High Sierra Topix

Just finished a section of the JMT with a group of friends (ingress over Kearsarge Pass, egress over Piute Pass) from 8/26 to 9/4 (so the last gasp of summer). We saw no less than 3 backcountry rangers during that span of time. The first - Jonathan, based at Cedar Grove - was on patrol, engaged us in some conversation near Glen Pass, and performed no enforcement checks. The second - Nessa, based at LeConte - was on patrol, engaged us in lengthy conversation both below and atop Muir Pass, and did check us for permits and canisters (though she was extremely nice about it). The last guy - didn’t get a name, based likely at McClure Meadow - was responding to an incident in Evolution Basin, so we barely said 10 words to him as we crossed paths.

They were all pretty young and energetic. Happy to see they all had great “customer relations” skills. Obviously all were having a busy summer. Definitely the new guard of SEKI rangering, as lifelong guys (like Dario Malengo) retire or move to front office jobs. Anyway it was the most rangers I’ve ever seen during a single backcountry trip. Guess I’m glad the SEKI is putting a priority on it.

It got me to thinking: is there anywhere on the internet (NPS website or elsewhere) where the seasonal backcountry ranger assignments are posted? I couldn’t find anything, and could see why perhaps the NPS might consider that non-public info. But I figure if anyone knows, it would be this forum’s members.

I had a nice chat with the Tyndal Creek ranger when we met in Milestone Basin. He actually was doing a climb with a CCC trail crew member on their days off. Since I had not talked to anyone in over five days, it was nice for me too. Administrative paperwork can easily get out of hand; efforts to reduce that probably are needed and put more staff in the field.

Recently (while trying to look up something else), I found this rather weighty document - a 2007 season-end report by all the lead wilderness rangers in SEKI:

http://www.highsierrahikers.org/ranger_ ... pdf#page52

Obviously I didn't read the entire thing - 133 pages - but did find it to be a curious window into all the responsibilities (many quite mundane) of a back-country ranger, together with THEIR observations on user impacts, wildlife patterns, etc. In my particular case, it shed further light on a bird I saw (a Great Blue Heron) in August at Tamarack Lake; the Bearpaw ranger mentioned in her report that a (mated?) pair of these birds were regular visitors to the lake even back then.

Anyway, a worthwhile thing to skim through for crazy detail-oriented people (like me) with too much time on their hands

Good mention, grampy! I’d found that site a while ago as well. It has a great backlog of EOSR’s (End of Season Reports) going back as far as the 80’s, from pretty much all of the working SEKI BC rangers. The early reports were actually handwritten! I find it to be extremely interesting reading, especially to understand how usage, impact, and enforcement have evolved over the past 3+ decades. I wish that website kept it updated to include the last 3 seasons - perhaps they lost an “inside” contact within the NPS.

It would still be nice to know current ranger assignments in the park. “Who was that masked man? I’d like to thank him.”

Wandering Daisy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:14 am He actually was doing a climb with a CCC trail crew member on their days off.

That also reminds me that I also saw a record number (for me) of trail crews, both CCC and NPS crews. Unexpected but very encouraging. Saw crews on the west side of Kearsarge Pass, north side of Pinchot Pass, and Deer Meadow. Though, I tend not to engage them too much in conversation (other than a deserved “thank you”) unless they’re on a break.