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NatParkStories's podcast


The Nat Park Stories podcast follows one girl as she falls back in love with America through stories in the National Parks.

Join Summer as she travels in her home van to all the US National Parks over the next two years, telling the stories of the people she meets along the way.

Each month, you can access interviews from one park in the journey.

Nov 18, 2018

Fall 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! :)