Thursday, April 23, 2009

View From My Office Window

32 years of surgery looking at cold hard tile walls all day and all night, working with grumpy old triple "A" personality surgeons and taking emergency call every night. What was I thinking?
I'm making up for lost time. I will be looking at this view all day every day. I love it.

Guided Hikes

Another of my privileges is to host guided hikes. Each day I will guide a two mile hike around the trails of Glacier Point over looking the valley below. I will talk about the amazing trees there, the birds, geology, the mammals and history of the park. I will be hosting people from all over the world of all age groups and all cultures. Lots of people ask me if I am from the "south". I have never understood why.

My New Office

This is the platform for my new office. One of my duties is to meet and greet visitors of the park in this area as they are viewing the valley below and Half Dome across on the other side of the valley. I will be talking to people one on one and in small groups. I will be talking about the geology of the park, history, Native American influence and what to see while here. My most frequently asked question though is, "Where is the rest room please?"

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Almost Ready To Go

Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the first entry to my first blog. This blog will be an account of my super adventurous activities as a Ranger at Yosemite National Park. Don't get too excited yet though. I am still in Chattanooga today. I leave out Tuesday April the 28th at 1500 hours. I will be traveling "hammer down" across the country to northern Idaho to see a friend and then to Santa Maria, California to visit my dad. I report to the park June 8 for more training and orientation. You will hear from me again before then though.

I am not sure how the timing and frequency of this blog will work out yet. I will be stationed in a very remote area of the park. We do have electricity in the cabin, but no running water. To access the internet, I have to walk a ways to the closest ranger station to use a very slow dial up connection. I will keep you informed when I can. Talk to you again soon.