A Lil’ Life Update: Two Weeks a Park Ranger

Updates have been slow from Ridley Review HQ lately, I know. My apologies! This writer has started an exciting new adventure, which has kept me occupied. Now getting settled, normal service will be resuming (including the oft-mentioned but seldom-seen game reviews starting up finally).

Time to pull back the curtain on life wearing the Green-and-Grey (and that sweet Smokey the Bear hat!) as a National Park Ranger and talk about my first two weeks of a truly unique job!

The Arrival; How the Government Became my Landlord

“Disney Lines”

After downing a Caniac Combo (just typing that has me dreaming of that creamy, tangy Cane’s Sauce…) to satiate the pangs of hunger and calm the nerves on my cross-state drive, I pull up to what will become a familiar sight: a Disney-style entrance line at the Southern Gate of Yosemite National Park. Backed-up the length of a mile, I inch forward with one eye on the clock. Nerves do settle in, because my beloved Mint Mobile is getting no signal and I am due to move into my new house in 45 minutes…32 minutes…17 minutes.

Eventually clearing the first hurdle, I drive 4 miles from the entrance to the fascinating little village of Wawona. Wawona is a tiny hamlet inside the park that predates the codifying of what development is allowed inside national parks, essentially getting grandfathered in. Home to about 200 permanent residents, a handful of government employees, far too many AirBnB’s, two stores, and a library, it sits in a valley with peaceful meadows, roaring rivers, several waterfalls, and a notoriously rustic golf course. This little slice of heaven, somehow, has become my home for the time being.

5 minutes late due to the time spent in line, I meet up with the lovely maintenance crew who handle government homes. They take me on a grand tour of the little duplex that will serve as my home. Having heard some horror stories of the state of government-run park housing, I am pleasantly surprised. It’s got everything a lad would need: full kitchen, large living room, a bed, and a nice enough bathroom. Heck, it even has a brand new fridge! I sign my lease until the end of January and start to move my life’s belongings from my compact into my new abode.

A Fight Over Affordable Housing

Government-run employee housing hangs in the balance going forward. Ranging from trailers to homes built during the CCC-era or during periods of development authorized by Congress, the motley assortment of places to rest a weary head at night keeps the seasonal jobs viable. This brings me to a first point of contention: in spaces where housing is limited like Yosemite, the cheaper park housing is guaranteed to only seasonal employees who can’t tie themselves into long-term leases. While permanent staff do get paid more, the discrepancy in terms of rent they have to pay to live outside the park neuters the larger paychecks quick.

The housing sector is an easy one to cut money from; the average visitor never sees them and often doesn’t even know of their existence. And housing is a core issue, not just in Forestry and the National Park Service, but throughout the entire country and world at the moment. Private donations pop up from time to time, but the fact remains there are more employees than beds available in a low-paying and often very rural industry.

My argument is simple: housing is worth pouring money into. A more stable living situation equals a workforce that is easier to retain and develop, which can only mean better employees and more new ideas. I don’t think it’s a radical argument. In my own situation, two things keep the job I have viable: extraordinary privilege in that I have lived with family for several years, allowing me financial benefits most people do not have and for which I am so blessed, as well as the housing provided for me inside the park at a mind-bogglingly cheap price. I know of co-workers who live an hour away from the park and still pay double what I am paying in rent this year. It is not right.

The Role; Why it Pays to Plan a Trip

When you hear the term “Park Ranger”, you most likely think of rugged outdoorsman patrolling the wilderness, or a bubbly, friendly guide leading tours of a site. You don’t think of the person at the front gate taking some of your $$$ to grant you access to the park. But that role, just like the others, is called a Park Ranger. And that is the job I chose to accept, a seasonal gig at Yosemite National Park lasting into the new year.

It is not lost on me the irony that I left my last full-time career because I was worn out from telling people “no”, only to take another job of similar pay and respect that also involves saying “no” a lot! This is due to a collective decision of several uber popular parks to mandate a reservation to enter the park during popular times, in order to prevent overcrowding and protect the resources. Despite an exhaustive advertising campaign, the system (technically still a “pilot” after 4 years) is clunky and confusing, and many guests either don’t understand what is needed or just don’t research their trip. The result is folks waiting in long lines only to be turned around at the entrance gate, often in something of a rage.

The fee collector is definitely an easy but thankless customer service position. It is not hard work, but the tough part is just working through hundreds, if not thousands, of people a day. The moods vary wildly, language barriers exist, and weird things just happen. It’s not what I anticipated doing when I tried to get into the field, but at least it comes with nice perks! I also have to give a shoutout to our understaffed but awesome team who have been super cool.

So PSA to any reader out there: if you plan on visiting a national park this Summer, PLEASE do your research as to what is needed to enter, or just contact me and I’ll help out!

The Woods; When a Quest for Internet Becomes Obsessive

Living amongst nature is something I have never experienced. All my life has been spent in urban/suburban areas; near parks, but far away from existing in them. It has benefits; every evening walk I take I notice something so gorgeous it blows the mind. It also comes with unique, 21st-century challenges.

Like all jobs, even the Park Service has embraced the powers of the Internet, making training, emails, scheduling, payroll, and auditing much easier. That comes with unique challenges, however, when it comes to the remote parks. Getting Internet going and maintaining it aren’t always the easiest tasks; our entrances get Internet from creaky, reused, nearby buildings and is quite temperamental. My own home uses the phone lines, and frequently suffers outages. My quest to make a phone call from my home finally ended in my third week. I’ll be honest, I love the romantic idea of living off the grid and completely in tune with my surroundings, but my job and the environment (wildfires, yo!) make that an inconvenience, and in the case of an emergency, dangerous.

Here is the Cliffnotes version of my Internet blunders since I moved:

The Downtime; When the Real Perks of the Job are Revealed

In every past job I’ve had, leaving work meant spending time in traffic commuting back. Plenty of real-life worries, too. Sometimes, the problems of the evening weren’t any better than the problems of the day. The big difference in being here is the scenery. The adage “Park Rangers are paid in sunsets” has truth to it. I certainly not finding financial stability doing this, so those real-life worries don’t change when you move to the woods. What does change is life outside work. If I have a bad day on the job, some of the most beautiful walks/hikes in the country are just sitting there for me to blow off some steam. It is pretty gnarly stuff – I still pinch myself that “going hiking” is acceptable for on-the-job research purposes.

At present, I have 3 day weekends due to a shortage of staff/longer shifts. This has been an eye-opening blessing. Once you get a 3 day weekend, it is hard to go back. Heck, I would gladly work 3 12-hour shifts if it meant I had 4 days off. It is that awesome – having an extra day to explore, do chores, do other work (I am still working on several websites), and just relax. I love it.

Wishing everyone a good weekend; looking forward to giving everyone some more goodies soon here!