I kicked off this last week by spending a day in the Communications Center with the dispatchers. Much like last summer at the C&O Canal, the comms center here at Denali is responsible for dispatching for the whole Alaska Region (it is the Alaska Regional Communications Center). There are 15 National Parks, Preserves, and Monuments in the Alaska region that they communicate with. They also do flight (and boat) following throughout the state for small aircraft in uncontrolled airspace. Compared to the lower 48, there is a significant amount of uncontrolled airspace in Alaska, where pilots fly under Visual Flight Rules rather than the direction of an Air Traffic Controller. The dispatchers maintain contact with the crafts with regular checkins from takeoff to landing. The purpose of flight following is to ensure that people get to their destination and to keep the search area as narrow as possible in the event of an emergency. Again, I got to see the other side of the Rangers radio communication, how their incidents are recorded, and what the dispatchers are seeing when they are relaying information during stops. All of this was super helpful in understanding the important relationship between officer and dispatcher and why radio communication is structured a certain way (mainly to keep lines of communication open and to gel with the dispatchers' Computer Assisted Dispatcher programs). Dispatcher Brian also gave me a radio crash course and explained to me how the system they have set up here in the park works, which had previously been rather mysterious.
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| Dispatcher Brian hard at work |
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Base Radios, a hardwired Satphone, call recording
system, and other things beyond my comprehension |
My parents came to visit me this week, so after spending most of the day in the comms center, I headed over to the train depot to great them as they arrived from Anchorage. After saying hello and catching up I let them head to their hotel to settle in, and I finished out the day with Ranger Page. We had one contact, a vehicle drove past the Savage box after they were explicitly told they would have to park there or turn around. We caught up the vehicle, but after Ranger Page spoke to the occupants she determined that the reason for their disregard was a language barrier and did her best to explain the rules of the park to them. That night, my parents and I went to the Cabin Night Dinner Theatre, where we had a family style meal and were entertained by historical figures of the area.
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| Harry Karstens, first Superintendent of Mount McKinley NP, tells us his tale |
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Fannie Quigley, Charles Sheldon, Joe Quigley, Harry Karstens,
and a person whose name I cannot recall join together in song |
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| Mushing after the sled dog demo |
I switched up my schedule to have the next few days off to spend with my parents. On Tuesday, I gave them a tour of the front country area, very similar to the one I gave to Ranger Fernandez and Dr. McGarvey during their site visit. We visited all the points of interest, checked out some trails, and had a nice private moose viewing.
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| We checked out the historic Savage Cabin, which I had yet to see |
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| My dad inspects the nails bear proofing the cabin windows |
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| Denali Bus Depot, formerly the Wilderness Access Center |
On Wednesday, we took a bus out to the Eilson Visitor center. We had a gorgeous day with near perfect views of Mt. Denali in the beginning of the trip.
By the time we got to the visitor center there were some clouds but it was still a beautiful and sunshiny day. My parents were much luckier with the weather than Ranger Fernandez and Dr. McGarvery, especially considering July is normally one of the rainiest months here.
My parents seemed to be enjoying the sites at Polychrome overlook.
After checking out the visitor center we took a short hike up the Eilson Alpine trail.
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| Two moose skulls, found locked together |
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| Cast of a dinosaur foot print, found up Tattler Creek |
During the bus ride we had a wildlife grandslam, seeing the main four large animals in the park, moose, caribou, grizzly bear, and dall sheep, but we saw even more than that.
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| Caribou and fawn |
Here is the grand total:
5 Black Billed Magpie
2 Gyrfalcons
1 Willow Ptarmigan
4 Grizzly Bears with 5 cubs
2 Moose
9 Caribou and 1 fawn
A whole mess of ground squirrels
9 Dall Sheep
A bunch of Snowshoe Hare
1 Porcupine
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| Porcupine |
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| 7 Dall Sheep, photo taken through binoculars |
When we got back, we went to 49th State for dinner, where it happened to be trivia night. With limited help from my parents, we came in third place, only four points out from winning. They better expect me next week.
Thursday my parents had to catch a train to Fairbanks in the afternoon. Before they left we went out to the Savage area, where we did part of the Savage Alpine trail and walked the Mountain Vista loop.
Then we headed back to the train depot and said our goodbyes. Just like last summer, it was nice having my family come out to visit. My being here was a good excuse for them to visit the last frontier.
I took care of a few things and went to the gym. As I was coming out of the gym, one of the dispatchers told me I was missing out on a contact, one I would be hearing about for the next few days. The rangers had received word from the state troopers about a man who had been stealing things from shops nearby in the canyon. That evening Rangers Shore and Nick Beheller contacted the man, who refused to obey a lawful order and ended up being arrested and turned over to the troopers.
Because I switched my days for my my parents visits, I worked a few days while Ranger Page was off. I was supposed to spend Friday morning with Ranger Syvertsen, but due to getting called out the night before he came in a little later. I ended up spending the day with his wife, Ranger Ellison. We went on a foot patrol looking for a potential out of bounds camp that the man who was arrested the night before might have been using for the last few days. This took us on and around the Jonesville Trail, which I hadn't been to yet.
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Not the campsite we were looking for,
the remains of a much older one |
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The remains of a rabbit left by a bird of prey,
found during our search |
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Chief Ranger Erika Jostad enjoys some time in the field
searching for the campsite as well |
Ranger Ellison and I had planned to go on a bicycle patrol before we were diverted by the search, so we readied the bikes and I had to take a short bicycle competency test.
Then we were off, patrolling from Sanctuary Campground to Teklanika Campground, a 14 or 15 mile round trip. It was another very nice day, and it was nice to mix up the activity for the day. We didn't run into any issues. We talked to some visitors, including a few who were cycling the whole park road.
On Saturday, I did get to spend the morning with Ranger Syvertsen again. Due to a pretty interesting contact, the morning turned into most of the day. We gave a warning for out of bounds camping at mile 231 of the Parks Highway. We made a stop at the post office. We gave a warning for improper food storage, about an unattended cooler, which turned into a contact for expired registration. I learned about 36 CFR 4.2(b), allowing rangers to adopt state code, usually more relevant for that kind of vehicle related violation.
Then we made a traffic stop for speed on the Parks Highway. Ranger Syvertsen smelled marijuana and saw bb gun in the vehicle. He requested backup and removed the driver and passenger. Ranger Larson and Ranger Beheller came out to support, and Ranger Syvertsen began searching the vehicle. During the search he found a case with a freebase pipe used to smoke methamphetamine, many small plastic baggies containing trace amounts of what the subject admitted was methamphetamine, many empty vials, and many hypodermic needles.
Ranger Syvertsen cuffed the subject and placed him in one of the vehicles. The substance tested positive for methamphetamine, but since there were only trace amounts, and the rangers would have to drive the subject 2.5 hours each way to the jail in fairbanks, and would have to return to fairbanks to escort him to his initial court appearance, the rangers called the Assistant US Attorney for guidance. He said that it was okay to issue a mandatory citation for possession of a controlled substance, as well as several other citations. The driver was issued a citation for speed.
In the afternoon I went to donate blood with Chief Ranger Jostad.
Sunday, Ranger Page was back, and I worked my first evening shift, from 1pm to 10:30pm. We did a patrol of the Riley Creek Campsite. We returned to the Shaffer building for the 2 o'clock briefing. She had some office work to catch up on, so I went on patrol with Ranger Dave Stack. First, we went over his vehicle.
Ranger Stack is very meticulous and puts a great deal of thought into even the smallest details (which is not to say that the other rangers are not on top of their game, they are). We spent most of our time on the highway and made several traffic stops.
The first stop we made was for no seat belts. When Ranger Stack asked if there were any weapons in the vehicle one of the passengers informed him of a handgun, so he removed the driver and two passengers. They also informed him that they had marijuana in the vehicle. Being that marijuana is recreationally legal in Alaska, a lot of people end up having it on them. Many do not realize that they are in a national park and on federal land when they drive this stretch of the George Parks Highway. And even if they were aware, this is one of the only roads in the area and pretty much the only road between Anchorage and Fairbanks, the first and third largest cities in the state. As you can see, the situation regarding marijuana is rather strange. The rangers understand the complexity and confusing nature of this issue and utilize a wide range of discretion. Nevertheless, they are wary of those who drive under the influence/while impaired and will perform field sobriety tests if they deem necessary, and they are acutely aware that small traffic violations can lead to the discovery of more serious violations. Ranger Stack conducted a search of the vehicle and did not find any other issues. It turned out that the passenger had a suspended license for DUI, so he was not driving. He was also under the influence of marijuana and so had his girlfriend hold his gun for him, since you are a prohibited possessor if you are under the influence of illicit substances. Since they were very compliant and seemed to be making a concerted effort to follow the law, Ranger Stack let them go with verbal warnings.
While patrolling in Riley Creek Campground, we received a call about a blue Subaru that was on the wrong side of the road and obstructing a lane during a moose jam. When we checked it out the jam had mostly cleared up, but the car was right at the entrance to the campground. We ran the drivers plate and ID and gave them a warning. This will be interestingly related to something in my next post.
We made another stop for speed that was also the same make, model, and color of a vehicle that we had received a BOLO for because it was involved in a shooting in Fairbanks. Ranger Stack treated the situation with great caution, but there were no other indicators that it was the same vehicle.
We made another traffic stop for speed and Ranger Stack believed that the driver may have been intoxicated or under the influence of marijuana. Ranger Stack called for support and Ranger Page came out.
He performed a standardized field sobriety test for the driver and had him take a preliminary breath test. He blew a zero on the test but had some indicators of impairment, leading Rangers Stack and Page to believe he was tired, which can be as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. They performed an SFST on the passenger, who showed no signs of impairment. A speed citation was issued to the driver, and they were advised that the passenger should drive thereafter.
