A Talk with Ranger John

My Time in Yosemite

How can I describe the effects of pure beauty?

There were times, including the 50 minute drive home, that I would just stop and absorb the scenery. Most mornings on the drive to the Valley, I would stop somewhere along the road and get out for a short walk. I couldn’t help expressing my love for the mountains, the air, the wildlife, trees, and flowers.

I worked in the heart of Yosemite Valley with 16 other Campground Rangers. We oversaw the Campground Office located in Curry Village at the base of Glacier Point. In addition we took turns working in one of the campgrounds: Camp 4 (or Sunnyside), Upper, Lower and North Pines and Backpackers Camp. My work life could not have been better. Our job was to make sure the visitor’s vacation was going well and to answer 100s of questions daily. It is estimated that in a normal day we would speak to 150 +people. If you don’t like people and especially foreigners, it’s not the job for you. Working along side the Yosemite National Park Rangers taught me how important it was to show courtesy with the public, always.

Lunchtime would be one of the day’s highlights. I sat outside our campground office and could see Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, the Royal Arches and Glacier Point. A pretty nice lunchroom!! Visiting deer, brown bears, of course squirrels and crows were nearly a daily occurrence.

The stress level was about as low as could be registered. I learned well that any mistake I made, the other rangers had made as well and it was not a big deal; after all, it was only campsites we were dealing with.

There were many “I don’t believe it” moments.  When someone would come into the campground office on one of the busiest weekends of the year, and possibly 200,000 people would be in the most visited park in the world,  they would come up to the counter saying they needed a campsite and couldn’t believe we were booked solid for 5 months. Then they would get upset and tell us that they just drove 10 days to get there, and couldn’t understand why we didn’t have a campsite for them. Go figure? Our mantra at that point was: “Lack of planning of your part does not constitute an emergency on my part”.

One of the joys we experienced often would especially be with Europeans who were taught about Yosemite in their schools. They had been planning and dreaming about coming for years and now they were actually there. They always said, “It’s much better than I imagined” and would want to take a photo with us.

As a child living in Colorado my father loved the out of doors, and as a result I also fell in love with nature and the mountains. I decided in High School to become a Park Ranger. It took 42 years to see this dream come true. Out of 1000s of applicants for this position, I was chosen. As I learned later on, they don’t hire new people often.

I return next April for 6 months. It’s called seasonal work with good unemployment benefits in-between. I get to use my Spanish often, every now and then my limited Chinese, and even a couple of times, my baby Hungarian. 3 out of 4 visitors are from outside the USA from about every country on earth.

At times I felt like John Muir did and would just break out in song or praise to God for being in such beautiful surroundings.

One additional blessing was getting to know the volunteer campground host staff. They come and live in the campgrounds for 1 – 6 months at a time. I met some pretty amazing people among them and also among the vacationing campers. I met people from ALL walks of life and had lots of enjoyable conversations, and am looking forward to next season.