044 - Waking Up in the Wilderness with Natalie Ogbourne

In this week's episode, Natalie Ogbourne who is a passionate advocate for Yellowstone National Park and author of 'Waking Up in the Wilderness. Natalie shares her journey from a reluctant hiker to a lover of the outdoors, detailing her deep connection to Yellowstone and how it has shaped her faith. Through personal stories and reflections, she emphasizes the parallels between hiking in nature and walking by faith, encouraging listeners to find God in both the wilderness and their everyday lives. The conversation also touches on the importance of resilience, spiritual growth, and the beauty of creation as a reflection of God's character.

Follow along with Natalie:
IG: natalie_ogbourne
website: natalieogbourne.com
a glimpse into Waking Up in the Wilderness (prologue + 3 chapters): https://natalieo.myflodesk.com/glimpse

Book on Amazon: Waking Up in the Wilderness

Book on Barnes and Noble: Waking Up in the Wilderness

The Balance of Gray
God, doubt, and proof walk into a podcast... it goes better than you’d expect!

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The Signpost Inn Podcast
Find peace, clarity, and companionship for your spiritual journey.

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Chapters

• 8:42 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 9:32 (Cont.) 044 - Waking Up in the Wilderness with Natalie Ogbourne
• 22:44 [Ad] The Signpost Inn Podcast
• 23:30 (Cont.) 044 - Waking Up in the Wilderness with Natalie Ogbourne

Transcript

McKenzie Smith (00:02)
On today's episode of My Valley, His Victory, we have Natalie Ogborn. She is known to some as a girl who went to Yellowstone and never really came back. A former park employee and long time return visitor. She's been helping Yellowstone visitors plan their time in the park since 1987. Natalie is a lifelong Iowa resident with a long standing fear of cows. She is a writer, teacher, and former theater director. She has exactly one athletic bone in her body.
It divides her time between hiking and downhill skiing. Natalie and her husband enjoy heading into the wilderness of all kinds together and with their grown kids. She also just released a book called Waking Up in the Wilderness, A Yellowstone Journey. Thanks so much for being with us today, Natalie.

Natalie Ogbourne (00:47)
Hi Kinsey, thank you so much for having me. I've been looking forward to it.

McKenzie Smith (00:51)
Yes, absolutely. So why don't you go ahead and just tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and who you are.

Natalie Ogbourne (00:57)
All right, well, I am married to an adventurous engineer and we have three kids. They're all out of the house. And so two of them are married. So we've gained a couple of extra through that. We, as a family and me personally, we all love the outdoors, but I have called myself over the years a reluctant.

Hiker because it took me decades to come to a love of hiking, even though I started young. And an avid indoors woman because I struggled to get past all the things that I should do and could do in the house to actually make it outside. And even though I have lived in Iowa my whole life, I ended up writing a book.

not about the place that I live, but a place that feels like home. And that's Yellowstone.

McKenzie Smith (01:58)
Yeah, so talk to us, share a little bit about how you got connected to Yellowstone. And I think it said that you worked there, so talk to us a little bit about that.

Natalie Ogbourne (02:13)
Okay, when I was 12, my parents took my little brother and me to Yellowstone to show us that there was more to life than malls and movies. And that was really a pretty big deal, a big sacrifice because that was a thousand mile journey from our home to drive us from Iowa to Yellowstone and back again. And...

We did a little hiking that first year, but we were all pretty nervous about bears. And, my mom and dad went back without my brother and I the next year. And then they took us back the year after they kind of hiked and lived. And, and so we started getting out on the trail more. And I was kind of, I, was not a happy hiker. I, I complained and whined and, but.

I did it anyway. And when I was 18, mom and dad took us again, but in the winter time. And part of that time we spent snowmobiling, but we also spent time cross-country skiing. And one particular day, it was probably the first day of cross-country skiing.

We hopped on a bombardier, which is a little, snow coach that was on tracks and not, not the kind that they have today where you can just pop them on a, a van, but just like big treads. looked kind of like a tank and it drove us out into a wilderness that I did not recognize because it was all white and dropped my family and I off at a trailhead and they were not coming back for us.

It was up to me and my family to get ourselves back to civilization. Really, it's kind of how I thought of it.

under our own power. And I'd never cross country skied before. And I, when I said I have one athletic bone in my body, I'm not kidding. I, I'm not very graceful. I'm not very stable. It's, it's kind of a miracle that I can downhill ski, but I can, that's the one athletic thing I can do. But we, we set off into the forest.

McKenzie Smith (04:27)
you

Natalie Ogbourne (04:34)
alone and and I remember standing there before before we did that watching the shuttle drive away and realizing that we were alone it was up to us and whatever athletic skill we had to make it back and I didn't feel alone from my family I felt alone with my family and but we we we set off and we made it

But that night at the restaurant, our, our, waiter said, y'all must've been out skiing today. You're thirsty. And we, we had been, you know, obviously, and, and, our waiter walked away and my dad looked at me and he said, you know, you maybe should think about getting a job out here. You like Yellowstone, you're good with people.

you know enough about Yellowstone that you could be helpful. I think you'd like it. So I applied for a job and the only time in my life that I have never lived in Iowa was three months living in Yellowstone.

McKenzie Smith (05:51)
And what was your job there? What did you do there?

Natalie Ogbourne (05:56)
Well, I applied, you have to apply for three positions in three different locations. And I wanted to be at the Old Faithful Inn and I wanted to work in the gift shop. And when I got my contract back, it was for housekeeping at Lake Lodge, which I'd never even heard of. And, but they were in Yellowstone, know, Lake Lodge is in Yellowstone, housekeeping was in Yellowstone. So, I, I took it even though I didn't really want to be in visitors rooms alone.

I wanted to be talking to them. But I took the job and mom and dad and my brother left on the night of my high school graduation. They drove me out to Yellowstone. I showed up at the employment center, handed over my contract, and the lady went, hmm. And she started digging through this really huge binder. And she said, that's what I thought.

And she looked at me, she said, Lake Lodge for housekeeping is full. we're, we over hire because a lot of people don't show up. And I, I'm young, I'm not very experienced with the world. And I'm thinking, well, we've driven an awfully long way for, you know, for, for me to, you know, for, for me to face this miscalculation on your part, what does this mean for me? And so this gal goes further into the, the.

McKenzie Smith (07:09)
Hahaha

Natalie Ogbourne (07:22)
her big office, you know, she's like deep among these rows of filing cabinets. And then she came back and she's digging through her binder again and she said, well, if you would be willing to take 10 cents an hour less, you could work at Old Faithful in the gift shop.

McKenzie Smith (07:45)
You

Natalie Ogbourne (07:46)
And I was like, okay, first of all, at that time, 10 cents an hour less, it was minimum wage. So it was $4 a week that I was going to be, you know, quote, giving up to have my first choice. And I just remember thinking, this is not a miscalculation. This is a miracle. And so that's what I did. And that's kind of my exciting story of a really a gift God gave to me to give me what I wanted when he didn't have to.

McKenzie Smith (08:03)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's so fun that you went regardless of what your job was going to be and yet you still ended up with the same job that you originally wanted. Your first choice. How cool. And that's such a funny story. It's like little did she know, you know, that that was your first choice. And she's like, you could do it. for Ten Sins Lesson Hour, you're like, sign me up to right now. Like, I don't care. I'll do it. how fun.

Natalie Ogbourne (08:30)
Yeah.

That's right.

McKenzie Smith (08:42)
So what is your favorite thing about Yellowstone?

Natalie Ogbourne (08:50)
that is a tough question. A lot of people in Yellowstone are kind of specialists. Maybe they're really into the geysers or they're really into wolf watching or different things like that. And my family of origin and my husband and I, we do a little bit of everything. And

Even after the whole reluctant, reluctant hiker bit, I think I'm going to have to say it's hiking. It was a slow journey, but I love to get out on the trail and just walk uphill and down in Yellowstone. I love the geysers. love if we see a wolf or if we see a bear or an elk or

McKenzie Smith (09:30)
Yeah.

Natalie Ogbourne (09:41)
We saw Pika for the first time this last trip and I didn't even know they had Pika in Yellowstone. 31 visits to Yellowstone and I still have things to learn and I love all those things, but it's hiking.

McKenzie Smith (09:55)
Yeah. Do you have a favorite? I'll ask you this. Maybe this will be a little bit easier. Do you have a favorite section or part of Yellowstone?

Natalie Ogbourne (10:06)
Well, Old Faithful is... that's really got my heart.

McKenzie Smith (10:12)
Yeah.

Natalie Ogbourne (10:14)
That, yeah, the old faithful area has my heart.

McKenzie Smith (10:17)
Yeah, yeah, I, it's so not my personality, but I always think that it is so special and, you know, I, I, I'm use the word envy, but I,

I envy people that have such a draw to a certain place that they just go and learn, you know, so much about it and they just can can totally know so much about one area. I'm like, you know, I've been there. Let's go see something else, you know, kind of person. But I definitely can understand. And I have parts of me who are like, man, how cool would it be to know a lot about a place or an area instead of just

going one time and consuming or learning what you can on that one trip, but then going to somewhere else. so I think it's really cool that you gone 31 times to a place and just been overtaken by it. I think that that's really special.

So can you share with us about, and I know said you love hiking, you do a little bit of skiing, spent a lot of time in Yellowstone. Can you talk to us about how being in the outdoors and maybe being specifically at Yellowstone plays a role in your relationship with Christ?

Natalie Ogbourne (11:39)
I can. I have come to really feel, I just have a sense that what's true on the trail is true in life. The Bible is so full of illusions and imagery related to walking by faith. And there is not a lot of difference between walking and hiking. And

when I'm out on the trail and faced with tough situations or like the first time I felt alone out there with my family. I feel alone in life, you know, and.

like the first time that I was out on the trail and I are out on in the snow with my family and I felt alone. You feel alone in life. That's there's a strong connection there. And so when I am out on the trail and I'm facing terrain, I don't like things I don't necessarily want to do.

something beautiful. It draws me back to the reality of life. And I start to understand a little bit more about walking by faith. I start to see my own concerns of my life and how there's not that much difference between

dealing with those things out on the trail and dealing with them in life. And if I'm not trusting God out on the trail, I'm certainly not trusting Him in my life. And if I...

want to walk by faith, I need to take the lessons that he's teaching me. it's not long before I get into the park or I get out on the trail and I start noticing correlations between hiking in the wilderness and walking by faith. If I'm not taking those lessons back into my daily life, that's on me.

God's pretty clear in the Bible that creation has one of creation's purposes is to tell us about who he is, is to show us his character. And his character is the same out in creation as it is in my life.

McKenzie Smith (14:09)
Yeah. I'm doing the same thing you did. No, I think that that's so good. I think that I couldn't have said that any better. I think that that is so true and there is so much for us to learn and pay attention to.

Natalie Ogbourne (14:14)
you

McKenzie Smith (14:32)
and experience their being in the outdoors and they only teach us more about God and about our walk with God. So thank you for sharing that. Can you share a story with us about a way in which God has revealed himself to you or maybe spoken to you through the outdoors?

Natalie Ogbourne (14:52)
Yeah. my husband and I were going to go out to Yellowstone together, just the two of us leaving the kids at home on a, it was.

My husband and I were going to planning a trip to Yellowstone and he was going to go fly fishing and I was going to spend a day alone at the inn, which I love. It's kind of like reliving an old life. Well, as the trip got close, Jamie said, do you want to go on a back country fly fishing trip with me? Well, no, I didn't actually want to go on a back country fly fishing trip with him. I wanted to go to the end and I,

But I said yes. And I said yes, really believing that I wasn't going to catch any fish. I don't really like fishing. I figured the fish in Yellowstone are too smart for someone like me to catch because they've been caught a time or two. It's all catch and release there. But I said yes. We showed up at the fly shop and you have to have shoes. You can't wear your own shoes. have to at that time, you had to wear felt bottoms waiting.

boots so you didn't slip on the rocks. You can't actually wear felt bottom boots anymore because of invasive aquatic species, but at that time we needed to have those. So the guy looks at my feet and he says, do you have any thicker socks?

Well, no, no, if I had thicker socks, I would have been wearing them, you know? So Jamie had played hockey and he, he knows a lot of tying tricks. So when the guy came out with shoes boots that were like two, two sizes, too big for my feet, Jamie's using all of his tricks to, you know, cinch these boots down on my feet. he, he made a lot of progress, but they were still too big. So we go out, we get out on the trail and I start hiking in these boots that are way too big.

And I've got these blisters and I'm unhappy and I didn't want to be there in the first place. And I am really hacked off at this guide because he's not given me what I need. And he's leading us along. my husband's got Carrie in the staff. I'm kind of.

far from the guide because I'm slow. And at some point I ended up close to him and I said, you must know this area pretty well because the trail has disappeared. And he said, yeah, when you get out this far, the trail is pretty faint, but I know where I'm going. And I was like, well, that, that particular thing had never occurred to me. You know, I was already really unhappy, but I figured he knew where it was going. And so

We ended up at the top of a cliff and the guy disappears. And he says, this is where it starts to get dicey. And I'm thinking, Mr. It got dicey as soon as we entered your store. And he said, you know, anything you might want to hold onto is either a rose or a raspberry. And if, you're not a gardening person, which I'm not, but grandparents were, those have thorns. And so.

anything that we would have been tempted to hold on to was useless to us and would have hurt us. So we go down this cliff and bruised, bleeding, a mess when we get to the bottom of this thing. And my husband fell first. That was so nice. He's very stable and I'm very not, but it was just...

I fell too, but he fell first and that was just bruised or hurt my bru- helped my bruised ego a little bit. So we get out and we spend the day fishing and I learned to fish and I caught three fish.

I, and it was lovely. And the guide was so happy for me. It's like, you did it. You did it. You caught a fish in Yellowstone. Millions of people have never caught a fish in Yellowstone. He was so happy for me. And we spent this day, you know, it was so lovely. And, when it came time for our day to be done,

McKenzie Smith (18:56)
you

Natalie Ogbourne (19:16)
We didn't go back out the way we came in. And so I had to turn and I had to walk through the water in these boots that had been just like a menace all the way to the spot. Well, then when I had him in water, my feet kind of actually floated around in the boots and it made it very, very difficult to walk. And

My husband's carrying the stuff and I'm walking next to the guide hoping I don't fall down and up ahead there's a stretch of very smooth water.

It's deep. And so the guide reaches out his hand to take mine. And I'm like, I don't want to do this. But I swallowed what was left of my pride and took the guy's hand and we were walking. And then up ahead there was it got even deeper.

and my husband came up and rearranged everything and he took my hand. So I'm walking between these two men so I don't pitch into the river. And as soon as we got through this place, the guy drops my hand and runs up ahead. And I was like...

What's he doing now? And he walked forward and he stopped and he reached out his hand like ahead of us to direct our attention to something around the corner. And we rounded the corner and there was this wide rapid stair step kind of waterfall. And the sun was.

Sparkling off of it. It looked like something from a Disney movie like diamonds just rolling down this waterfall and I It was breathtaking and he said I call it stair step falls and he was really shy like a little kid like he'd made it himself, you know and You know, we stood and we watched it for a long time and then as we headed up

McKenzie Smith (21:11)
you

Natalie Ogbourne (21:36)
I'm feeling contrite about my irritation, anger, dissatisfaction with the way the guy had brought us in because I failed to mention, when I learned we were going out a different way than we came in, was like, well, why didn't we come in that way in the first place? Why did you put us through this? Well, that waterfall would not have been the same in the morning.

the sun angle wasn't there, wouldn't have been beautiful. It wouldn't have meant as much at the beginning of the day as it did at the end. And, you know, I was struck with the reality of my dissatisfaction in my own life, you know, like the route I might be taking, the equipment I might be given, and it's my lack of trust in a guide. And,

As we were walking up this, you know, just river of diamonds floating around, flowing around our feet, I, I just, I, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, well done, good and faithful servant. And it wasn't as much of an arrival as a kind of a whisper of what could be when you follow well. And.

That was the first really

unmistakable.

time where I kind of got nature plus the truth of the Lord equals growth and grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

McKenzie Smith (23:22)
Yeah, that's so good. Such a good story. I'm like, amen, sister. And that's such a good, good parallel and analogy just for for life. Like we're going to fall. We're going to get Bruce. It's going to not always be a a solid path. We're not going to maybe see the trail, but we just have to follow what God has told us and trust, trust in that.

So good. So I know that you get to go to Yellowstone often or you have been to Yellowstone often, but I also know that you live in kind of small town Iowa, which some people would say is not a just beautifully majestic place like Yellowstone. So can you share a piece of advice with our listeners on how to connect with God in creation through everyday life, being in a place that's not just, you know, this super magical national park.

Natalie Ogbourne (24:22)
Yeah, yeah. I will say that it is some, it is more of an effort and it's an effort that you have to put forth. I think Iowa is beautiful and lovely. However, it does not have the opportunities. the farmers are not saying, please come walk through my fields. and it's the opportunities just are not there. I, I live between a four lane highway.

and kind of a fields and forest. But my and I, I think where I live is really pretty, but my road is flat and it's not very motivating. The trails around here, they're pretty enough. They're a mile long. They're not very motivating. So I can, I can very much, feel that pain and, and it is something that you just kind of have to

find your spot, find your thing. a daughter who used to walk in circles in the yard. You know, she just, she needed the outdoors and that's how she got it. So whether it's a park or a state park or a patch of green grass that your workplace provides, just getting out there again and again, we tend to see what we look for.

And if we look for beauty, we will find it. If we look for the presence of the Lord, we will find it.

It's the getting there part that's hard and it's on us, but just keep going and keep looking for your spot.

McKenzie Smith (26:04)
Yeah, so much wisdom in that we will see what we look for. Amen. You're dropping wisdom bomb after wisdom bomb here. Okay, so switching gears a little bit into the title of this podcast, My Valley, His Victory, would love for you to share a valley or a season of wilderness that you experienced and just what God taught you or prepared you for in that season.

Natalie Ogbourne (26:36)
I think God has prepared me in incremental ways through experiences that I've had outdoors in Yellowstone. One of the things that I've come to understand is that we use spiritual muscle. we, one of the things I've come to understand is that we build spiritual muscle when we use spiritual muscle, just like with our bodies.

And I talked early on about

that first time of feeling alone in the wilderness with my family and just feeling the weight of the wilderness. And that wasn't the only time. That was the first time. And over the years, there have been more.

And the stakes have kind of become increasingly higher as the time, as I have experienced that sense of being alone. When my parents actually drove off and left me in Yellowstone, knowing not a soul, when my...

When I was at work and I ended up waiting on royalty from another country and I was in over my head with what I was being asked to explain and no one came to my rescue. Another, an older gal across the gift shop smiled at me and it was enough to let me know that I was not alone.

eventually my husband and I ended up after repeated situations where I felt alone my husband and I ended up on a snowmobile

facing a bison that had just pivoted into our path. And we didn't choose to go next to this bison. The bison used the roads. And you can't off-road in Yellowstone. And if they're on the road, you're on the road. And we had to just sit there and wait. And the valley of waiting, whether it's a

five minutes are we going to get gored and die or a six month health journey or a decade long journey waiting for someone that you love to come to Christ. Waiting is really a hard thing. It is a valley of its own. so as I sat there waiting and kind of

vacillating between despair that we were going to get trampled and left alone on the side of the road to die and prayer that the bison would pivot out of our path in the very same way he had pivoted in.

Again, I was faced with that just overwhelming sense of being alone. And he did pivot out of our path in exactly the way he had pivoted in. And, you know, God answered that prayer and took care of us. you know, when we came face to face with a bear at the top of a cliff with our children,

And what did I feel? I felt alone. But that.

having many opportunities to build spiritual muscle over the course of my life by using spiritual muscle. And in that particular case, the spiritual muscle was listening to words that my daughter had spoken after she climbed on a mountain for four years previously with my dad or with her dad. And that was when they climbed.

They were scrambling. She was pretty little. And she talked about how she was afraid, but she remembered the Bible. And it told her that they were never alone. She was never alone. She didn't need to be afraid. And so when we faced the bear and I felt alone and I was afraid, I finally

didn't just pray that the thing would go away. I prayed that God would help us because I knew he was there. And he did. so that's a series of trials or series of valleys, but the valley is the, is just that overwhelming sense of being alone.

and God.

is continuing to bring me out of that valley and through that valley.

McKenzie Smith (32:19)
Yeah, I think or I like what you said about we build spiritual muscle when we use it. And I think that that is just a really great analogy or picture for those who, you know, may be active or have worked out in the past or played sports or whatever. It's like you don't just wake up one day and you have big biceps. You know, it's like you've got to go to the gym and you've got to actually use those muscles. And so.

or train those muscles. And so I think that what you're saying is so good because oftentimes we, or I'll say I can.

can do something because I know that I should, but not because that's the way that I've trained. If that makes sense. And like you're saying, your response or your prayers change in moments when you aren't just saying, hey, God, take this, take this situation from me. Cause that's...

Natalie Ogbourne (33:09)
Yes, I do.

McKenzie Smith (33:25)
I want to say that's the easy thing to do, but you know, that just that that reflects, think, partially part of our spiritual journey is it's like, yes, take it. But, know, on the other side of that, if you don't, you know, there's also something on that side as well. And having the the posture to say to say confidently like, Lord, I know that you're with me in this situation.

is huge. So talking about building spiritual muscle, what are some ways in which people can develop or train spiritual muscles from your experience?

Natalie Ogbourne (34:16)
One thing, one, one piece of one helpful thing from the Bible is comes from proverbs. It's proverbs 426, ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. And like I said, I'm not real stable, so I'm always paying attention to my feet out on the trail. I'm trying to train myself to pay some attention to my feet and some attention to where I'm going. So I've, you know, I've got

I've got a good perspective on things, but we need to pay attention to where we're headed. Is the path we're on taking us to the right place? Are we walking through what we're walking through in the way we want to walk through it? That has been really helpful to me. Another thing.

As in Isaiah, it says, behold, I am doing a new thing. Do you not see it? Do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. And that has been really helpful to me. You I said earlier, we tend to see what we look for. And so we need to be watching for the things that God is doing. And we all need a way made through in.

the wilderness. We are all walking in the wilderness all the time. You know, we kind of use it as a term for a as a as kind of some imagery to indicate lostness or a really tough time. We're walking in the woods all the time. You know, it's there are things there that can trip us up.

there are hard times in, you things might be great in one area of our life, but in some area of our life, we're struggling a little bit with something and watching for God to make that way in the wilderness or, you know, provide that river when we're dry. Those things.

That truth has been really helpful to me along with the fact that Jesus is with us till the end of the age We are not alone

McKenzie Smith (36:33)
Yeah, so good. I love what you said about pondering the path and making sure of, you know, your steps and and what you shared there, because I think so often we just kind of go where the wind blows and we just, you know, react to things and we, you know, we have plans for some areas of our lives. We don't have plans for others. And it's like if you don't have a plan and you don't have a

destination that you want to end up and what's going to determine where you end up. And so just blindly walking through life and making decisions on a whim can be very harmful because you're going to end up totally off, off path. And you're maybe not even going to be walking on a path if you don't even pay attention to where you're going. And so often I think we ask God, know, like, how did we get here? And if you look back on your life, like

Chances are you got, you stepped off path and you just kept going. You know, and it's not, I think so often we can blame God in that situation of like, God, how can you put us here? And it's like, sometimes we just wandered and we, you know, we put ourselves there. And so you have to be very intentional even in some of the really small things of like, is this, does, is this in line with the life that I want to be living? Is this.

Natalie Ogbourne (37:46)
Great.

McKenzie Smith (37:59)
you know, in step for what God has called us to do. And you know, God is gracious and he's going to put us back on path. But I think we can save ourselves a lot of hardship if we just bring intentionality to that thought. And even the small things, because I think we do it so often with really big things, you know, we make big goals and big plans, but it's like that everyday small decisions that actually are building up over time.

So for someone who's struggling in a season of feeling maybe alone or they're in a valley of waiting, because I know you brought that up as well, I'll let you pick which one you want to share about, but what is a piece of advice or encouragement that you would give to that person?

Natalie Ogbourne (38:59)
God knows what he's doing. I have to remind myself of that.

And he's not going to leave you stranded. You know, he just, I mentioned Jesus is with us till the end of the age. That's what he said. In Joshua, he says, you know, if I not commanded you be strong and courageous. we're kind of all about being strong and courageous, but we tend to want to do it on our own and not so much remembering the part that God is with us.

and that he's not gonna leave us or forsake us. that is, I think that's the key thing that I wanna say. He knows what he's doing and he's not gonna leave us alone.

McKenzie Smith (39:52)
Yep, totally agree. And thank you for sharing that scripture. I always love when our guests have the scripture to back up their piece of encouragement because it just makes it that much more valuable. So share with us a little bit about

what we can expect if we go and read Waking Up in the Wilderness. Give us a short little synopsis of what that book is about.

Natalie Ogbourne (41:45)
While my book is based on my connection to Yellowstone and my history with Yellowstone and I'm telling the story, it is more than a book of me and my family doing things we love in a place we love with people we love. It's really an invitation and a sign saying, hey, look at this, pointing things out so that readers can see for themselves.

It is a journey into Yellowstone through all four seasons, doing things like, you know, hiking, camping, fly fishing, canoeing. You're there in winter, spring, summer and fall. There's, you know, lighthearted stories. There's, you know, more dangerous stories. And the theme running through it is, is the...

exploration of the line between isolation and solitude amidst the delights and dangers of Yellowstone. One of the things that readers have told me which makes me really happy is that Yellowstone is a main character. It's not just the setting. It's a main character. And so if you

Are an armchair traveler? If you'd like to experience Yellowstone without going there, if you'd like to be tempted to go to Yellowstone or experience more of it, I think you might like it.

McKenzie Smith (43:16)
Yeah, it is the only national park I have been to. Well, actually, that's not true. It's one of the... I've been to Yosemite now twice, but was before the only national park I've been to multiple times. And it is really special and it is very diverse. I will say I... every time I go, I experience a new part of the park that I didn't quite know existed. And I will say my favorite part of Yellowstone.

is the buffalos or the bison. I'm always like, I just want to see them, please. I love bison for some reason.

Natalie Ogbourne (43:53)
You'll learn more about them in the book as well. Did you know Yellowstone's bison helped save the nation's bison from extinction? Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (44:02)
I did not know that.

What a fun fact. Well, awesome. You guys go, go check out the book. Natalie, will you share with us where listeners can find more about you, more about your book?

Natalie Ogbourne (44:23)
Yes, I have a website, natalieogborn.com, and I have Yellowstone information and encouragement for navigating life by faith. You can find me on Instagram at natalie underscore ogborn. Same thing. Encouragement for navigating life by faith and Yellowstone information. My book right now can be found on Amazon.

McKenzie Smith (44:50)
Awesome. Well, we will make sure to put all those links in the podcast description as well so that listeners can find those there. But I just want to say thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for sharing your story and for hopefully helping listeners make the connection between life outdoors and life with God, because there is such a parallel there. And I love what you said at the very, very beginning. What's true on the trail is true in life. And I just hope that

everyone starts to experience that for themselves. So thank you again for sharing.

Natalie Ogbourne (45:25)
Thank you so much for having me. It's been really fun to talk to you.