I love Twitter. I’m not on it all the time, but sometimes it’s amazing the cool things you read and discover there. This came from YosemiteSteve, the talented creator of the Yosemite Nature Notes films who apparently has a Grizzly bear project kicking around his mind. I’m hopeful that we’ll all get to benefit from that eventually, but for now, I was just interested in the story of what might have been the last grizzly killed in Yosemite, back in 1887. Steve posted a link to the original hand-written letter from RJ Wellman to Joseph Grinnel, and the rough transcription that I made of it is below.

A few things that caught my attention:
- Although Wellman has a great deal of respect and admiration for the grizzly, his thoughts about wolves and cats aren’t nearly so generous.
- Two guys milled a tree, packed the lumber on a mule and built a scaffold 10 feet off the ground in one day, and I wonder what kind of tools they were using.
- Wolves and wolverines!
- The letter written on April 20, 1918, was finally received June 19. I wonder if they thought a two-month transit time was fast or frustrating.

Notes on the transcript:
I tried to preserve the spellings where I could make out the letters, and things I couldn’t figure out are noted with [brackets]. I could probably have figured out more, but was more interested in the spirit of the story, which I think comes through clearly regardless.
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This Saturday, on a perfect 50 degree sunny day in Yosemite National Park, instead of relaxing, enjoying the park, going skiing or rock climbing, I’m going to spend about 8 hours volunteering to stand in the Visitor’s Center and answer questions from visitors – mostly the same question, which is some varient of "Here I am, what should I do now?"

Seems like I am often asked why I would give up a weekend day (about twice a month) to volunteer in the Valley Visitor Center. Well, there are plenty of reasons to volunteer in a National Park. Some people use volunteering as a way to live in and enjoy Yosemite for longer than the allowed week in the summer time, but I’m already here. Others use the volunteer program as a stepping stone to future employment, but that’s not my goal. (Love my job, even when it’s driving me crazy.) There are also many people who come from all over simply to give back to a place that they love. That one applies.

Interestingly enough, even though there are hundreds (thousands?) of volunteers in the park each year, when you live here, and more specifically work full time here, it isn’t as easy as you might think to find a way to volunteer on a regular basis. Because there are so many people who are retired, or taking a break and able to offer substantial chunks of time to volunteering, the ‘evenings and weekends only’ opportunities are fairly slim, so when I found out that another co-worker of mine was volunteering with NPS Interpretation, I leaped at the chance.

Volunteering in Interpretation is a pretty good gig, really. NPS is often able to provide some kind of accommodation (for those that don’t already have it), the work is easy and rewarding, and look at where you are! In the Interp department, there are also great side-perks like working with really wonderful people whose JOB is knowing cool stuff about the park. Talk about a great learning opportunity! And talk about suddenly being introduced to exactly the right group of people know when you come across some new thing, curious story, or historical reference and want to learn more about it. Plus, it feels good to be able to help people out, and share my love for and knowledge of the park. For the most part, people are appreciative. (Although during the summer time I also understood the volunteer who prominently displayed a large button saying ‘Don’t yell at me. I’m a Volunteer’ on his shirt.) Last summer, I was allowed to research a topic of my choince and give a short 15 min. presentation, and I was invited to participate in morning Yosemite Nature Club outings that were absolutely fascinating.

So, while there is definitely a part of me that really wishes I could sleep in on Saturday and then spend the day recreating, there’s also another part that is grateful to be doing what I’m doing. If you really want to make my day – stop by the Visitor’s Center and ask me a question that I have to go to one of the reference books to look up. It’s not that I like being stumped, but if I get to discover or learn something new, that makes it all worthwhile.

New things are so interesting!

Because Tom is planning to throw his hat in the ring for a seasonal interp ranger position this summer, and I’m doing this NPS volunteer gig at the visitor center, we’ve both gotten exposed to the Interpretation classes provided at Eppley.org. In park parlance, interpretation isn’t translating from one language into another. It’s translating an understanding of the amazing things around us, into terms that other people can understand and appreciate – in Interpretive terms: Connecting the visitor with the resource.

I’ve been kicking this idea of “Interpretation” around in my head since I was first exposed to it back when I was still working at the Mountaineering School, but even though Interpretation is supposed to be all about answering the question, “So what?”, I had trouble putting my finger on the answer when it came to Interpretation or Interpretive Themes themselves. How was it valuable?

The Interpretive Process

One of the things I really liked from the Eppley course was this idea of highlighting emotional connections and meanings from something physical that you experience in the park.

1. You start with the thing, the tangible resource – say, El Cap.
2. Then you look for its intangible properties, some of the qualities or emotions it might provoke (adventure, friendship, exploration, overcoming challenges, fear… whatever), and then
3. try to figure out which of those are universal – something that almost everyone will connect to or have experience with.
4. After taking who your audience is into account you then,
5. Come up with a theme that includes some of those universal concepts that you figured out (something like: The challenges of climbing El Cap forges trust in yourself and your partner.)
6. Develop that theme with information about how tall El Cap is, what the challenges might be, how those climbers get up there in the first place, the skills they need, the communication and cooperation between partners etc. using various techniques to make those facts easy to relate to.

This process is more formalized, but essentially the same in principle as what I learned in my Conversion Optimization online marketing course about tailoring a message to appeal to people who are looking for a certain feeling or emotion, as well those who are looking for facts. In Interpretation, you’re selling people on the idea that this big chunk of granite is important, relevant, and meaningful. Very similar.

One Central Idea or Many Themes in Harmony?

But what if you have a 2-hour walk/talk/program/tour, or something even longer? Is that really a one-theme experience?

One ranger explained that when planning a walk or talk, you want to have a central idea that you return to again and again, something people can take home with them, something that will sink into their minds and become part of the way they see the world, long after they forget how to tell a sequoia tree from a cedar. OK, so I can see the benefit there.

On the other hand, if the Interpretive Process starts from the tangible thing, and then expands into a theme, are you limited to choosing only those tangible resources that are going to be universal across your entire tour? El Cap provokes a different subset of intangible associations than the terminal moraine. Do you have to choose only from those intangibles that overlap them both? Does the requirement of a single theme encourage Interpreters to favor the story that fits the theme over the most powerful stories?

Or, from a different perspective, if I develop a sound interpretive theme about El Cap, and then the tour bus moves on and I develop another sound interpretive theme around the eroded banks of the river, is that any less Interpretive than the single theme which would apply to both?

(If you somehow ended up here in hopes that you’d find some information on cell phone reception in Yosemite, please skip down to the end. The middle part is a rant, but it’s going to make me feel better.)

PS. I wrote this a while ago and somehow never posted. If the weather doesn’t seem to match up, that’s why.

The first Yosemite cell phone story

A few days ago, on my way home from work, after dark, I passed a white van stopped in the middle of the oncoming lane of traffic, just after a sharp corner. As I passed, I noticed that some of the passengers had climbed out of the van, and that the reverse lights were on.

Two days before that we were stopped by the rangers as they tried to clear 50 cars that lost control due to snowy conditions on that very road, and my first thought was that these people had gotten into an accident and might be in trouble. So, I pulled over into the nearby pull-out, opened the door and called out to them. “Hey, are you guys OK?” They told me that, yes, they were fine, and that they were just looking for a connection.

To my credit, I did not then ask them straight out if they were out of their minds. I very politely suggested that they might get better reception further down the road, past the tunnel, and that they might pull out of traffic before someone came around that corner and crashed into them from behind. For example, they could use the very convenient pullout that I was in, right on the other side of the road.

The second Yosemite cell phone story

Also, a few days before that, I drove down into my neighborhood, came around a very icy corner, only to find another guy parked in the road, in his car, talking on his cell phone. There seems to be precisely one spot in Yosemite West where ATT and Verizon customers can get a strong enough signal to have a conversation. Unfortunately, the outside edge of a turn just past the corner where people can’t really see you, on an icy section of the road is just not the place to park your car. (And while I’m at it – neither is the middle of the road at the bottom of a steep icy hill. That’s another story, but we’ll save it.)

Searching for reception

We all love our cell phones, and driving around until you get a signal seems like an obvious solution, but seriously people, risking life and limb by doing dangerous things in traffic just isn’t worth it. If you’re lucky you will see something in Yosemite that will make you want to stop your car right where you are – whether that’s amazing scenery, wildlife, gorgeous spring wildflowers, or an extra bar on your phone. Do yourself (and everyone else) a favor and take stock of your surroundings. Is there someone already behind you, who may NOT think that Mountain Pride Penstemons or mule deer are worth stopping for? (Sometimes they are, sometimes not.) Can you see far enough back that if someone is approaching you’ll be able to accelerate to not inconvenience them? Is the road icy? Is there a spot where you can pull completely out of traffic so that you can stop and stare to your heart’s content? Sometimes you’re going to have to continue on to a place where you can get off the road and then get out of your car and return to the spot of interest on foot.

Finding a cell signal

Cell phone reception is improving, but is still spotty in the mountains. Here are some of the best bets for getting a connection that I know of.

Coming into the Park:
Cell phone reception starts to get shaky after Oakdale on Hwy 120 and after Oakhurst on Hwy 41. I think you can usually get good reception in Mariposa on 140 but I don’t travel that way very often. If I’m trying to coordinate with people by cell, I usually try to call from outside the park and then estimate the time it will take until I arrive at my destination.

In Yosemite Valley:
The ATT and Verizon signal in the Valley is strongest near the Visitors Center/Village Store area and decreases the further you get from there. For example, I have 5 bars (ATT) in the Village area, and can have a reliable conversation if I’m outdoors at Curry Village, but if I’m indoors my phone may or may not ring. Most climbers can make calls from the face of El Capitan, but the true (hiker’s) summit isn’t reliable.

There are payphones available in most of the likely spots, including at Curry Village, and Yosemite Lodge at the Falls near the front desks. There’s a booth at Camp 4, and some phones next to the Village Store, at the Glacier Point Gift shop etc. If you aren’t sure you’ll get reception, bring change (there are also calling cards available for purchase in the stores).

In Wawona:
I’m told that even ATT doesn’t work that well in Wawona. Verizon customers can get service, but other people might have to use a pay phone. There is one at the Wawona Store next to the gas station.

In Tuolumne:
Apparently they installed a new cell tower in Tuolumne a few years ago, which means that we are getting better reception now than we used to in the high country. No promises. There are payphones by the Tuolumne Store.

In Yosemite West:
There are two payphones in the neighborhood. One is located at the first intersection next to the mailboxes. The other is supposed to be somewhere up by Yosemite West Condos, but I haven’t seen it. The cell reception is pretty limited, but as you head down into the neighborhood, you’ll go by a guard rail on the right with a great view of Forresta. Usually you can get a signal there. If it is dark or slippery, I would recommend taking the left option at the Y, and parking a short distance up that road and then walking back. If you step over the guard rail, there is a cleared out spot that should keep you out of traffic.

Misc.

Send Text – When reception gets spotty, it’s easier to send a whole text than have a partial conversation.

Disclaimer – Reception depends on many factors including service provider, phone and weather conditions. Cell phones are not as reliable in the mountains as elsewhere. Plan accordingly. Also, I haven’t done an exhaustive survey of cell phone reception, or pay phone locations. If you have other experiences or information, please don’t hesitate to share.

It’s finally official – NPS announced a new interim program to require permits to hike Half Dome all week long while the cables are up in 2011. Permits will be available online through Recreation.gov only March 1, for May and June dates, and then April 1 for July etc. One more time – you can ONLY get these permits online about 3 months before you want to come up and hike the dome. There are no first-come first-served options. Plan ahead.

I can’t say that I’m particularly surprised at the decision. After the report detailing the effects of limiting Half Dome access during weekends and holidays last summer came out (you can get the pdf of the report here along with other information on Half Dome trail use and management), this seemed like a logical extension of the permit policy. Limiting access during the weekends simply transferred traffic to other days, and the new restrictions address those concerns.

However, I can’t help gritting my teeth in anticipation of all the disappointed people that will arrive this summer after training for nine months to get in shape for the iconic hike, only to find out that the permits have been sold out for months… and I’m not even one of the people who will bear the brunt of that reaction on a full time basis. Please help spread the word. You need a Permit to Hike Half Dome now. All. The. Time.

It was the strangest thing, and has been quietly haunting me ever since it happened.

We were on our way out the door to surprise a friend on his birthday, saying goodbye to a guest who had spent the night and was now on his way to Colorado, by bicycle. Tom had taken the first load of things out to the car, when he called me, and pointed out a small baby bird, still slightly downy, hopping and cheeping on our walkway. It didn’t seem able to fly yet, and could only manage a few feet in a flutter.

That was interesting, and I thought maybe I’d go out and take a picture. I sat down on the sidewalk, and started taking pictures, and the little guy (girl?) started hopping toward me. I held still, delighted to be getting a close-up view, and trying not to frighten it away. I shouldn’t have worried about that. It hopped straight up to me, and cuddled in next to my leg. When I moved away, it followed me and settled in again. It seemed cold (in spite of the down coat?), and desperately cute.

The only explanation for this one being out on its own, that I could think of, was that he’d been kicked out of his nest by a stronger sibling or something, and left without help from his parents, hopping and peeping as it was, it was probably going to end up as a coyote snack, if it didn’t die of exposure or starvation first.

Normally, I can be fairly stoic when it comes to natural selection. In nature, sometimes even the really cute little guys get killed and eaten, but then the cute little guys rarely make a personal plea. They rarely come right up and ask for a little warmth. It had snuggled up to me. It had started a Relationship.

Crap.

I know nothing about how to care for a young bird. I didn’t know what kind of bird it was, or what it would normally eat. If we fed it, would it still learn to forage for itself eventually? Even more of an issue, we were leaving for a 3 day weekend in San Diego. We couldn’t take it with us, or care for it while it was here. so, we settled for leaving an old fleece jacket on the sidewalk with the little bird, and continued packing the car. Almost immediately, the bird settled into the jacket and I was able to pick up jacket and bird and move it to a more sheltered location. Then we left.

Tom wondered aloud whether we’d really done it a favor or not. Starving to death doesn’t sound like a good way to go. Maybe it would have been better for it to have been left more exposed, to die more quickly from a predator.

We’ll never know. When we got back, the little bird was gone.

I learned later, that sometimes when a young bird is first learning to fly, it spends some time hopping and flapping furtively on the ground, with the mother bird nearby, before getting itself straightened out and getting on with its life. I choose to believe that is what happened to my little bird.

Of all the birds in Yosemite, this little brown bird is my new favorite kind of bird… or would be if someone can tell me what kind of bird it is.

My beautiful cousins from Florida are now living in CA, and they came to visit last weekend in Yosemite. It was wonderful to have a chance to catch up with them, and show them around. They were so thoughtful – they brought me a delicate orchid as a birthday present, and a birthday card. These are so much more spectacular than the small native orchids that you find around the park growing wild.

On Saturday morning, after late night arrivals for both cousins, we got a leisurely start with Quiche (courtesy of Kim) and strawberry scones (courtesy of Stephanie and Tom, respectively), and then hit the trail. Fortunately, because Tom and I had left one car in the Valley, we were able to start the hike down the Panorama and Mist Trails from Glacier Point, rather than driving down in the Valley and battling for the few remaining parking spaces. The hike was wonderful.

As seems typical lately, Tom and I slipped into flower picture taking mode, and brought up the rear of our procession for the first part of our hike. I saw some purple nightshade for the first time. The Brewer’s Golden Asters were out in great numbers. Whisker brush. Monkey flowers. Pacific stonecrop. We decided that we need to keep a journal of some sort to catalog all the different flowers that we saw along the trail including things like time of year and any other interesting things. That would be a fantastic record to have.

The waterfalls were more spectacular than usual for this time of year because of our big winter/snow season, and the mist a welcome reprieve from the heat on the trail. The best part was just having the chance to get to know each other a little better.

Dinner was interrupted with the need to go and retrieve Kim’s car, from where we left it at Glacier Point, but the ice cream and the conversation was excellent. Stephanie decided to get up early instead of driving late, sneaking out of the house at 4am on sore legs and feet from hiking, only to work a full shift on her feet for the day. Next time, maybe we should try rafting instead.

Kim and Orestis spent the night in the downstairs apartment, and we got to spend a little more time with them in the morning (my actual birthday) before they took off to explore Tuolumne and maybe Mono Lake, while we settled in to clean the rental apartment for the next guests, and then curl up with movies and a bit of champagne. All in all, a very happy birthday weekend.

The Yosemite House

The steady churning of projects surrounding our new Yosemite vacation rental increased to a frenzy starting late May into early April. We have a nice stream of renters from VRBO who are planning to stay in our downstairs apartment starting on June 1, and the pressure to have everything in order by then is intense.

In addition to the furniture purchases we’ve made online, in the last two weeks we’ve made, collectively, 3 completely separate trips into Fresno for furniture and other finishing supplies for the house. We’ve bought a brown leather sofa for the living room, new comforters, sheets and bedding for the bedroom and the living room daybed that we ordered online, a sharp-looking 42″ TV, TV stand, rugs, blinds, and a multitude of other home supplies like kitchen gadgets, pots and pans. The friendly cashier at Lowe’s mentioned today that he recognized us from the previous times we’ve been in the store. We’d be a lot happier about that if we didn’t spend so much money every time we went in.

The building phase is finished. We passed our final building inspection a week ago on Friday, but we’ve hired the Roosevelt Cooks (that’s plural, Sr. and Jr.) to help us pour a separate parking pad and walkway, so that our renters will have their own space when they drive up. They framed it up in just half a day, it looks great, and now are getting ready to pour just as soon as the weather cooperates. I love hiring professionals.

We’ve also started thinking of the front yard area, and what we can do there that will be beautiful, but wild and un-manicured at the same time. We bought some Sierra wildflower seeds at a local nursery, and I hope that the yard area turns into a wild garden of color when the weather warms up. We’ve had some blissfully warm days, but just tonight there was snow again, and the Dogwoods in the yard still haven’t been persuaded to bud and bloom. This is a long winter year, and the snow is lingering.

Still, it’s coming together so fast.

Getting fit

I’ve finished the first week of a new weightlifting/fitness program, and am looking forward to decreased soreness in week 2. The first week, the bicep curls left me unable to straighten my arms, and after the leg work out, I now groan and stretch my protesting calves into a standing position in the morning before taking the first my first tottering steps. Truthfully, it feels fantastic because it feels like I’m getting stronger. Tom says that there is already some visible difference in my upper arms. My biceps are back. I’m not completely sure that I believe him, but the positive reinforcement is welcome anyway.

Tom also tells me that according to one of the fitness experts that he now follows regularly, sometimes the nutrition is the key to big breakthroughs. The expert himself is not a nutritionist, but he’s just noted over the years that often his athletes make a big jump in performance as soon as they get the diet part of the equation right. So, Tom’s concerned that the many handfuls of almonds I snack on pre-dinner, is not the winning strategy I’m looking for after all. The highly recommended 6 small meals a day (with an emphasis on protein) program is the hardest part of this fitness program for me. I’m going into week 2 with a renewed commitment.

The frozen shoulder is thawing slowly, as it tries to keep up with the other exercise. I’m up to 160 degrees of passive flexion – the same as the active range of motion in my ‘healthy’ shoulder. Still, my external rotation still needs some work, and the left shoulder as a whole is still terribly weak, although between rehab exercises and my weight program, it seems to be getting stronger quickly. I’m looking forward to making a first stab at rock climbing again. I want to try my hand (my shoulder really) on an easy boulder problem that everyone has been recommending (everything from 5.2 to V4). It’s going to be a long time before I’m climbing as hard as I used to, but at this stage in the game, I’m just looking forward to being out on the warm granite pulling hard.

Wouldn’t it be great if this summer was my summer to put all the things I’m interested in together? Backpacking, trail running, rock climbing, photography, playing the piano, art and the internet? Not to mention running a vacation rental and too many projects at work. There’s so much to do!

Swiss and Bay Area Guests

Next week, our friends from Switzerland arrive for a few weeks of mountain adventure and exploration. It’s going to be so good to see them again, and to meet the littlest Longchamp, who I think is already 3 years old. It’s strange how time moves. It seems seems mostly to slide by unnoticed, except for the size and ages of our friend’s children.

We had hoped that they would be the first guests in the new downstairs apartment, but there’s still too much to do to make them feel comfortable there, especially with a toddler. Instead, we’ll have a few more evenings of preparing, and then when more friends from the Bay Area arrive on Thursday, Tom and I are going to do the honors ourselves, and give the place it’s inaugural stay (if you don’t count the handful of people who crashed down there among the construction debris when it was still completely unfinished). It feels like we’re going on vacation, and I can hardly wait. Also, we’ll hopefully figure out if anything is missing before our renters arrive, so that everything will be ready for them when they come.

I know, everyone else starts this game in January, but now it’s May, which is really a time of beginning things, and I can’t even remember if I made New Year resolutions, much less what they might be, so I’m starting again with a couple of goals for myself.
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… and breathe…

Between a Sisyphusean marketing workload with DNC, a conversion optimization class that operates heavily on the you’ll-get-out-what-you-put-in principle, volunteer activities at the Valley Visitor Center for a full day once every other week, a frozen shoulder that seems to be adamant about remaining stuck, and house construction (Tom’s been going nuts, and we now have flooring down in most of the house, and appliances waiting for installation, it’s very exciting), it’s been a long couple of months between the last post and this one.

Fortunately, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting closer. Two weeks ago, Tom and I met up with our friend Shauna, and skied out to the Nelder Grove of Giant Sequoias. Neither Tom nor I had ever been there before but it’s close to Shauna’s new house, and it was a perfect day and a great chance to explore. Last week, I got out for a quick walk on the Hites Cove trail to look at the wildflowers. And with those two activities as the sum total of my exercise for the last month, today Tom and I hiked up the Snow Creek trail to Mt Watkins and back. Our agreed-upon turn-around time left me a few hundred yards short of the summit, but I have Tom’s pictures from the top as inspiration for the next trip.

The skiing was brilliant and beautiful, the weather perfect, and it just feels fantastic to really get out and DO something for a whole day that doesn’t involve my computer.

It was about 11 miles round trip, with nearly 4500 feet of elevation gain, and I am bone tired and fully expect to be hobbling and sore tomorrow, but I am ever so happy. I’ll try to post some pictures soon.