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| Alpine Lake Surrounded by Snow |
The week of independence day for me was a very busy week
even though I didn’t have to work the 4th. It had a very eventful
program visit and also a day out with the PSAR interns patrolling the high
country and making sure everyone trying to hike those trails know of the
dangers.
Monday was spent with Preventative Search and Rescue interns
up at sunrise lakes in the high country. We got to make contact with 12
visitors while out there educating them on the importance of having water and
letting them know about how most of our trails up there are covered in snow and
it is easy to get lost. It took us a little under two hours to make it out to
the lakes due to the trail conditions. Once getting there though I was stunned
by how beautiful the locations was and much snow was still on the ground in the
month of July. The way back was a lot more fun than getting there because there
were sections of the mountain I got to sled down because of how steep it was.
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| June Lake |
Tuesday I went to the east side of the park and saw a lot of
cool locations that this area has to offer. I went over there with past
ProRanger Hannah Sender who is now working at Yosemite as a law enforcement
ranger. She was nice enough to let me tag along on her trip out there and to show
me all the cool spots on the east side.
On Wednesday to Saturday the program managers from both
Temple University and the National Park Service were in the park seeing how I was
doing and how the program was working within the park. The first day when they
entered the park I showed them where I was living and took them on the lower
falls trail and ended the day with a night hike up to sentinel dome. The night
hike was a huge hit and produced some amazing pictures and smile from everyone who
followed me into the trail. The second day of the visit we meant up with Ranger
Sender so that they could see how she was doing in the new job and take picture
with her. From there we went out to mirror lake and I was able to give them the
iconic picture from that spot and show them another view of half dome they didn’t
see the night before. After lunch we had a meeting with the Superintendent and
the Chief ranger to talk about the program and to ask them what they thought of
the program. After the meeting I gave them some time to enjoy the pool and
relax after a day full of excitement. The third day of the visit started with a
drive out to Hetch Hetchy to see the dam and the beautiful natural features
which surround the reservoir. After lunch we went to Crane Flat Lookout which
is one of my favorite views in the park, and got to learn about fire lookouts
and how they were utilized in the past. From there we went to Tuolumne Grove
where we were able to see the Giant Sequoia tree in all of its glory and really
take in the reasons that this place was set aside and protected by the federal
government. Not long after getting down there we saw a visitor pass out and hit
her head while falling, so we ran over and started to help out where we could.
Nobody had cell phone coverage and I had forgotten my radio back at the house
so I decided that the best course of action for me would be to run back up the
trail and go to the nearby ranger station. After getting ¾ of a mile up the 1-mile
steep trail I saw a one of the rangers driving down to get to the scene. They
were nice enough to let me hop in the back so I didn’t have to walk back down
and we drove to the scene. By that time the girl had gotten up and refused
medical care but it was a good lesson to always have your radio on you while
you are in the park, even if you are technically off duty. Once getting back
into the valley we got dinner and went out to do some bouldering and enjoy the
night sky above us. The final day of the visit was spent reminiscing on the
crazy times that had been had in all the different parts of the park. 
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