So You Wanna Be a Park Ranger

In the last year or so, I've been getting this question more and more: "How DO you become a park ranger?" The simple answer: "It's complicated." But if the inquiring party has the time and interest, I am always happy to help as much as I can -- because I know I how much I appreciated getting the inside scoop when I was trying to figure out the answer to that question myself.

In light of this, I thought it would be useful (for both you AND me, to get this all written down) to just write a blog post about it. Let's do this!

A trip to the coast

I just finished my first term of grad school (hooray!) and finally had some time to post photos from my Thanksgiving weekend trip to the Oregon coast. 

Autumn.

I think it's fair to say that I've more or less settled into my new life in the PNW. I can't believe I've been here over a month and a half now. I have a nice little circle of new friends, plenty of social outlets, and I've started swing dancing again. Fall colors have finally peaked (I'm so lucky to have gotten two falls this year!) and the daily drizzle of rain has begun. Things are going surprisingly well, considering the doubts I had about leaving Alaska and going back to school.

Pacific North Wonderland

I have been at a loss for what to write since I moved to Oregon for graduate school. It's not for lack of stories. But I've just felt lost. Scattered. Pieces of me everywhere. And I'm not entirely sure what my story is anymore. 

This has resulted in what could be considered a minor existential crisis, but I'm getting myself re-organized, re-normalized, and re-calibrated to life in the lower-48 and as a student again. I'm surrounded by stimulus: people everywhere, new ideas, new demands, new sounds, new responsibilities, new routines, new culture. 

I miss my cabin in the woods, and being able to walk into the forest and be totally alone, out of sight and out of mind. Here, I feel like anywhere I go, I'm within sight of someone somewhere, whether or not they're actually looking at me or paying attention. Some say being in the city feels anonymous, but I feel so exposed here.

Aurora Borealis

One of my high priority goals this summer was to see the Aurora Borealis one more time while I was still in Alaska. Just when I was beginning to think my luck had run out, last week the northern lights graced the skies with their elegance more spectacularly than I ever could have hoped for!

Aurora and fall colors

Aurora over my cabin 

At one point, the lights exploded, illuminating the night

I'm still learning how to find the best camera settings for photographing them, but I think I'm getting pretty close. The last image in the set above was featured on the US Department of the Interior's social media, and received over 22,000 likes on Instagram! Nothing like a little validation for some encouragement. 

This time, I also worked on trying to edit them to more lifelike colors, since the 10-second exposure of the camera picks up more light and color range than is visible to the human eye. The photo of the aurora over my cabin, and the last photo of the set have more true-to-life color, but the other two photos were too beautiful to edit down. :) Regardless of the camera's interpretation of the colors, the lights were as bright as I've ever seen them. My friend and I laid out in the deserted parking lot for over an hour watching as the bands of color danced above our heads.

The Future (is now)

Sunset over Savage River last week

At long last, my days in Alaska are coming to an end. Today is the beginning of my last week working in Denali National Park, and the last week of one of the best summers of my life. I think it goes without saying that I am devastated to leave -- and not just Denali, but this entire beautiful state and the communities of which I have become a part over the last 4 years.

Where do I even begin?

I came to Alaska at a critical point in my life, a point at which I was open to all the possibilities of existence in the world. And beyond just learning to fend for myself in this rough and wild place, I also grew into myself as an individual, an adult, and a woman. I came to Alaska to be closer to the roots of the connections between humans and nature, and that is what I found.

Seasons of adventure

The last two weeks have been busy beyond belief. Last weekend, one of my friends from college and her boyfriend came to visit for a few days, and they happened to come on our week of the craziest weather yet this year. It was the last week of August, and over a period of 3 days, we experienced all four seasons in one. But that didn't stop us from tackling all the adventure the weekend had to offer.

My first rapids!