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What animal is faster than a race car, a sky diver, or any living thing on Earth? Answer: The Peregrine Falcon 🦅

Join us on the cliffs of Acadia National Park while we check out this bird that's designed like a fighter jet. We cover the Peregrine's super powers that keep it alive at the record speed of 242 miles per hour, the invisible chemical threat that almost wiped them out completely, and the genius comeback plan that brought Peregrine Falcons back to the east coast.

Parents & Educators: This episode is perfect for kids ages 6–12 and covers key STEM concepts including food chains, animal adaptations, and environmental conservation.

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

🏕️ If you could name the next Peregrine Falcon chick, what would you name it?

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards that go along with this kids podcast.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Climb over 9,000 feet to meet something that was alive before the pyramids were built - The Bristlecone Pine! At over 1,600 years old, this scraggly looking tree thrives at conditions where not much else can survive. 

These awesome trees also have a special partnership with a bird that also boasts a record for having the best memory - the Clarks Nutcracker! Tune in to our kids national park podcast to learn about how these two thrive at Bryce Canyon National Park.

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

🏕️ If you needed to hide food for winter, what food would you hide and where would you hide it?

The park sound was provided by Renee from All Things Birdie. Check out her youtube channel for more fun bird videos. 🕊️

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards that go along with this kids podcast.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

🏕️ If you could understand what any animal was saying for just one day, which animal would you pick?

The park sound was provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards that go along with this kids podcast.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Imagine a forest where the trees are made of glowing orange rock. Welcome to Bryce Canyon National Park! 

In this episode, we get to meet Bryce Canyon for the first time. We find out why it has the most hoodoos than anywhere else on Earth. And... what is a hoodoo anyway? Did you know ice can break solid stone? This park might be one of the smallest, but it's mighty in it's own way.

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards that go along with this kids podcast.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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What if I told you that the dry, dusty "potholes" in Canyonlands National Park are actually full of life? Yes, it's true. Prehistoric shrimp live in those holes in the sandstone! 

Tadpole shrimp were here before the dinosaurs and somehow survive decades without any water. Listen in as find out about their "secret trick" to staying alive.

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

🏕️ Tadpole shrimp is a pretty boring name for the oldest animal around! If you could rename it, what name would you give it?

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Could you navigate 1,000 miles of uncharted river with only one arm?

No one knew where the Green River and Colorado met. Legend had it that no one ever came back from seeing it. John Wesley Powell said, I'll find out! In this episode on Canyonlands National Park, we meet the one-armed Civil War hero who braved the rapids and named everything you see in the park. See the Confluence, where the rivers run two different colors, hear the roar of the rapids and Buckle up for the crazy expedition, this episode is full of adventure!

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

🏕️ If you discovered a brand new canyon today, what would you name it and why? Tag us on social media or visit our website to let us know!

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Meet Canyonlands National Park - one of the most remote and wild places in the lower 48 states. Today, we take an adventure though an unsolved mystery. There's a giant crater in Canyonlands, but how did it get there? Listen to the theories and decide for yourself! Join us as we look through the rock layers in Island of the Sky in this kids national parks podcast.

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Can you guess the mystery sound? Big thanks to Michael Just of Dawn2Dawn Photography for supplying our park sound today!

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Colorado's official state animal is built for the impossible. From balancing on two inch wide ledges, jumping twenty feet between cliff faces, to their incredible head on collisions, we cover this bighorn sheep from head to foot. Did you know their horns grow their entire lives? Did you know their thundering battles can be heard from a mile away? Tune in to hear it!

Rocky Mountain National Park has 350 of these amazing animals and we get to break down what makes these so animals extraordinary. This kids national park podcast is perfect for your next adventure.

 🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Can you guess the mystery sound? 

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Think the Rocky Mountains are inhospitable? Think again. Meet the Pika: the alpine tundra’s most adorable and busiest resident. Today, we’re heading into the peaks to hear their cute little mountain eeeps and see their tiny hay piles in action. From freezing temperatures to relentless winds, we’re exploring how nature adapts to live where most wouldn’t dare. Grab your parka—it’s time to go above the clouds!

 🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Can you guess the mystery sound? 

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for kids national park coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Let's drive the highway to the sky and thank the sick 14 year old from Kansas who fought for Rocky Mountain National Park. Yes, it's true. A teen arrived in Colorado, loved guiding hikes to the top of Long's Peak and worked tirelessly to preserve Rocky Mountain National Park. Join the adventure as we wind our way from the base of the mountain in the open forest up to the tippy top of the continent. We watch water flow down on both sides of the Continental Divide and gaze in awe at the views from the windswept tundra. 

Thank you to the Northern Colorado Wildlife Center for sharing their park sound with us today. You can view the cute creature here and visit their website to learn about the wonderful work they do.

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Can you guess the mystery sound? 

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for kids national park coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

**Episode note! There ARE higher paved roads in the US. This is the highest CONTINUOUS paved road. I did not note the other paved roads in the episode and wanted to present it here for clarity.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

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Dramatic peaks, feet upon feet of snow, glaciers, alpine lakes, and an invisible line that divides the country. Stand with us on the Continental Divide and watch how the water flows to two different oceans. In this episode, we trace the thread of water. Through glaciers, this park is carved and molded. Melted snow run-off fills the lakes and streams that make this park beautiful. AND we talk about how the Colorado River, the river that carves the Grand Canyon, begins in a surprising way.

🎒Scout mission included! Experience our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Can you guess the mystery sound? 

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for kids national parks coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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Most famous resident of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park? The Black Bear. In this episode, we learn all about black bears. Find out how big they are, how fast they are, how SMART they are and... what they like to eat! There's lots of bear eating in this show, because hyperphagia is what bears are known for and comes before hibernation! Or do bears actually hibernate? You'll find out what they actually do and how those cute little cubs are born in the middle of winter.

🎒Scout mission included! Find out our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Can you guess the mystery sound? 

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for kids national parks coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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Whats small and slimy and so so fun for kids to find? Salamanders of course! Listen to this episode on Great Smoky Mountains National Park and find out why so many different salamanders live here. Next, we meet two special salamanders. One thats really big with a ton of fun nicknames and one thats really small and has a special trick.

🎒Scout mission included! Find out our fun mission thats great for trips or the backyard with your family.

Can you guess the mystery sound? This animal is saying something, see if you can figure it out.

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for kids national parks coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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Could anything feel more like summer than fireflies? Listen in to learn how fireflies work, what makes synchronous fireflies so special, and where you can see them at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Did you know some fireflies are different colors? Some flash at different times, some make shapes while they flash! Are fireflies even a fly?

🎒Scout mission included! Tune in to find out our fun mission thats great for trips or backyard family time.

Can you guess the mystery sound? It's not what you might think 😉

Visit nationalparkscouts.com for kids national parks coloring pages, word searches, and bingo cards!

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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Why are the Great Smoky Mountains National Park so smoky? And why is it the most visited park? Find out whats up with all that smoke, why this park has so many plants and animals, and five reasons this park is the most visited in the national park system. 

Need an idea of some fun places to visit that are great for kids and families? In the episode, I mention Laurel Falls, Kuwohi Dome, the Appalachian Trail & Newfound Gap, Cades Cove, and Cataloochee Valley.

Can you decode our mystery sound? Thank you to the North American Bear Center for sharing their sounds with us today!

🎒Scout mission included - great for families to do together!

As always, visit our website https://nationalparkscouts.com for kids national parks coloring pages, word finds, and bingo cards.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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What would you do if there were only twenty-two left in the entire world?

The California condor is the largest flying land bird in North America. It has a super important job in nature that keeps the landscape healthy. Once this enormous bird owned the skies from British Columbia to Baja California, and then it almost disappeared forever. In this episode, we find out how the condor population crashed, why scientists made the risky decision to capture every last wild condor, and why Pinnacles National Park is their perfect home.

🎒 Scout Mission included! Great for family time outdoors, hikes, roadtrips and of course, visits to Pinnacles National Park. 

Complete your mission and tell us about it. Have a grown-up help you share your findings at nationalparkscouts.com. We might share your report on a future episode!

Can you guess this episode's Mystery Sound?

National Park Scouts, where curious kids discover America's wildest places.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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What if the most important animals in a national park were so small you didn't even notice them?

Pinnacles National Park has nearly five hundred species of bees, more per acre than almost anywhere else on Earth. In this episode, we find out why so many bees call this one small park home, what happens when thousands of ladybugs blanket a rock in red and black, and we meet two bugs that live here and almost nowhere else in the world. One of them is so small you'd never notice it, but functions as the park's water quality expert.

🎒 Scout Mission included! Great for family time outdoors, hikes, roadtrips and of course, visits to Pinnacles National Park. 

Complete your mission and tell us about it. Have a grown-up help you share your findings at nationalparkscouts.com. We might share your report on a future episode!

Can you guess this episode's Mystery Sound?

National Park Scouts, where curious kids discover America's wildest places.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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What if thousands of bats were living right beneath your feet and you had no idea?

Pinnacles National Park is home to at least 14 species of bats, and some of them are hiding in places you'd never expect. In this episode, we meet the Townsend's big-eared bat. This bat has ears almost as long as its entire body! 

Find out why bats matter way more than most people realize. You'll learn how bats hunt using sound alone, why some moths have evolved to fight back, and what one mysterious fungus is doing to bat populations across the country.

🎒 Scout Mission included! Great for family time outdoors, hikes, roadtrips and of course, visits to Pinnacles National Park. 

Complete your mission and tell us about it. Have a grown-up help you share your findings at nationalparkscouts.com. We might share your report on a future episode!

Can you guess this episode's Mystery Sound?

National Park Scouts, where curious kids discover America's wildest places.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

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What happens when half a volcano slides 200 miles away and leaves crazy caves behind?

Welcome to Pinnacles National Park, one of the least-visited parks in America that is hiding some big surprises. In this episode, we explore how Pinnacles was born from an ancient volcano that split in two. You'll find out why these rocks don't match anything around them, what happens when giant boulders pile up, and why scientists had to figure out where the rest of this volcano went. Plus, you'll discover what talus caves are and what makes this park one of the most surprising in the whole national park system.

🎒 Scout Mission included! Great for family time outdoors, hikes, roadtrips and of course, visits to Pinnacles National Park. 

Complete your mission and tell us about it. Have a grown-up help you share your findings at nationalparkscouts.com. We might share your report on a future episode!

Can you guess this episode's Mystery Sound?

National Park Scouts, where curious kids discover America's wildest places.

This ad is for National Park Supply Co, a family run company that makes shirts, hats and stickers for national parks. They use super soft bella canvas shirts and print on demand so nothing is wasted! Visit https://nationalparkssupplyco.com to order your next shirt.

https://nationalparkscouts.com/

Amazing music from Sheb3ar

Find National Park Scouts on Instagram