350: Cheers to Five NPAD Years

Summary

National Park After Dark – Episode 350: Cheers to Five NPAD Years Original Air Date: January 26, 2026 | Hosts: Danielle and Cassie | Podcast: National Park After Dark (Audioboom Studios)

---

Episode Overview

This milestone 350th episode celebrates five years of National Park After Dark (NPAD). Hosts Danielle and Cassie take listeners on a heartfelt, hilarious, and occasionally cringeworthy walk down memory lane. In this special, the duo recalls the podcast’s origins, revisits iconic catchphrases and embarrassing moments, highlights fan-favorite stories, and answers listeners' most frequently-asked questions. The episode is packed with personal anecdotes, community trail tales, stories of growth, and memorable foibles that have built NPAD’s vibrant wilderness-loving community.

---

Key Segments & Insights

1. The NPAD Origin Story

Timestamp: 02:18 – 05:55

• How It Began: Cassie and Danielle met as veterinary technicians in New Hampshire before life changes took them to Vermont and Washington, but their outdoor chats continued.
  • “When that happened, we decided to just keep our chats going that we were already having amongst each other into a podcast format...” (03:28 – Danielle)
• First Spark: The idea was pitched on Halloween, 2020, and the podcast launched on Jan 25, 2021 – a fast DIY turnaround with no formal production background.
  • “We truly started this from scratch. There was never a production team behind us.” (05:00 – Cassie)
• Early Technical Woes: Both reminisce about their bargain microphones, watery sound quality, and ignorance of podcasting basics.
  • “A lot of our first episodes sound like we are underwater. ... Or knowledge. We truly started this from scratch.” (04:40 – Cassie)

2. From True Crime to Deeper Dives

Timestamp: 05:00 – 05:55

• The podcast was initially intended as strictly true crime, sometimes with two stories per episode, but that quickly evolved to deeper, more research-driven single-story episodes.
  • "We couldn’t do the deep dives that we wanted because if we were both telling the story, it took up a lot more time.” (05:45 – Cassie)

3. Life Changes & Music Legacy

Timestamp: 06:34 – 09:53

• Today: Neither host works as a vet tech anymore; the podcast became their full-time passion.
• Iconic Intro: The NPAD theme music was composed by Danielle’s late partner, Ian, who crafted multiple versions (“spooky, but also campy... intriguing, but also scary and ominous.”).
  • "We want something that sounds spooky, but also campy, intriguing, but also scary and ominous.” (08:17 – Cassie)
  • "He did us so many versions... such a perfectionist about it." (07:30 – Danielle)
• Ian’s pride in his contribution is fondly recalled, including his live performance during the pandemic.

---

4. Audience Q&A: Skincare, Inside Jokes, and More

Timestamp: 10:38 – 23:24

Skincare Routines

• Listeners ask about Cassie’s noted dedication to skincare, even in the wild.
  • "Skincare has no boundaries." (12:46 – Cassie)
  • Both discuss favorite brands—ZO/ZO Skin, SkinCeuticals, SkinMedica—and gadgets (red/blue light therapy, lymphatic drainage tools), even on jungle trips.

NPAD Catchphrases & Their Origins

• Moose Aren’t Real: Spawned from Cassie’s quip about never seeing a moose, it became an inside joke and merch line.
  • "Moose aren’t real—with a passion." (15:54 – Cassie)
• You Got Haunted: Cassie’s recurring verdict on paranormal trail tales; inspired a ghost ranger merch design.
• Take the Trip: Danielle’s heartfelt encouragement to seize the opportunity to travel and adventure with loved ones.
  • "Take the trip. Just go for it." (21:25 – Danielle)
• Listeners are invited to remind them of any missed catchphrases.

---

5. Listener Trail Tales, Community & Emotional Impact

Timestamp: 24:25 – 47:32

• Fan Quotes & Guessing Game: Cassie quizzes Danielle on which host said fan-submitted lines, like “We abducted a boy scout this weekend.” (24:58 – Danielle)
• Trail Tales Segment: Discussing the unique NPAD tradition of listener-submitted stories ranging from the hilarious to the heartfelt.
  • “I get sick of us... so nice that you guys keep writing in.” (31:54 – Danielle)
• Listener Connection: Patrons share personal contexts—how NPAD intertwines with their own lives and love for the outdoors, and stories of finding comfort in the show during hard times or seeking signs from lost loved ones.
  • "It was a beautifully sad experience. Your opossum story was the start of a sign I so desperately needed from [my mother]." (42:25 – Listener Trail Tale)

---

6. Iconic Trail Tales: Foaming Pants

Timestamp: 47:32 – 54:36

• The infamous “Foaming Pants” trail tale is retold, describing a hiker’s mortification at a mysterious foaming incident, now NPAD legend.
  • “Mortified, I foamed on. ... Not even three steps in, the white froth was back.” (51:23 – Listener)
  • Cassie promises a trophy if the original sender reaches out.

---

7. Learning Curves: Cringey Early Mistakes

Timestamp: 54:40 – 58:40

• Cassie’s notorious confusion of “crevice” and “crevasse” in early episodes is replayed, with both laughing at how far they’ve come.
  • “I did not understand the difference between crevice and crevasse...” (54:51 – Cassie)
  • Danielle: "Who let us do that?" (19:19)

---

8. NPAD’s Capacity to Traumatize (in a Good Way)

Timestamp: 63:06 – 77:14

• Polling fans, the hosts reflect on the most traumatizing stories:
  • Night of the Grizzlies (scarring bear attack episode) is hands-down the most frequently cited.
    • "He grabbed a hold of the back of his thighs and bit down hard... Roy could hear her bones crunch under the strength of the bear’s bite…” (64:00 – Cassie reading)
  • Other top mentions: Yossi Ginsberg’s Amazon ordeal, “A Bolt from the Blue” (lightning strike), and “The Nutty Putty Cave” (claustrophobia-inducing caving tragedy).

---

9. Personal Favorites and Book Recommendations

Timestamp: 78:30 – 82:51

• Cassie’s favorite: “Fatal Lightning Strike” at Jenny Lake (Grand Teton) and “Wall of White” (deadliest US avalanche).
• Danielle’s favorite: “Man Made Man Eater” (Jim Corbett NP), “No Be So Fierce” (book), “The Third Man Factor” (about survival hallucinations).

---

10. Expanding Horizons: NPAD Group Trips & Live Shows

Timestamp: 83:08 – 99:55

• List of NPAD-hosted group trips since 2023: Egypt, Patagonia, Alaska (twice), Banff/Jasper/Yoho, South Africa, Madagascar, Peru, Quebec, Acadia, Borneo, Antarctica, Colorado, Hawaii, and more.
• Tales from live shows: Comedy Works Denver, sold-out events at the Stanley Hotel, Joshua Tree campout with the National Park Association, and smaller community get-togethers (e.g., Barn Door Hostel in New Hampshire).
  • “We went way over showtime... They were blinking the lights at us to get off the stage. But we didn’t know. We’ve never done this before.” (91:36 – Cassie)

---

11. Podcast Production: FAQs, Bloopers, and Behind-the-Scenes

Timestamp: 60:42 – 63:00

• Crunching-leaves sound in transitions is just a generic sound effect, but has spooked listeners!
• Cassie’s misophonia and the lengths taken to edit out breaths, clicks, or fidget noises—sometimes absurdly.
  • “For the first year... [Cassie] would edit out every single sound of breathing because she… couldn’t sound like a person." (62:10 – Danielle)
• Both recount their early, almost-obsessive efforts to edit and present the perfect show.

---

12. FAQs & The Future: Side Quests, Watch Her Cook, and 2026 Plans

Timestamp: 102:22 – 109:35

• Second Podcast Update: Their side podcast “Watch Her Cook” is on hiatus—no plans for season 2 as NPAD demands their attention.
• Fan Question: Will there be a joint trip with Tooth and Claw? Yes—announcement imminent.
  • "Now’s the time to tell you... we are [doing a trip together], you’re just going to have to wait and see.” (107:24 – Danielle)
• Life Outside NPAD: Both muse about alternate careers and travel plans (glaciologist for Cassie; historian or museum guide for Danielle—plus Titanic pilgrimages).
• Enduring Catchphrases: “Enjoy the View, Watch Your Back” is declared (sort of) a tagline, not just a phrase.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Moose aren’t real. Because moose aren’t real." (16:04 – Cassie)
• "Skincare has no boundaries." (12:46 – Cassie)
• "Take the trip, just go for it." (21:25 – Danielle)
• "Mortified, I foamed on." (51:48 – Listener, Foaming Pants Trail Tale)
• "Who let us do most of this, I don't know.” (19:23 – Danielle)
• "He grabbed a hold of the back of his thighs and bit down hard. Still, Roy managed not to make a sound...” (64:00 – Cassie, Night of the Grizzlies)
• "No, you’re not a tech person; that is not how it’s done. At all." (04:36 – Cassie)
• "We walk the line pretty good, I think." (14:45 – Danielle, on being outdoorsy and loving skincare)
• "Speaking of phrases, we have had a couple of our own we’ve coined over the years by accident.” (15:20 – Danielle)
• "We love you and appreciate you and hope that you’re with us for many more.” (109:40 – Danielle, closing remarks)

---

Running Jokes & NPAD Lore

• Inside jokes about “Moose aren’t real” and “You got haunted.”
• Listener confusion (and sometimes fright) caused by the “crunching leaves” ad transition.
• Self-deprecating references to early DIY merch and embarrassing early-episode gaffes.
• Cassie’s chronic fear of plane crashes after too many in-depth episodes about aviation disasters.

---

Timestamps of Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------|----------------------| | Welcome & Show Purpose | 00:00 – 01:43 | | NPAD Origins / Vet Tech Life | 02:18 – 05:55 | | First Episodes and Theme Music | 05:55 – 09:53 | | Skincare Routine Q&A | 10:38 – 15:18 | | NPAD Catchphrases & Inside Jokes | 15:20 – 23:24 | | Audience Moments & Trail Tales | 24:25 – 47:32 | | Iconic “Foaming Pants” Trail Tale | 47:32 – 54:36 | | Early Mistakes: “Crevice” vs. “Crevasse”| 54:40 – 58:40 | | Traumatizing & Touching Stories | 63:06 – 77:14 | | Favorite Episodes & Books | 78:30 – 82:51 | | Group Trips & Live Shows | 83:08 – 99:55 | | Behind the Scenes & Production Bloopers | 60:42 – 63:00 | | Podcast FAQs and Future Plans | 102:22 – 109:35 | | Wrap Up & Taglines | 109:36 – 111:10 |

---

Conclusion / Final Thoughts

This jubilant five-year anniversary episode is a microcosm of what makes NPAD a fan favorite: camaraderie, vulnerability, riotous humor, memorable running jokes, and a profound love for the wild—and for the community that has blossomed around the show. Danielle and Cassie’s unfiltered reminiscence, coupled with thoughtful acknowledgement of listeners’ own joys and traumas, cements their status as more than just podcasters; they’re authentic companions for every listener taking their own walk into the wild.

And as always, “Enjoy the view, but watch your back.”

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back to National Park After Dark, everybody. Today is a very exciting episode because it is our five year anniversary of National Park After Dark. And today we have a special episode because we are going to take a walk down memory lane.

[B]

Hi, everyone.

[A]

Welcome back. If you are new to the podcast, my name is Cassie.

[B]

And I'm Danielle. And what an episode to start on. Good for you. You're gonna get caught up real quick. It's actually perfect.

[A]

Yeah, you'll know every single thing we've done for the past five years because it's crazy to think about, but we started this podcast. Our first episode ever aired on January 21, 2020. January 25, sorry, 2021. And now we're in 2026 and we're five years old.

[B]

A whole five. I know time really flies when you're traveling the world and being as busy as possible and having life changes and all that fun stuff. It's been quite the ride for sure.

[A]

Sure has. And for this episode we wanted to do something special and ask you guys what some of your favorite parts of the podcast have been over the past five years. And we asked that on social media, but we also asked our Patreon members and you guys can came up with a lot of good stuff and some of your answers. I was like, oh my God, I remember. I forgot that. And now, now I remember. So this will be a fun episode where we get to dive into some old, some old things.

[B]

And also we're going to be going through like, you guys always have a lot of similar questions that to us it feels like, oh, we feel like we've answered that before, but apparently not because we get the question all the time. So we're going to go through and do some of the big, most frequently asked questions and then also just some fun ones that people are just dying to know. So for sure we'll get to people's questions too and go over some fun moments and embarrassing moments and things I wish never happened. But yeah, we're going to talk about again. So yeah, let's get into it.

[A]

And I think, I think the first, I think the first question that we'll get into that we get this all the time and we've answered many times, but I think that unless you're paying attention in certain spots, you may have never heard before. And that is, what is our origin story? How did we start the podcast?

[B]

Yeah, perfect question. So, long story short, Cassie and I were veterinary technicians. When we first met, we were working at an animal hospital in southern New Hampshire and we quickly became, you know, close co workers turned friends, and we would just spend a lot of time outdoors together and shooting the shit outside and hiking in the White Mountains. And when I decided to move to Washington was right around the same time Cassie was deciding to move out to Vermont. And when that happened, we decided to just keep our chats going that we were already having amongst each other into a podcast format, largely spurred on from, like, the trip that I took to Washington with my late partner Ian, because we were staying at, you know, BLM lands and national parks, and we took the long scenic route throughout the country over a few weeks. And I was texting Cassie a lot about stories or things that I was finding along the way that I thought she would find interesting. So by the time I wound up in Washington, I think it was Halloween Day of 2020, because I think I have receipts in our text.

[A]

I think so, too. I think I remember that.

[B]

I'm pretty sure it was Halloween Day of 2020 is when I formally kind of threw out the idea of creating a show loosely based on this format. So I think that's when, like, the first real spark started. But of course, we didn't get our act together until January, whatever, 25th of 2021, which is actually kind of a quick turnaround, now that I think about it. Yeah.

[A]

Because we started in October. I remember you pitched this idea to me, and I was like, all right, this is no idea what I'm doing. And we're like. I remember us going back and forth with creative ideas, but then also logistical ideas of how do we. How do we plug in a microphone?

[B]

Oh, my God, don't even worry about my snowball Yeti microphone from Walmart or Target or wherever it was. Yeah.

[A]

I remember mine was $25. It plugged into my computer. And if you're not a tech person, that is not how.

[B]

How it's done.

[A]

How it's done at all.

[B]

No, sure isn't.

[A]

And is the reason why a lot of our first episodes sound like we are underwater. And we didn't. We just didn't have any setup but.

[B]

Or knowledge.

[A]

Or knowledge. We truly started this from scratch. There was never a production team behind us. There was no one. We didn't go to school for this. We just kind of had this idea. And fun fact, if you didn't know this about the podcast, too, is when we first started National Park After Dark, we thought that this was going to be a strictly true crime show.

[B]

Oh, yeah. For the first solid, like, three episodes, I think we were. And we Also toyed around with doing two stories an episode.

[A]

Yes. The first few episodes, if you listen back to those ones, both of us tell a story each episode, and quickly we were like, this is so much work. We're gonna run out of stories so fast too. And also we realized too, we couldn't do the deep dives that we wanted because if we were both telling the story, it. It took up a lot more time. So we kind of found our footing and our format as. As we went with that one.

[B]

Which goes into another question. Do we still work as vet techs? The answer is no, absolutely not.

[A]

No shade to vet techs. It's my personal experience. I was worried. I was burnt out. And I think any person in the vet field can understand that. So I loved my time there, but it was. It was time for me to go. For sure.

[B]

Yeah. There just wasn't enough time in the day to do both well. So when this started to gain traction and was proving to be something that we should pursue seriously, that's when the decision was made.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So that answers that question. And then kind of going into the start of the episodes, you know, one of the first things you hear is our guitar intro. And many, many people know this, so I'll keep it short, but that intro is created by my late partner, Ian. We approached him immediately to create a intro song for us. We knew kind of right away he was such a talented musician that we could kind of describe what we were hoping to capture in a 15 second snippet to. That's gonna really do the heavy lifting, especially early on to get people interested in what the show was going to be about. And he took it super seriously. He gave us a. I mean, at least a dozen different versions to pick from, which I couldn't really tell the difference on a lot of them, but to a trained, you know, guitarist ear.

[A]

Probably be like, slightly different. It was so funny because he was such a perfectionist about it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Because he sent so many of them. And he'd be like, okay, which one? And you'd hear like one note that was slightly different than the other and be like, what do you mean?

[B]

What? You know, I'm like, babe.

[A]

But we did.

[B]

I. It's going to be great either way. And this is good. And also, I was thinking about this today. He did one other thing for us, like, musically wise for the show. When you did the Salem Maritime episode, he did a guitar version of the Hocus Pocus, like, Come Little Children.

[A]

I forgot about that.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, my God. So that's there too.

[A]

That was so nice of him.

[B]

He was very happy to do that. So, yeah, he. We basically were like, hey, we want something that sounds spooky, but also campy, intriguing, but also scary and ominous.

[A]

Yes, we're like all of these things. But also remember, one of the reasons we approached him to do this was because we were looking for music and there were so many copyright infringement things. And we're like, ian, we don't want to go to jail. Like, please.

[B]

Save us from.

[A]

We don't have to air this without being sued.

[B]

Can you please make.

[A]

Make us something so true.

[B]

And, yeah, he hopped right on it.

[A]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to National Park After Dark. This is the man behind our intro right here.

[B]

Don't duck out just yet. This is Ian. How's it going, everybody? All right. Thank you so much.

[A]

Thank you so much. Jazz clap.

[B]

That was great. Thank you. And he was always very proud to play it. He did that for us on our first, like, we did a moment house live stream when Covid was a thing, and that was like, you couldn't go anywhere for to attend live shows in the way we do now and before. So he went with us and did it live that one time. He was so happy. He was like. Because there's a live chat function of that. That show. And Pete, he had, like, his mustache. And people were like, oh, Ian with the mustache. And he's so cute. And he was so.

[A]

He was beaming.

[B]

He's like, the people love me.

[A]

It's like, I'm a star.

[B]

Like, thank you for your 20 seconds. It was much appreciated.

[A]

He did do great.

[B]

He did. He did. National Park. Okay, first, right off the bat, this is your time to shine, because we get this question a lot. Okay, we do.

[A]

This is a much anticipated question that we've never fully answered before.

[B]

This has nothing to do with our content, but everything to do with one of the hosts. What is your skincare routine? Brands, products. I know there must be a red light mask involved.

[A]

Yes, there is. I feel like this is to both of us because we both have pretty strong skincare root, but I definitely hone into it a little bit more. Great question, I will say, for brands and stuff. You actually inspired me to try a skincare brand that I hadn't tried before, and that was, is it Zoe or Zeo Skin? So, yeah, I use a. I use their cleanser, and I use their exfoliating cleanser, and I really like it. And that is one that you recommended. Yeah, I also like SkinCeuticals. They have a lot of good serums that I like to use. And Skin Medica. Skinceuticals and Skin Medica have a lot of good different serums. And I like under eye care stuff. So that's good. But honestly.

[B]

Well, hold on. Before you go into your actual, like, going to the med spa situations. Okay, so I, I am. I've done the skin suitables thing before, like, for years. And then I switched over to the Zeo Zo skincare stuff maybe about a year and a half ago. So my whole routine is Zo skin. But Cassie's so funny because. And I do a red light at home like a few times a week. Cassie is so serious about her skincare. We will be in the jungles of Borneo, okay? Like, I'm getting dengue fever. I'm dying. Like, we're in the thick. There's monkeys trying to get into our, our room. You know, there's anacondas dripping from the trees. And Cassie has her portable under eye. Red light.

[A]

Oh, I almost forgot about that. That's my, like, pride and joy for travel.

[B]

And she's like, I just. I have to do this every day.

[A]

Like, skincare has no boundaries. I do.

[B]

I have.

[A]

And I don't know the name of it, which I probably should have looked up before, but it's basically this handheld red light. And it has blue light and green light. Blue light is for acne and green light is for like regenerative cells or something. I don't know.

[B]

But.

[A]

Because I just do the red light mostly. But it is this vibrating handheld device. It's like a. It's like a gua sha, but it's electric and it helps get. It's like a lymphatic drainage for your skin, which is awesome. And I really like it. And especially when I'm traveling or suddenly I'm at high elevation and I'll notice I'm puffier than normal. It, like, gets all of that out and I feel like, way better.

[B]

So, yeah, she always gets up in the morning before I do on trips and goes to bed after me. And so I always joke that she's a vampire.

[A]

She's never seen me sleep.

[B]

I've never seen her sleep. But I'll know, like, when I get up in the morning, if she's not in her bed next to me, I'll hear the little, like. Because it'll do this little chime thing. When it's time to move on to a new section of your face, we hear that going off. I'm like, there she goes.

[A]

She's thriving.

[B]

Okay. Sorry, go ahead. You can finish up with your other.

[A]

Oh, all of that is great. But honestly, I do like, in terms of actually stuff that makes my skin look nice is I do a lot of stuff at the med spa, and probably the biggest ones that I've done have been microneedling with radio frequency. I've specifically done Morpheus 8, which I really, really liked. And then I've also done laser resurfacing. And those are the two things for my skin in particular that I found have been really helpful.

[B]

There you go. You heard. You heard it here first. Yeah.

[A]

Just because you're outdoorsy doesn't mean you can't have good skin.

[B]

We walk the line pretty good. I think.

[A]

We do it. We do it all.

[B]

What can't we do? What is it people say I'm highlight high maintenance to be low maintenance.

[A]

Is that the saying?

[B]

I think. I think that's the thing that you do all these high maintenance things. So day to day, you're. You feel.

[A]

Yeah. Like I don't put makeup on every day or anything. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Like, I don't really wear makeup that much.

[B]

Yeah. I wear tinted moisturizer or sunscreen.

[A]

Yeah. But my skincare routine is out of this world.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Very high maintenance.

[B]

Well, speaking of phrases, we have had a couple of our own.

[A]

Sure have.

[B]

We've coined over the years by accident, and I think that they really peaked a couple years ago. And a lot of them have kind of fizzled out. And every once in a while we'll get some come through. And of course, OG people know, but we. The first one that comes to mind is I think something you. This wasn't me. I don't think.

[A]

I think it was me too.

[B]

It was definitely you. Moose aren't real.

[A]

Moose aren't real.

[B]

And I stand by that to this day.

[A]

It stuck for a reason, and it's because people believe it.

[B]

Moose aren't real.

[A]

Because moose aren't real.

[B]

It wasn't a moose. Of course it wasn't, because moose aren't real. It's kind of like. What was the other thing? People are saying pigeons aren't real. They think, oh, yeah, they're. They're spies or spies, whatever. Yeah. Do you know the origin story of this?

[A]

I believe it came from a trail tale. And I believe that people were talking about trying to see a moose and didn't. And I was like, that's because moose aren't real. I've never seen one in New England. Yeah. That was something I've been saying because I've never seen a moose in New England. And that is still true. 3. Three years after the podcast has started. So Moose are Still not Real took a life of its own because people kept writing in trail tail saying, moose aren't real. Moose aren't real. And I will say one of the questions we get a lot is also, is there going to be a Moose Aren't Real mer merch launch again? We get that one all the time. Because moose aren't real.

[B]

The answer is yes.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Just so you know.

[A]

New and improved.

[B]

New and improved. Yeah. If you. There are some merch items that like.

[A]

Oh, my God, the OG merch items.

[B]

Hold on a minute. Okay. Okay.

[A]

We used to hand do our own merch.

[B]

Okay, hold on. I'm gonna. I will take. After this is done, I'll. We'll splice in a little. Once I get. We're actually done this episode and I can go and get it and come back, we'll splice in a little clip of this because you gotta see it. I was just thinking about it. So in. I have a bunch of Ian's things still with me, and some of them I wear, but others are just packed away. And one of those items includes one of our very first hoodies that we made on Canva. Okay.

[A]

Is it the helicopter one?

[B]

No, my mom has that, though. It's the one that we just. It's so embarrassing. These are like collector's items. If you have these, hold tight to them.

[A]

They're worth millions now they say it's.

[B]

Word on the street is legend has it they're worth a lot. It's so funny. It's like we literally just took a picture of a cartoon like Redwood tree and put another cartoon of a skeleton laying up against the tree.

[A]

I. I made that.

[B]

I know you did.

[A]

I was so proud.

[B]

Here's the sweatshirt still on its original hanger. It's a little wrinkly. Hopefully we can zoom in on this logo done by Cassie. And then for here it is in all its glory. Yeah, there's not much to be said about this, honestly. You just. You just have to look at it. Would you look at it? I mean, God bless Ian for walking around with this proudly, not thinking a thing of it and being like, yeah, my girl has a podcast and you should listen to it. And Ian was proud to wear it, and he did a lot. I appreciate him for that, but it's so embarrassing.

[A]

What have we been doing the past five years? Who let us do that?

[B]

I don't who let us do most of this, I don't know.

[A]

Thank you everyone for your unwavering support.

[B]

But. So the moose aren't real. We did have an actual killer merch design for that, which we really loved. But for a lot of reasons, we do not use any anymore. But we're making it new, shiny, and we're revamping it better and it's coming soon. So now you understand where the moose aren't real. Because if you're new and you're like, oh, yeah, new merch. And then you're like, moose aren't real. What the does that mean?

[A]

Stupid idiots. Moose are real. It's like, no, they're not. First off.

[B]

Yeah, for those who get it, get it. Okay. Next was another one. All you.

[A]

Yeah. This one I think also came from a trail tales. And it was. I responded to a trail tales and I said, you got haunted.

[B]

I can already hear Cassie saying, you got haunted.

[A]

You did get haunted.

[B]

Consensus. You got haunted.

[A]

You got haunted for sure.

[B]

As Cassie would say, you got haunted. You have. You infamously have said that. Yeah, because they did. Because they have a paranormal experience of some kind.

[A]

They got haunted for sure.

[B]

Yep. So that one's pretty self explanatory. But again with the merch. We really like that one. I love that design.

[A]

That was fun. It was a fun design.

[B]

It's a ghost park ranger for people who do not.

[A]

Floating above his little boots.

[B]

He has a little Stetson hat on. Yeah, it's cute. So yeah, you got haunted. Kind of has gone down in history. And then another one that we don't say super often anymore, but we got a huge influx of emails about. I know this was me. I don't know where it came from. I know the era in which it came about, but take the trip. It was all about encouraging people to not put off spending time with their loved ones and going somewhere that they really want to experience together. Because you never know what's going to happen in life either within your own life or those that you love and cherish. So to just take the trip, you know, just go for it.

[A]

I loved that one because I just really appreciate the sentiment behind it. And I know the other ones are kind of stupid and are so funny though. And funny. But that one is just like the most heartfelt and I feel like people really resonated with that one, as did I. Yeah.

[B]

Well, thank you. So those are kind of our top three, if you. I mean, I would love to know, wherever you're listening, however you interact with us, whether it's on Instagram comments or like YouTube comments or whatever. I would if we're missing anything that's glaringly obvious, please tell us. Because like I've said before, I'm really not lying. I forget 90% of things that have happened to me over the last like three or four years. So please remind us if we've missed anything foreign. I don't know if you've noticed, but this time of year is perfect for new seasons of shows and I have been so looking forward to sitting down for a new, highly anticipated episode of Tell Me Lies with a nice glass of wine. And as a listener, you should know by now I only get my bottles from Naked Wines. This podcast is sponsored by Naked Wines. Naked Wines is a wine club that directly connects you to the world's famous best independent winemakers so you can get world class wine delivered right to your door. Use our code npad for the code and [e-mail] and get $100 off of your first order. Naked Wines has been around for over 15 years and backs over 90 independent winemakers around the world to make the wine you love to drink. Plus, their wine selections and tailored recommendations have gotten so much better and more on point with every delivery that I get because they're getting to know what I like and what I dislike. For example, I got a red dessert wine in my latest box and it has been my favorite one I've gotten so far. And I love this for a couple reasons. Number one, because I would have never just selected a dessert wine off the bat. That's not something I would have typically gone for. And number two, if I saw this bottle of wine on the shelf at the grocery store or at the liquor store, I would have passed right by it because the label didn't catch my eye. And that just goes to show that Naked Wines knows what they're doing okay. They're the exper and in Naked Wines, I trust get the best wine at the best price. With Naked Wines now is the time to join the Naked Wines community. Head to nakedwines.com npad Click Enter Voucher and put in our code npad for both the code and password. For your $100 off your first order, that's 6 bottles for only $39.99 with shipping included. That's $100 off your first 6 bottles at nakedwines.com npad Use the code and password npad for 6 bottles of wine for $39.99.

[A]

Yeah, and our next ones that I thought would Be fun to put together is when we asked our Patreon members what some of their favorite moments were. Throughout the past five years, one of our Patreon members put together a few quotes that we've said, and I thought it would be fun to try to guess which one of us said each of these things.

[B]

Okay, so are you gonna read them?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Out loud. And then we have to guess.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, go ahead.

[A]

The first one was, we abducted a boy scout this weekend.

[B]

Oh, that was me. Because I remember that. Yeah, because we did do that.

[A]

Because you did do that.

[B]

We wait for this kid to. Because he's like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna go in my pants. Like, I just. I have to go.

[A]

So he like.

[B]

We waited for this random kid to go off the trail, take care of business in whatever way he did, which I feel like was not in the right way. Comes back, we have to hike with him another mile and a half back to the parking lot. And then we're like, what do we do with you?

[A]

You just stole a boy scout.

[B]

We abducted a boy scout this weekend. And we could have. If we had ill intentions, he would have been a goner. He told us everything about him. Where he lived, what his family did. He was ready to go with us wherever, wherever, Blindly just followed us. I was like, hey, so next time, I know that we helped you out, I think, but just next time, don't just go with strangers, because it could end up really bad. And he was like, okay, whatever. And then we just didn't care. Yeah, didn't care. But we pawned him off on a. On a ranger. So whoever that is, thank you so much because I had no idea what I was about to do. Hopefully that went over well. But hopefully it was a lesson learned as well. For that.

[A]

What an interesting trip to the ape caves. I'm sure you didn't expect to be doing half of it with a 10 year old.

[B]

I know.

[A]

The next one. I. I don't know. The next one says, okay, so attack, then deep throat.

[B]

Okay, I'm gonna be honest, that feels like me, because I would mention deep throating.

[A]

Yeah, I'm guessing you as well.

[B]

I have no idea when I said that.

[A]

Apparently in episode 299.

[B]

Oh, that feels recent.

[A]

It was recent.

[B]

Wait, what's episode 299?

[A]

I don't know. Play the clip.

[B]

I guess we'll find out. Roll the tape.

[A]

Trish's rifle fired twice and actually went down the Moore tiger's throat, all to the handle. So that's how Close. It was. It was literally jumping on him, and he was firing at it, and it was like, full mouth coming at him.

[B]

It's like. Deep throated that gun. Yeah. Holy shit.

[A]

It landed on the gun.

[B]

Okay, so attack Deep Throat.

[A]

Deep Throat memories. And the next one is. It seems like we had a lot of quotes in one particular episode, and that was in Trail Tales 80. And the first quote quote was, people who wear white pants have it together.

[B]

I feel like that was you, but I also agree with that.

[A]

See, I feel like it was you, but I also agree with that.

[B]

Okay. Okay.

[A]

Either of us could have said that one.

[B]

Well, yeah. World, how this is gonna go?

[A]

And I never wore them, and I ended up donating them. I have, like, one picture in college where I'm wearing white pants, though. And I can.

[B]

Because you were afraid of your period or you just didn't. I just.

[A]

No, I just don't wear white pants because they're not practical at all. Like, you know what? Everything. You don't always sit on clean surfaces.

[B]

And you eat and just.

[A]

White pants don't make any sense.

[B]

Yeah. Whenever I see someone in a white pant, I'm like, oh, they have their life together.

[A]

Yeah, you have to have your life together to wear white pants. The next one is life mantra. One ravioli at a time.

[B]

Oh, that was me.

[A]

It sounds like you, but I don't remember it.

[B]

I'm. No, no, maybe it was you. I remember talking about eating raviolis.

[A]

I feel like it was you.

[B]

No, I think this was you.

[A]

Mantra. One ravioli at a time.

[B]

Because I was talking about how I ate them too quick or something. And I think you were like, slow down. One.

[A]

One ravioli.

[B]

I feel like it was you. I was, like, scraping the sauce. Like, I was done. He's like, he didn't even have one slice down. Like, it was just. I'm like, I'm so sorry. And then it was weird because he.

[A]

Was alone eating right, and I didn't.

[B]

Know where to look. I'm like, I'm. I should have just taken this one ravioli at a time. Like. Yeah. And then put down my fork. It's like the same thing.

[A]

One ravioli at a time. The next one, same episode. Trail Tale 80.

[B]

God, we were on fire. Yeah, well, depending on what.

[A]

This is hilarious. Says, I'm trying to commit a crime. Can you please leave? It's not a good time. That's you. I feel like that might have been me, too.

[B]

Yeah, I remember that. I don't know. I do remember the story, because it was recent. Couldn't remember who told it though. Ten minutes down the road that it hit me. That guy had totally been robbing the place and somehow through sheer confusion, his and mine, I just walked right back out. I can't stop thinking about whoever. I don't work here and this building is closed. I'm trying to commit a crime. Like, please leave.

[A]

It's not a great time. It all mashes together.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We read so many trail tales and have so many stories.

[B]

Yeah, we certainly do. Well, speaking of trail tales, let's kind of go down that lane because they're one of the best parts. I mean, I'm so glad we started them when we did. We kind of kicked off the show with them pretty much right away. Yeah, they've taken shape and you know, over time of kind of like the style in which people send them in and all that. But I really love trail tales because we get to hear directly from people and honestly, I kind of get sick of us. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah. It's nice to hear someone else telling us a story because we're so used to researching and telling the stories ourselves. But to hear your real life experiences and you guys writing them in is definitely one of my favorite parts of the show. And you guys, you guys throw in some wild, some wild things. From embarrassing to exciting, inspiring, sad, hilarious. Really like deep, personal, meaningful, personal things. Like you guys trust us with your deepest, darkest stories and, and your light, your light hearted ones too. And we just love to hear them and they make us feel like we have friends and I know that when we read them they make you guys feel like you have friends in the community too. Do. And I think Trail Tales has, has really helped build our NPAD community.

[B]

Yeah. And it really goes to show how multifaceted and honestly how cool our community is because when we're reading through them we're like, we can't believe this person did this or experienced that or went here or there or you know, and it's just we only have so, so much life experience and things that have happened to us that we could talk in circles about for the next five years, you know, and it's like we need this influx of different perspectives and things. So it's really nice that you guys keep writing in and keep it up. We have favorites, of course, because some have stood out above the rest. For sure. For sure.

[A]

And when we were asking questions it was, it was nice because on Patreon when we were like, what were some of your favorite parts? We actually had two Patreon members who wrote in their own trail tales about how they found us. So we thought it would be fun to read those trail tales of what they said of how they found npad.

[B]

Okay, you go first. Okay.

[A]

Mine is from Elizabeth and they wrote five years Deserve Celebration for my favorite podcast in existence, I think it's a good time to share some backstory. My husband and I grew up together, rode the same bus since middle school and didn't get together until after college. When we did finally admit feelings and make it official, we fell in love fast. Now you might be wondering what does this have to do with npid? When we were falling in love, we also daydreamed about national park trips we would take in the future. We almost hightailed it for Yellowstone anyway, but living in the Midwest makes it difficult to get to the major national parks out West. So with unexpected pregnancy, we put our dream national parks on the back burner. Fast forward nearly 8 years, we have a 6 year old and a 4 year old who was born the same year as NPAD 2021. Happy birthday and life is busy. But one thing our kids sadly know is how much we love national parks and forests, trees, animals, cryptids and conservation. My kids even know how much I love National Park After Dark. Crying laughing face 3 years ago we started planning for Shenandoah national park for my 30th birthday. I was searching for an informative Shenandoah podcast to learn more about the area and lo and behold, stumbled upon National Park After Dark's very first episode. I was hooked immediately and the rest is truly history. I've been a fan ever since and tell everyone I can about the podcast. We still haven't made it out west, but I trust that we will. Our goal is to have some sort of camper and be ready to take our first big family trip by the time our oldest is in fourth grade. And for the fourth grade national park pass Strategic. He says he wants to be a scientist and park ranger when he grows up. And honestly, me too. Lol. We have a scratch off map hanging up in our home that allows us to scratch off states and national parks. We've made it to four as a family, the Midwest ones. We've listened to Dawn Fendler's story here together as well. The stories in this community keep me inspired. Over the years my passion has grown for conservation and protecting these beautiful parks. You have all played a huge role in that. Thank you for keeping Hope alive. I know one day we'll make it to the Dream Parks. Thank you, Danielle and Cassie, for creating this community, sharing important history, beautiful and frightening stories, sometimes within the same episode, and for sharing your own stories as well as what you guys do here is amazing. Thank you. Thank you.

[B]

Wow, that's so nice.

[A]

It's really nice.

[B]

And that reminded me a little bit of just kind of like insider secret. The very first episode is, I'm pretty sure, and correct me if I'm wrong, the only one we've ever re recorded.

[A]

Yeah, it is.

[B]

And we didn't even rerecord it much later. It was like within weeks, I think, or even days really.

[A]

I thought it was like a year later.

[B]

Was it? No, I remember.

[A]

Yeah. Because I remember for that people. So we were seeing that when people look for our podcast, they listen to that one first.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Can we listen to that?

[B]

And this is when our catalog was very small. Like, it's not like if you're gonna come across a podcast right now, it.

[A]

Could have been earlier than that.

[B]

Has 300 episodes. Not going to be like, oh, there's 300 episodes. But I'm going to the very first one, like, and God bless if you do. And you're like a, you know, you have to do it in chronological order. But at least speaking for myself, I'll kind of filter through and be like, oh, what's an eye catching title? Or whatever. But back when we only had a handful of episodes, everyone started at episode one.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean? And there was two problems with it. Well, there's probably a lot of problems with it, but there was two that really were the driving forces of us re recording it. The quality doesn't count because our quality was the same for like the first 50, but it was number one because we. And by we, I mean I, Danielle Larocque, swore so much.

[A]

I did too, though. I listened back and I remember I also did.

[B]

No, really. I'm taken back by that, actually.

[A]

Not as much as you, but in just casual conversation. We were talking and we were both dropping F bombs and we listened back and we were like, okay, that's a little excessive, especially for someone's first episode. To getting to know us.

[B]

Yeah. And you know, I've heard other creators speak about this as well. Especially in the very beginning and getting your footing and not really knowing what your. How to. To present a story or to be in this medium is swearing. Aside from just being a part of who you are. But when you're doing it that excessively, it's to fill space, you know, and to also be when you're struggling to find descriptors or other ways of saying.

[A]

Filler words, it's the same as saying.

[B]

Like, oh, yeah, it's another thing. We try and dial back, not successfully drink.

[A]

Every time you hear us say, like, no, please don't.

[B]

For your health and well being, don't. But yeah, so those were kind of that. And there was another thing. Oh, we kind of were. Which. Okay, to. For the swearing thing, I've said it before a million times. I really have tried to stop or at least cut back and dial it back when on the show. And I think I've done a pretty good job of that compared to the first, I think, very beginning. So it's just funny when, you know, she's writing in about how her young family listens. I'm like, oh, please, I'm so sorry for swearing so much. But the other thing is that people were upset about, other than us saying a million times was we blamed men for every murder that ever happened.

[A]

That hasn't changed that much. But.

[B]

But we were very bold about it and kind of used it as a blanket statement.

[A]

And we don't think all men murder women.

[B]

Right? We do. That's a fact. And that's a fact.

[A]

And that's a fact.

[B]

But anyway, so we were kind of like, reflecting. We're like, okay, for our very first episode, maybe we should try and like, we didn't edit for. We didn't change any of the content of what we were saying. It was just the way in which it was delivered.

[A]

Everything else really funny. And this is sparking, like, an old memory that I'm not sure I've ever told you is one of my first memories of you. Have I said this to you before?

[B]

No.

[A]

One of my first memories of you is I was. I came to our vet hospital and I was there for a working interview, and you were doing a dental. And one of the first things that I remember hearing you say was. So I don't remember exactly what you said, but I remember you said, like, three times in one sentence.

[B]

Well, that traps. I don't remember. But.

[A]

And I remember you were mid. Doing a dental, like, and you needed something. I don't remember the context of, like, why you were swearing. And. And I don't think you were like, super. I don't remember you being angry. I just remember, like, multiple swears coming out and being like, who is this person?

[B]

It's like, that's my future business partner. That's like, hi. Okay, Well, I have three things working against me. I'M a Sagittarius. Fiery. Okay. I'm Italian. Spicy. Okay. And third, I'm a New Englander.

[A]

You're basically your first word is a swear if you're right.

[B]

So I have the trifecta going on and I'm trying to be better anyways, so that's that on that.

[A]

For the record, I don't think you're mean, but thank you.

[B]

Thank you. Okay, I have a short one to share as well from Allie and Ali says I've been listening since very close to the beginning when I tried to play an episode to pass time for my science students while teaching high school school. It didn't work in my classroom for some reason, but I started to listen on my own and as an avid outdoors lover, I was hooked. My mother passed away suddenly in 2022 of Ms. And it was so hard. My twin brother would constantly dream of her. After she passed, I never got any signs from her, even when I asked. In 2025 I was driving to my grandma's to work. She watched my baby while I worked from home. I was listening to the episode where Danielle brought up the sick opossum. Slash getting a sign from your dad while listen mom to send me a sign while continuing the episode. I you not five minutes into my drive there was a dead opossum on the road. I figured it was a coincidence, but we all know about those. Lol. Oh, there's another phrase. No such thing as coincidence. Oh yeah, how could we forget?

[A]

Well, it's a big one.

[B]

I feel like a lot of people say that, so.

[A]

Yeah, but we say it a lot.

[B]

Yeah, it's true. No, we say it more than anyone.

[A]

Else, anyone who's ever existed.

[B]

And that's a blanket statement that I will prove us wrong. Closer to town, there was another dead opossum. I thought to myself, all right mom, you never like the outdoors. So this is a weird sign. I get to my grandma's and start working. My 9 month old was in the living room while my grandma went to the bathroom. She was playing with a bluey piano, but it wasn't working, which I thought was odd since we just put new batteries in it. So I gave her a different very cheap piano toy that my grandma had gotten her when she was about three months old. She started hitting buttons and the piano started playing My Heart Will Go on by Celine Dion and I froze it. Had never played that song over the six months we had the toy and to my knowledge it has not played it since. That was my favorite song as a Kid. And my mom and I would take long car rides around town, listening to Celine Dion and talking, a memory I hold so very dear. I felt a wide range of emotions. While I cried listening to the song play, my grandma, who is my mom's mom, came back and asked what was wrong. So I told her what had happened, and she broke down, too, saying that she can feel her presence when she's alone at home. It was a beautifully sad experience. Your opossum story was the start of a sign I so desperately needed from her since she never got the chance to meet my daughter. Thank you for that. That's very sweet.

[A]

That is really sweet. And I love that they wrote one, told us this story on Patreon. But also just reflecting on our five years of being a podcast, for the past several years, we have talked some, or you in particular, have talked so much about signs, and we've gotten so many trail tales of people experiencing their own signs from their loved ones. And I just thought that that was such a nice.

[B]

Yeah, that's been a big part of the show. Unexpected, yes, but very big part of the show that is, again, kind of fills the. The part of us that needs, like, you know, this is. This. These are real people that we're talking to that are having really deep, meaningful experiences because of some of the things that we've said, or at least inspired by some of the things that we've shared. And. Yeah, so it's like, sometimes it's really hard. I just said, like, again, God, now.

[A]

You'Ll hear it every time everyone drinks.

[B]

No, but it's just sometimes when Cassie and I come on to speak to one another and do the show, it feels very kind of isolating a little bit because we're. First of all, we're not even together. We don't even get to be in the same room and record. Fun fact. We've only recorded in the same place, I think, two or three times for over the last five years. So it's just really nice when we get to hear from people having meaningful things happen to them because of conversations that we feel like we're having by ourselves. You know what I'm saying?

[A]

Yeah. It's nice to see. And we can see on the back end the numbers of people listening, but it feels like. Like it's still just a number. It's just. It's still just a thing on the screen. So when you guys send in these, it's like our own connection to you guys, and we really appreciate it.

[B]

Yeah. Hey, guys. I know it's exhausting hearing all of the things that we need to be doing and tracking and taking and eating when it comes to our self care. But for real, getting good quality sleep is important and investing in quality sheets that are made of natural fibers and certified to be free of toxins and harmful chemicals that could seep into your skin at night is a great way to start. And you can do that with Koiuchi. All Koiuchi sheets are made of natural fibers, they use low impact dyes and are certified fair trade. Plus they're soft and gentle on your skin. Whether you choose the subtle sheen of their sateen or the velvety brushed cotton flannel, vintage patterns or peaceful botanics panicles, the calming hues and sheets that get softer with every wash bring the natural world right into your home. I have been a huge sateen fan recently. It's something that I have never explored before in the bedroom and I really love it. So when I'm getting into bed at night, that's what I am feeling. And honestly it's so comfortable and cozy and nice. I sleep so much better. If you want healthy, handcrafted luxury bedding that lasts a lifetime and you need Kuchi, get 15% off of your first order when you visit Koiuchi.com NPAD that's Coyuchi.com NPAD to get 15% off. C-O-Y-U-C-H-I.com NPAD. And just kind of rounding out the trail tales thing, we could not let this go. We couldn't not talk about trail tales and not talk about the infamous, the legendary, the one and only Foaming Pants.

[A]

The Foaming Pants. The trail tale that has gone down in NPAD history the past five years. I shit you not. When I asked what people's favorite part of our podcast for the past five years, so many people said I'll never forget. The foaming Pants.

[B]

Yep. And I don't know because I know we've talked about it a lot but and we had a different separate email in the very beginning kind of when we were doing this. Because this is a trail tale like from years ago and I don't know who the original sender was, but can you please reach out to us if you still listen? I would love to hear from you and thank you personally for this story.

[A]

Like I feel like we need to give you a trophy.

[B]

Yeah, I'll make you a trophy. I will make you a trophy and send it to you. You just have to verify it has. Like we can't Scammy. Like you know it. We need to. Yeah, we need like proof.

[A]

We'll know.

[B]

Well, no. Yeah.

[A]

Well, if you are listening to this and you are like, what is the foaming pants story? I've never heard it. You need to hear it. And I think right now would be a great time to kind of rewind the tapes and check out this Trail Tales story which was titled what the why Are My Pants Foaming?

[B]

And it's from Trail Tales number 25. Let's hear it.

[A]

All right, my next one is titled what the why Are My Pants Foaming?

[B]

Foaming or filming?

[A]

Foaming.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

This story does not involve a vicious murder, a near death experience, or even an alien encounter, but I am sure you will find a certain relatability to it. Typically, when we go mountain hiking, we try to keep the routes between 2 to 5 miles and read reviews on all trails prior to planning our trips. On this trip, however, we plan to challenge ourselves with a longer route. Our chosen route would go across an open meadow, connect with the Appalachian Trail, through Deep Gap, and summit Mount Rogers. While at our campsite the night before, we checked the weather forecast and things were not looking good. The weather was calling for thunderstorms throughout the day. We decided to wait until morning to determine if we needed to change our plans. In preparation for the original hike, I bought a brand new pair of buttery soft hiking pants from Old Navy. I had not worn them yet and like most people, I did not wash them prior to wearing them. I was just going to get them sweaty and dirty anyway. This becomes important later in the tale. Wearing my brand new pants, we set off to the Cabin Creek Trail. The gentle pitter patter of off and on rain picked up into a raging monsoon. We quickly packed up and began making our way down the trailhead wearing my raincoat and hustling in the rain. I got a little sweaty. The pouring rain let up again and we slowed our pace. This is where things took an incredibly confusing and embarrassing turn. My husband looked back to me as we were chatting on the trail and gave me the craziest look before asking, are you okay? Confused, I inspected myself. I felt fine, but what I saw was unreal. Between my legs, coming from my crotch was a white foamy substance. It was dripping down my leg. What the fuck is that? While I brushed it off, I worried, how the hell are my lady parts leaking? What the hell is this? And oh my God, am I dying? These are just some of the thoughts that raced through my mind after wiping it all away. Assuring my husband that I must have just brushed against something sort of weird like a plant and hoping to move on and never think of the moment again. We continued to hike.

[B]

I'm just imagining husband like, are you?

[A]

What is. What's going down? What's going on down there?

[B]

So funny.

[A]

Not even three steps in, the white froth was back.

[B]

What the.

[A]

Wiping it away again, I racked my brain. What the hell is happening? My husband was very supportive. He offered his coat to cover me and never once cracked a smile or took a photo. I declined his coat. I didn't want to get whatever this was on that too. We began to pass a few hikers braving the trail. More to Sorry.

[B]

This is so funny.

[A]

Mortified, I foamed on. I foamed on. I'm, like, crying.

[B]

I'm, like, trying to guess, like myself, like, what this is, and I hope she tells us, but this is so funny.

[A]

Looking back, I wondered what they thought of me. With every step, more white dripped from my nethers to try and paint a better picture. It was specific.

[B]

You don't have to.

[A]

We can picture it.

[B]

We get.

[A]

Was specifically coming from my crotch. It looked like it was coming out of me. If you catch my dress.

[B]

We get.

[A]

Was white, thick and a little bubbly, and foam. Like it made my pants wet around where it was settling, leaving a wet spot with the white in the middle until I wiped it away. It was oddly sexual, even though I knew damn well we hadn't done that and even if we did, it wouldn't do this. She's like, I swear we didn't do anything. There's no reason for me to be foaming.

[B]

I'm like, I'm really crying.

[A]

Once in the car, after a deep breath and settling into the calm of privacy resulting from the embarrassing episode, I. I think I figured it out. My new buttery, soft pants must have been treated with some sort of substance to make them soft to the touch. When that came in contact with a combination of rain, sweat, and the friction of my legs rubbing together hiking. The end result was my foaming crotch. I have scoured the Internet to find someone with a similar experience, but so far I think it's unique to me. It has taken some time for me to transition from this being an embarrassing memory into a story that I can share and laugh about. And here we are. So enjoy the view, watch your back, and always wash your new pants, girl. So funny.

[B]

I literally have never heard of anything like that.

[A]

I want to know if this has happened to anyone else. We need everyone whose Pants have foamed while hiking. To step forward now we need answers. Well, if everyone is now on the same page with the foaming pants story and you can join us collecting forward.

[B]

Welcome.

[A]

Please send in your foaming pants stories.

[B]

We've gotten a sequel.

[A]

We've gotten a sequel. Let's get. What's it.

[B]

Let's get the third. Whatever that is.

[A]

Third, fourth, fifth. Let's make it a whole episode of foaming pants.

[B]

It's still yet to happen to me. I feel like every time I go hiking in those conditions, I'm on the alert, though, that it could strike at any time.

[A]

It's a new fear.

[B]

Yeah, it is.

[A]

Your fear has been unlocked.

[B]

All right, well, let's talk about times we've been stupid idiots.

[A]

Yeah. Because there's one time in particular, there's been lots of times.

[B]

Too many to count, really. We're doing you all a favor by just talking about one of them.

[A]

But there's one in particular that I have to show off again for our five year anniversary, in case you weren't here for it. And it was is our third episode where I talked about a story in Denali, a mountaineering accident in Denali. And I did not understand the difference between crevice and crevasse. And I very, very seriously told the.

[B]

Story using told millions of people the worst mountaineering. She's like in the thick of the story. We're in it. We're on. We're in Denali with her. We're struggling for our lives.

[A]

And I use the word crevice wrong multiple times in a row. And I just thought you guys should all hear this clip so you can understand how did I react. No, no, you're just listening to the story. So let's take it back to this moment so you guys can just see how far we've come. When they got closer to the summit, soon they found a sleeping bag with a pair of wool socks inside. And it was next to a big crevice. So immediately they assumed that this person did not survive. Their stuff was right next to a huge crevice.

[B]

Yeah. All right, well, do you want to clear it up for the people now? Because you have grown, we've evolved, we've learned, we've evolved.

[A]

And if you are still on the path of you don't know what the difference between crevice and crevasses is, I wrote down there, you haven't graduated third grade yet, as I said. So the reason why using crevice. And I said something along the lines and I know you all just listened to it, but I said something along the lines of, he almost fell into this giant crevice. A crevice is not giant.

[B]

A crevice is so small.

[A]

The exact definition of a crevice is a narrow opening or fissure, especially in a rock or a wall. And I will also point out that that story took place on a glacier.

[B]

Not a rock or a wall. Cassie. Okay, this is funny in and of itself, but I've been drinking the. Not an ad, but I've been drinking the out of office. Oh. So it's hitting me so bad right now. So I'm high. This is so funny. Oh, my God. I'm not high. I'm relaxed. Just the right amount. Use our code. Seriously, use our code. They are. I'm drinking the cucumber melon lime one because I ran out of. I like the raspberry one. It's my favorite, I think. But anyway, regardless, I'm feeling great right now, and this is just so hitting the spot for me. Okay, so we got the crevice.

[A]

We got the crevice. Has nothing to do with a glacier, but a crevasse.

[B]

Nothing to do with the story whatsoever.

[A]

A crevasse, in which I should have been saying is a deep open crack, especially one in a glacier, is the exact definition.

[B]

Okay. And this is around the time that I feel like. Because this is what, episode three.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So not a ton of people are listening at this point in time, but there have got to been people who. Who called us out. No.

[A]

It's one of our highest downloaded episodes by now.

[B]

Don't even say that to me. I'm actually shocked we don't get messages about that then. Or comments or reviews.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I feel like people know. They've got to be like, they must know by now.

[A]

They must know they're in episode 350. They gotta. They figured it out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And if you made it this far. Yeah.

[B]

This is actually a really good time to formally ask because we haven't for a while and this just goes to show. So for podcasting, the podcasting world, there's a lot of things that go on behind the scenes that are, like, really important to how the show is like indicators of how the show is performing and opportunities we can get and things like that, aside from just pure downloads or listens. And one of those things is getting engagement on social media stuff, but also reviews and ratings. And if you are one of those people, like me before, I had a show, a podcast myself that is an avid listener, like, listens to something all the time. Never misses an episode. I mean, I have like seven podcasts on rotation that I listen to religiously every week. And until I had my own show, I never gave them a nice review or even rated them five stars and had been a listener for years. And it's like, if you haven't done that for either us or any other show that you listen to, please do, because it makes a huge difference.

[A]

For our fifth birthday, our gift we're asking for.

[B]

Yeah, Please. Okay.

[A]

It's a review.

[B]

A five star one. Yes. A kind word, please.

[A]

It's like we just get a bunch.

[B]

Of people yelling at us because of I.

[A]

You wanted a nice one.

[B]

Yeah, we're trying to avoid that.

[A]

Please.

[B]

So, yeah, that would be really lovely. And it's just a nice reminder. I mean, I think a lot of people nowadays, podcasts are just so, like, it's not new anymore. Like, people listen to a bunch of them all the time and it's just.

[A]

Like, you just forget or don't think about it.

[B]

Yeah. But it's important.

[A]

It helps us a lot, so we'd appreciate it. That actually reminds me of one of the questions. I don't know why it reminded me of the question. Just going into like, like podcasting and production and things like that. It reminded me of one of the questions that we got, and that was, who is walking over the leaves in the. Into. Into. And after commercial breaks.

[B]

Couldn't tell you. I don't know.

[A]

Couldn't tell you. It's just a generic leave. It is leaves, though. People question what that is. If you have always. If you don't pay for ad free episodes and you have to listen to the crunching of the leaves before our ad ads and after our ads. No, it is crunching in the leaves because some people are like, what is that? And other people have written into us and been like, I was listening to you guys on a trail and I thought someone was walking up behind me.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah. And then some people are like, can you not have somebody chewing granola really loud, like, for your ads? What?

[A]

Like, just know I would never have that because it would ruin my life to hear chewing on the podcast.

[B]

Cassie is a big. What is it called? Misophonia.

[A]

Misophonia or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Hatred of sound. That is me.

[B]

And yet you're in the. In the biz of making sound.

[A]

I am. And I enjoy making sounds. I just don't like hearing them.

[B]

And also. Oh, my God, another memory. This episode's gonna be like five Hours long. Five hours for five years. Welcome, Cassie. For the first, like, I don't know. Good year? Solid year. Maybe more.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She would legit have fidget spinners or, like, change in her pocket or a pen that she would click back and forth and back and forth. And it would be so. I'm like, girl, I do. It needs to be quiet.

[A]

I thought you were gonna say when we were editing our episodes, I would edit out every single sound of breathing because I would. Every single noise, mouth noise, anything. And mind you, I wasn't good at editing. But the part of me that could.

[B]

Edit anything out, like, I can't sound like a person.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I.

[A]

It actually made some of the recording sound crazy because I would. It's natural to breathe while you're speaking.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And have natural breaks in your cadence of how you are speaking. And I would completely erase all of those. So it would be me talking really fast because I would just erase every.

[B]

Pause because they'd be like, not on my watch. Am I going to be breathing?

[A]

No.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

No one's going to witness this.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. Well, moving on to trauma.

[A]

Trauma.

[B]

We love you.

[A]

We've traumatized you and we know it.

[B]

Yeah. And honestly, it's been Cassie's doing. I'm not involved because you have trauma.

[A]

You have traumatized. You've traumatized me. Yossi Ginsburg.

[B]

Okay. Yossi Ginsburg was that one. That one was mine.

[A]

I'll say that one got me good.

[B]

That one was rough. But by and large, kind of the responses we got from our polling operations here, we got a wide variety. Yossi was in there. However, there was one that rose above the rest.

[A]

For how much we traumatized you all.

[B]

It's, of course, the night of the grizzlies.

[A]

How could it not be the night of the grizzlies? The night of the grizzlies is the.

[B]

Scariest thing that's ever happened. Oh, yeah.

[A]

If you haven't heard the night of the Grizzlies, let's traumatize you again for just a moment. Yeah. So for the next several weeks, the spare would harass visitors at Trout Lake. With many reports to the park service about incidents, but with no actual contact reported, the park service did not see it as a dangerous situation. There were even instances where the bear was reported following campers for hundreds of yards and scaring visitors. He looked up to see the grizzly on all fours standing over Julie. The bear was tearing at her body. Then the bear returned to him. He grabbed a hold of the back of his thighs and bit down hard. Still, Roy managed not to make a sound. Then once again he returned to Julie, biting her. Except this time Roy could hear her bones crunch under the strength of the bear's bite. This hurts. Someone help us. Julie cried out. But now her voice was starting to get further and further away. The bear was dragging her. So Janet had been in a deep sleep when suddenly she awoke to the sound of screams. At first she thought that it was an animal or two that were fighting. And to her her first thought was that it sounded like a mountain lion attacking a deer and the scream was cat like and it couldn't be anything except for maybe it could be a human. And then she thought, it couldn't be a human.

[B]

That can't be right.

[A]

Then she started to hear words. She heard a long scream. And then. Help. Another long scream came, followed by mommy. Mommy. And more screams. At this, her husband Robert awoke. What is that? He asked. More screams started and at first they thought it might be a child having a nightmare. More screams came, but it started to sound farther away. The sound stopped. It was 12:50am dawn awoke unsure what had woken him and disoriented. He looked around. It took him a moment, and sleepily he saw a figure in front of him, standing and then slumped to his knees. He looked at it a little longer and realized it was a teenage boy. It was Roy Dukat that he had met earlier in the evening that had decided to go to the campground to camp with the girl. Roy was giggling and babbling, clearly in shock. A bear got a hold of me. I tried playing dead, but it didn't help. He dragged her off into the brush. You have to go after her. Please forget about me. The bear dragged her away. Can somebody go find her? I can't. He has my zipper, she replied. He's got my arm. My arm is gone. Oh my God. I'm dead. The bear lifted the sleeping bag into his mouth and carried it off into the woods. Soon as they reached the area Roy and Julie had been camping aiming their flashlights, they looked around. Blood painted the ground. There were shredded pieces of sleeping bags and some shoes on the ground. Okay, so I'm just going to pause for a moment. This is the part where it is very gruesome. So I just want to forewarn everyone to be prepared that this part is hard to hear. And this description of Julie is what Jack Olsen described in Night of the Grizzlies. Julie lay on her face in a hollow. Her body was ripped and torn and she was covered in blood. To the first observers, it looked impossible for her to be alive. She moved her lips and everyone could hear her say, it hurts.

[B]

Moment of silence.

[A]

Well, now, if you haven't heard Night of the Grizzlies, go listen to it. It's horrendous.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, it's good. And it's just one of the most traumatic stories that I have ever heard, period. Like, not even just for this show specifically, I'm talking ever in my life and I think a lot of people would agree. And the set, I will say the second most that people were talking about a lot was the bolt from the blue story that you did. Just something about lightning is. It's just so hard because it's, you know, a force of nature that you can't, you can prepare for and do your best to avoid. But it's. That story was rough.

[A]

Yeah. And I think the victims of the lightning strike just really struck a chord. And a lot of people hearing in detail what happened to them, but also I think the Jenny Lake rangers just knowing this, this team of people who go out into these really dangerous places to rescue people who have gone through some really horrible environmental things, it was inspiring and tragic and awful and that was definitely one of my favorite ones to research.

[B]

Okay. Yeah, that's a question. We get a lot. Weekend days are precious, so don't waste them wandering around a blind store when you can have the showroom in your own home with three Day Blinds, window curtains and blinds and shades really do make all the difference in your house. And three Day Blinds are the leading manufacturer of high quality custom window treatments in the US and right now, if you use our URL 3dayblinds.com NPAD they are running a buy one one get one 50 off deal. I personally like to think I have a good eye for design, but I know I'm no expert. And that's why I love that three Day Blinds has local, professionally trained design consultants who have an average of 10 plus years of experience that provide expert guidance on the right blinds for you in the comfort of your home. It's so easy to just set up an appointment and you'll get a free no obligation quote the same day. And also I do a ton on my own, you know, know as a independent woman and all that. But I can admit that I'm not very handy. So I will happily defer to the expert team at three Day Blinds because they handle all the heavy lifting. They design, measure, install so I can just sit back and relax and leave it to the Pros. I really enjoy the variety of the products because they have everything you need. I mean, they've got curtains, roller shades, shutters, even motorized shades and ones that you can operate with Alexa. It's like. Like that Disney movie Smart house in real life. Right now. Get quality window treatments that fit your budget with three day blinds. Head to three day blinds.com npad for their buy one, get one 50% off deal on custom blinds, shades, shutters and drapery for a free, no charge, no obligation consultation. Just head to threeday blinds.com NPAD one last time. That's buy one, get one 50% off when you head to the number 3D a Y blinds.com NPAD. But speaking of other questions, in another life, what would your profession be? You have to work. You have to choose a profession. I know you were going to say I wouldn't work.

[A]

Well, I don't want to answer anymore.

[B]

Like, let me stop you right there.

[A]

In another life, what would I be for a profession? And I don't have to, like.

[B]

I think we should also specify, like, money is not an obstacle.

[A]

Okay. Money is not an obstacle.

[B]

Like, imagine whatever you're doing, you're making a comfortable living and that's. It's fine.

[A]

Yeah. I think it would be really cool to be a glaciologist.

[B]

What?

[A]

I think it would be so cool. When we went to Antarctica.

[B]

What have you.

[A]

When we went to Antarctica and we had that glaciologist who was giving talks about the glaciers and how. And they go out and they study them and they're melting and. And what's in them, and if they have life in them and things like that, and they go into these really cool Arctic or Antarctic locations. Yeah, that seemed really cool to me.

[B]

Okay. I am shocked by that answer, but it's a cool answer. Thank you.

[A]

I thought about it the other day and I had this conversation with someone the other day. So it's a new. It's a new idea. But podcasting doesn't work out.

[B]

Head to Antarctica. They need you.

[A]

Glacier people.

[B]

I'm coming for you. I think I would be. I know I would be doing something either as a historian, working as a historian in some capacity, whether that's.

[A]

I could see that for sure in.

[B]

Like, academia or just giving guided tours or working at a museum or something. Just something to do with the study of history is what I would be doing.

[A]

I could see that for sure.

[B]

Moving on. Oh, yeah. Back to the trauma. We're not done.

[A]

Back to the trauma. Yeah, which. Yeah, which. Which episode? Traumatized. You the most.

[B]

Researching this one was difficult to answer because we've clearly covered so many stories at this point in time and just having to think of not only the main episodes, but then also Patreon episodes we've done and bonus content. And honestly, I think this was one that you may be surprised by, but the honeymoon from hell that I did, yeah, I. For some reason, that one was really tough for me. I read the book Ruthless river for that episode.

[A]

Yes. And that was a crazy experience.

[B]

I mean, it had. Spoiler alert if you haven't listened to it. They do survive, but just barely. And something about. I think what it is, is, is same thing with Yossi, going back to our man Yosi is something about being in the Amazon and being on death's doorstep when you're in a place where thousands of people, millions of people, have thrived for millennia because they know their way around the land and how to coexist there and, like, what to eat, what not to eat, how to find, you know, whatever is needed to sustain life just so easily. And yet as visitors and you're just in this place like you're in the most biodiverse rich place in the world and you're starving to death or you can't find enough clean water to live. And it's like there's a. There was a poster in my. A high school English class that said, and I know it's a famous person who said, I don't know who, but it says water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. And it was about being stranded in the ocean and you're like, I'm literally surrounded by water, but I can't. I can't drink any of this and I'm gonna die. And it's kind of the same thing of like, you're in this place that you could easily survive if only you had the skills and knowledge to do so. Knowledge is power.

[A]

So why was it so traumatizing for you?

[B]

Just because it made me spiral. I'm like, there's so much to learn. I never want to be in a situation where I could survive, but I just don't know how.

[A]

Yeah, I think that's such a valid fear, especially because when you hear stories like theirs in particular, they didn't know that was going to happen to them.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's not like they could have, like, study it. Like, in hindsight, it's like I would have studied every plant species in the Amazon and what was edible and not and. And known my way around. But just to you can't know all things.

[B]

Yeah. But just to have a foundational knowledge that can at least get you a little. And I mean, their circumstances was just one bad thing after the other and it was just like way out of their control. But yeah, so I don't know. That one was just kind of. And we've had so many stories like that where it's like if they just did something different or whatever. And we never say that because we don't want to victim blame and I sure as wouldn't know what to do.

[A]

And it's not blaming, it's just a fact that they just didn't have the knowledge and.

[B]

Yeah, well, what's yours?

[A]

Mine was hands down, the Nutty Putty Cave story, which I did as a Patreon story. I am a little bit claustrophobic myself in that story, if you haven't heard it before. Essentially it's this man goes spelunking in this rock that is no longer this cave in Utah that's no longer available to the public because of this event. But he got. Got stuck in an upside down position and rescue came in and tried to help him. And his wife was speaking to him throughout this whole ordeal and they just couldn't get him out of this space. And he slowly died. And it was horrific and traumatizing for not just him, but also the rescue personnel who had to be part of it and his wife who was speaking to him for hours while this whole ordeal went on. And it was just such.

[B]

The way.

[A]

He died and then also just the people affected because of the way he died. It just, all of it just traumatized me for sure. And all the plane crash episodes I've ever done. I don't like planes anymore. Traumatized myself.

[B]

Yeah, you did that one. You did yourself dirty for sure, because you have gotten. But it is kind of like, like along with more knowledge comes more awareness.

[A]

Knowledge makes you scared.

[B]

It does, yeah. And I see it firsthand with you. It doesn't prohibit you from going anywhere. I mean, your love of travel and experiencing new places and things overrides your fear of flying for now. But the trajectory you're going, I'm worried for you because it has escalated quite a bit in the last few years. And it's just more so of like when we're booking flights, she'll look at the particular aircraft and say no to certain ones. And when we're on the plane, if any sort of weird sound or event happens, she's on it. She's. Her ears are perked up. Even when I think she can't do anything, but she doesn't sleep. We've already established that. So she's always listening, always watching. That's right. Okay, well, favorites, I guess we get this question all the time. Personal favorites.

[A]

I already mentioned mine.

[B]

Which one?

[A]

One of my favorite was the Fatal lightning Strike, the Jenny Lake Rangers and Grand Teton. That was one of my favorites for sure.

[B]

To research. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then mine, I had the same. We did a four year anniversary episode as well and this question came up in that episode. My answer is the same. The Man Made Man Eater, Jim Corbett National park episode 52. Is that right?

[A]

That is a good one.

[B]

Wow. Yeah, 52. Super good. It has all the elements of what I find really interesting in stories and that always kind of ties back to human wildlife conflict. That's kind of my thing. So yeah, that was my favorite to research. I just found it so interesting. The book was great. No, Be so fierce if you want to look into that. Yeah. Speaking of books, books, books, books, books.

[A]

So many books for npad. If you've been. If you've been on our website, there's a whole book recommendation list there. If you've been listening for a while, you know that 70% of our episodes end with a book recommendation at the end we've read. I have not counted how many books we've actually physically read for research because I'm sure it kind of varies a little bit between since we both research.

[B]

But I would say It's a solid 70 each.

[A]

Yeah, it's a lot, A lot of books. Which one was your favorite?

[B]

It. Yeah, definitely between what I just said. No be so fierce or I think gun to my head. I would have to say the third man factor because I just. That was one of my favorite episodes to research just because of the subject matter. Just kind of like in surv. In a lot of life or death situation, not just in the outdoors. I mean the book itself goes into other scenarios including the terrorist attacks in 9, 11 kidnapping situations, hostage situations, things like that. But about, you know that. That voice that people get in life or death situations in their head, you know, is that. What is that? You know, is that a spiritual thing? Guidance from.

[A]

And why does some of the realm people experience it?

[B]

Yeah. Or is it know you, you. Is it just some part of your brain that you're. You've disassociated from yourself and you're interpreting as a third person and it's just. It's so fascinating. I love that story. We got a lot of trail tales about third man factors and people experiencing the third man factor themselves, which is another cool. I would love to bring back if people have their own stories like that. But yeah, I really loved that one. It was great. That was episode one. What did I write? 1456. So good luck finding that. It's either 146 or 156.

[A]

1456.

[B]

You gotta wait a long time. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And mine was the Wall of White by Jennifer Woodleaf. She also wrote A Bolt from the Blue and the Wall of White. She talks about the deadliest avalanche in US history that took place at a resort in Tah. I actually, it was originally just a Patreon episode and I released it as a main episode. But she just really dives into avalanches and what happens when you're caught in one. What happens to the human body when you're caught in one? How long you have typically to survive. And the story itself is really miraculous for the people who. Who did survive. And then also just the efforts of the community that came forward to help the people who were caught lot in this avalanche. I just thought it was an extraordinary story. There's documentaries on it now that came out after I actually recorded this episode. So you get to see the faces of the people who are involved in the documentaries, which is really, really an interesting perspective. But that was.

[B]

You love an avalanche story. You've done at least three.

[A]

Yeah, I do like avalanche stories.

[B]

You did the one in the White Mountains. White Mountains. That one. And then the one in Washington. Those are right off the bat, three that you've done.

[A]

Avalanches scare me a lot. But I mean, you've been in one now. You've been climbing in avalanche.

[B]

On a group trip.

[A]

On a group trip, yeah. Oh my God. We were gonna dive into group trips next because we have gone across the world and around the past few years. We started them in 2023, but. But Danielle actually got caught in an avalanche on one of our group trips.

[B]

I did. Yeah, we were. It was our group trip to Colorado at the beginning of 2025. January of 2025. And this group trip was a little different because we kind of split it up. So Cassie did a backcountry ski snowboard avi course and I did a backcountry snowshoeing group. And on one of the days we. We went out and it was one of the most well traveled trails in Rocky Mountain National Park. But it was in some pretty. I wouldn't say all of the condition. It wasn't scary. Like, it's not like, oh, we shouldn't have been out there. It was just. We rounded a corner, the snow was just right, and it was a steep.

[A]

Rocky cliffside on the corner. And it was a really short period where you're in this section too, like.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, super short.

[A]

It's super short. And people walk it all the time with their kids. People don't have avi gear here, right?

[B]

Yeah, we're not like deep in the back country or anything, but you wouldn't expect it here. But yeah, just it wasn't anything like. I mean, our guide read who listens all the time. Hi, Reed. He was pretty shaken up about it because he's like, you know, not only have I never experienced something like this before, I'm with other people, you know, that I need to be concerned about. And so he took it very seriously. So I'm not saying it wasn't a big deal because it could have been, but thankfully just the first couple people. So I was, I think, fourth in line. And the first two people got swept off of the lost polls. Like, got. Got buried a little bit, but quickly popped up and like, gave us their. An okay signal. The person right in front of me kind of got pushed down the mountain mountainside a little bit. And I was just buried up until, like, my niece. And then everyone behind me was fine, but it happened really quickly. It was scary. Everyone was fine. But, yeah, that was something.

[A]

My side of the group went back the next day to use it as a teaching lesson on how to find avalanche conditions.

[B]

Yeah, to study. Yes.

[A]

It was great.

[B]

Yeah, it worked out all around.

[A]

Everyone was fine. It was a good teaching moment. And it was also really interesting because our guide for the Abby course, he was actually telling us that he had concerns of that area. And he had been writing into the National Park Service that he felt like it was a dangerous area and he was going to use your experience to write back into them to be like, hey, we need.

[B]

This is what I'm talking about.

[A]

Yeah, this is what I'm talking about. Something really bad can happen here. And they were going to put signs. So hopefully that has been. It's a bad situation that went the best way it could. Everyone was totally fine. You walked out with an experience and hopefully now they're. I don't know. I haven't been back this time of year, but hopefully there's signs now.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Food waste is one of those problems that feels huge and impossible to fix. But here's the thing. It doesn't have to be Most food waste comes from our home homes, and that means we actually can do something about it. That is why Mill has completely changed my routine. Mill is the odorless, effortless, fully automated food recycler. You can toss in potato peels, avocado pits, chicken bones, even dairy. And Mill just handles it while you sleep. It quietly transforms all of that food waste into nutrient rich, shelf, stable grounds, no mess, no smell, and no fruit flies. One of my favorite things about living with MIL is to how much cleaner everything feels. My trash doesn't smell anymore, I'm not constantly taking bags out just to avoid the stench, and my kitchen genuinely smells like nothing unless I'm cooking something good. That alone has been a huge game changer. Also, as a gardener, I'm so excited about what Mill produces. I love that I can use the grounds directly into my garden without having some stinky compost pile just sitting outside or in my kitchen. Mill can process up to £10 grounds overnight and can go weeks before you even have to think about emptying it. You can use the grounds in your garden, add them to curbside compost, or even have Mill pick them up and send them to a small farm. I've always believed food is not trash, plus it's not environmentally friendly to waste it. And Mill turns a huge climate problem into a simple daily habit that you can actually stick with. And the best part, you can see your impact. The Mill app tracks how much food you're keeping out of the landfills. And Mill has already helped its customers put over 15 million pounds of food to good use. And if you're worried that this isn't going to look good in your kitchen, don't worry. It's sleek and looks great and it comes with a 90 day risk free trial. So if you don't absolutely love it like I do, you can just send it back. Try Mill risk free for 90 days and get $75 off at mill.com npad and use code NPID at. Check out that's $75 off at mill.com NPAD and use code npad mill.com npad and use Code NPAD.

[B]

Well, speaking of other places we've been, do you want to just like rapid fire list them off?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And these are just for everyone, for everyone out there. These are just national park after dark group trips since mid 2023 that we have done. Not, not around, not personal trips, not side quests. Like this is literally just for the show and with listeners. So we'll go in chronological order.

[A]

You want to do Every other one.

[B]

Go for it.

[A]

You're gonna do it fast. Egypt, Patagonia, Alaska, twice.

[B]

Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Park. South Africa, Madagascar, Peru, Quebec, Acadia National Park. Borneo.

[A]

Antarctica.

[B]

Moment for Antarctica.

[A]

A moment. Pour one out for Antarctica.

[B]

Yep. Okay. I know we're going rapid fires. It felt like we needed to pause. Colorado and Hawaii. Yeah. So. Well, we've. So those are the group trips we've done, but we've also done a little bit more unique group trips, like the one. That avalanche situation. And that was a second trip to Colorado for the backcountry ski, snowboard, snowshoe stuff. And we also did a wilderness first aid course. Certification course in New Hampshire.

[A]

Yeah. That was fun.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Hometown.

[B]

Then we also have done live shows.

[A]

Of course we have. We sold out the Stanley Hotel twice.

[B]

In one night. In one night.

[A]

Jinx. That's crazy.

[B]

Yeah. I couldn't believe it. How that was a moment in time, for sure, of being like. I just remember their. I don't want to call it a green room, but where the dressing room, kind of where they had us getting ready and prepared before the show started was above, kind of looking over the event space. And I just had a moment of being like. We were out on the deck of that little space. It looked out into Rocky Mountain national park, over Estes Park. We're in the Stanley, and I'm like, this is my job. But I cannot believe this is our career. We're here. Yeah.

[A]

And then watching people piling in to this beautiful room at the Stanley to come hang out with us and watch a show that we put together, it was definitely. It was one of. One of the bigger moments, I think, in our podcasting career so far. To just be there with everyone in that specific location was just really cool.

[B]

So you have the Stanley Comedy Works in Denver, which is really close.

[A]

Our first live show. Yeah, we did, too.

[B]

Was. Oh, yeah.

[A]

Yes. Comedy Works was our first ever live show.

[B]

I had the worst hangover after that. Yeah.

[A]

We partied a little bit after that.

[B]

It was the. And it wasn't even like we drank a lot. I just drank a lot of champagne, and that did it for me.

[A]

It was our first time.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we went way over the showtime. They were blinking the lights at us to get off the stage. But we didn't know. We've never done this before.

[B]

We're like, ah, something must be wrong with the lighting. It's odd.

[A]

I rushed my story because we had taken.

[B]

Okay, wait, wait, wait. We need to pause on this because there's so much good stuff here. Okay, so only did we go over by, I would say a solid 45 minutes. Yeah, it was a long time.

[A]

We're sorry. For people who had plans that day.

[B]

That was the plan. That was supposed to be the plan. Actually, we did get one person. We got one person who was pissed because they had a dog sitter and they're like. And they were really mad, and it's like, sorry, we didn't mean to keep you hostage for almost four hours. Like, what live show goes for four hours?

[A]

We didn't know we were babies. Come back to another one. We'll do it in time. We promise.

[B]

Yeah, we're getting our stuff together for real for the next round and more to come for that. But. So not only did we go over completely ignore the workers trying to get our attention desperately.

[A]

Like, hey, at first, I genuinely didn't know that that was them trying to wrap it up. I'm like, yeah. Like, at first I was like, oh, are they doing, like a light show on us? Or like, I genuinely didn't know. It took me a minute to understand what they were saying, and I was like, oh, but I'm like, in the middle of this. Like, I'll hurry it up and.

[B]

But as she's doing this. So. Okay. So then we also. We didn't have iPads, nor did we bring a laptop. So we printed out, like 25 pages of notes throwing to read, like, making it rain on the ground. We would literally just take a. Because we didn't even staple them together. Who needs that? It wasn't in a.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

No access to a stapler. I remember putting together fifth grade presentation things in a. Better. In like a nice sleeve and like a packet. No.

[A]

Couldn't be a fun show, though. I had a nice time.

[B]

No, I'm not trying to take away from that. I'm just trying to say we were. So we were taking all these pieces of paper, throwing them on the ground. We didn't even have a side table. It was on the ground littered with pieces of paper everywhere. And the cherry on chop top, we had each prepared. I did Alfred Packer, the Colorado Cannibal. And you did that. The. Not the wild Bunch who did. I don't know. You did some wild west story.

[A]

I don't even remember.

[B]

Like, I don't know. I brain dumped that the second the champagne hit. But we did. So we did these two stories and we had prepared them extensively beforehand and had this. All these amazing pictures and slideshows and assets to go along with Our storytelling. We get there, they're like, oh, yeah. So our bulb for the projector broke. So yeah.

[A]

So we are not gonna have pure talent of entertainment.

[B]

Oh, my God. I'm like, oh, no. So people are just gonna be staring at me. They're not even gonna be looking at a picture behind me.

[A]

There's nothing. It was just all eyes on a. And when we finally did wrap it up, we went and we did meet and greets, which were really cool, we had never done before. And we went way over time on those as well, because we hung out with everyone like they wanted. It was like, I guess a normal meet and greet, which we had never done before is like, you say hi and like, walk away.

[B]

Say hi. Take a picture.

[A]

Take a picture. Like, it's like a 32nd thing. And it was our first time and we had never met you guys. So we just hung out and talked to all of you.

[B]

Well, and when you're really long time, you're gonna give us a homemade craft and tell us the story of how you took a road trip from Florida to get to our show in Denver, Colorado, and had no other reason for being there. We are, you know, I. It just feels not right to just be like, oh, yeah, thanks. Anyway, here's your picture. You're our friend.

[A]

What do you mean? We gotta. We gotta know the rest of the story.

[B]

Comedy works. We're like, oh my God, these girls.

[A]

Shout out to them. They really took care of us really well. And they handled. They stayed late for.

[B]

They were nice.

[A]

They were super nice. And they just like, they let us use their facility for as long as we wanted. And I remember at the end we apologized and they're like, hey, you sold it out. Do whatever you want.

[B]

Yeah, I guess so. Like, just in retrospect.

[A]

Sorry. If you invite us back on Reworks, we'll do better.

[B]

Yeah. What else have we done? What else have we done?

[A]

We did the Joshua Tree live show, which was really cool because we actually did a campout weekend. It wasn't a group trip per se, but there was like 80 of us, I believe, that were all camping in this huge campground in Joshua Tree. And we did like campfire stories and s' mores and we. We hung out with the Joshua Tree National park association and put on a show. And that was really fun.

[B]

That was a cool event because not only did it have the camping aspect, but we specifically did that show in partnership with the Joshua Tree National park association to help fundraise for them. And a portion of our proceeds went to that association, which is a non profit organization, directly partnered with the park. So. So we're just always kind of being mindful of opportunities that we can partner with organizations that are in real time helping the National Park Service.

[A]

So this would be a fun clip to play for people. If we have it.

[B]

Oh, yeah, if we have it. That would be great.

[A]

Throw it up there.

[B]

Oh, yeah. And then also for that one, we did it in a church.

[A]

An old church. Yeah, a converted. It used to be a church, but wasn't anymore. But people sat in pews.

[B]

No, they did not.

[A]

I'm just kidding.

[B]

But we were in a back room because there was no, like, official green room or anything. And we were in this back room. Didn't have a single window. Didn't have anything. But we could hear everyone filtering in. So we were trying to look through the grate of the door.

[A]

We were watching you guys through the grate of the door to see. And Al was there with a merch table because he was so. He was running the merch table. And you guys is. We're so nice. You flocked to him. And we are looking through this great in the door. And there's a line circling the whole building out the door, just Al taking care of merch. And he's like sweating and running back and forth and trying to take your payments and.

[B]

But for the show. Yeah.

[A]

Poor one out for all. He was the MVP that day. And then after the show, we got to hang and say hi and we helped him sell some merch because another.

[B]

Thing they say not to do, and we're like, oh, shoot, what have we done? Because now this just turned into an informal meet and greet and.

[A]

But we like saying, I, yeah, what do we. We gave all this away. We came all this way and we're. You're not going to talk to us.

[B]

And then I felt so bad because we only ordered a certain amount of merch. We're like, this feels like. Like, not everyone's gonna want something like this. This feels like enough. It was not enough. And then people were waiting in line for like an hour and we had run out of stuff. And I was like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. Talk to me for at least 25 minutes. Yeah. Per person.

[A]

This is all just to say that our shows are really good. You should come see us.

[B]

You should come when we go places again. You should consider coming because, like, the.

[A]

B Field festival in Burlington, Vermont is coming up really, really soon. It's February 6th and 7th, and we have tickets there. So if you want to see Al at the merch table and maybe us helping him if he's struggling, which he.

[B]

Yeah, well, we're gonna be there. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, we'll be there for sure.

[B]

All right. And last but not least, we did also do an event at the Barn Door Hostel in New Hampshire. It was cool because they just kind of invited us to talk. It wasn't like a national park after dark park exclusive event. We just happened to be one of the people there. And it was a fun opportunity to meet a lot of the climbing community in New Hampshire. And, yeah, we went. Shared some New Hampshire based stories that.

[A]

Yeah. Which was fun. It was fun to be up in the White Mountains. It was not far from where I went to college. It was just a really, really fun community. We camped out, hung out.

[B]

It was very.

[A]

It felt very like the good, outdoorsy, rustic that you're trying to. Vibes that you're trying to get. And it was just a really wonderful community. And we had a nice time.

[B]

Yeah. And we had two of our friends from previous trips come.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To see us. From Taiwan.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

I mean, she didn't come just from Taiwan to go to that.

[A]

She was hanging out in New York City, but. Hi, pay if you're listening.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That was awesome.

[B]

Yep. Her and Danielle came.

[A]

Yeah, And Danielle came, which was really cool. And we were allowed to bring our dogs, which is the only show we've ever brought our dogs to. Yeah.

[B]

Chaska hate. Chaska hates camping.

[A]

Yeah, he does. He's a bougie boy.

[B]

He is a diva.

[A]

He can't camp. That's crazy. Danielle.

[B]

He was just wrapped up in my rumple blanket the entire time. Looking in your camper? In my camper.

[A]

On, like, an actual mat mattress. And he's like, I hate this.

[B]

Like, you're bad for the brand. Oh, my God.

[A]

Be outdoorsy. That's perfect. He's such a good boy.

[B]

Okay, to finish this up, let's just finish up with some questions. Random, random questions that we got. Okay. We did skincare. We did. What else? What else? Oh, this is a good one. That. That I feel like we should wrap, like, or kind of make a more formal announcement about, because we get this question all the time. For those of you who do not know, Cassie and I began a second podcast called Watch Her Cook. And we. A lot of people are like, when is where. New episodes are always suggesting new topics for us to do on that show. And we very much appreciate that. But if you did not catch it in the last episode that we published of Watcher Cook, which was Julia Child, fittingly, that was our end of season one. We are not saying it's done and gone and dead forever, but there are things in the National Park After Dark world that require a lot of our attention. Even more so than, I mean, okay, were you here when we listed the, I don't know, 20 places we've been?

[A]

Yeah, we've been over the past five years. We've been really busy and we just have other things that require full attention. So we don't have plans for a season two, but we hope to someday. But as of right now, we are fully focused on National Park After Dark.

[B]

Yeah, but the. All the episodes for Watcher Cook are still up and available and we encourage you to listen to them because Watch your Cook was. Was Cassie's brainchild. And I know we've posted like some maybe at least one episode. I know we posted Mary Shelley's episode on the National Park After Dark feed and we've talked about it before, but we're proud of the show. It's just, we can't. There's only so many hours in the day. You know what I mean?

[A]

There's so much to do, so many things to see.

[B]

Yep. Yes. So, okay, so that kind of goes into. First of all, how dare you ask this any 20, 26 side quest. Quests? Are you kidding me?

[A]

I have enough quests.

[B]

I. There's too many quests to handle.

[A]

Like a side quest.

[B]

If I could have a side quest though, what would it be? And I, I say this a lot. I hate when people are like creators in particular. They're like, something's coming soon. Can't tell you anything about it, but I'm going to tease you about it for a year. But we really are working on things we can't tell you about.

[A]

But really something's coming soon.

[B]

But things are happening. But yeah, so we are working on some things that are very exciting and we can't wait to share with you. But I don't think they're gonna allow for many 20, 26 side quests. There is one thing actually I'm doing, I'm looking forward to for Christmas. My mom got me a trip. Mother daughter trip. We're going to Halifax, Canada in May. And the whole reason is we were gonna go in April to be there on the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, but the ferry is. Doesn't run until May. So we're gonna go then and go have a Titanic themed week. Because for those of you who do not know a lot of the victims of, of the sinking were brought to Halifax, are interred in Halifax. And a lot of the buildings have ties to the tragedy. So.

[A]

You know what, I'm really glad that you mentioned that because you have tied the Titanic into everything throughout the past five years and it feels like it would be a really missed opportunity if we didn't mention the Titanic on our five year anniversary.

[B]

You're right.

[A]

So thank you. Remember when I. I used the Titanic ship as measurements in a. In an episode? I can't even envision what 20 million tons of water looks like. So I wanted to understand the scale and I wanted to put it in a way that you would also understand the scale. So I wanted to know how many Titanic ships are 20 million tons of water.

[B]

Thank you so much for using this measurement. Please tell me, have you seen that.

[A]

Meme where it's like Americans will use anything but the metric system?

[B]

And here we go. And here we go.

[A]

This is the amount of Titanic ships.

[B]

Can I guess? A ton is £2,000? I don't know. I'm gonna say 17 Titanics.

[A]

Not even close. It's the equivalent of about 382. Fully loaded, like passengers, everything in it. Titanic ships.

[B]

Whoa. Well, I get the scale now who needs the metric system?

[A]

We understand math.

[B]

We get math.

[A]

It's just great that I was able to Google that too.

[B]

Well, I really appreciate that. It's one of my favorite things you've ever done.

[A]

And remember, it's holding 382 Titanic ships.

[B]

I haven't forgotten. Yeah. And the Johnstown flood. I'll never forget. I was so surprised by that.

[A]

I gotta bring it back. I haven't had any measurements that I've needed to use a Titanic ship. But the next time I do, I.

[B]

Would love for you to continue. Yeah, please. Do you have any quests you'd like to take?

[A]

No.

[B]

A honeymoon perhaps?

[A]

Yeah, I haven't gone on a honeymoon yet and it's not looking promising. So. 20, 27. Here we go.

[B]

Here we go. Coming in hot.

[A]

That life is a honeymoon.

[B]

Oh, and that's our next phrase. Life is a honeymoon that doesn't land. Well, actually, mine isn't. Never mind.

[A]

Didn't land.

[B]

Nope.

[A]

Check out our merch. Life is on.

[B]

Life is on.

[A]

Well, we have one last long awaited question and one of our most frequently asked questions. And that is, will we ever do a joint trip with tooth and cloth?

[B]

Will we or won't we?

[A]

The world may never know.

[B]

Just kidding. You'll know because we are. Now's the time to Tell you kind of. You're just gonna have to wait and see.

[A]

Something's coming soon, and it's a trip with two.

[B]

Honestly, like, actually, yeah. Yeah. We're organizing right now in the works a joint Tooth and Claw National Park After Dark trip. And it's been something that we have collaborated on for a while to make happen. And we're getting kind of the final details in order as we speak. So we will have that available to everybody. And by everybody, I mean Patreon is definitely going to get first access and dibs, as is only fair.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

But we will be releasing more details about where we're going, when we're going, the type of trip, all of that in the next actual couple weeks. Yeah.

[A]

So keep an eye out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

By the end of February, if you want to know first.

[B]

Yeah. So that's happening. That's super exciting. We know that you guys really enjoy Tooth and Claw, as do we. And they're kind of like our closest relationship when it comes to people in the biz. Like, they're obviously huge overlap in audiences, and just we get along with them very well. We love them very much. So we're very happy to be able to do something all together.

[A]

Yeah. It'll be a really good time. And you guys are going to be stoked when you see where we're going.

[B]

Oh, you're going to be. I'm excited. I just want to say it.

[A]

I want to say it.

[B]

I won't. I won't. I can't.

[A]

That's why her hair's so big. It's full of secrets.

[B]

I know. I got you. Okay, everyone, well, thank you so much for hanging out with us and for this episode and the 300 plus that have preceded it. And for the last five years and hopefully another five, truly, our lives have been changed for the better being because of you guys. Yeah. Being able to do this job. Couldn't do it without you. So thank you. We love you and appreciate you and hope that you're with us for many more.

[A]

Yeah. Welcome to 2026. We have a lot happening this year, and we'll see you all soon. But in the meantime, enjoy the View.

[B]

But watch your back.

[A]

That's a phrase we did not put in the phrases we use at the beginning.

[B]

Does that count?

[A]

I think so.

[B]

Or is that a tagline?

[A]

It's still a phrase. It's on everything. But anyway.

[B]

Oh, don't even get me started on trying to TM things.

[A]

Roll the bloopers of Enjoy the View, but watch your back.

[B]

You would Think we'd understand how to just say it? We don't.

[A]

Surprise.

[B]

Have we said it since episode one?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wow. I'm surprised by that.

[A]

Oh, yeah, I think so, but I'm.

[B]

Not sure somebody can tell us. I'm certainly not gonna fall on the sword and listen to our first episode. I know.

[A]

First, let's hear our first episode ending.

[B]

Ah. Roll it.

[A]

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to National Park After Dark.

[B]

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

[A]

Hi, I'm Cassie. I'm telling the story.

[B]

And here we go.

[A]

And here we go. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to National Park. I'm Cassie.

[B]

After Dark. And I'm Danielle.

[A]

Did I just say national Park?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Welcome to this unhinged episode of One star reviews.

[B]

Boring.

[A]

Danielle, I looked up a song you said you love don't fence me in and it's a song I'll always keep. Tell me more music you love.

[B]

Oh, my God. That's so funny that you bring this up. Oh, my God.

[A]

Hello.

[B]

My thing. I just got so excited, my old mic fell off. I'll just hold it like this for now. Thank you so much for asking. Less visibility music playing A hero comes along.

[A]

Oh, different songs. This podcast, this podcast this podcast is brought to you by National Park After Dark.

[B]

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

[A]

Dudes with Gronk and Jewels.

[B]

Sunday mornings, I've got my game day.

[A]

Ritual coffee, lucky socks, and now new morning uncrustable sandwiches. It's all about that 12 gram protein.

[B]

Boost with the new uncrustables Bright eyed berry or up and apple flavors. Bright eye berries got a feisty receiver.

[A]

Energy up an apple.

[B]

Your classic do it all tight end.

[A]

Soft pillowy, packed with protein and easy enough for Gronk to grab from the freezer. Whether you're on the couch, driving to the tailgate or heading to the locker.

[B]

Room, new morning uncrustable sandwiches are the MVP of snacks. Your new Sunday kickoff ritual starts here.

[A]

With new morning uncrustable sandwiches packed with 12 grams of protein.

[B]

If you're the purchasing manager at a manufacturing plant, you know having a trusted partner makes all the difference. That's why, hands down, you count on Grainger for auto reordering. With on time restocks, your team will have the cut resistant gloves they need at the start of their shift and you can end your day knowing they've got safety well in hand. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.