But any pets that you have that come into your life, I really think that they're there for a reason. And certain ones find you for a reason too.

[Danielle]

Yeah.

[Cassie]

Or you find them for a reason.

[Danielle]

Or you find each other. Yes. Amazing.

[Cassie]

Well, thank you everyone for tuning in to this week's trail tale. If you have one that you would like to write into us, you can go onto our website. N ad podcast.com and there is a submission link on there. We love to read them and put them on the show. So please continue to write into us. If you are not ready to be done with this episode and you would like to hear some more trail tales, we have good news for you because on Patreon and Apple subscriptions we have two more that we will be reading today that you can check out for some bonus content. And mine is titled titled Saved by a Ghost.

[Danielle]

Oh, and mine is titled A Sign from a Loved One. I'm on the sign kick. Sorry.

[Cassie]

Yeah, you are. All right, well we'll see you all next time. In the meantime, enjoy the view, but watch your back. Bye everyone.

[Danielle]

Bye. Thank you for joining us again this week. If you have a trail tale of your own you'd like to share, you can write to us at npadstories gmail.com or visit our website [e-mail] 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.

[Cassie]

Sam.