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”
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”
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”
Some of you may have heard about a campaign Coca Cola is running where you can vote for your favorite non-profit idea to receive a grant. They are now doing something similar with the national and state parks! The park with the most votes will receive a $100,000 grant, and Canyonlands is WAY behind. So please go vote! You have until August 31st and can vote as many times as you like. Who knows the kind of things we could do with $100,000! Maybe even hire an extra ranger…. 😉
Thanks for your help!
Vote here: http://www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks/vote
One of my favorite memories of my summer here took place on a warm, clear night in early June. We have a giant white telescope sitting in the living room of the trailer, which we were told was broken upon its discovery. Coming back from a potluck dinner, I thought of it sitting there as I found my eyes glued to the sky my entire walk home. The stars were particularly spectacular that night, even for a sky as dark as ours. I just couldn’t make myself go inside, so I climbed onto the top of my car to watch the sky a little bit longer. A few minutes later I heard the crunch of my neighbor’s footsteps making his way down the road. He saw me sitting there and asked if I had ever used the telescope being stored in my living room. I told him no, that it was broken, and he announced that a few weeks before my arrival he had been bored and fixed it. He hadn’t told anyone for fear that they would move it to an inaccessible place. Continue reading “Starlight, Star Bright”
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