Rangers of the Lost Park

Liz is joined by Danielle and Cassie of National Park After Dark Podcast ! Together they read and react through Trail Tales (listener stories), all of which are park ranger-themed, and discuss a variety of topics regarding National Parks, public lands, and more. Last year, 2025, Liz was featured on NPAD's March 3rd episode A Love Worth Fighting For: Speaking Up For Our Public Lands alongside two o...

My guest today is someone I am so beyond stoked to talk to. She is a powerful woman who specializes in wilderness skills, traditional lifeways, and ancestral skills. She is an author, a mother, a teacher, a woman of bushcraft, and a lover of nature. Oh, and did I mention she is the first female winner of the History Channel’s show Alone ? Yes, my friends, my guest today is Woniya Thibeault. We tal...

Liz chats with Vikram Baliga - known for his online presence as The Plant Prof and podcast Planthropology - about loving plants and the plant community, wild 5-minute plant hack videos, Big Bend National Park, and more! Vikram also shares that he wishes for folks to find the beauty in the outdoors whenever they can. Yay plants! Follow Vikram on Instagram: @the.plant.prof . Listen to his podcast: P...

He's back! It's N8ture AL (also known as Alex Troutman)! Liz and AL catch up since they last spoke in September. AL has worked in conservation as a wildlife biologist for years until last February when he was caught in the crosshairs of the DOGE firings. Since then, he has made it his mission to provide representation for kids and black and brown communities. AL helps ease folks into loving the ou...

Lance Garland is an author, climber, father, husband, former Navy SEAL trainee, and has become the first openly gay fireman in the Seattle Fire Department.  But who is he at his core? He is kind. He is funny. He is deeply thought-provoking. He is an incredible writer. And, perhaps most heartwarmingly, he is unapologetically himself. In this episode, we talk about Lance's newest book called Out The...

Music has been used as an act of resistance and protest for generations. You may have heard the saying: "you know times are bad when folk music is getting better." Well, we seem to be living that kind of time period right now. And musicians like Kirstie Lynn are making waves and utilizing music as an outlet for their strife.  With soaring songbird melodies and a voice as clear as a bell, Kirstie L...

Joining Liz is author and journalist Emily Pennington! Not only is Emily super rad-- she is also the first guest who had previously submitted the Submit A Guest form ! We talk about her favorite National Parks (of which she has vistited all 63!), vanlife, being a woman in the outdoors, a few bear stories, and more. Emily was put on her first international flight at 3 weeks old and has been an avid...

Andrea Delgado is a fierce and kind leader who immigrated from Ecuador to the United States at a young age. This is someone who has spent nearly two decades operating at the intersection of power, policy, land, and people. She often worked behind the scenes and in rooms where the consequences of decisions ripple across generations.  Andrea is a nationally recognized strategist who has advised the...

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota is the most visited Wilderness area in the United States, garnering around 150,000 to 250,000 visitors per year. Its vast wilderness extends 150 miles along the U.S.-Canada border, covering approximately 1,098,000 acres with over 1,100 lakes and 1,200 miles of canoe routes, attracting more than 150,000 visitors annually. Now, that is under thr...

Concessionaires have been around even before the Park Service in what we now know as National Parks. Today, there are nearly 500 concessionaires within our Parks, which mean there are tons of folks who work for them. Liz's dear friend Kayla Babb, whom she worked with for a concessionaire company in Yellowstone National Park in 2015, joins the podcast to talk about her experiences within the Parks...

In this week's episode, Liz is joined by her sister (and our first returner guest) Sarah. They talk about how the constant circulation of bad news is exhausting and wearing people thin, but that we need to remember to find joy wherever we can. They talk about coping mechanisms and how they, themselves, get through it all. They share belly laughs and cover humorous questions and topics. Sarah share...

Alex Haraus is an outdoor and public lands advocate, experienced traveler and an incredible digital creator. We talk about his journey outdoors, his love for the environment and the thought behind Colorado Creator Collective. He gives us the three things that makes content impactful and successful. Alex also shares a mountain lion story and we talk about cool hikes in Iceland - and more! We hope y...

2025: you were one hell of a year. Going into 2026, Liz & Mikayla are embracing the Year of the Horse with determination and even more amazing things! A completely revamped Patreon, exciting new guests, Ranger Lore episodes, and more! Thank you to all of our listeners for supporting us. We are so happy to have you and will continue encouraging you to Ranger On! Follow ROTLP on Instagram: @rang...

For our last episode of 2025, we bring to our listeners some much needed information on a public lands topic. What would coal mining look like from a National Park? Why is this being proposed? Let's take a deep dive with the Legal Director & Attorney Steve Bloch of Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA)! Steve talks about how SUWA is working to stop coal mining from being implemented in the...

Today’s very special guest is one that many of you may recognize: Charles F. Sams III, who goes by Chuck Sams, is well-renowned in the park ranger community. Chuck is Cayuse, Walla Walla and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Northeast Oregon, where he grew up. Famously known as the first Indigenous Director of the National Park Service, Chuck se...

Ranger Emily is a park ranger within the wild landscapes of Alaska. She shares her experiences and perspectives with us as an individual who works as an archaeologist in some of the most beautiful National Parks. From glaciers to bear attacks and tribal relationships -- Emily has some incredible stories from her time in the outdoors. She even answers the ever-popular question of: what can I do, as...

Joining us for this incredibly special episode is Ken Burns - one of the greatest documentary filmmakers of his time. Ken Burns is known for his epic and historically focused films such as: The Civil War , Baseball , Jazz , The Vietnam War , The Roosevelts , Prohibition , and, our personal favorite, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea . Most recently, he meticulously created the 9-years-in-the...

What does it mean to be a "responsible influencer"? How can someone with a prominent social media platform advocate responsibly for the places that they love to showcase online? Ashley Petefish, @ashley.goes.hiking on Instagram and @hiking_adventures on TikTok, has worked tirelessly on her social media platforms in digital advocacy for our public lands. Not only is she a regular volunteer within t...

Whether we like them or not, wolves are our neighbors and have an ecological impact. We sat down with Monica Stallman, who goes by their pen name Leokadia George, to talk about wolf conservation and her newest book called Trumpet the Miracle Wolf Pup: Trumpet Becomes a Mom . Leokadia volunteers her time at the Wolf Conservation Center in New York, where she was inspired by one Mexican Gray Wolf (...

What's it like to work along the borderlands of the US-Mexico border as a public lands steward? Ranger Red joins us to talk about his experiences as a GIS specialist and physical scientist and has worked for the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. From car chases to jaguars, Red's got some interesting stories to share! We also discuss Senator Mike Lee's newest act against public l...

This bonus episode is inspired by Sandra Ramos, our guest and known fondly as the National Park Patch Lady. Sandra is the wizard behind the curtain with "Adopt-a-Ranger" mutual aid initiative, which aims to support rangers who need some joy in these hard times. We also get to know Sandra and hear about her undying love for National Parks and the rangers who care for them. If you are a ranger (form...

This week we talked with New Mexico Wild's Conservation Director, Bjorn Fredrickson about the importance of wilderness protections and some of the legislation that aims to strip these protections. Specifically, the Border Lands Conservation Act introduced by Senator Mike Lee of Utah poses a lot of concerns for conservationists, and people who enjoy and use public lands. *Disclaimer: The sound is a...

The magic of foraging for mushrooms, berries, medicinal plants and so much more is not just a hobby for Gabrielle Cerberville, but a lifestyle. In this episode we discuss the rights of nature, protecting public lands, foraging ideologies, and a fun round of Ranger Ranking questions. Gabrielle, also known as "Chaotic Forager" on social media, just wrote and published her first book Gathered: On For...

Bats, caves & rescues, oh my! Ranger Hannah Croxton immerses us in some spooky stories from their time as a US Forest Service Lead Ranger at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument in Oregon. Alongside all the other amazing federal workers who protect our public lands, Hannah has experienced the tumultuous uncertainty that plagues the federal workforce this year. She shares what she is doing n...

Author and former Wildland Firefighter River Selby (they/them) wrote and published their memoire Hotshot: A Life on Fire on August 12, 2025. In this episode, River talks about what it was like being a hotshot and wildland firefighter from both a personal and scientific perspective. In Hotshot , readers are taken on a journey through sweltering wildfire action, awareness regarding fire ecology and...