transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:16] Hi, everyone, welcome back to National Park After Dark. I'm Cassie.

Speaker 2:
[00:20] I'm Danielle.

Speaker 1:
[00:20] And we're here with another Trail Tales episode for you all today, but this one is slightly different because we have some guests with us.

Speaker 2:
[00:28] We do. We just wrapped up with them. It's such a fun episode, and it's about something we never really talked about before on National Park After Dark, and that's families and kids.

Speaker 1:
[00:37] I know. It's kind of about time because you guys have been telling us for years that you do this with your kids. You're like, hey guys, we have kids. We have kids, we listen, and even teachers have come forward and said, their kids listen for some educational stuff, and we're like, okay, we have children here. We want to do something that's helpful for them in parks too, and also for families, not just kids. This is a strictly kids episode, but we just wanted to do a little nod to that. Today we have Annaliese and Aylish from the National Park Trust here with us today, and you may have seen them around at National Parks. This trust, it's very popular, I guarantee. You've seen their logos around, but if you're unfamiliar, National Park Trust is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting parklands and connecting people to the outdoors. So since 1983, they've protected critical parklands across the country, completing 74 projects that have benefitted 57 national park sites. And as we celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States, 31 of those projects have helped preserve historic and cultural sites tied to defining moments in our country's history.

Speaker 2:
[01:54] And at the same time, they're expanding access to parks, public lands, and waters through youth, family, military, and college programs, connecting tens of thousands of people to the outdoors each and every year. At their core, they believe these places should be cared for, experienced, and preserved by everyone for current and future generations. So today, they are here to share some of their own trail tales, dive into the work they do, and talk about how all of us can play a role in protecting these spaces. Welcome to National Park After Dark, Annaliese and Aylish. We're so happy to have you.

Speaker 3:
[02:27] It is so cool to be talking with you guys. We are such big fans of the podcast and all of the stories you guys have told over the years. We've been listening for a long time. It's really awesome to be able to be chatting with you guys. So surreal to be on the podcast. Like Aylish said, just been long-time listeners. Always bring it up in conversation. Always brag about you guys.

Speaker 1:
[02:53] Well, thank you.

Speaker 2:
[02:55] You're our unofficial hype girls.

Speaker 3:
[02:58] Honestly, we're getting a lot of promo for sure.

Speaker 1:
[03:02] We appreciate it. We truly do. Well, I guess before we dive into all of the stuff about National Park Trust, would you both be able to just introduce yourselves and say a little bit about what your role is within National Park Trust?

Speaker 3:
[03:16] Yeah, definitely. I am Aylish. I am one of the education coordinators in our youth programs department at National Park Trust. We do a lot of different things, but within our youth program, I work as an education coordinator for our Buddy Bison school program, that we'll talk about in a minute. Basically, my job is just to connect kids to parks, get kids outside, get kids learning about the environment, get them passionate about it, and inspire them to be future park stewards.

Speaker 1:
[03:47] I love that.

Speaker 3:
[03:48] Yeah. My name is Annaliese. I'm a programs coordinator for the National Park Trust. My side of the house, I do all of our 18 plus programs. That includes our college investor programs and our military programs. I specifically oversee our entirety of our college investor program, which encourages college students across the US to motivate their peers to get outside. Then on the other side is military engagement. Providing military families, including all service members of all branches of the military, including veterans and Gold Star families, National Garden Reserve, just really meaningful park experiences. Yeah, I think just a little background on myself is I, in college, was actually a college ambassador myself when the program was first created. I just fell in love with bringing people outdoors, that I found myself post-graduation in the outdoors, or not in the outdoors realm, but this corporate world and just realized how much I missed it, and I found myself returning to the Park Trust to now lead this program and lead other programs. Really, really cool and a little fun story that I like to share.

Speaker 1:
[05:04] Well, it's so cool to have you both here because I feel like we're getting every generation is being covered today, which is really fun. With all of that being said, let's get into the National Park Trust and what you guys do, how it started. We'd love to just learn more about it.

Speaker 3:
[05:23] Yeah, definitely. The National Park Trust is a national non-profit organization that is direct partners with the National Park Service. Our mission as a whole is to preserve parks today and create park stewards for tomorrow. Just a little bit of history on how we started. We started 40 plus years ago as an accredited land trust, where we buy and acquire privately held lands in and around our national park boundaries and ultimately return those pieces of land to the park service. Those missing pieces can be preserved and protected forever. That was what the organization was solely created to do back in 1983 when we first started. But in the early 2000s, we actually thought to ourselves, hey, we realize even though our land work is super important, parks can't be preserved and protected without dedicated park stewards. In turn, that's when our community engagement programs were born. We now work to engage different communities with our national parks and other public lands and waters through our youth programs, which Aylish oversees, which she'll talk more about, our military and college programs. We do this by creating meaningful park experiences through access, education, connection. Just as a whole, and that was a really large overview, I don't want to get too in the weeds of it, but just to tie it all together with our mission, the Park Trust preserves parks today through our land acquisition work, and creates park stewards for tomorrow through our program work.

Speaker 2:
[07:04] Amazing. Going off of that, Aylish, question for you. You are obviously heavily involved with kids, and inspiring them to care for and be stewards of the land that you've worked so hard to acquire and preserve and protect, because preservation is great in the present, but it's nothing without a future, and we all know that kids are the future. Can you talk to us a little bit about the Buddy Bison program, and kids in parks, and what those programs look like?

Speaker 3:
[07:41] Yeah, definitely. The Buddy Bison program is our flagship, youth program model. We work with about 100 Title I schools across the country, and Title I schools are just underserved schools basically. They receive federal funding. These are really important communities to be reaching. These experiences aren't innate to their childhood growing up essentially. We work with about 100 Title I schools across the country, and each school gets between two and three park experiences throughout the school year. So we typically work with one grade level for school. And so I work really closely with a lead teacher, a buddy teacher, if you will. And at the beginning of the school year, they just meet with me and I hear more about their curriculum, what they're going to be focusing on in history or art or science. The trips aren't always just science focused. I think we think about that a lot with going to the park, you have to learn about nature or something in the environment. But like, no, you can learn about historical figures or do like an art nature journaling thing at a park. So yeah, meeting with the teachers and learning about what they want the trips to look like. And we cover funding for transportation, which is one of the biggest barriers to access. Some buses are like $2,000 for a trip. And a lot of these schools just don't have that in their budget set aside. So park trips, but also like assemblies, like we have nature centers that bring like birds of prey into classrooms and do like owl pellet dissections.

Speaker 2:
[09:22] Oh, a favorite even to today.

Speaker 1:
[09:25] Owl pellets are so cool.

Speaker 2:
[09:26] I did it like I like did it last summer when I found one in the woods. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[09:30] Oh, my gosh. Every time I find one in the woods, I grab like the most nearby stick and I'm just like, what's going on?

Speaker 2:
[09:35] Yeah, I brought it home and I made bets with friends of how many skulls I would find in it because it's huge. There were seven.

Speaker 3:
[09:42] No way.

Speaker 2:
[09:44] That was wild.

Speaker 3:
[09:45] Wait, like how big was it?

Speaker 2:
[09:47] It was big.

Speaker 3:
[09:48] That's crazy.

Speaker 2:
[09:49] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[09:49] I need to look harder because I have a couple of barred owls that frequent my yard. I see that I hear them almost every day and I see them pretty often too. But I've never found an owl pellet, but to be totally fair, I don't really look and my dogs are also pooping around that same area. So it could be a little scary.

Speaker 3:
[10:11] Yeah. We do so many owl pellets and I have owl pellets at my desk at home. I'm just like, if someone were to clear out my desk, what is this tinfoil of bone and fur doing in the air? Yeah. Crazy caveat, but for those that are listening to us talk about owl pellets, they're not actually poop. No, they're.

Speaker 1:
[10:32] They're the throw-up.

Speaker 3:
[10:34] It's literally-

Speaker 1:
[10:34] Yeah, they're regurgitation.

Speaker 3:
[10:36] Yes. That's what we have to tell the kids every time. Like, this is poop. I'm like, it's actually even better. It's throw-up. So.

Speaker 1:
[10:42] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[10:43] It's like, I understand where the confusion came from. Looks a lot like poop is not.

Speaker 3:
[10:47] Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[10:48] Yeah. Yeah. I used to work in outdoor education, and one of the things that the kids loved the most were the owl pellets, because they're digging in there, they're finding little skulls and legs and whatever.

Speaker 3:
[11:02] I always like to encourage kids to try and make a full skeleton of what they find, so put the head at the top, try to do all the ribs and see what they have. But yeah, big owl pellet fans over here. Yeah. Assemblies where we have naturalists come in and lead programs like that, and then we also will send out educational kits. If a school has a community garden or something, we'll supply whatever they may need for that, seeds or stewardship things like trash bags and gloves. Really just trying to get as much environmental education into the classroom as possible.

Speaker 1:
[11:43] Very cool. So where does Buddy Bison come into all of this?

Speaker 3:
[11:49] Well, I just held him up to the camera. Buddy Bison, for those who cannot see. Buddy Bison is our lovable wooly mascot at the National Park Trust, and we have these kind of plushy slices, stuffed animals that we hand out to kids as well. The coolest thing about them is they have a carabiner on them, because Buddy Bison is not a stuffed animal that wants to sit on your bed all day. Buddy Bison wants to go out with you to the park and experience the adventures with you. So we encourage kids to clip them on to your backpack or on your belt loop or anything like that. But he kind of represents our program and our work to bring kids outside. And he's just like a tangible reminder that the parks are yours, go outside, explore, experience the sense of wonder outside, all of that good stuff.

Speaker 2:
[12:47] Yeah, Buddy Bison isn't a regular stuffed animal. He's a cool stuffed animal.

Speaker 3:
[12:57] We also have a mascot as well. We have a Buddy Bison mascot costume. So Buddy Bison, full size Buddy, actually makes some appearances at parks as well, which is not a part of the job description that I realized.

Speaker 2:
[13:14] Have you ever been Buddy Bison?

Speaker 1:
[13:17] Are we talking to the Buddy Bison right now?

Speaker 3:
[13:20] Is Buddy Bison in the room?

Speaker 2:
[13:24] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[13:25] If you go to our social media and you see some Buddy Bison, it may or may not be featuring one of us. But we're both like five, two and five, three. So we can't actually represent Buddy Bison because we are very small. We'd be the size of the children. But we can go and dance on TikToks. Yeah, we can do that and we do.

Speaker 1:
[13:51] Now I'm going to have to look out for Buddy Bison when I'm in the parks because you never know.

Speaker 3:
[13:55] We sell them all up and down the East Coast. We have a very good relationship with the East Coast parks and you can find a Buddy Bison there. But I was actually recently in Yosemite and a park ranger there had a Buddy Bison attached to him. I was like, where did you get that? Did we give it to him? No, he just said he got it when he was on the East Coast and he didn't realize.

Speaker 1:
[14:17] I was like, I work for that organization.

Speaker 3:
[14:19] That was fun.

Speaker 1:
[14:20] That's super cool. Well, in the spirit of Bison, because today for this episode, we're also reading some Trail Tales. I thought that it would be fun to bring a Trail Tale story that involves a Bison.

Speaker 3:
[14:34] Please.

Speaker 1:
[14:35] This one is titled, Almost Kissed By A Bison. That seems a little...

Speaker 3:
[14:41] I want to get kissed by a Bison.

Speaker 1:
[14:43] Scary. Hey ladies, my name is Gideon. Feel free to share. And I, like so many, were introduced to the pod by a friend of mine as I started my journey to see all 63 US national parks. In the past year, I've checked off 15 parks and have plenty more trips planned in the near future. My favorite trip so far was this May, where I was able to drive through South Dakota and Wyoming on a four-park trip. I left my home in Wisconsin, picked up my grad school classmate, Sam, from his home in South Dakota, and we explored the Black Hills, Badlands, Wind Cave, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone in my little Ford Focus.

Speaker 3:
[15:20] Oh my gosh, that sounds like such a good trip. That was a dream trip.

Speaker 1:
[15:25] Grand Teton quickly became my favorite park with breathtaking views, close encounters with creatures pretending to be moose because moose aren't real, obviously.

Speaker 3:
[15:34] Oh my gosh, I heard you guys talk about that in your latest episode, a recent episode about that.

Speaker 1:
[15:40] I have never seen one on the East Coast and I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced. Okay, so you see moose that aren't real, and the absolute best hikes I have ever been on. We spent four days there and then headed up to Yellowstone for another three days. We were exhausted but dead set on seeing some more wildlife, notably grizzly bears. Leaving from Coulter Bay and the Tetons, we drove straight up to our campsite in Mammoth Springs, pitched our tent and headed out to Lamar Valley to look for people with better telescopes and binoculars than us to ask them what they were looking at. Danielle and I can relate to that so hard. Pro move. Yeah, we've done it. We saw wolves and coyotes, pronghorn, elk and several black bears, but no grizzlies. At this point, Sam and I were getting pretty exhausted, but we were dead set on seeing a grizzly. We drove all the way to the northeast entrance, turned around and sat in my little car playing cards while we waited for the sun to get a little lower in the sky. As it approached dusk, we started to drive back to Lamar Valley. Once the forest area we were in gave way to open valley, we spotted a car with someone outside with a big camera watching something across the water. We got out and the man kindly told us that he spotted a grizzly sow with her two cubs. I got out my tiny binoculars and Sam and I watched the grizzly family for as long as we could. This was that magical moment that so many have when they come to Yellowstone and I was so happy. Now you may be wondering why I'm going into so much detail about seeing a grizzly bear when the title of the story is about a bison. Well, stay with me because we watched this bear for so long, the daylight was really fading. To get to where we were in the park, we had to cross a herd of bison as far as the eye could see. Now this story is just so funny, because Danielle and I lived to this exact same story.

Speaker 2:
[17:39] Oh no, I see where it's going. You don't even have to say anything.

Speaker 1:
[17:43] Now that it was getting dark out, we had to pass through the same herd again. Not too many cars were out at this point, so we took the stretch of road near where the bison were moving very slowly. We came to a point where we could see a larger bison standing still in the road, while the other bison and calves around it started to cross the road. Sam and I were appreciating this awesome sight as the bison became silhouettes in the setting sun. However, a car came up behind us that did not share our patience. After seeing my car wasn't going to move anytime soon, this white California-plated sports car sped around me and right past the bison guarding the road. Uh-oh, this was now one mad buffalo. It was clearly startled and angered by the speeding car, but misdirected that fury towards us. It straddled the yellow line and stared directly at me and Sam. Neither of us moved. We just waited and waited. Thankfully, the bison eventually walked off the road. By the time the bison finally moved, the park was completely dark. We still had a long drive ahead of us. We drove on only seeing what was illuminated by the path of my headlights and nothing else. This whole stretch of road was one lane each direction, up until the intersection at Tower Roosevelt, and my headlights barely lit up anything outside the gravel shoulders. The drive was uneventful up to this point, as we had seen nothing and Sam started to snooze off. Snooze off? Doze off? And Sam started to doze off. I slowed down as we approached the turn, I shifted over into the right turn lane, and I started to make my turn. Keep in mind, the road widened here, but my headlights never really went into the corner between the intersecting roads. As I am turning, I glance out of the passenger side window past Sam, and a massive figure the size of the window materializes out of the darkness. A buffalo, right in the window of the passenger side door, a mere centimeters from the car. I completed the process of turning without stopping or saying anything. As it appeared, Sam rose out of his seat and grabbed me in complete shock. I continued driving forward and he said, Was that a buffalo? Yep. I replied in shock myself. If he stuck out his lips, he could have kissed us. I continued to drive all the way back to the campsite while Sam and I, with newfound adrenaline induced energy, came up with theories of what happened and what we decided was that the angry bison from before had somehow communicated with his homies down the road and either A, that we were threats and that this close encounter was just a reminder for us not to mess with them or B, this was an attempt at a thank you kiss for us being patient. I like to thank the second, but either way, the image of the bison appearing right beside us from the void is forever etched in our memory. This was the trip of a lifetime and I am so thankful I got a trail tale out of it. I attached a photo of the sunset while we watched the grizzlies and a photo at the angry buffalo before he got so angry. Keep up the awesome stories. I hope that one day I can get caught up enough and hear this story on the pod. God bless, Gideon.

Speaker 3:
[20:54] That is so cute. I think it's such a sweet mindset to immediately think like it could have kissed us instead of like, what's the scenario?

Speaker 1:
[21:03] Sometimes terrified. Yeah. It's like that was intimate.

Speaker 3:
[21:08] That was really romantic. I loved that. Wait, so you said you guys were, you had the same experience practically.

Speaker 2:
[21:15] Well, I thought I was going somewhere else, but we were in Yellowstone and classically, we got stuck in a massive bison jam. I mean, I've been to Yellowstone before. I've seen her, a bison. This was crazy large. And it would have been cool and chill and fine. And it was a little nerve wracking because I truly feel like bison are one of those animals that you don't think are scary until you're right next to them, and surrounded by them and being stared down by them. But we, so we went into Lamar Valley similarly to this story, but we went in the early morning hours, like we got up at 3 a.m. trying to go see the wolves. Before we had a meeting at 9 a.m. And we didn't have service anywhere except for our Airbnb right outside of the park. So we're like, we'll definitely have time to go do some wildlife watching and then come back for our 9 a.m. meeting. And now, we're just trying to get to our meeting.

Speaker 3:
[22:22] We're just trying to get to work.

Speaker 2:
[22:29] When I tell you we skirted in, like we had like 30 seconds last year. Just because we were hung up in this bison jam for so long. And we couldn't, and I'm like, what are we going to tell these people? Which who we've, by the way, never met. And be like, sorry, we were like, we were in the middle of a bison jam.

Speaker 3:
[22:51] My dog ate my homework, so I had to be like, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[22:55] We're gonna be like, who are these people?

Speaker 1:
[22:56] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[22:56] So, but yeah, I think that it's similar in the way of like, you don't realize how intimidating being that close to a bison is until they're staring you down. And then suddenly your car doesn't feel that badass anymore.

Speaker 1:
[23:12] No, you're not safe in there. That bison could fold you like a piece of paper, it feels like when they're... Especially, they love to make that eye contact. This story was funny to me because when I was in Theater Roosevelt, I had the exact same encounter where there was just a bison in the very middle of the road just staring at me. And I was like, I'm not moving. And I was alone too. I was just sitting there. I was like, I will wait until you have moved on. I was like, I am not messing with you at all.

Speaker 3:
[23:40] It's very humbling. I haven't seen a bison in person in many, many years, but. I've never, well, actually Aylish and I are going to go backpacking in Yellowstone and Tetons this summer.

Speaker 1:
[23:55] How fun.

Speaker 3:
[23:56] Maybe we'll have our own bison jam. No, no, I'm like, wait a second.

Speaker 1:
[24:02] When are you guys going out there?

Speaker 3:
[24:04] September. September, I said this summer. It's actually kind of early fall. Now I'm like, wait, we have to actually kind of rush from Yellowstone to Tetons for our backpacking. Yeah. If we get stuck in a bison jam, we might be, yeah, I don't know, in a pickle. We'll have to get some.

Speaker 1:
[24:22] Account for that for your timing.

Speaker 3:
[24:24] Note it. This was very helpful. Some recommendations on trails and stuff from you guys, if you have any.

Speaker 2:
[24:30] Yeah, we'll chat after.

Speaker 1:
[24:31] Yeah, we can definitely. Well, we know that you guys have a fun trail tale to read as well.

Speaker 3:
[24:38] Yes, it's another animal encounter. Super exciting. I'll just dive right into it. I named this the bathroom break to bear encounter.

Speaker 2:
[24:49] Because to preface, this is your own trail.

Speaker 3:
[24:52] This is my own trail tale story. And let me ask you a quick question. Am I the first person to read a trail tale story that's like in real time?

Speaker 1:
[25:03] Outside of Danielle, who has written like her own and read them. Yeah, but I don't have you don't count you always are on the pod. Yeah, you're the first person to ever come on and read your own trail tale.

Speaker 3:
[25:15] I am nice Annaliese. That's cool. I am so honored. I'm like so good right into it. And I'm going to read it exactly how I wrote it in to you guys.

Speaker 1:
[25:25] So amazing.

Speaker 3:
[25:27] Hi, Cassie and Danielle. It's such an honor not only to write a story, but to be able to read it on your podcast. I've been a long time listener and a huge fan. I always bring up National Park After Dark if podcasts come up in a conversation. I wanted to share one of my stories from the National Parks, a moment that was both terrifying and unforgettable. In the summer of 2024, I went backpacking through Hetch Hetchy on the western side of Yosemite National Park with my good friend and college roommate Maggie. If you ever get the chance, it's an absolute gem, a lesser known part of the park with stunning scenery. I know you guys have been to Yosemite, but have you ever been to Hetch Hetchy?

Speaker 2:
[26:10] Yes. Weird story about that.

Speaker 3:
[26:13] Really? We're going to have to dive into that.

Speaker 2:
[26:16] Do you know what I'm about to say, Cassie?

Speaker 1:
[26:18] No.

Speaker 2:
[26:20] We met someone famous on the trail.

Speaker 1:
[26:21] Oh, yeah, we did meet someone famous on the trail.

Speaker 2:
[26:25] I would name them if I remember their name.

Speaker 1:
[26:31] They were out there and they wanted to take a picture for a promo that they were doing, just like his own personal Instagram promo for a movie he had just been in.

Speaker 2:
[26:42] Because they were filming in, what was it, San Fran? He was like, is something Bad Moon or Blood Moon, something about a moon?

Speaker 1:
[26:51] It was on Netflix.

Speaker 2:
[26:52] We're like, he was so famous and it was like this crazy thing.

Speaker 1:
[26:57] He didn't have a crazy death scene in it though. I watched it and I was like, I met him and he died pretty horrifically in the first 10 minutes.

Speaker 3:
[27:08] You guys met him? That's awesome. That is really cool.

Speaker 1:
[27:11] But that was our experience in Hetch Hetchy.

Speaker 2:
[27:15] Long story short, we've been there.

Speaker 3:
[27:16] Everyone goes to the Valley of Yosemite and don't realize Hetch Hetchy is such a gem. I think Maggie and I were originally trying to hike Half Dome. In heads of my favorite episode, A Lightning Strike Rescue on Half Dome that you guys read.

Speaker 1:
[27:33] That one was horrific.

Speaker 3:
[27:36] Everyone go listen to that because it is my favorite episode. It is. She talks about it. But we didn't get the permits for it, so we went to Hetch Hetchy and it was actually the most amazing time. Anywho, just going back into the story, it was a three-day, two-night trip. We took the Hetch Hetchy loop clockwise starting at Beehive Meadow. After 11 miles, we reached our camping destination, Vernon Lake, a popular backcountry campsite. The granite ground spread beneath us and the reflective lake at sunset was so beautiful. Maggie and I set up camp completely in all of our surroundings. The scenery and trying to start a fire, lint and steel style pushed any fear of bears to the back of our minds. Flashback to the morning before our trek, when we checked in with the ranger station, they had mentioned that a bear had been spotted the previous day, ripping open a tent looking for food. Yeah, guys, that was really scary to hear. That definitely raised the hairs on the back of our necks, but panic didn't last long as once we hit the trail, we were too busy marbling at our surroundings. After dinner, we triple checked our food and scented items, locking everything safely in our bear canister. I stashed it behind a granite boulder 300 ft away from our tent and covered it with rocks. No bear was getting anywhere near us, or so I thought. Later that night, a man appeared at our campsite. We were a bit alarmed. We were a bit alarmed. Two girls alone in the backcountry, no cell service and a random person shows up. Scary. Scary. But he was friendly. He asked if we had room in our bear canister because his group's bear canister was full, and he held out a large Ziploc bag of trail mix. Maggie and I exchanged glances, but took the bag to our bear canister and jammed it in. When I mean jammed it in, we literally had to punch it in. Our bear canister was so full.

Speaker 1:
[29:35] His trail mix is just smashed after. It's like here.

Speaker 3:
[29:39] Trail crawl, trail mix. Later that night, we went to sleep, confident that we were safe. 5 a.m., nature called, and I had to go. I stepped out, blurry-eyed without my contacts, and walked about 200 ft away. I pulled my pants down and started to go, but that's when I heard it, a dragging sound. Something or someone was moving. Squinting, all I saw was a blob of brown. Oh my God, I thought. It's the bear the rangers were talking about. Without my contacts, I was helpless, so I ducked and covered, fumbling my way back to the bear canister to grab my contacts, shoving them in my eyeballs as quickly as I could. Shoving them in my eyes. They were going in there. Then ducking covered back to my tent, like ducking down was ever going to do anything. I woke up Maggie, and as we stood up to get a better look, outsider tent about 300 ft away, lay a large black bear tearing through a backpack with ease and chomping on whatever food it had found. We stood there, jaws dropped. After staring for a bit longer, we confirmed that the backpack that was getting absolutely mutilated belonged to the same group of guys that had asked us to store their bag of tramex for the night. Carefully, we made our way to their tent and awkwardly leaned in and said, hey, good morning. Sorry to wake you, but I think a bear has one of your packs. Three sleepy boys spilled out of the tent and we all watched as the bear continued eating unbothered by her presence. The group tried to scare it off with the typical, hey bear, hey bear, go away bear. Have you ever done that? Yeah, get on bear, get on.

Speaker 2:
[31:24] Get on out of here.

Speaker 3:
[31:26] But the bear looked up for a moment that went back to chomping. After a few more hey bears, finally the bear grabbed the backpack and ran off, disappearing across the lake. We all exchanged looks and disbelief and sympathy for the lost pack. Why did we think that if we scared off the bear, he wouldn't take the bag with him? Dumb. Maggie and I returned to our campsite, cooked breakfast, and filled out our bear encounter sheet the ranger had given us the morning before, something we thought we wouldn't need to do in this particular outing. This encounter is brought up to this day, and actually, Maggie recently got the bear tattooed to commemorate the trip. Shout out, Maggie. I love you. If you're listening, I know she will be listening. This experience remains one of the coolest and scariest moments I've had outdoors. Enjoy the view, but watch your back. Next bathroom break might lead to a bear encounter, and PSA, always put your food in the bear canister. Yes. No, for real. And your scented items. The most important thing. Yeah. I didn't say this in the story, but now that I'm the person reading it and that wrote it in, the bear actually came back. It did? He strolled.

Speaker 1:
[32:52] Again after that?

Speaker 3:
[32:52] Yeah. He strolled back looking for more. The only voice that the bear was scared of was by roommate, or Maggie. It was quite ear splitting. I would also be scared if I was a bear and heard her scream. What else was in the backpack? It was a literal another bag of Tremex. Did it have their wallets or anything in it? Oh, yeah. Somebody's sleeping another tent or something. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[33:21] So they lost a bunch of their gear along with it.

Speaker 3:
[33:24] It was something super important where they had to, instead of finishing the loop, they had to just turn around and go back.

Speaker 1:
[33:32] Oh, damn. Another reason to put your stuff away if you want to keep going on your adventure. It's taken by a bear. That's cool to be able to see a bear that up close, but not so much under those circumstances.

Speaker 3:
[33:48] It was quite crazy. I'll show you the pictures, but I have the little bear. He's running away with his little pack. The pack is swinging. He looks so cute and fun. You want to go up and hug him, but you can't.

Speaker 2:
[34:01] Well, I can see some of the pictures on our document right here.

Speaker 3:
[34:04] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[34:05] Looks like he's just having a grand old time.

Speaker 3:
[34:07] He was having such a good time, and I hated ruining it for him.

Speaker 2:
[34:11] I mean, he is pretty cute, but-

Speaker 3:
[34:13] He's so cute. Beautiful. His little ears.

Speaker 1:
[34:15] He's the classic, he's a black bear, but you think he's a brown bear kind of thing.

Speaker 3:
[34:21] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[34:21] I could see how somebody would think this is a grizzly bear.

Speaker 3:
[34:25] Yeah, it's so blonde. That's what everyone says when I show the pictures. And what's great-

Speaker 1:
[34:29] But he doesn't have the hump.

Speaker 3:
[34:31] Yeah, exactly. And Yosemite are actually not allowed to have bear spray.

Speaker 2:
[34:34] Right. Right.

Speaker 3:
[34:36] Brown bears aren't as aggressive as obviously grizzlies, but you can't have anything, any sort of thing. So we just relied on clapping throughout the time we were hiking and stuff.

Speaker 1:
[34:48] Yeah. I wonder if that regulation will change one day, because as we know and stories we've told, black bears can be just as aggressive and deadly as grizzlies.

Speaker 3:
[34:59] I was scared when I saw him when I was a kid.

Speaker 1:
[35:03] Then when you have a bear like this one who's habituated and not afraid of you, it's just calling for something. Yeah, exactly. Well, I guess going forward, we wanted to jump into some more things about the National Park Trust and all of the programs that go on. We wanted to talk about one that is coming up really soon, which is exciting, and that is Kids to Parks Day, along with the School Grants Program. We just wanted to talk about those experiences, what they are, when it's happening, how people can join, all of that good stuff.

Speaker 3:
[35:37] Yeah, definitely. We're glad you brought it up because Kids to Parks Day is happening on May 16th this year. And Annaliese, not gonna worry about it, but. It's a national day of outdoor play established by the National Park Trust. So think about, do you remember at Nickelodeon, where they would have the day of play, where they wouldn't play any shows during the day, and if you turned on the Nickelodeon channel, it was like, day of play, because it was like, there's no TV on, you're supposed to go outside. Do you guys remember that? No.

Speaker 1:
[36:08] No, I don't.

Speaker 3:
[36:10] Okay, it's basically, I hope some people remember that. It's not like a fever dream that I had, but yeah, just going outside and...

Speaker 2:
[36:19] So the network essentially went dark for the day and said, get outside and don't watch TV.

Speaker 3:
[36:24] Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2:
[36:25] That's awesome. I had no idea they did that.

Speaker 3:
[36:27] I know, yeah. But I think people would still turn on the TV and just like watch that screen.

Speaker 1:
[36:33] Anything to glue yourself to a screen.

Speaker 3:
[36:37] Yeah, so this day, we really wanted to emphasize getting everyone, not just kids, but families outdoors to their local parks and just enjoying the day outside. I mean, I think we get always so lost in the hustle and bustle of things. And now that technology has just become so prevalent in our daily lives, we kind of lose that sense of just getting outside and playing and picking up a leaf and a stick and making some, you know, mud soup and all that good stuff. So we really want to motivate with this day is finding a local park in your area and getting outside and sharing the moment that you had and sharing the memories that you had with your family during that day. So it's super exciting that, you know, every third Saturday in May, dedicated to just unplugging and getting out with your family and just enjoying. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like an intentional day of being outside. If you want on our website, we have some like published events that certain parks across the country have made, like in connection to Kids to Parks Day. So some of them are like volunteers, stewardship events, doing like invasive pools, or just like an event where like we will have tabling here at the park on Kids to Parks Day, come out, just make it more of like a intentional event, I guess. Then cities and towns can also proclaim Kids to Parks Day further. They do. They do. You get like a certificate and stuff. So if you have a small town and you want to proclaim Kids to Parks Day, reach out. We would love to do that. If you wanted to get involved, I would say the best way to do that is to look up parks near you and your local area. Most of them will have a Kids to Parks Day and they'll have fun events in the local park, whether it's engaging with park rangers or little activities that engage with art or play or learning how to do X, Y, Z. It is super, super fun and it's amazing to see. We encourage everyone, if you do decide to go out to post it on social media and just start that change, start the domino effect like, hey, I also want to have a good time outside with my family.

Speaker 1:
[38:57] So for the National Park Trust, you guys help facilitate these activities that are happening throughout these national parks. Is it happening at every national park site or is it more of something you're just encouraging everyone who is near a national park to go utilize this day?

Speaker 3:
[39:13] So it's not even just national park. So I know that we are any park. We are the National Park Trust. And yes, we do work extremely closely with the national parks. But this is like nature centers, state parks, like county parks, regional parks, which we also, especially in our youth programs, work really closely with. I mean, not everyone has a national park even like within...

Speaker 2:
[39:38] I mean, mine is four hours away. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[39:40] I grew up in the Northeast too. And I spent a lot of time in upstate New York where I went to school. It's all state parks there really. Like there's Acadia, I think, is like the only national park in the Northeast, maybe.

Speaker 1:
[39:52] Yeah. There's like national park sites, but in terms of the biggest and like Cape Cod, National Seashore and the Acadia is like the big one. It is mostly national forests or state parks up here.

Speaker 3:
[40:08] Yeah. So just any parks really in general.

Speaker 2:
[40:10] That's great because we've talked a lot about leaning into local and national parks are great. And of course, we love them very much. But I think by focusing in on just national parks, you can miss out a lot on a lot that's just right in your own neighborhood or around the corner. So that's awesome that you guys emphasize that and encourage relationships with lesser known parks. That's awesome.

Speaker 3:
[40:36] Heck yeah. And I mean, it's such like our goal as an organization is not really to find the already pre-established outdoorsy individuals. Like we love to engage with those that are backpackers, those that are trying to check off their list to hitting the big 63 national parks. But we want to find the first timers. Yeah, we want to find people that are maybe a little bit nervous about getting into their parks or outdoor spaces and haven't traditionally felt welcomed in the past. And I think working with local parks, state parks is maybe a big national park. Maybe somebody is really intimidating to someone. Maybe their local park right outside isn't. So if we can get them engaged and especially children engaged with those local parks and state parks, they can start building up to being like, hey, now I'm going to, when I'm older, I'm going to backpack they tea, you know? Yeah. So it's really fun to see the growth. And that's what the organization does is while we do work exclusively with the National Park Service, we're not exclusive to working with the smaller, local and state parks. Yeah. And that's especially true also with the populations that we work with for our youth programs, which are largely like urban areas where their local park is like half concrete and just like a bus ride away. And that's still a park. You can still hang out. You're outside and there's birds and there's stuff to do and dig in the dirt. And you can experience nature there just as much as you can in Yosemite. It is all the same. Nature does not play favorites. Yeah. I love that. That was beautiful, Aylish.

Speaker 1:
[42:23] I know you said it's the third week of every May. What date is that for this year, for 2026?

Speaker 2:
[42:31] Did you say it was the 16th?

Speaker 3:
[42:32] It was the 16th.

Speaker 1:
[42:34] May 16th, 2026.

Speaker 3:
[42:36] What are you guys up to this year, May 16th?

Speaker 1:
[42:40] That's a big question. I'm going to a park now.

Speaker 3:
[42:42] Yeah, that's the only answer we're looking for.

Speaker 2:
[42:47] You guys brought a couple of just quick little, I hate to say like reviews, but just little quick experiences from some of your grantees that have had boots on the ground experience with this type of relationship that you're talking about.

Speaker 3:
[43:07] Aligned with Kids to Parks Day, we also have our Kids to Parks Day School Grants Program, which is my side of the house. The grant program opens every October, and all Title I K-12 classrooms are eligible to apply. Each classroom can apply for up to $1,000 for a park trip. That funding can go towards the bus, it can go towards program fees. What's really cool about the grant too, is it's super collaborative between the teachers and the students. So there's always a student section where they have to answer the prompts that are within the grant. And this is so cute when we read through these, because sometimes there's first grade classrooms, and they're just like, flower. And you're like, correct, you're getting $1,000.

Speaker 1:
[43:59] Go to the park, pay for that.

Speaker 3:
[44:02] They're like, what do you want to see? And they're like, I want to play with my friend Joe at the park. It's like, you're going.

Speaker 1:
[44:09] You deserve that.

Speaker 2:
[44:10] You deserve that for you.

Speaker 3:
[44:12] But anyways, yeah, so the grant opens every October, and so every individual classroom can apply. So if you're in a big school that has five fifth grade classrooms, you can pool together and apply for up to $5,000 to help cover all of those costs. And this year we had almost like 250 applications, and we were able to give out a little over 100 grants. We would love to give out more in the future. So quick plug, if you are passionate about funding park trips for kids, please donate for our Kids to Park State grant program so we can keep it growing. It has grown exponentially every year for the last three years. So spreading the word well. But so on that note, we always ask for some kind of testimonial from each of the grantees. Every year just to kind of like hear about how the trip went and be able to share these stories about the impact of it with you guys and with other potential donors. So this was one trip in particular that, so this was a fifth grade class in San Francisco, California, and they had applied for a camping trip with this really cool organization, Nature Bridge that we work closely with and it's at the Marin Headlands. So this is testimony from a fifth grade student who won the grant and went on this awesome camping trip.

Speaker 1:
[45:41] Very cool.

Speaker 3:
[45:42] Nature Bridge, Marin Headlands was so cool, seriously, it was one of the best weeks of the whole school year. We got to leave the classroom, pack our bags and head out to the Marin Headlands and it was awesome from start to finish. As soon as we stepped off the bus, I could smell trees and flowers and fresh air. It was like we walked into a nature movie. The hike was probably my favorite part. We went down this trail where everything was green and alive and there were birds everywhere and even a squirrel that ran right across the path in front of us and we jumped. Then Jeremy, who was usually quiet, bent down next to this mossy log and said, this is alive, it's like a whole little world. We all crowded around and it totally was. There were poison oaks and bugs everywhere. We started talking about ecosystems and decomposers and all that stuff we learned in science, but it felt so different to actually see it in real life. I was like, this is what science should be. Then there was the night walk, which I didn't think I'd like, but it was actually really fun. We had to hike at night and find a quiet spot to be silent in nature for a few minutes. It was relaxing. My brain felt calm and clear, like all the noise went away. One of my friends said it felt like the earth was talking, and I agree. Back at school, we had a reflection circle and everyone shared what they loved the most. I said, I didn't want to leave. I felt like a scientist and a hiker all at the same time. Other people said they felt brave for hiking or that they saw stuff they'd never seen before. One person even said they were going to ask their family to go hiking that weekend. Honestly, Nature Bridge, Marin Headlands wasn't just a field trip. I learned more in one week than in a whole week of regular science class. I felt helpful and connected to nature. I want to go back with binoculars and my family since they said that there was an area where we can camp. Ten out of ten would hike again.

Speaker 2:
[47:33] This kid's in fifth grade?

Speaker 1:
[47:35] Fifth grade, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[47:37] That was so profound.

Speaker 3:
[47:39] So profound. I know. My brain felt calm and clear. Like all the noise went away.

Speaker 2:
[47:42] Yeah. I was like, okay.

Speaker 3:
[47:44] Beautiful journal entry.

Speaker 1:
[47:46] An old soul, yes. An old soul.

Speaker 3:
[47:49] But I mean, it's like those are the experiences that we're striving for. We are trying to get kids outside so they can have those connections and experience that calm and just love of nature. When you love something, you want to protect it. So that is what we're trying to cultivate through all of these programs, the grants, all of it.

Speaker 1:
[48:12] And getting kids out there like how this person was saying, out here, they felt calm and they were excited and it cleared their mind. This is setting up a relationship with the outdoors for children for the rest of their lives. So further down the line, when they do need their head to feel calm and they need to be relaxed, like, you know, I know where to do that. I know what I need to do. I want to go for a hike. I want to go for a walk or whatever that looks like. You're kind of facilitating the beginning of those relationships with the outdoors.

Speaker 3:
[48:43] It will only ever be a positive and good experience when you go outside and tune into your mental health, tune into your senses. Annaliese and I were talking about how we didn't really grow up as nature kids. I didn't really get into nature until college and stuff. And then I took that trajectory towards environmental education. But to have established that relationship with nature already in fifth grade, you were just extending the time period of that love of nature and that relationship that a student has with nature. And it's just awesome. The earlier the better.

Speaker 2:
[49:19] Yeah, I think Cassie and I talk about that all the time, about how we wish we leaned into our relationship with nature earlier. For whatever reason, we did not. Is, I mean, varied.

Speaker 3:
[49:33] But I don't know either.

Speaker 2:
[49:34] Yeah, it's just it is such a nice opportunity for children because beyond all of that, even just the part where they were mentioning, you know, like we learned about this in class, but it's totally different to see it in the real world. And making that connection between what you're learning in a classroom and its real life applications and seeing it unfold in the natural world is just that connection is great for seeing decomposition and knowing what that is. But also it extends beyond that of like, oh, the things I'm learning really do exist and matter. So that's really cool.

Speaker 1:
[50:12] Of course you say decomposition.

Speaker 2:
[50:14] That's what they did. Is that not what that kid talked about? They did. He said.

Speaker 1:
[50:19] Thank you. It's so funny that that's the one you picked, not like the scientist hiker or what he called.

Speaker 2:
[50:30] Just saying. It stuck out to me.

Speaker 3:
[50:32] Hatchiflex.

Speaker 1:
[50:33] Hatchiflex.

Speaker 3:
[50:34] Decomposition.

Speaker 2:
[50:38] Okay. Well, moving on, I have a trail tale that involves children. So let's get into it. It is titled Granddad Lore Lost and Found with Kids. I also love lore stories.

Speaker 3:
[50:52] I heard lore and my ears broke up.

Speaker 2:
[50:56] Let's get straight into this wild story involving my granddad, who has since retired from his granddad lore level adventures to now making use of his e-bike on more sedate trails and his local Pilates gym, and one of many misadventures.

Speaker 3:
[51:09] Sorry, I was just like, do you guys think on the trail?

Speaker 2:
[51:13] There's a lot going on immediately.

Speaker 3:
[51:15] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[51:16] So grandpa is now taking Pilates. We get that.

Speaker 1:
[51:20] A Pilates king, if you will.

Speaker 2:
[51:21] Yeah. This story is about one of their many misadventures involving three of four of his kids. Picture it. It's in the mid to late 1970s. My grandparents were a young family with four kids living in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. They were very much involved in the outdoor community, skiing both in competitions, training and pleasure in the Australian Alpine area every winter, hiking, rock climbing and swimming in the summer. Also befriending prominent mountain climbers of the time, when they had an outdoor supply store in the city, one of the first of its kind, a story for another email when I get those names. I love when people just drop also, like things are like, we'll get back to you. It's like, I'm waiting.

Speaker 1:
[52:05] Please do. That was crazy.

Speaker 3:
[52:07] We're not going to text about it.

Speaker 1:
[52:08] What do you mean? It's a crazy mic drop, but okay, we'll continue.

Speaker 2:
[52:12] Moving on, I suppose. My dad and his siblings were between the ages of two years old and 10 years old at the time of the story. The family was taking a trip to the Threadbough Parish area in the Alpine region for a week of snow, and one day, granddad took the three older kids, my dad included, for an afternoon ski lesson near the Parishier Pass, leaving grandma and the youngest child at Threadbough Village to relax. Granddad had planned to be back before sunset for dinner, but when it got dark with no sign of him or the three kids, grandma started to worry. She managed to get to a ranger station to tell them about her missing family, and since it was already dark, not snowing, and in the 70s, the search was delayed until dawn. I'm confused at the landscape of this area. We're in Australia, but it's snowing, and it's also 70 degrees. Oh, the 70s, like time.

Speaker 1:
[53:03] The 70s. I was like, wait, how did she know it was 70 degrees? I was like, wait, when did we say it was 70 degrees? And the 70s. Not in the 70s.

Speaker 2:
[53:14] In the 70s.

Speaker 1:
[53:15] And the 70s.

Speaker 2:
[53:16] And the 70s. Okay. Anyway, the search was delayed until dawn. The thinking was that since granddad knew the main trails and it was not snowing, that he and the kids were probably not far and hopefully made it to one of the emergency trail cabins to bunker down for the night. Wrong. Granddad had misjudged the time and had taken the kids along another side trail, leaving him and the three kids stranded in the middle of seemingly nowhere. He dug a hole in the ground and pulled the tarp out of his bag and the four of them sat down with their legs in the hole, with the tarp pulled over their heads and the skis like a makeshift tent. They spent the entire night there, bundled together. In the morning, they managed to find that the main road was just a couple of minutes walk down the hill from where they were, and started walking down the road. Classic.

Speaker 1:
[54:06] That's an awful night's sleep to be like, oh wait, the road's right there. Throw a rock and hit it.

Speaker 2:
[54:14] One of the rangers out searching for them happened upon them on the roadside. He called it in on the radio, and they bundled into the car. Grandma was not too happy, but glad they made it out alive, albeit a little cold and very hungry. At least they got a memorable adventure out of it, and it didn't put the kids off of skiing or camping in the snow.

Speaker 3:
[54:34] Heck yeah.

Speaker 2:
[54:35] Which is great. It's like it could have gone the other way.

Speaker 3:
[54:37] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[54:38] They were even mentioned in the local paper as a family missing overnight story since it was a very small community, where these types of stories were always a juicy talking point. There's one other granddad lore story involving getting trapped in a snowstorm overnight while ice climbing in Tasmania with nothing to eat but a raw onion. But that's a story for another email.

Speaker 1:
[54:59] Oh my god.

Speaker 3:
[55:01] We need to find them.

Speaker 2:
[55:02] Come on. That's like some Stanley Yonat shit.

Speaker 3:
[55:07] I just love the details that they've chosen to include with the e-bike and the onion and like Pilates.

Speaker 1:
[55:15] Pilates.

Speaker 2:
[55:16] Pilates grandpa. Oh, okay, because they need to go to the granddad to retell it for extra details. All right, we'll be eagerly waiting. Thank you for all you do, ladies. Can't wait for more Australia stories. Noni, they, them.

Speaker 3:
[55:32] Have you guys ever had a camping trip gone wrong story?

Speaker 2:
[55:37] I don't know. I feel like-

Speaker 1:
[55:39] Not Gone Wood. Not like-

Speaker 3:
[55:41] I don't want to have one of those.

Speaker 1:
[55:43] Not Search and Rescue Rangers are out looking for us type of situation. The first thing I can think of, which is not a camping gone wrong story, it's just hilarious, is when Danielle and I were in the Badlands, and we have a video of it. We talked about this recently actually, and I forget where we were talking about it on. Oh yeah. But I had packed our tent and I forgot our tent stakes, and it was a crazy windy night on the grasslands, open plains of the Badlands with no tent stakes.

Speaker 3:
[56:19] Wait, so what did you do? Did you just let it fall on you while you were sleeping?

Speaker 1:
[56:23] Well, we were the way that we had, well, we should say, we had the stakes to hold the tent up. We didn't have the stakes in the ground.

Speaker 2:
[56:31] The stakes, we had the tent poles. We had the poles, not the stakes.

Speaker 3:
[56:35] So it's just lying on top of you?

Speaker 1:
[56:37] No, we had the poles, not the stakes, so it could blow away if we were in it. So we were the way, however, because it wasn't like, part of the role of those stakes is to make it your tent is really tight on every side and steady. And because we didn't have that, ours was really flimsy. And in the wind, our whole tent was just going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, all night, pretty much. And we were just sitting there like, is this, are we having a good time?

Speaker 2:
[57:07] Yeah. It's like, Brian, is this our vacation? Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[57:16] Yeah, that's exactly it. It was, we got some really funny videos and not great sleep, but good memories.

Speaker 3:
[57:23] I feel like you either have the best sleep of your life camping, or you get one hour and 16 minutes of sleep spread out throughout the night. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[57:32] I always have wild dreams.

Speaker 3:
[57:35] I do. I always dream about owls when I'm camping.

Speaker 1:
[57:38] Oh, really?

Speaker 3:
[57:39] Very special.

Speaker 1:
[57:40] That's cool.

Speaker 2:
[57:41] Going back to the owl pellet thing. We're all big fans.

Speaker 3:
[57:43] Do you dissect the owl pellets in your dreamer? No. I just see them in the trees and I hear them.

Speaker 1:
[57:50] Well, moving forward back to talk about the National Park Trust a little bit more. At the very beginning of this episode, we mentioned a little bit, or you guys mentioned that you have a program that helps benefit military families and people who have been a part of the military. We'd love to learn a little bit more about what that looks like.

Speaker 3:
[58:09] Yeah. Our military programming, it largely falls on the partnerships that we have with military-affiliated organizations and direct partnerships that we have with the US military including their bases and the programs that they already have in place. For example, some of our amazing partnerships include the National Military Family Association, Project Healing Waters that gets veterans out fly fishing, our military kids, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, which is one of my personal favorite organizations that we partner with, which I'll share a story about a little bit later. We work with the US Air Force, outdoor recreation programs, we work with the Single Marines programs, and we work with these groups exclusively to create memorable park experiences, and they can range from a day trip to multi-night trips at their local national parks. So the reason that we partner with these affiliated organizations is to make sure that we're reaching audiences that have access to these parks and can make them more accessible to them. So we also really prioritize on reducing barriers, things like transportation. We keep mentioning that transportation- It's expensive to take yourself to a park sometimes. It can be expensive to take yourself to a park, and we give gear support and structured ranger programming, so make it a little extra special, like a nice welcome from the park itself, and really get into the nitty gritty of history of the park, and why they're here from park rangers and superintendents, so families simply can just show up and just enjoy and unplug. What I always like to say with our military service members is, they not only serve to protect us, but serve to protect the natural beauty in our parks that we love. To give back and as a thank you from the National Park Trust, just giving them a time to enjoy what they've protected.

Speaker 1:
[60:19] I love that outlook on it too and to bring it around. To also be like, enjoy this. You work so hard for this. You fought for our country for this. Come to it, enjoy it, you deserve it.

Speaker 3:
[60:31] Yeah, and it's heal in it. Exactly. Yeah. It's so special to see. Most of what we work with are families, and it's children of service members that don't get to see maybe their parents very often when they're deployed, and just being able to create those memorable experiences outside is super, super special to see.

Speaker 1:
[60:51] Well, I know you brought a story today that coincides with all of this.

Speaker 3:
[60:57] It did. Yes, I did. I wanted to share a story that encapsulates two things. One, how much I love my job as a programs coordinator, working with military service members, and also how much nature truly heals us as people. So as a programs coordinator with the National Park Trust, working to connect military families with the outdoors, I have had the privilege of meeting some of the most resilient and inspiring people across the US. But one trip in particular touched me in a way I will never forget. In the summer of 2024, again, the same year as my Yosemite. Fair story. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[61:42] Oh, look at the summer.

Speaker 3:
[61:44] Yeah, that happened months apart from each other, which was crazy. In the summer of 2024, the National Park Trust partnered with TAPS, or the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, and coordinated a weekend full of camping, hiking, and exploring Rocky Mountain National Park for Gold Star families. So if you're not familiar, TAPS supports families that have lost a military service loved one, helping children, spouses, parents, and siblings of these fallen service members navigate grief through mentorship, counseling, therapy, and programs that offer care and connection. The National Park Trust partnership with TAPS supports these families through healing and connection in the outdoors and our national parks. We spent three days and two nights surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, offering a group of families an escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life and a space to reconnect with nature and with others going through the same hardships. Together, we hiked, camped, and explored the park with park rangers and took all that the Rockies had to offer. One of the final hikes of the trip to Spruce Lake, two moose suddenly appeared quietly wading through the water. Several participants shared that seeing these moose felt like a visit from their loved ones, a gentle unspoken reminder that they were not alone, and that our loved ones can speak to us in many forms. And I love this because listening to your podcast with some other Trail Tale stories, I've heard just the same stories from people, and it's really touched me because I got to see that in real time. So that was just gorgeous in itself. Yeah. I think that like motif of seeing loved ones or like meanings of animals or just other experiences that you see in nature is just so real. It was so beautiful. Yeah. On the last day before saying our goodbyes, we stood in a large circle, sharing highlights of the weekend, memories of loved ones, and ways reconnecting with the outdoors in the park, helps them find some peace. Something that I will never forget was a young boy who had lost his father, shared that this weekend was the first time since his father's death that he woke up without the feeling of dread and the weight of the world. He shared that he had felt a piece of himself be restored just by walking through the trees and being surrounded by the mountains and lakes in the park. Hearing him speak, witnessing families who have not known each other before the trip, hold each other while sharing these stories and experiences with grief, I felt the weight of their loss and the courage it takes to be present with it. Someone in the circle asked me about the tattoo on my arm that says, look up, which is this one. You can't see it, but it's there. To me, it has many meanings. To lift your chin up when life feels heavy, to find connection in the eyes of others and to lose yourself in the beauty of what's around you. That weekend, I realized it meant something more. I told the group after sharing my own interpretation of my tattoo that even after we say goodbye to this weekend of healing and connection within the park, as we return home, realize we are never too far from these mountains and forests or to each other, because when you look up at the sky, it's the same sky that connects you to the Rockies, to each other and to the mountains and the memories we shared and created. While it's a big cheesy looking back, I meant every word. I was so inspired by the strength of each of these families and individuals and helpless that I couldn't do more for each of them. It only felt natural to share a motto that connects me to the outdoors and to the people around me in hopes they could resonate with someone and help them on their journey through grief. Weeks later, I received an email from one of our trip participants. They wrote, and I quote, I wanted to share a copy of the tattoo I got after the Colorado weekend. Annaliese from the National Park Trust inspired it with the one she has that says look up. It always reminds me of that weekend. End quote. I'm so grateful and blessed to experience the beauty of our parks with communities across the country and call it a career. That weekend of the Rockies surrounded by strength, courage, and love is something that I will carry with me always. Caring for our parks is caring for each other. Enjoy the view, but watch your back because someone you love always has it.

Speaker 2:
[66:07] Annaliese, way to make me tear up. I mean, that's not hard to do, but- It was a really beautiful, such a beautiful, profound experience, and such an important program. Not to say that. I think what I'm impressed by the most with the National Park Trust and the plethora of programs that you guys offer is just how many communities and groups of people that you're servicing and touching, and working for and with. And just the profound change in people's lives that they're facilitating. It's not just a, hey, we really like nature. We think you should like nature, and let's protect nature. It's more of how do you connect with the outdoors? How does it change your life? And how can you connect with each other through it? And this is just such a beautiful example of that.

Speaker 3:
[67:09] Yeah. Thank you for saying that. Yeah, I think that we do try and make it a personal thing for each and every student, college ambassador, college student, military family, military child, whatever it may be. Just speaking for myself, my relationship with nature is so coveted and personal and special and important to me. And I strive to inspire that in other students. Like seeing that sense of wonder, that sense of connection, peace, calm, whatever it may be, that we can help inspire through these kids trips or military program outings. There's so many positive benefits to be had when you just start connecting with your local park, your local trail, whatever it may be. We just need to protect these lands, and that's another thing that we do. We are an accredited land trust and we protect lands. We haven't really gotten into that yet. But yeah, it just is also really cool to be in this community of outdoors people and the outdoors women who are confident and able to facilitate these things. It's just great. Yeah. It's such a special organization. It's very apparent on who we service and how special it is through the anecdotal stories, through our staff, the individuals that actually take part in our outings. But even so, it does give back to us. I hope that when we're talking, we are really talking from such a place of passion. Yeah. And we love the outdoors so much, and we just want to share it with others and all the communities and find different ways and outlets that the outdoors can heal us and different ways we can enjoy it and just take from it and learn from it. And everyone in the National Park Trust is so passionate and it's so fun to see just the passion radiate through our work. And just being able to... I would have never experienced this if I was never working with the National Park Trust or in going even further back before I found this as an ambassador program. So it all dominoes. It's all a big butterfly effect, but yeah, super special.

Speaker 1:
[69:28] Well I definitely feel the love that you guys have for the parks and for the outdoors. I mean, you can feel it, but it's also contagious. I'm in my own mind now being like, okay, what's my next adventure? What am I going to do next? So I guess my next question here is for other people who are listening right now, who are feeling the exact same way that are like, okay, I'm inspired, I'm ready to go. How do I join this? Where do I look for this? How can people join these programs that we've talked about today? Or I know the National Park Trust is a lot more even than what we've covered so far today. So for people who are really feeling inspired right now, where can they go to find more information on all of this?

Speaker 3:
[70:10] Well, you can go to our website, ourtrust.org. We are all over social media, TikTok, Instagram. You can donate to us. You can even specify where you want your donation to go. So if you are super passionate about our kids' youth program, you can say, I would like to fund towards the Kids to Parks Day grant program. Like to sponsor one of the Buddy Bison schools and fund field trips throughout the school year. Like you are more than welcome to do that. And we also have our lands department. And if you own land that you're looking to donate to the National Park Service, we can help you facilitate that transaction. Yeah. Yeah. I would say the biggest way to connect with us, definitely go on our website. We have a newsletter that keeps you up to date with everything and all of our projects that we're working on. And the best way to just support our work is donating. And I just want to share that there are many amazing organizations that work to protect and preserve our national parks. I want to differentiate ourselves as the National Park Trust, the trust, T, trust. Not foundation, though we love the foundation. We love the foundation. They're the charitable partners of the National Park Service. We don't get as much of support is the wrong word, but donor dollars as they do, they're the big partners of the National Park, the charitable partners of the National Park Service. We are the boots on the ground people that put on these programs. We are the ones, Aylish and I are the ones traveling to these different parks and making it happen. So not to discredit anyone or any other entity that does similar work, but supporting our work specifically really empowers us to continue the work that we're doing and the passion that we said or we're trying to present to the world. So just look for when you're looking us up, and I know you'll have it hopefully in the show notes, but look for parktrust.org and look for the tree logo. We're looking for the tree, not necessarily like the... Eyes by a tree. The shield that everyone knows and loves. Look for that little tree that we have.

Speaker 1:
[72:32] Well, also speaking of donations, we're doing something fun collaboratively and together.

Speaker 3:
[72:39] Everyone wants a new shirt.

Speaker 1:
[72:41] Yes, we all do. We all love merch. So we are doing a merch collab with the National Park Trust, where we have some really fun designs. And in the spirit of youth programs, we have some youth sizes for kids, which we know that a lot of our listeners have been like, hey, get me more youth stuff, because we've only done a couple things so far. So we do have some designs. And for this specific design in the merch, all of the profits from this are going to the National Park Trust. So that is a direct way that listeners can donate.

Speaker 2:
[73:17] Yeah, and it'll be a design that is similar for an adult size and a youth size so you can fulfill Cassie's dream and match.

Speaker 3:
[73:27] Family matching, family matching.

Speaker 2:
[73:30] That's right. Yeah. And so we would love to see people not only support the National Park Trust, but tag us and them in your photos in the merch and with your buddy Bison and out and enjoying the next adventure that you're on and maybe share with all of us what you've learned or pieces of your experience that were life-changing or just a happy good memory.

Speaker 1:
[73:53] Send us a trail tale.

Speaker 2:
[73:54] Yeah, we would love to know.

Speaker 3:
[73:56] Send us a trail tale from a time going to the park wearing your new merch with Buddy Bison clipped to your back.

Speaker 2:
[74:02] Yeah, that's right. And just, I guess, to close out, we would love to hear from you guys. Like either, you can answer either your favorite, I hate when people ask us this, so I won't frame it of like, what is your favorite park? Like, because I know it might be hard. But maybe your favorite park experience or something that was memorable on a park trip.

Speaker 3:
[74:28] Yeah, definitely. I can go. So we work with a school out in Beaumont, Texas through our Buddy Bison school program. And last year, I went on one of their field trips to Big Thicket National Preserve. Have you guys ever been there?

Speaker 2:
[74:44] No.

Speaker 3:
[74:45] Okay. It's really cool. They have a lot of like carnivorous plants there. They have like a carnivorous plant trail. That's really awesome.

Speaker 2:
[74:54] Ooh, fun.

Speaker 3:
[74:55] Yeah, it's cool.

Speaker 1:
[74:56] That's really cool.

Speaker 3:
[74:57] But yeah, this trip was really cool because it was eighth grade students and I worked with the park and our lead Buddy Bison teacher to coordinate a stewardship project where the park had just done a controlled burn. And so they were looking to like replant the understory in front of the visitor center. And so the students were able to actually plant little bluestem grass, which is like a native restorative grass. And like we were just framing it in such a way where like you can come back here for the rest of your life and know that you changed this plot of land and you helped restore this plot of land and like, yeah, we just like all the kids were just like laughing with their friends and it was just fun to see them all on a field trip doing this like awesome stewardship project around Rangers and like knowing that them leaving the park that day was literally changing the ecosystem of that park.

Speaker 2:
[75:53] Yeah, making a difference.

Speaker 3:
[75:54] The rest of their life. And so that was an awesome trip. That's amazing that kids can come back to that park and point and be like, I did that. I planted that. I planted that. Yeah, that is so fun. I wish I could say that. Yeah, that would be so fun. That is so much fun. It's so hard to choose one. One of my favorite outings that we do is at Carter Rock. I'm a huge rock climber, and it's Carter Rock in Maryland, part of the Great Falls National Park or, you know, our local parks, the National Park Service site. And it gets families out rock climbing on the cliff space in Maryland. And it is just so great to see military families just come together, get out of their comfort zone climbing rocks. And there is this like three-year-old girl strapped up in her full body body harness, having just the absolute best time of her life. Was she actually climbing the wall? No, was she more like being pulled up it? Yes, but you could just see how special it was to her. It's gonna be a memory that lasts for a lifetime.

Speaker 1:
[77:06] I feel like a roller coaster.

Speaker 3:
[77:07] And she's honestly probably gonna be in the Olympics sometime.

Speaker 2:
[77:10] Yeah, I've been there.

Speaker 1:
[77:12] That was just the beginning.

Speaker 3:
[77:14] I was like, remember me when you're climbing the big boulders.

Speaker 1:
[77:19] Yeah. Like, I was here.

Speaker 3:
[77:21] Yeah, I created this. Yeah, it's so special. There's like so many funny stories, though, too, from the kids at parks, like on fishing trips, like getting ear piercings, like we were on like a salamander hike out in Nattahala, North Carolina. And like the salamanders were going into this kid's cast and he's like shaking them out. Like, I don't know. They're so...

Speaker 1:
[77:46] Kids are a riot.

Speaker 3:
[77:47] Kids are a riot.

Speaker 1:
[77:49] And seeing kids in the outdoors is... When I worked in outdoor education, I specifically worked with kids from like, they were around 8 to 13 years olds. And a lot of them, it was some of their first experiences in nature. And just to see kids with their eyes wide, just looking at everything around them and really taking it in. And they're so funny and creative when they're out there. And they're totally... I mean, I remember kids would come out and they'd be like, so where do I use my iPad at the beginning? And by the end, they're covered in dirt, they're climbing stuff, they're trying to... You know, they're like, it's just so cool to see how well kids connect with nature and just the stories that come out of them being in those spaces.

Speaker 3:
[78:36] Yeah, even in the course of like a two hour field trip outside, like that sense of wonder. And it helps me to reignite like my inner child and my sense of wonder being out in nature to see that, like it's very refreshing to see that so often.

Speaker 2:
[78:51] Well thank you ladies so much for joining us and sharing your passion and all the information about the National Park Trust. We will share all of the things of where people can find you. And hopefully we see some Buddy Bisons out there in the wild. I'll have my eyes peeled now, I legitimately did not know anything about it before and now I'm going to be like scouring crowds for this keychain. I mean, I have mine actually right on the desk because you sent it. And I'm going to actually give it to, he's not listening because he's like four. But I'm going to give it to my nephew for the summer. And hopefully get him out somewhere because his mom is pretty indoorsy. I'll be the cool aunt to get him out there.

Speaker 3:
[79:41] We'd love to see where Buddy Bison's been. Tag us on social media, Park Trust. And thank you guys so much for speaking with us and asking your questions and giving us the platform to share more about our work and just get people excited about parks. You're really great. Yeah, and just closing out, you guys play such a big part in people's experiences with the outdoors and you guys being able to share stories and tell stories so well about the outdoors. And it really does encourage people to explore more, maybe be a little bit mindful of bears and the scarier things, but it does get, it motivates people to get outside. And we can't thank you enough for the work that you all do. Just speaking about the national parks and your passion for telling stories and other people's stories. So really cool that we could work together.

Speaker 1:
[80:33] It's our favorite part.

Speaker 2:
[80:35] Yeah, we appreciate that. Thank you so much. All right, everyone. Well, do you guys want to help us close out?

Speaker 3:
[80:41] Yeah, we'd love to. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[80:43] All right. Well, we will see everyone next time. In the meantime, enjoy the view.

Speaker 3:
[80:50] But watch your back.

Speaker 2:
[80:51] But watch your back. Amazing. I didn't prep you for that, so you did great.

Speaker 1:
[81:04] Thanks for joining us for another episode. We hope you learned something new and have another location to put on your list. If you want more MPAD content, make sure to follow along with our adventures on all socials at National Park After Dark.

Speaker 2:
[81:16] For more stories just like this one with the added bonus of exclusive content, you can join us on Patreon or Apple subscriptions. If you prefer to watch our episodes, head over to our YouTube channel. If you're enjoying the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite listening platform.