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A note to listeners.

This episode contains adult language and content.

Please be advised.

From Wondery, I'm Cassie to Peckle, and this is Against the Arts. On this show, we talk a lot about risk, big risks,

like climbing a 20,000-foot Himalayan peak, or exploring a new frontier,

and smaller ones, like hiking alone in a national park.

But whatever the size of the risk, almost everyone who enjoys getting out in nature has had a moment where they sense danger. The rustling in the brush, a howl in the distance, intrusive

thoughts of bears or snakes or spiders. Most of the time, the threat is just

our imagination acting up. But sometimes, what we imagine lurking in the shadows might actually be there,

waiting. Usually you wake up and turns out it was just a nightmare.

The interesting thing was this time I woke up and the nightmare was real.

That's Outdoor magazine contributor Kyle Dickman.

You might remember his voice from our series on the Granite Mountain Hotshots,

which told the story of 19 wildland firefighters

who lost their lives in Arizona in 2013.

Kyle had been a hotshot himself and wrote a book about the tragedy.

Today, Kyle returns to the show to tell another story, his own.

Not about fighting fires,

but instead about what happened

when he took his infant son, Bridger,

...