Park Rats Podcast

Wondering what it's like working in a park during the current pandemic? We get an inside scoop from our good friend Tom who tells us about his experience working in Glacier National Park during COVID. Park work is at an uncertain time so if you are thinking about working in a National Park right now, this episode shines a light on some of the realities.

  0:00 - 9:39 - Matt and Josh riffin'

  9:39 - 13:48 - Mt. Rushmore rant

  13:48 - 37:37 - Tom Interview

  Be sure to check out our website and follow us on instagram and Josh's grandma on  facebook! We also just set up a Reddit and Tik Tok. We will keep you up to date on new guest announcements, cool National Park photos and some straight up dumb photos of Matt, Josh and our guests.

  If you or a friend have worked in a national park and want to share your story you can reach out to us on our website or DM us on instagram. We are trying to show all aspects of working in a national park and we are looking forward to hearing more of your stories!

Who hasn't wanted to say "screw it I'm living in a van" after this year. Well in this episode we talk about the realities of living in a van! Not the stuff you see on your Instagram or Tik Tok of influencers sipping coffee in tricked out Mercedes sprinter van, but the real deal. Van life is awesome, you get to live somewhere different any time you want and take your whole house with you. However, travelling with friends or alone, there is a lot that  goes into life on the road. We are lucky enough to have a few friends that did just that. Luke and Kate join us for a tell all on their van life they have lived over the past few years. We're going to cover:

  What is it like to travel and live in a van?

  How do you keep up with sleep, hygiene and sanity when living in a moving box?

  Best part of van life?
 
  Worst part of van life?

  00:00 Jazzy beat
  00:18 Super vibey intro
  00:46 Intro to the topic, Van life, the different variants of Vandwellers, reality vs. instagram
  02:39 Beer of the Day, Loophole Brewing
  03:48 Call to all vandwellers
  05:05 Intermission
  05:22 Intro with Kate and Luke, Luke's odometer,
  07:05 Tree-O Woodworks Van conversion, Van Layout,
  11:15 Realities of driving the van
  12:09 Hygiene on the road, Trucker bombs, balanced spoiled kombucha (nsfw),
  16:15 Sleeping in the van, getting launched around the van, Gary Indiana, A whole lotta flying boys,
  19:07 Distractions and road sodas, cracking a crispy cold one
  19:44 Getting caught, Crackheads, late night encounters,
  20:45 Van reactions from outsiders
  22:29 Corporate America, breaking in the van, Having multiple occupants, Bus driver Luke
  24:30 Finding camp, Freecamping.duj, hucking and praying for good campsites, iOverlander,
  28:25 Best and worst part of van life, Campsite noises and skinwalkers
  34:00 Luke and Kate's final thoughts
  35:45 Signing off

  Guys! Follow Kate's awesome  instagram page and ask her any park or travel itinerary questions. She is amped up to help you get to the parks and explore.
 
  Be sure to check out our website and follow us on instagram and Josh's grandma on  facebook! We also just set up a Reddit and Tik Tok. We will keep you up to date on new guest announcements, cool National Park photos and some straight up dumb photos of Matt, Josh and our guests.

  If you or a friend have worked in a national park and want to share your story you can reach out to us on our website or DM us on instagram. We are trying to show all aspects of working in a national park and we are looking forward to hearing more of your stories!

This episode is dedicated to talking about some of the conservation of our National Parks. We obviously love National Parks but aside from all of the crazy stories we have shared we still want to make sure our parks stay as as they were intended... wild. Grace shares her expertise on how visitors can understand how the national parks, specifically Yosemite work with nature's natural process. We advocate for clean parks so everyone can enjoy so leave only footprints and take only photos when visiting these great parks.

Some questions we are about to answer:

  Where is Half Dome's other half?

  What is Yosemite's Firefall?

   How do ice cubes and the Valley relate?

  What is Wildland Urban Interface?

  00:00 - Saucy beat
  00:19 - Intro
  01:35 - Burp sponsor, a Woo shout out, and Bobby Shmurda?
  02:20 - Intro to the topic, Park conservation
  03:35 - Some of nature's processes we encountered, appreciating what we are given, perspective based in science
  05:25 - Introducing our favorite conservationist
  06:06 - Interview time! Talking trees and park life with Grace "The Blessed", our number one fan, hard kombucha
  07:10 - Graces first impressions, living in Merced, a new experience in the park, enlisting new park rats, saying yes to new opportunities
  11:30 - Grace's education and major, why she chose it, and her feelings on making the decision years later
  13:31 - Top ten facts about Yosemite, Curry village and Horsetail Falls, birding, California quail and other Yosemite wildlife, announcing our blue heron sponsorship, Mirror Lake, Merced River
  18:50 - Grace's takeaways after living in the park, Degnan's Deli coming up once again, going from people to Park Rats, Sorbet in the Awahnee, crazy park tenures
  22:40 - Wildfires! Smokey the Bear, managing land and how nature adapts, differences in regulations, the apocalypse, keeping the visitors happy
  26:54 - Doing your part in keeping the parks clean, no souvenirs, take only pictures and leave only footprints, drunk Europeans on the loose
   29:18 - Grace's final thoughts
  30:00 - Wrap up

Follow Grace and her upcycle empire!
@sprucegruce

  Be sure to check out our website and follow us on instagram and (not this one) facebook! We will keep you up to date on new guest announcements, cool National Park photos and some straight up dumb photos of Matt, Josh and our guests.

  If you or a friend have worked in a national park and want to share your story you can reach out to us on our website or DM us on instagram. We are trying to show all aspects of working in a national park and we are looking forward to hearing more of your stories!

In this spicy episode we talk about what it is like getting nasty in a national park. Get some headphones for this one because we talk about some intimate stuff! Sex in the park happens and we talk about the reality of how close national park workers get when it comes to the freaky. Stay safe out there Park Rats fans but also have some fun and enjoy the scenery while you can ;)

Be sure to check out our website and follow us on instagram, twitter and facebook! We will keep you up to date on new guest announcements, cool National Park photos and some straight up dumb photos of Matt, Josh and our guests 

If you or a friend have worked in a national park and want to share your story you can reach out to us on our website or DM us on instagram. We are trying to show all aspects of working in a national park and we are looking forward to hearing more of your stories!

In this gassed up episode we talk jobs. Working in a national park means that when you're not exploring the amazing scenery and chilling with your new family, you are going to be working. A lot of national park hospitality jobs are super random so you never know what you are gonna get. We talk about the Jobs we were tasked with in Yosemite, shenanigans at the Awahnee Resort and Basecamp . We also talk to our buddy Kyle about getting a bad job in a national park and how he made the best of a down bad situation.

  "So what do I do if I don't have a group willing to go to a park?". Well In this episode we talk about that very question! We discuss what drives someone to a park knowing only a few people and how that changes in a matter of days. Brendan is a special guest to this podcast because he was ready to be a part of it from when it was just an idea in our heads. He describes his personal experience of how he ended up in the park and how we eventually met through strange circumstances.

  00:00 - Straight up banging beat
  00:15 - Intro with the rats, Sierra Nevada,
  01:40 - What happens after you move in to the park?, meeting people in the park, living situations in Yosemite, Frat Row community,
  04:07 - Going to live and work in the park alone, community within Yosemite employees
  08:27 - Introducing Brendan, Josh's nickname,
  09:11 - Brendan's reason for coming to Yosemite, Life in Michigan, the Yosemite job search and his first job in the park, his bus trip in,
  15:21 - Tunnel View impressions, Navigating the park alone,
  19:23 - Starting a job, occupation orientation in the park, "Brenda"
  21:42 - How we met Brendan, time flies, Valley Uprising
  24:50 - The effects of National Park communities, getting out of your comfort zone,
  27:32 - Closing notes, Brendan's takeaways
  30:35 - End
 
  Don't forget to follow us on instagram, and check out our website but please please don't follow us on facebook! Facebook sucks but we have one if you want to dm us roasting us for having an account.

  If you or a friend have worked in a national park and want to share your story you can reach out to us on our website or message us on instagram. We are trying to show all aspects of working in a national park and we are looking forward to hearing more of your stories!

Hello everybody and welcome to the Park Rats Podcast! On this podcast we want to give park workers a chance to give an honest opinion of what its like living and working in a national park. Tune in for more episodes diving deep into the life of a park worker.

First Park Impressions ft. Luke S.

People have many different reasons to leave their normal life behind and seek employment within our National Parks. From seeking a summer filled with outdoor activities, running away from something, or embracing their inner hippie. Within this episode we talk about what motivated us to take the trip to Yosemite that changed our lives and made us the park rats we are today. The highlight of this episode is sitting down with the one who showed us that park life was possible to hear about his first impressions in Yellowstone and why he went to Yosemite the next year.

  00:00 - Intro to the Park Rats Podcast and the world of national park hospitality
  01:40 - Beer of the day
  02:30 - Topic introduction, first impressions in Yosemite Valley, taking the first step into national parks
  05:05 - The dawn of the first park rat, creation of the Mass. boys, summer adventures in the Yosemite
  07:25 - West Coast travels, San Francisco, and Merced California shenanigans
  11:25 - Bus rides, Tunnel View, El Cap, and Yosemite Falls
  12:25 - Jobs and why we were able to live in the parks
  13:32 - First day, tent 69, "Frat Row", housing under firefall, climbing and bouldering, salads and bears
  18:50 - Interview with Luke, what led him to Yellowstone, a Reddit epiphany
  21:25 - Road tripping, Gardner Montana, euphoria, the first time
  24:12 - Caravan with friends
  25:35 - Finding out working at Parks is actually a thing and how people choose to go, the nostalgia factor
  30:15 - The Park Rat attitude
  33:40 - Last thoughts and advice
  42:20 - Wrap up


  Be sure to check out our website and follow us on instagram and (not this one) facebook! We will keep you up to date on new guest announcements, cool National Park photos and some straight up dumb photos of Matt, Josh and our guests.

  If you or a friend have worked in a national park and want to share your story you can reach out to us on our website or DM us on instagram. We are trying to show all aspects of working in a national park and we are looking forward to hearing more of your stories!