Morbid Outdoors

Welcome back to Nature News, November 2025 Edition. On this episode, we travel across canyons, coasts, glaciers, forests, and mountains — touching on real stories of nature’s beauty, danger, and unpredictability. Some are tragic. Some are surreal. All are a reminder of the raw power and complexity of the wild.Sources:https://www.foxcarolina.comThe Guardianwbir.comABC NewsPeople.com

We’re heading deep into Washington’s Olympic National Park — a place where mist hangs heavy in the ancient forests, and where the line between the living and the lost grows thin. From the storm-battered beaches of Rialto and Ruby, to the moss-draped silence of the Hoh Rain Forest, this landscape feels alive — watching, listening. Join us for today's installment of Haunted Parks.Sources:https://www.myolympicpark.com/park/history/the-lady-of-crescent-lake/https://thenationsvacation.com/travel_guide/national-park-ghost-stories/https://seattleterrors.com/olympic-national-park/https://www.nps.gov/olym/index.htm

National parks are supposed to be peaceful—untouched slices of wilderness. But dig through the right reports, and you’ll find something else: the weird stuff. The unsettling stuff. The “what the hell actually happened out there?” stuff. Join us for part two of bizarre incident reports from various national parks.

In October 2020 a University of Washington professor and avid outdoorsman, set out on a solo overnight hike in Mount Rainier National Park. He was last seen on October 9th, and when he failed to return the next day, a massive search effort began. To this day, his disappearance remains an unsolved mystery, a haunting reminder of how even experienced hikers can vanish in the vast wilderness of our national parks. Tips: Mount Rainier NP at 360-569-2211 or mora_dispatch@nps.govSources:https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP74986https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/sam-dubalhttps://ls.berkeley.edu/news/dr-sam-dubalhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/10/23/us/missing-uw-professor-sam-dubal-trnd

There’s a silent epidemic that has been happening for decades on our federal lands. Everyone loves recreating in national recreation areas, national forests, and national parks. But there’s an unseen danger about these places: you could become a missing person and there would be little done to bring you back into the known. Sources:https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/leave-no-trace/https://www.newsnationnow.com/travel/mystery-missing-persons-national-parks/https://dailycaller.com/2016/03/17/interior-dept-spent-15-million-on-a-crime-database-that-doesnt-work/https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1563/cold-cases.htmhttps://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2018/11/gone-missing-national-parkshttps://www.goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/60473-california-u-s-senator-alex-padilla-announces-the-senate-passes-legislation-to-help-find-missing-persons-on-federal-landhttps://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2120https://nypost.com/2020/07/04/why-hundreds-of-people-vanish-into-the-american-wilderness/https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/questions-answers/national-park-statshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1038/text

On September 24, 2013, two friends set out to hike in Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument but never returned. The remote volcanic landscape is known for its rugged terrain, lava fields, and extreme weather conditions. Their tragic disappearance underscores both the unforgiving nature of the monument and the dangers of venturing into isolated wilderness without adequate preparation.