As you all know, the name of the district of Canyonlands I work in is the Island in the Sky district.
As not all of you may know, I managed to wrangle one of the rangers up here to give me guitar lessons this summer. Continue reading “On an Island in the Sky”
Fall certainly has it’s advantages and disadvantages. For one, it’s way harder to get out of bed for an opening shift when the stars are still out (as opposed to a bright sunny sky in the summer when I first arrived). But one thing that becomes much more accessible this time of year is the sunrise. The day starts around 7:30am these days, the same time I arrive on a day I’m set to open the visitor center. Continue reading “Sunrise”
At 9am this past Monday morning (my Saturday, as my days off are Monday-Tuesday) I had an interview for a ski instructor position at Keystone. By 10, they had offered me the job.
That was the start of my amazing weekend. Continue reading “Moonlight Meadows”
The other day an older gentleman came into the visitor center. He carefully studied the exhibits, excitedly attended the ranger program, politely asked to see the park film, and inundated us with insightful and intelligent questions. His eyes were bright with wonder and curiosity, and he told us over and over again, with the kindest smile, how grateful he was for this protected place, and how wonderful we all were to be working for this cause.
And then with wide, hopeful eyes, he asked us how much of the park he would really be able to see.
We smiled at him, and lied. Continue reading “Appreciation”
I can’t believe it’s October. Continue reading “October”
At the time I got my season extended the schedule was already published through the next pay period, which included what was supposed to be my last day. The way everything worked out there was one day in that pay period I shouldn’t have been working, and my supervisor had already made sure that all the shifts were covered. It was then decided that I would get to play generalist for a day and monitor one of the longer trails. When my supervisor first posed this to me she made it sound like a question. Continue reading “Nightmare on Syncline”
I was first supposed to visit Telluride, Colorado sometime in July. Something came up however and my travel buddy couldn’t make it, so I rescheduled for the same weekend with a different crew, which ended up falling through as well. Since then I’ve been within hours of the place a multitude of times, often with the intention of at least a day visit, but some distraction has always come up and sent me in another direction. So a few weeks ago – almost a month ago actually, wow how time flies! – when a friend from home was up visiting, I decided to take the opportunity to show her the diversity of the area, and finally get my butt to Telluride. Continue reading “Telluride, CO”
Well, it’s happened.
Labor day has come and gone, our German and French visitation numbers have plummeted, retirees and adventure-seekers have taken over the park, and I haven’t sweat in three days.
Fall is here. Continue reading “Fall”
About two months ago when I had just arrived at Canyonlands and was looking for a hike to do on my day off, one of our generalist rangers, Steve, recommended Gooseberry to me as his favorite hike in the park. I didn’t get to doing it that weekend, and I’m so glad I didn’t, because I think doing Gooseberry by myself, in my first few weeks out here, would have been a very, very bad idea. Continue reading “Gooseberry Trail”
Well, it’s been monsoon season for about a month here at Canyonlands. The season runs from late July through September, and it has its pros and cons. For one, things have definitely cooled down (no more 100+ degree days, yay!), and all the gnats have been drowned by the rain (double yay!). Continue reading “Monsoon Season”
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