Nat Park Stories

While in on the Kenai Peninsula, I parked near a big built out bus on the side of the road.  It seemed like the perfect place to camp for the night, with a gorgeous view of the water and the surrounding mountains.   The brown bus nearby had black trees painted on it and “The Skoolie” written on the side and although signal was hard to come by, for about 5 minutes I had signal on my phone, so I googled the name of the bus. I found the instagram account and send a message to Dean Chytraus, the owner of the bus.   I asked him if he was interested in chatting over margaritas, which I had in my van. The text was so awkward to send and I didn’t think he’d respond. But a couple of minutes later, he did and invited me over. I explored his amazing bus and asked if I could record our conversation.   Although we do talk a lot about National Parks, the conversation often veers into talks about life on the road, what got Dean into this life, how he prepared for his journey, and where his travels have taken him.   You definitely hear more of my voice in this episode because as soon as I started talking to Dean, I felt like I was chatting with an old friend. He has such a friendly and welcoming demeanor, making even Rocky feel comfortable in his presence.   Dean has since sold his bus, with the plan to buy a sailboat, but you can still follow his travels and amazing photography on instagram or YouTube at The Skoolie or @uncooldean.       Want to follow along with Nat Park Stories? Join Nat Park Stories on Facebook or Instagram!

“If I could tell anyone to do anything, it would just be to do an experience like this. You know, meet 13 strangers and see the world.”  -Lizzy McSpadden   When I met Lizzy, she was on a road trip with more than a dozen strangers, on day 9 of an Alaskan tour.   Lizzy decided that she wanted to see Alaska before she started what she calls her “big girl job”, working as a lawyer in Arkansas, so she booked a trip with Trek America.   She is on a quest to visit all the National Parks and on a mission to get her travel companions to start saying “y’all”.   I absolutely loved the way she described the view, summing it up with the word majestic.   And I’d have to agree.   Let’s jump in!   Want to follow along with Nat Park Stories? Join Nat Park Stories on Facebook or Instagram!

“It’s wild up here. You’ve got to be ready for everything.” -Ashley Gamble     I am so excited for you to hear this episode.   Ashley Gamble is a tour guide for a company that takes adventure seekers on ROAD TRIPS to National Parks and cities.   As you will hear in the interview, she drives a 15 passenger Ford Transit full of tourists to various places all across America.   Trips last anywhere from 7 to SEVENTY FIVE days.   Imagine it, you and 14 strangers road tripping, camping, hiking, fishing, eating, and adventuring together for weeks at a time all through America.   To me, it sounds like a dream.   Midway through the interview, I ask her how she found this job and how you can join their team or take a trip with them. Here’s the link!   I met Ashley while we were in Wrangell St. Elias, on day 7 of their National Park trip.   She’s been to Wrangell several times and fondly told me that the Park blows her mind every second. Haha   You’re going to love this.    Want to follow along with Nat Park Stories? Join Nat Park Stories on Facebook or Instagram!

People often ask how long my interviews are and I ask them how long a conversation is. It can be one minute or three hours.    This is a really fun episode because it gives you a real peak into what actually happens on the road… a conversation that turns into an interview, and goes off in different directions, as new people are introduced, and new conversations start.   It’s only an 8 minute episode simply because at the end of it, another person I knew pulled up and soon the conversation became hard to follow as we all bonded and connected and told our stories.   Before you hear that, you have to understand how extremely ironic it was that we would happen upon each other.  In my month and a half in Alaska, the couple that pulls up and yells my name toward the end are the only people I saw more than once.   Weeks previously, we had met very briefly at a bus stop in Denali National Park, over 60 miles into the Park. They didn’t want to do an interview at the time, but they still wanted to talk. So we chatted for over 20 minutes about their life and their adventures. It was a wonderful and memorable conversation.   Then 3 weeks later, as I was interviewing Larry Williams, one of my Wrangell Rescuers, I heard my name called out and the couple and I reconnected.   At the end, you hear how we all pulled over on the side of this long, winding dirt road and just talked like old friends. The recording actually went on for over 30 minutes, but like any conversation with 5 people, it took many turns and became hard to follow so I only included the beginning.    Before we jump in, I also want to give you a little background about the person I am interviewing, Larry Williams, who was really quite fun to talk with. Before I started recording, he told me a bit about what brought him from Maryland, all the way to Alaska to visit his friend.  He told me about his experience as an adventure blogger and about his dreams of starting his own podcast. You can follow all of his adventures at TruVentureOutdoors.com.   Let’s jump in!    Want to follow the Nat Park Stories journey?  Join Nat Park Stories on Facebook or Instagram!

“This is my first time in interior Alaska and it’s just phenomenal. It won’t be my last time, that’s for sure.” - Andrew Aughenbaugh   I met Augie, in a very hilarious way… By being stuck in a ditch in the largest National Park in the country.    I cannot begin to capture the relief I felt when this big truck with a towing rig right on front and Maryland plates, pulled up to my rescue.    Augie had been on the road for three months, driving all the way from Maryland to Alaska, tent camping every night.   I was shocked when he told me that.    He has biked, canoed, hunted, camped, explored, fished and adventured his way all across Canada and Alaska, and he wasn’t finished yet.   About 7 minutes in, Angie talks about what he brought with him on his 3 month trek and he’s agreed to share his contact info with you so that you could reach out to him with any adventure or gear related questions, seeing as he is WAY more experienced with the rugged adventuring than I. You can reach him on his website: AugiesAdventures.com     He also reached out to me just a couple of months ago and told me about a book he’d just released about his adventures. You can find it on Amazon by searching Following The River's Current   At the end of this interview, after the outro, I included a little treat. Apparently I was recording a bit about the bumpy road when I was run off the road by an RV and ended up in that ditch… it seemed pretty relevant and it cracks me up every time I hear it, so I put that short audio at the end.   Anyway, I hope you enjoy this interview with my Wrangell rescuer, Augie.   Let’s jump in!    Want to follow Summer’s journey?  Join Nat Park Stories on Facebook or Instagram!

"Wrangell is often referred to as the Park without handrails."   Brendon Seaholser was such an interesting interview because of his honest and blunt demeanor, as well as his love of the park and adventures of all kind.    During this interview, we talk about what brought him to Wrangell St. Elias, one of the month desolate and isolated parks in the country, a story which starts in Vermont, and winds through many continents. We also talk about how unbelievably vast the Park is, and the possible consequences of going into this wilderness unprepared.    You’ll hear him talk about the stories of going into the wild, about the dangers he’s witnessed, and the magic too, the unreal beauty of the largest Park in the country, and one of the largest pieces of wilderness in the world.    One of my favorite things about this interview is the awe that you can hear in Brendon’s voice as he talks about the Park and especially, the mountains.  You can hear how much love and respect he has for this place, and it made me feel it too.    When I walked out of the tiny one room visitor’s center where I’d met him, I felt a chill of excitement to be in such an incredible place. I felt so grateful to be witness to this Park that had created such awe in this man I’d had the pleasure of meeting.  It gave me a new way of looking at, and respecting, this unfamiliar place.    As you hear me mention in the interview, earlier that day, I’d had a few hiccups on the main road, namely ending up in a ditch, being towed out by strangers, then later having a flat tire, which I describe at the end of the interview. At the time, I’d questioned why I was even there, in the middle of this wild and overwhelming place, until this interview that made me so incredibly aware of how fortunate I was to be there and how precious this Park really is.    I really can’t wait to share this one with you!   Want to see more? Check out Nat Park Stories on Facebook and Instagram or on the Patreon Blog.

"I'm fairly well traveled and this is the best place I could find." -Jim D.      As you can probably tell during the beginning of this episode, when I first met Jim, I thought uhhhh, okay this is going to be an interesting interview… And I was right. But I had no idea how much I would enjoy spending time with him.    You can tell with his first sentence that he is a goofy guy, but what you probably don’t get is how he goes out of his way to help anyone and everyone that comes down that long winding 66 mile drive and finds themselves at the end of the road, at the 80 acre camp area he runs.   As you can hear a couple minutes into the interview, he greets everyone the same way, with a joke and a smile, and everyone that I saw talk to him, walked away with a smile. And as a side note, I actually interview the women you hear Jim talking to, who is a tour guide that has been back many times with her groups and has a fascinating story.   You also hear us attempt to chase off some bears, which is pretty entertaining. Most of the interview is just us chatting about his life on the camp ground, and you really get a peak into a typical day in his life.    I got to hang out with Jim for hours that day. After the interview, he invited me into one of his buildings for coffee, he has a school bus and several little trailers all parked a short hike from the place were he greets the campers. We drank coffee and we talked about books, nature, loneliness, and life.   We drove around the camp site, talked to a man that pulled a car out of a swamp, filled up Jim’s tires, and talked and talked until the sun went down.   The next morning, when I woke up with a flat tire, I found a note on my window from Jim, who’d been monitoring the parking lot that morning it said, “come see me and we’ll fix up those flatties”.    Oh and I got to meet his bunny, Dinner.  Yes, he named his bunny Dinner.    If you saw Jim, you might say that he looks like a rough mountain man with a big smile.  He got extra lonely one day, living at the end of a long road in no where Alaska, and walked into a pet store (similar to what I did years ago on my 2 month road trip). Instead of a puppy that caught his eye, a bunny made him stop and smile.  He picked up the white rabbit and held it in his arms. Not one, but THREE women came up to him and in horror asked if he was planning to eat that bunny.  After the third time, he stopped being offended and just laughed it off, deciding to name his new companion Dinner.    He is kind and goofy, and I hope you enjoy hearing this interview as much as I enjoyed recording it.    Want to see more? Check out Nat Park Stories on Facebook and Instagram or on the Patreon Blog.

“It just makes you realize that you’re not the only person out here, you know? Think about everybody else. You’re the one person living your life but there’s so much more… there’s so many people and we’re all experiencing it.” -Heidi Goheen   Heidi Goheen a really fun interview because we got along right away and were able to have a conversation about not only the Kenai Fjord National Park, where she’s visited more than a dozen times, and about the bummmppyyyy boat ride we were on, but also about the other Parks she’s been to, what drew her to the Park, why she takes everyone that visits her there, and some magical experiences she’s had in the Park — seeing bears, whales breaching, and river otters, and even swimming in glacial water on a hot summer day!   About 15 minutes in, you’ll hear as we spot a sea lion and get a taste of what it felt like to see wildlife on this dense, foggy day in this spectacular and unique Park.   And as I found out during the interview, Heidi is a tour guide and Alaska Travel Expert, so about 20 minutes into the interview, she’ll tell you about all the many interesting things you can do within the Kenai Fjords.    Then we meandered into talking about my journey, why I’m doing this podcast, my personal take on this Park, and how I fund my travels.   And at the end, I see the first whale I’ve ever seen.  You can feel my excitement, and the enthusiasm of the people all around me.    After we see the whale, Heidi and I say our goodbyes off the mic.    This is a fun episode to give you a real taste of what the boat ride to the Kenai Fjords felt like and of all the experiences that can be had within just this one National Park.    Want to see more? Check out Nat Park Stories on Facebook and Instagram or on the Patreon Blog.

"I think everyone should explore their parks... I've gotten to go to quite a few and there isn't anything quite like Kenai Fjords National Park.”  -Josh Grove   During the ride to Kenai Fjord National Park, I talked with a deck hand on the ship, Josh Grove, who has been working out in Seward for a few years.   During the course of his interview, we talk about what brought him to this National Park, and he gives some really interesting information about what a fjord is and how the glaciers have receded just in the few short years he’s been at the Park.   You really feel like you're on the boat during this interview, as the waves hit the boat and we surge more than 6 feet in the water (which is apparently NBD to Josh).   Want to see more? Check out Nat Park Stories on Facebook and Instagram or on the Patreon Blog.

“I’m from Tennessee where in the winter time, it can get to mid-80s... and I love the heat and I will sacrifice all that just to be here because it’s so impressively cool.” -Mikey Martin   Mikey Martin is a Safari Guide that I met on the boat ride to the Kenai Fjords National Park.   In his two summers in Alaska, he has done that boat ride about 80 times. And as hard as it is to believe, each time provides a new and unique experience.    And it would have to… What else would bring a Nashville boy who loves the warmth all the way up to the icy glaciers of Alaska two years in a row?   This conversation starts off a little slow, but it really picks up speed 4 minutes in when you hear Mikey talk about what draws him to the parks and to Alaska and what his favorite memories of the park are.    And at 8 minutes into the interview, you get to actually hear the glacier lose a massive chunk of ice, and the crowd ooohs and awes. It still gives me chills to hear that part of the interview.    You can feel like you’re right on the boat, listening to the chunks of ice hit the metal, with the wind blowing, and the ranger talking just a little bit over the interview.   You can hear Mikeys excitement really build after the glacier calves, and you hear how extremely knowledgeable and passionate he is about this part of the world. Twenty minutes into the interview, Mikey describes the ice burgs (or car size burgees) that our boat literally hits as it backs away from the glaciers.    As he mentions in the interview, he planned on returning to Alaska this winter and because we’re became friends during the interview, I saw that he just a couple of weeks ago, he did in fact head back up to Alaska to tough it in the winter.    Want to see more? Check out Nat Park Stories on Facebook and Instagram or on the Patreon Blog.