Welcome to Big Blend Radio's Parks and Travel Podcast covering parks, public lands, and historic landmarks across America and around the world. Welcome, everybody. Today is National Public Lands Day, and we're going to be spotlighting two parks, public land experiences out in the west, in the remote west. But first, let's talk about National Public Lands Day. It celebrated every fourth Saturday in September on public lands across the United States. It was started by the National Environmental Education Foundation to promote not only popular enjoyment, but also volunteer conservation of our public lands. In fact, since 1994, it has been the nation's largest single-day volunteer effort. When we look at last year, 2023, over 130 national parks hosted events with over 7,600 volunteers donating 41,500 hours of service. How awesome is that? So now let's talk about the West. There are two incredibly different experiences. I spoke with travel writer Debbie Stone, who talked about her recent visit to remote Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, which is about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. We're talking volcanoes, we're talking glaciers, we're talking about forests, wildlife. It is absolutely incredible, and it's an incredible history, human history as well. Then I spoke with World Champion Horse Trainer, Christy Wood, about her experiences on the 13-year Progressive Chief Joseph Trailride, which is mostly on the Nez Perce National Historic Trail, and that incorporates National Park Service lands, National Forest, and other public lands. This is also a volunteer effort, and this is all done on Appaloosa Horses in honor of Chief Joseph, who was the first person to actually breed and come up with a horse breed, Appaloosa. This is really quite a trail ride, not only in beautiful country, just out in the wilderness, but it really does restore some heritage of the Nez Perce, and she tells you all about it. Enjoy. Hey everybody, we're going to be talking more about National Parks and public lands, and that includes preserves, historic sites, landmarks, and Debbie Stone is here. A travel ride of Debbie Stone. She's on our big blend radio shows every fourth Tuesday, talking about her adventures, and lately she's been talking a lot about Alaska because she just went back there, and today she's going to tell us a little bit about Alaska's Lake Clark National Park. So welcome back, Debbie. How are you? Good. Thanks for having me. I'm glad you're on this different show today with us on our Parks and Travel Show, but Lake Clark, that's what was formed of what 1980 or so around there, and I don't think everyone gets to go out there, but it is near Katmai National Park, which is a park you'll be talking about in October, but it's pretty close to there, right? Well, you know, by the crow flies, it's, you know, it's a place to play. By sea playing exactly, and that's exactly how you have to reach Lake Clark once again. It's usually you do the small aircraft, and it's about 100 miles from Anchorage. So it takes a bit of effort to make the journey, and you have to deal with logistics of all that. What made it easy for me was that I stayed at the Lake Clark Lodge, and it's a wonderful property right there in the National Park and Preserve, and from there, you can choose different activities, and one of those activities is going to Katmai, which is, I took a float plane there as well, but you also take, you can take boats from there, they will take you to hikes, they will take you to visit historic sites, etc, etc. So it really was the best, for me, it was the best place to stay in order to get to go and see all these other things. That's awesome. And so you got history, but also the nature, and everyone Debbie's got a great article up on nationalparktraveling.com. The link is in the episode notes, or just go to nationalparktraveling.com and type in Lake Clark, and you'll find it, but the scenery looks absolutely drop dead, gorgeous out there to go hiking and get in nature. You've got wildflowers, you've got lakes, I've got water, and mountains, and all of that good stuff. All that wonderful stuff that Alaska has and is known for, but you know, Lake Clark itself is an incredibly gorgeous turquoise body of water, and it's surrounded by mountains, and you know, it's just, it's simply stunning. It's one of those stunning backdrops, and one of the times that we went out, we went to see the Lake Clark National Park Visitor Center, which is actually in the one town that's there in the Lake Clark area. It's called Port Alsworth. So we went to the visitor park, the headquarters there, and saw its exhibits, and then did a wonderful hike to Tannellin Falls, which is a beautiful waterfall. And then the most, for me the most, one of the most significant ones was taking a float plane to see Richard, they call him Richard or Dick Prineke. And there's a historic site there, and the National Park Service protects it and interprets it. So you can go there, and there's a ranger there, and you can explore his cabin, and you can learn all about his history and how he built the place on his own, and actually spent, you know, many, many years living there, fall, summer, spring, winter, and you know, made this log cabin on his own, and he used local materials, and, you know, he dedicated himself to just living off the land, and, you know, he wanted to know every inch of the wilderness around him, and so that he's a very significant person there, because he also wrote a book, and there's been an NPS story about him, and his journals were published. So, you know, he really was, they call it one man's wilderness, and he was a very special individual, and although he never got the title to the land, he continued to live there because the NPS allowed him so, because he had such wonderful stewardship ethics about nature and wildlife, and he was an inspiration to people. So, upon his death in 2003, the cabin was left there with a lot of his belongings, and four years later they were listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and so the National Park Service maintains them there, and welcomes visitors to come and tour it. So, it's really a fascinating, to me it was a very fascinating place to visit, and once again, combining history and nature and wildlife, all those good things when you visit the National Parks. Yeah, and he also worked for Fish and Game, right, I believe, Alaska Fish and Wildlife Service, so that's another public land out there, so he was a mechanic for them, but I think a lot of people are going to remember him from the PBS series that he was in, showing off the area, and you know what, there's still on YouTube, you can Google it, y'all go to YouTube, you can still see him on there, which is pretty cool for folks, didn't you? Very, very cool. Did you watch it before you went? You know, no, because I really didn't know about him before I went to Lake Clark, and I learned about him when I was there, and you know, the option, one of the activities is go visit that historic cabin, and take that float plane and land it right out of his cabin, and go to those beautiful, these twin lakes, which are stunning there, and you know, explore that whole area you can hike around there too, he has a favorite hike that he used to do, that you can go and do, but no, I didn't know anything about him, so it was very exciting, and I was really looking forward to that, because you know, normally I do a lot of hiking, and you know, you can take the float planes and boats and doing different things like that, or visiting the visitor centers, but this was something special, because that historic, that historic angle to me is always interesting with national parks in particular. Yeah, I think we always talk about that when you're on shows going to national parks, it's like we have nature, but there's always history, you know? Correct, so that's really cool that you're able to do that, and I think everyone at Lake Clark Lodge, Alaska.com is another website, you want to go and check out, but when you go to that area, is it hard to get to this area? For those visiting Alaska, where would you say they should land and plan to get to these parks, because it does feel remote out there when you're on the mainland out here? Yes, and it is, and you have to make plans for that. You know, a lot of people, they fly, you know, from Anchorage, and they'll fly into Port Ellsworth, which is that little tiny town, which is kind of the, it's the only community within the national park and makes it a major getaway. You can also stay there, too. There are a few places to stay there, and from there, you know, you can work with the National Park Visitor Center and find out how you can access trails, how you can, you know, get boats to take you to places and float planes, etc., or you can do as I did, which was to get that, you know, plane that takes you from Anchorage, too, and takes you right to the airstrip at Lake Clark Lodge. So it's not a float plane, it's a regular plane that takes you, you know, to from Anchorage to Lake Clark, and that's handled through the lodge. So they make those arrangements, but for those people who do not stay at Lake Clark Lodge, you can typically stay at Port Ellsworth. Wow, very cool, very cool. So now you've done all of Alaska's national parks now, right? Even the gates of the Arctic, you went there. That's crazy. That's cool. Wow, wow. Yeah, it was a very, very, very cool experience and rewarding in every aspect. Like I tell people it takes a lot of effort in planning and of course resources, but I think all of that is, you know, it's all worth it, really worth it. No, awesome. Well, thank you so much at Firestone. She's not Firestone, but it's Fire Monkey. Fire Monkey, that's it. You know, everyone, and you can keep up with Debbie on Twitter at Travelstone. See, that's the problem. You've got a new name, Firestone. I kind of like that, except for you, not a tire company, but they were part of the day. I don't sell tires, but she doesn't sell tires, but she does like to get in boats and planes and she's off to, I think when this airs, she'll be in Japan. So that's super cool. So we can't wait to hear about that when you come back. But like I said, Debbie is on the shows every fourth Tuesday on bigblendradio.com and her articles are on nationalparktraveling.com and blendradio and tv.com, but she has now completed every single national park in the United States, which is pretty awesome. Good for you, man. We're a little jealous now, but you know, just means it's more inspiration for us all to get out there and do the same thing. Thanks so much and happy travel, safe travels. Thank you so much for having me. Take care. Bye-bye. So now we're going to go to the world of Sequoia's National Park. We're going to chat with Kristi Wood. Kristi Wood is a world champion horse trainer. She also has a big blend radio podcast with us every second Saturday. It's called the ABCs of Horses. Well, over the years, we have been talking with Kristi about the Chief Joseph Trail. And this is, there's a trail and there's also a trail ride. And the trail ride is a 13 year progressive trail ride following the footsteps of the Nez Perce and Chief Joseph when they were escaping the U.S. Calvary. We have a page on our site, nationalparktraveling.com. You'll see in the list in the episode notes that talks about this trail. So it is actually it is a 1170 mile Nez Perce National Historic Trail. And this can be a little different than what Kristi rides and she's going to tell you in a second about it. It was created in 1986 as part of the National Trails System Act and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. However, the trail traverses through portions of the U.S. states of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana and connects 38 separate sites across these four states that commemorate the significant events that took place as a Nez Perce tried to escape capture by the U.S. Calvary. The site is part of the National Park Service's Nez Perce National Historical Park, which is managed overall by the National Park Service with some sites managed by local and state affiliated organizations. So this is a good example of how our National Park Service works with other federal, state, and local entities to protect, preserve, and interpret history as well as the natural world. And so I think it's so cool to have Kristi Wood on the show today talking about her experiences on the Chief Joseph Trail Ride because she's doing this by horseback. I mean, we also have the Pony Express National Historic Trail that is taken care of by the National Park Service. So our National Park Service tends like seashores. We've got trails. We've got auto routes like the Blue Ridge Parkway. So it comes in all different shapes and forms, not just the main National Park sites, right? So welcome back to the show, Kristi. How are you? Thank you, Lisa. It's great to be here. And you just got home from the Chief Joseph Trail Ride. And this is your second year, right? So, well, no, not second year, second rotation. Oh my gosh, the second year, are you kidding me? That's like nothing now, right? But maybe on the second year, like, ooh, that was the second time yet. 13 year Progressive Trail Ride. So, how many years are you in now? I just completed my 19th consecutive year. Oh, you're just a year older than 18. So cool. No, but this is, I know, right? And please do. But I will. The National Park Service. I mean, I love it that they work the National Forest as well, because that's kind of what your backyard is. You have Sequoia National Park and everyone in a wooden horse. That's where training stables is, where Kristi is, right outside Sequoia National Park. If you want to learn about horse riding, call Kristi. Go to wdenhorse.com, the link again in the episode notes. But you've got your Sequoia National Park is your backyard, which also leads into King's Canyon National Park. And in between, you have Giant Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia National Forest. So, that's a good example too, right? Of these agencies working together to protect and preserve. Yes. And with different levels of what you can do. Like, you can take your dog out on a walk in the Sequoia National Forest, but not in the National Park. So, it's a different level of protection, which is good. I think it's a good balance. And I think the National Forest are a great buffer zone for like the ultimate protection, which is the National Park. But going to the Chief Joseph Trail Ride, you end up going through, you know, obviously the National Forest, a National Forest, as well as the National Park Service sites, right? You get to actually get out at some of the battlefields, you know, get out. You're not in the car, get off your horse, you're going to look at a battlefield, right? But you do. You are right through this. Yes. There are monuments along the way on Highway 12. There's monuments on Highway 93, Highway 94, even 95. There's many, many routes, even I'm sure Highway 15 touches on it a little bit. But there, and then of course, over through Yellowstone is it amazing. They mark all of the areas that the Nespers camped and what happened at those events with the Calvary and with the Native Americans. And it's just a beautiful trail to traverse. And it's accessible. If you want to get out and hike, you can hike this trail. They run under a few people on horseback, that's for sure. Once every 13 years, we're on that ride. And we progressively move camp every night until we complete the trail. And it takes 13 years to complete the ride doing 100 miles every year. Well, I think this is also important to bring up because we're talking about history. And this is our Native American heritage. And it's also our military heritage, which we don't we don't like this side of that, right? But we're looking at horse history with this. You know, we have wild horses in some of our parks, even in North Carolina as we record this, you know, North Carolina has wild horses and they're in some of our national park units as well. But this is a little different. So the Apolluso Horse Club that you work with to do this, you know, sponsor this trail ride, the Apolluso Horse is so important because this is actually the Apolluso Horse that Chief Joseph Bread, right? So this is about that too. So you can look at the park service and the forest as being, you know, well, Chief Joseph was the one that developed the Apollusa Brie. We use the word developed because he was he was a smart man in the horse that he wanted to create in a sense with good confirmation. He wanted a horse that was a good mountain horse that was fast enough to hunt down a buffalo. And just also had a good disposition that could actually live in the teepees with them. So he really developed great breed. When we say develop for people that properly don't understand about maybe about horses and how you do that is, you know, you want to take the best of the stallions that you have to breed to the best of your mares to even create something even better. So if you have the best of the best, then you keep everything at a very high standard. And when you don't have maybe the higher standards that you prefer in an animal doesn't mean they still aren't usable, but you would sell those off to maybe farmers or other tribes. And you would basically call, which is a kind word to say, we just move them on and other tribes can use them to pack and to ride. But if Joseph had had a vision and he actually created a very, very beautiful horse. And so you ride an Appaloosa when you do the trail, right? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And it's actually been that way up until this year for 58 years, if you only ride a registered Appaloosa. But because of COVID and in the economy, things have kind of hit us a little harder with the numbers of people that come out to ride now. So we're opening up to 30 non-Appalooses each year, and you can come with any breed of horse you want, except we do have one exception, can't bring a draft horse. And that is only because of the horse ambulance that we have. If we have an emergency, it's not big enough to handle a draft horse is massive. Yeah, they're 18, 19 hands, and we just don't have a horse ambulance big enough for that. But we aren't having other people, yeah, we're inviting other people to come and enjoy this with other breeds to hopefully kindle some new interest and let people enjoy and experience this ride. I love it. I love it. And so when you think about the interpretation and the recreation and the history, all put together and the nature is it's got to be glorious to be out in nature. Because you're going over some mountainous country valleys. I mean, it's got to be beautiful to be out in nature that way. Helping take 150 years ago, even our forefathers and wagons, the white man that basically came out and to settle the West and the Native Americans who were already here enjoying the West and how they had to survive. They had to hunt for their own food. They had to process that animal. And I just want you to know that when a Native American had to kill an animal, they actually knelt down and prayed over and thanked it for giving its life to sustain them. And they call these animals their brothers. You know, nobody likes to kill anything, but you have to to survive. And if you think about how they processed everything, how they processed meat and animal skins and everything else, and that's what they wore to keep themselves warm and build their teepees and the settlers did the same thing. You know, they had to live off the land, basically, no matter if you were white or you're a Native American. And it was a straw was really, really rough. Wow. And it's amazing to me that you get to do this on horseback. So a lot of people are are part of this to make it happen because you also go through local land, people's ranchers and you know, things like that. So with the Appalachian Horse Club, I mean, that's a lot of organizing. But then you think the National Park Service has this history. They interpret it well, I think, especially history that is complex and people can get a little ain't about it because it's hard, hard, difficult history. It's complex and difficult, painful, very painful. And to interpret it correctly is very important. And our National Park Service is not biased. It's like, here's the fact, here's what was written down. Here's what we have in artifacts, right? Sorry. That is so true. Yes, I'm going to tell you the facts, the facts are great. And this is going to sound kind of crazy, but I stopped at a rest stop on my way to Winamaka this year. That's where I I lay over with my horses. It's 11 hours from my home. But on the way, there's a beautiful rest up up. But on top of the hill above Reno might even be close to where Donner passes. But the National Park Service did a beautiful job of explaining the trail across the mountains with the wagons and how difficult it was for them and that these people still had just like the Native Americans, everybody has part and hopes for the future so that future generations can live and prosper. And they were talking about the wagons that were being pulled by oxen for the settlers and how people were walking alongside because the wagons were sort of overloaded with things they wanted to bring out and how they were walking the trail barefoot because they'd worn out the shoes that they brought from back east. And these people still persevered in the winter tunnel and walking without shoes. I mean, we stopped to think about that today. We'd never do that. You know, we have the benefit of buying shoes and having shoes on our feet and having more access to that. So again, the struggles of even something as simple as shoes. That's not simple. But they still walk and still did it. And so they created the trails too. Yes. Yes. That's just so about like, hello, it's like we have volunteers that go out and make the trails work. You know, when you were riding your horses, you weren't going into country blind, you know, like blindly without any pathway. You know, there's an actual route, right? Well, we have, excuse me, we have a trail crew that actually goes out ahead of us several months to clear the trail because we're riding the Nez first trail. And some of the trail areas that we ride really, they're in such wilderness that people who want to drive and park their car and try to walk a little bit of it. We're going to have more accessible and the trails will be open closer to the roads where we're riding. The trails are overgrown because it's really only used every 13 years by this historic trail ride. So our trail crew has to go out and reopen those. There's so many deadfalls, there are limbs and trees that have come down. We have to make sure there's no holes or ruts from all the rain that you've had in 13 years. So our trail crew does an amazing job of going out and clearing trail for us prior to this ride each year. And that's good for others too. That's awesome. I'm so glad we talked about this. Thank you so much, everyone. Links are in the episode notes to learn more about Christie Wood, the trail ride, the Chief Joseph trail ride, and also the Chief Joseph National Historic Trail as well. Thank you so much, Christie. Thank you, Lisa. Thanks for joining us here on Big Blend Radio's Parks and Travel Podcast. Visit nationalparktraveling.com to plan your next park adventure and to see our Parks and Travel digital magazine. You can keep up with our shows at bigblendradio.com.
