Campfire Stories: Tales from America's National Parks

by Dave Kyu, Ilyssa Kyu, Finney Carolyn (Foreword)

Our national parks are beautiful and unique places, often serving as an introduction to the outdoors and inspiring an appreciation for nature and wilderness. Similarly, stories and storytelling can serve as an introduction to other places and foster a powerful emotional connection to nature.  Campfire Stories brings together tales about our national parks; some are by well-known writers such as John Muir, Bill Bryson, and Terry Tempest Williams, while others are from pioneer diaries or have been passed down through generations of indigenous peoples.
Co-editors Dave and Ilyssa Kyu spent five months traveling and researching the stories in the book. They gathered each of these stories from public libraries, historical societies, arts and cultural organizations, museums, research centers, and national park archives. They interviewed park rangers, historians, artists, curators, educators, and local residents, who all offered insights and guidance into the essence of each place, which was than used to select entertaining, diverse, and engaging writings that reflected each park and best told around a campfire. 
Campfire Stories focuses on these six iconic national Each story includes an "About this Story" reflection, offering insight into how Dave and Ilyssa discovered the tale, why they selected it, and some background about its writer. Dave and Ilyssa also share their own thoughts on each of the parks they visited, as well as tips on how to be a compelling storyteller.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Short Stories, Poetry, Nature, Outdoors, History

224 pages, Hardcover

Published June 18, 2018

Reviews

[Lindsay Bolender · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I expected from this book was a collection of miraculous events or mysterious lore or tales of magic in the national parks. There were some of those stories, but there were also a lot of ordinary stories that I could have done without. I especially appreciated the author’s’ commitment to authentic retellings of American Indian legends.

[Becks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although my enjoyment of the poems, legends, and stories in this collection would put it at 3 stars, the design of this book puts it at a 4. It’s a beautiful collection. There’s enough variety that any reader should be able to find entries they enjoy. My personal favorites were: The Legend of the Blue Mist, The Great White Throne, and Summit Fever. If you’re looking for a gift for the US national parks enthusiast in your life, this is it.

[grieshaber.reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's a book I never would have found had I not been browsing in a bookstore. Over Christmas break, I visited the Boulder Bookstore in Colorado (a must-visit locale for all book lovers). On its Staff Recs shelf was this little beauty, mainly recommended, I am sure, for its feature of nearby Rocky Mountain National State Park. I wanted to purchase something from this bookstore and I wanted it to be a local interest title so Campfire Stories: Tales from America's National Parks fit the bill. Also, it is beautiful to touch and the weight and size feel good in your hand. It smells good. The illustrations that mark the beginnings of each six featured national parks' sections are unique and lovely. I waited to read Campfire Stories until I was on a camping trip to Bennett Spring State Park (I just love reading a book in its ideal setting). Married couple, Dave and Ilyssa Kyu, set out on a journey to travel to six national parks and collect authentic stories from those parks. This book is the result of their extensive (and obviously enjoyable) research. They traveled to Acadia NP, Great Smoky Mountains NP, Rocky Mountain NP, Zion NP, Yosemite NP, and Yellowstone NP. The stories they collected consist of Native American legends, poems, hiking accounts, excerpts of memoirs, song lyrics, descriptive stories, and more. In addition to being a beautiful collection of literature, it is also an excellent study on how to curate a collection. I found the Kyu's personal notes fascinating (especially the fact that they discovered they were pregnant at the very beginning of their journey!). Campfire stories definitely lit a fire in me to visit more of our national parks. We just may camp in Great Smoky Mountain NP next year! I recommend this read to anyone who loves the great outdoors. This book would make an excellent gift.

I'll close my review with my favorite excerpt from the book (Zion NP):
"I want a word to convey the first touch of sun hot on winter-white flesh so you can feel it, smell it. Scratch-and-sniff words; hot words and cold; words jagged as a new-broken rockfall. Words that lie smooth as a waterworn pebble in your mind.

I want ink that, when held up to the light, glows like melon cut open in the sun, like light through a cactus petal. Ink that, when read, splashes off the page, river water around boulders. I want parchment the color of Indian ricegrass in June. I want a language of thunderstorm and baked sand"(146).

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's time to go camping ^_^

[Mallory Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is somewhat misleading - these aren't actual campfire stories; the book is essentially a collection of poems and essays reflecting on six national parks (Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Yosemite, and Yellowstone).

Some of the chapters are interesting and others I found to be pretty bland. If you're interested in the history of the above six national parks, you'll probably like the book. If you are looking for more traditional 'campfire tales,' I'd look elsewhere.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Campfire Stories: Tales from America's National Parks is a collections of poems, myths, diaries, essays, and myths edited by Dave Kyu and Ilyssa Kyu.

The editors of the book set out on a road trip to six national parks and collect stories that evoke the essence of each location: Acadia, Great Smokie Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Ziin, Yosemite, and Yellowstone Natiinal Park.

My favorite part of the book was actually the two editors road trip and their adventures along the way. I wish we had gotten more of that. With this being a collection of literature of multiple formats across a long period of time, there are pieces I love, like, and others just didn't get attached to. My favorites tended to be Native myths on how the parks were created and first hand tales of early settlers of park officials. I was disappointed Zion was featured more prominently as it was the reason I purchased the book but I really did enjoy the stories set in the other parks. This is a pretty interesting read for Park fans.

[Michelle U (HemingwayandEarlgrey) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dear friend gave me this book for my birthday. I Absolutely adored this book. I savored each and every story. It was especially enjoyable cozying up next to the fireplace. Perfect for cold winter nights.

[Luke Britcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A interesting collection of short stories, essays, and poems on some of America's National Parks. This book wasn't what I was expecting, but was still informative and enjoyable.

[Phil Steffek · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re a national park lover I think you’ll enjoy many of these short stories. All of them were new to me and I liked getting a bit of background and perspective on each park. My favorite? Probably an autobiographical piece written by a woman who spent a summer living in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadow in the 1930s while her father worked in the Civilian Conservation Corp.

[Laurie Moreland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out thinking I would give this book only three stars because I was disappointed that it was not a collection of stories I could read and commit to memory and share about my beloved national parks. Oh, there were a couple of those, but it was, instead, a conglomeration of poems (great and bad), Native American legends, non-fiction accounts of adventures, and flowery descriptive essays. Once I began reading in earnest, however, I found myself carried away by them. I have been to five of the six highlighted parks (Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Zion and Yellowstone), and so can relate to the feelings and wonders talked about. Yosemite is still on my list, and this book made me anxious to experience its grandeur.

Just in the past seven years, since being married to Vincent, we have been to 20 national parks together and a number of national monuments and seashores and so on. In a previous life, I had been to several more. Working in Yellowstone as a young adult, I became enraptured with the idea of and beauty found in these set-apart lands. Honestly, I still harbor the dream of being a ranger in a national park someday!!! This book fed my longing.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very few campfire stories, maybe 2 or 3 tops. But there are some really fun accounts, myths, poems, and other literature about the national parks, so it’s still an ok book.

I picked this up during a visit to Acadia, which is the first section of the book, so I figured that would help me get hooked. But this was my least favorite collection of stories. I’m glad I kept at it because the next two sections, Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountain, were a much better read. The last story is a well-told and hilarious account from Yellowstone, which helped close the book on a high note.

I think I’d recommend the book, but if I find myself around a campfire and see someone open a copy to share from it, I’ll probably get up and find another campfire and tell some better campfire stories.

Big miss on the title.

[Amanda Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me over 4 years to complete this book, which averages to reading about 16% of a page per day. It's not that I lack the capacity to read faster, it just boils down do the fact that I have difficulty with both poetry and nature writing, of which a lot of this book is comprised.

I am certainly not the first person to note that "Campfire Stories" as a title may insinuate spooky legends or at least short complete writings to keep campers entertained. This small book is not that. I did, however, enjoy some of the survival excerpts and creation myths, but this book largely will miss its target audiences all because of its name.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable outdoorsy read for a dreary winter. Several very engaging stories, and some not so much.

[Rachel Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t really know how this was going to be since this book was gift, but I really loved it! Very much appreciated the native voices and hearing stories about their land.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of stories to read during the summer, while outdoors, or traveling. Loved the mix of folktales, poems, and short stories.

[Kaitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes much slower than ideal, and an incredibly wide variation in the length of the stories. Most were interesting, some not so much. And while the title and cover fit well and make for a pleasing coffee table book, I don't quite agree that these stories are suited for the campfire. They certainly tell tales from America's national parks, but not in a manner that fits storytime around a bonfire.

[John Galluzzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a beautiful idea, of course, and almost reminiscent of the Depression era writer's projects, when the federal government paid artists to get out and document America in all media.

This collection captures the spirits of several of our most beloved National Parks, starting with Acadia National Park in Maine and working ever westward. We pass through Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks and acquire a feel for the heartbeat of each one. Stories are narrative tales, first-person memoirs, poems and even songs. We hear from Maine fishermen, Native Americans sharing creation myths, park rangers telling ghost stories, survivors sharing their tales and even a woman who loses her husband to wolves, if only spiritually. John Muir speaks, as do Bill Bryson and Terry Tempest Williams.

Place-based history can be powerful. It's wonderful to be in a place in a moment and figure out where you fit into it all, watching a waterfall and understanding that it has been so watched for thousands of years by others who carried the same reverence for its power and beauty. Through these stories we start to understand just how lucky we are that people who came before us had the foresight to save these spaces for us all.

But, it's not until we visit them that the truth sinks in. When you go to any of the aforementioned parks, bring this book as your primer, and build your story from there.

[Jimmy Autrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was gifted this book and started out really excited to read it as it was centrally about 6 national parks. I had already been to three of these parks and will visit a fourth one of them this upcoming summer. I applaud the approach of this married couple who are the authors of this book in attempting to use local stories to describe each one of these parks...stories similar to what you would hear around a campfire. I can tell they worked extremely hard, even after the couple found out they were pregnant half-way into the journey! However, if you've ever listened to or told stories around a campfire you know that the simple words being spoken are only a portion of the tale. The surroundings, the mood and delivery of the storyteller, heck even the campfire itself all play a huge role in the experience. This is where the book suffers because it can only give you the words not the rest of the story. Some of the stories are very good, others I found myself asking where did this come from and where is it going as I found myself forced to finish them. Hopefully, as I head out to the western parks associated with this book I can find myself one night beside a campfire listening to a story and be able to soak it in for all it is worth?

[Cayla Duckworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Campfire Stories is a delightful collection that captures the magic, mystery, and sometimes spine-tingling tales from America’s most beloved national parks. Dave and Ilyssa Kyu have created a book that feels like sitting around a crackling campfire, hearing stories that range from heartwarming to haunting, all while celebrating the beauty and history of our parks.

I loved how each story is short, engaging, and packed with atmosphere. The mix of folklore, personal anecdotes, and local legends keeps the reading experience fresh and captivating. Whether you’re a seasoned hiker, a casual nature fan, or someone who loves a good story, there’s something here for everyone.

What makes this book truly special is the way it sparks imagination. Reading it, I felt transported to misty mountain trails, starry desert skies, and shadowy forest paths—sometimes laughing, sometimes shivering, but always hooked.

If you love the outdoors, storytelling, or just want a book that makes you feel like you’re on an adventure, Campfire Stories is an absolute must-read. Perfect for kids, adults, and anyone who cherishes the magic of America’s national parks.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ The title of the anthology is a bit of a misnomer, as so very few stories fit the bill of a good one to share around an actual campfire. Even the excerpt selected from Bill Bryson’s A WALK IN THE WOODS waxed on about the geological history of the Appalachian Mountains, rather than one of the many humorous bits that made the memoir so memorable; a spat with Katz over his damned Little Debbie’s would have been a better campfire tale.

That being said, the authors’ reverence for America’s National Parks shone clearly. I also appreciated the inclusion of stories from various Native American tribes who first (and sometimes still) call these lands home.

“I want a different way of talking, a new alphabet. I want a language full of exacting definition: a word for the precise pink of manzanita flowers in earliest spring, for the experimental green of cottonwoods leafing along the Virgin River, itself the dusty watercolor of spring runoff.”~Greer K. Chesher, “The Language of Zion”

[HorribleRyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave and Ilyssa Kyu collected these stories during a months-long road trip to several national parks. Early in that adventure, they discovered they were pregnant, so the interstitial intros to each section include updates of that progress as they moved across the country, living out of a tent and borrowed spaces. It's a fascinating story on its own, but we only get a glimpse of it.

Mostly, this is an anthology of stories, memoir excerpts, and poetry from six major national parks. They give windows into the history and culture of each of those parks, usually with a bit of the Native history. As a whole, it's really interesting, even if some of the selections didn't resonate with me personally. They range from funny to weird to deeply moving, so for someone like me, who is generally happiest when outside, especially in a wild place, it's worth a few hours of time.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I initially gave this book 2 stars but that’s just because I thought it was kind of bland not because it’s poorly written. Not really even bland since a lot of the included writings are excellent but I’ve seen them many times before. I returned the book to the library so I can’t give specifics but I do recall that Terry Tempest Williams, John Muir and Bill Bryson’s works are featured.

The book feels like it could have been written without ever stepping foot in the National Parks (NP). My view could be colored by the fact that I’ve been to all the parks, most of them several times, some for research projects so maybe it’s just that this book is more appropriate for NP neophytes. In any case, I recommend checking it out from the library.

[Katie Barefoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not a page turner, but rather a book to be reflected on, steeped in, and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. Including essays, excerpts, and poetry this work beautifully gives homage to each National Park through the words of visitors throughout the years. Having visited each of the national parks featured, this was a wonderful walk down memory lane for me. While the title “Campfire Stories” is misleading in that it implies spooky tales or hilarious first hand accounts of mishaps, the authors do stress in the introduction that this work is so much more than that. I will admit that the title is what initially drew me to purchase this book, but the greater mission and overarching scope made me love it. It will always have a place on my shelf!

[Rachel]

Favorite Stories / Want to Read More

Acadia
Tempest Williams - The Hour of Land

Great Smoky Mountains
Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods

Kathi Smith Littlejohn - The Birds and Animals Stickball Game

Rocky Mountain
Jack C. Moomaw - Other Campfires: Ancient Walls on Trail Ridge

Zion
William R Palmer - Why the North Star Stands Still

Tempest Williams - The Coyote Clan

Yosemite
Shelton Johnson - Gloryland

Frank La Pena, Craig D. Bates, Steven P. Medley Compiled - The Legend of Tu-tok-a-nu'-la

Yellowstone
Ralph Dixey - Origin of the Snake and Yellowstone Rivers

Charles Dudley Warner - Editor's Study 1 &2

[E.p. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a carefully curated collection of a smattering of stories from 6 national parks. It's interesting because it isn't a deep dive into any particular park and has the narrative of the authors' road trip journey through the parks. The collections include indigenous stories as well as historical, early parks stories. There are a few more modern (maybe 90's). It's a good inspo read for winter and for making summer travel plans. Many of these stories were whimsical, though they all contained a mini-bio of the authenticity of the story and a backstory on the author or why the story was chosen.

[Ira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book but it wasn't what I expected. As many have mentioned the title is somewhat misleading. I was expecting some real-life stories from these National Parks, stories that I could relate to. I did enjoy a handful of the stories including the native tales, but I think it was too much of a mix of magical tales to poems to true events. It took me 9 months to finish the book as I took a break for about 8 months before giving it another go. I can totally understand why some people might love the book though, but it just wasn't for me.

[Amy Wren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book! It's a collection of poems and short stories about six U.S. National Parks (Acadia, Great Smoky Mountains, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Yosemite, and Yellowstone). I like that there was a wide variety of stories, and that the book doesn't just pick the six most famous works from white people to include. Though it's made with the idea of reading these around the campfires on a beautiful night in your favorite park, it also works as a nice read while curled up on the couch with a mug of coffee as it snows outside your apartment.

[Jared Laslo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had expected this book to full of tall tales, magical lore, even stories about cryptids or other things of the sort. However, the imagery described in these stories and poems are spectacular! My love for the parks I’ve already visited has increased, and I now wish desperately to visit the others included in this book. I loved the inclusion of indigenous peoples’ stories as well. Overall, a wonderful book for the wanderlust to experience some of America’s most beautiful parks!

[Alvin Ma · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright. First time in a while I read this sort of compiled stories book. There were some fun reads, but some that I thought was a little boring. Definitely got traveling vibes from some of them, and made me miss traveling. Some wild stories out there. But also some interesting tales I've never heard of involving the national parks. Gained some new and interesting facts about some I never knew about!

[Aubrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it halfway through and then gave up on it. The stories weren't interesting to me, but I did rather enjoy reading the author's notes. There was one phrase in the book that stuck with me though, which was taken from a journal entry of a couple who bought their own island off Maine and essentially sought to go off-grid (in the 1940s I want to say?)..."a wish to leave behind the battle of non-essentials and the burden of abundance." That was powerful to me.