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!

To Meet a Mountain

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I've only got a couple weeks left in Denali, but lately I've been feeling much more spontaneous than usual. Yesterday this newly rediscovered spontaneity took me thousands of feet into the air to finally meet up with the mountain I have been working under for the last several months. 

I called the air taxi company in the morning, intent on asking about flights for the next day, but instead they said they had a spot open on the noon flight and to be there in an hour. I threw together a quick lunch and snacks, grabbed all the camera gear I could stuff in my backpack, and made it down to the bus stop just in time. 

A ten mile walk

I've done it. I've successfully hiked all 18 trails on the east end of Denali this summer, saving the 9.5 mile Triple Lakes Trail for last. 

Vista from the first summit of the trail

I got a late morning start yesterday, catching the 9:30 bus to the trail head, and set off into the warm, sunny morning. Counting for steep elevation changes, lunch, and short breaks, I estimated I could average about 2 mph walking speed and make it to the end of the trail by 2:30-3pm. Thus, roughly every half hour, I could assume I had walked a mile if I didn't stop to take pictures for too long.

Denali Canyoneering

There are few things in this world more exciting than picking a place on the map, and going there. And that's exactly what my friend and I did last weekend for two full days out on the west side of the park.

The day started out a little iffy with the weather; it rained a few times over the course of our 4-hour bus ride into the park, but by the time we got to our hiking destination, it had begun to let up. As the bus slowed to let us out on the side of the road, I could feel all the other passengers staring at us: two girls heading into the backcountry alone with impending variable weather conditions. I couldn't help but feel a little hardcore, even though this would be just an easy hike.

Into the canyon!

The Lynx

When I first caught a glimpse of it, I thought it was someone's dog off leash, walking out of the dwarf birch by the bus stop just as the bus pulled out. But the tawny creature that prowled out of the bushes was far too catlike, and it took me only a second to realize that I had finally set eyes on one of the most coveted species I've been wanting to find in Alaska: The elusive lynx. 

It was 9:30am and I had just arrived at work when it caught my eye out the window of the Savage River check station. I grabbed my camera and ran outside just as 3 buses rolled up and my coworker went out to greet them. It took me only a matter of seconds to get to the bushes where I had seen the lynx disappear, yet there was no sign of it at all -- not a sound or a rustle in the bushes, no visible tracks or trails. 

Some things from the week

Earlier this week: I looked out my window at about 11 o'clock at night, and nature was staring back at me and standing about 8 feet tall.

Railroad Ranger

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to work on a train. I don't know what is so appealing about them, but there's something about the nostalgia of train travel, and the fact that very little has changed about the railroad in all its years of existence and it still remains one of the most effective and enjoyable means of travel.

Well, this sure seems to be the summer of dreams, because recently I've started getting some shifts to work on the northbound train, to welcome Holland-America guests to Denali and teach them a little bit about the park before they arrive. It's seriously one of the most fun (and chaotic and stressful!) shifts I've ever worked!

Mount Healy

I love that it's the middle of the season, and I still haven't hiked all the trails on the east end of the park. Maybe that makes me a bad ranger, but I like to savor the place. But now after last weekend, I only have one trail yet to be hiked.

My second-to-last was Mount Healy, arguably the most strenuous of our east end hikes. It gains almost 2,000' in elevation over 2 miles, with about a 25% grade most of the way up.

About halfway up Mt. Healy

Happy.

Yesterday morning I received this Instagram message from someone with a picture they took of me leading the afternoon hike earlier this week, and the following words:

Besides being impressed that they actually found me on Instagram, it was also incredibly affirming and reminded me of why I do what I do. It is extremely rare in this job to know the full impact of what you do on a daily basis, but you do your best and hope that you can inspire at least someone along the way. It reminded me that even when you're leading a huge hike of 23 people for 2 1/2 hours on a steep, narrow trail, and feel like you can't possibly connect with everyone, you can still make a difference. At least I know I had an impact on one person, enough for them to track me down and tell me!  I am so touched and honored!

(And in typical fashion, they caught me with the Italian hands going during my plant succession activity!)

Hunting for Dinosaurs

I've kept a journal since I was 8 years old. One of the first entries I ever wrote was about how I wanted to become a scientist when I grew up, and find evidence of dinosaurs. Although my dreams of making groundbreaking scientific discoveries has long since passed, part of that dream did come true yesterday, in the best way possible.

Two of my friends, Jessica and Ashley, and I set out for the day to find Denali's dinosaur tracks, which were discovered in the park just 10 years ago -- a very recent discovery by many standards! The story goes that in 2005, a college class from Fairbanks was visiting the area and the professor was explaining that this part represented the Cantwell Formation, which should display evidence of dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous period, about 70 million years ago. Although nothing had ever been found, remarked the professor, we would expect to see things like plant imprints and dinosaur footprints around here.

"Like this?" asked one of the students, pointing to a footprint in rock they were standing next to. Just like that, the student discovered the first of thousands of dinosaur footprints since found in the park.

Wildflowers everywhere!

A Day at Eielson

You know you work in a big park when it takes you 3 months to even make it out past the first 60 miles. I am rather ashamed to admit it's taken me this long to go out to Eielson Visitor Center, but alas, it is the truth, and so I'm going to own up to it.

Last weekend I finally took the plunge and rode 4 1/2 hours out to Eielson for a day trip to see what all the fuss was about. It was a long, but beautiful 4 1/2 hours, where I sat packed like a sardine in the back of a full bus.

Polychrome Pass, looking like a painting again

The Caribou Incident

On Monday, I was working at the Savage Check Station, just doing my thing, standing on the road with my clipboard waiting for a line of buses to pass over the bridge so I could hop on and give my ranger-welcome to the park. The buses were stopped on the bridge so the passengers could view a couple caribou in the river below.

As I stood there patiently waiting, suddenly the bushes across the road from me began to rustle, and out pops a huge caribou with a full rack of velvety antlers. It was way closer than 25 yards -- probably more like 25 feet. The caribou began to trot towards me.

Intent on increasing the distance between myself and the beast, I calmly began to walk up the road backwards, facing the caribou with my clipboard held tightly in front of me. The caribou followed. I crossed to the other lane. It continued to follow. I crossed back to the right lane. And still, it followed, closing in the distance between me and it. The buses were beginning to creep forward, and the caribou quickened its pace. There was nowhere to hide.

At a total loss for what to do, I hopped off the shoulder of the road and up to the base of the tall embankment on the right, with absolutely no plan for what to do next, gripping my pathetic clipboard-shield with white-knuckled uncertainty. Fortunately, the caribou continued on its way up the road in the righthand lane. As it passed by, our eyes locked and we had a moment together. And then it was trotting off into the distance and a bus rolled up in front of me, its front window plastered with visitors and their cameras.

When the driver opened the doors for me, everyone was roaring with laughter. Picture perfect for all of them, slightly hair-raising for me. Still, I hope that one day in the distant future, one of their photos will surface. Would love to see what that looked like from the bus.

Erratic Adventures

I am alone. And I'm out of water, dehydrated, and overheating, my heart pounding in my ears. I can only see about 10 feet around me in any direction, the alders are so thick. I can barely fit through the tangle of their trunks with my huge backpack, and I'm not tall enough to see above them to re-orient myself. I know I need to continue downhill, but unless I can get out of these alders, I'm going to tire myself out before I ever reach the creek. Up until this point I was having the time of my life, but now I'm seriously questioning whether I'll even make it out of this wilderness just a couple miles from the road. 

The journey begins

The adventure began at 8pm the night before. It was a late start for a backpacking trip, but because it's almost summer solstice, the sun doesn't really "set" until the wee hours of the morning, so it was totally doable to start the hike after one of our friends got off work. 

Adventure is coming...

Fun things are about to happen (hopefully). I'm leaving this evening for my first backcountry trip of the summer. Hooray! It's been a couple years really since I've had a good backpacking trip, so I cannot wait to get out there and enjoy this warm, sunny weather and explore the wilderness.

Photos to come when I get back tomorrow or Saturday!