Alaska Interview with The Skoolie Owner Dean Chytraus
NatParkStories's podcast
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,...
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Wrangell Interview With Arkansas Lawyer Road Tripping with 12 Strangers
NatParkStories's podcast
“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...
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Wrangell Interview with American Adventures Tour Guide
NatParkStories's podcast
“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...
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Wrangell Interview with Adventure Blogger in Alaska
NatParkStories's podcast
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. ...
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One Man's Three Month Trek from Maryland to Alaska
NatParkStories's podcast
“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. ...
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Wrangell Interview with Alaskan Tour Guide and Adventure Traveler
NatParkStories's podcast
"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...
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Wrangell Interview with Owner of 80 Acre Campsite in National Park
NatParkStories's podcast
"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...
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Kenai Fjords Interview with an Alaskan Travel Expert
NatParkStories's podcast
“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...
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Kenai Fjords Interview with the Ship Deck Hand
NatParkStories's podcast
"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...
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Interview with Safari Leader in Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Park
NatParkStories's podcast
“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...
info_outlineFall back in love with America through stories of strangers in the National Parks. Follow the adventures of a solo female VanLifer exploring the US National Parks, and talking to people she meets about their impact.
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Welcome to the Nat Park Stories Podcast.
This is a podcast that follows me, Summer Slevin, as I travel to all the National Parks in my home van with my pup and have conversations with the many strangers I met.
In 2015, I went to my first National Park, the Rocky Mountain National Park, and I fell in love.
I bought my National Parks Pass, and traveled in my car for two months talking to strangers and exploring Nature.
A couple years later, after working the rat race and settling into the corporate world, I found myself burnt out and miserable.
I had also witnessed so much division in America that I had started falling out of love with it and looking for international places to relocate.
At the end of 2017, I tried to remember a time when I felt at peace and in love with the country.
My mind went back to being in the National Parks and talking to people about their beauty.
At the beginning of 2018, I decided to create a little home in a van, and set off to all our National Parks for the next two years, in hopes of falling back in love with America.
I wanted to start it in a big way, to prove to myself and others that I was serious.
In July, I hit the road from my hometown in Central Illinois, and headed to Last Frontier, Alaska.
My first park of the podcast, Denali National Park, blew my mind and instantly I felt myself fall back in love with my country.
My hope is that you will too, through the stories of strangers I meet in breathtaking places.
Each interview will vary — every story is different and inspiring in their own way— most of the time, they will center on what it feels like in that specific national park and why others should visit these protected places.
Sometimes you’ll hear my story of exploring the parks, or the people I meet along the way, but most of the stories are of the people I meet in parks.
Every month, I plan to release all the episodes from one park, in the order I traveled to each of them.
Every 3-6 months, I will take a break, breaking the podcast into seasons.
During season one, I will talk to strangers at Denali, Kenai Fjords, and Wrangell - St Elias National Parks all in Alaska, as well as Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in Texas and New Mexico.
You’ll hear from park rangers, bus drivers, tour guides, retirees, children, friends of mine, families, couples, single travelers, bird watchers, authors, Americans, international travelers, and so much more.
You can find pictures and stories of the parks, people, and my adventures -and chat with me-, on my Facebook, Instagram, and website.
Just search Nat-Park-Stories.
And if you want to support this podcast, receive post cards from the parks, get behind the scenes content and more, go to Patreon.com/NatParkStories.
Just a note, most of these recordings are captured outside — in the parks, so you might hear quite a bit of Natural Sounds… please bare with me.
I have also never created a podcast before, so I’m really open to your feedback about what you think will make this podcast even better.
Feel free to reach out to me on Facebook, Instagram, or my website.
I am really so excited to share this journey with you, so let’s get started! :)