Wow, it’s been a minute since I sat down to write a blog. It’s wild how quickly time is flying for me out here especially now that I am able to be more mobile again. Of course, like any job there’s ups and downs here at Zion, but it’s the great visitor and ranger moments that make this job so great. Like I was telling a visitor, it’s still a job so some days I can have rough times, but I’d say my love for my work is 95% fun, 5% difficult, which in my book is pretty great. Plus, my staff is filled with goobers who understand my sense of humor and let silly moments like this fly.

I met a very sweet family from Appalachia, and their 10-year-old son Jerrod and I immediately hit it off. He has high aspirations of becoming a Park Ranger one day, and he kept me on my toes with his inquisitive nature. He came on my Ride with a Ranger program, and then my Watchman Hike the following day. At the end of the hike, we were able to take a photo, I let him wear my hat and gave him some cool Ranger swag. You could tell that such a small gesture like that was everything to him, and it was super epic to share that moment with him as well.

During one of my Ride with a Ranger programs, we saw some Bighorn Sheep babies out by the Sentinel Slide and Canyon Junction area. This was so fun because they don’t normally venture down into the main canyon so being able to see them during a program was great.

One of my favorite things about the schedule here, is about once a pay period our supervisor Charlie tries to give people ‘free rove’ shifts. Essentially, you’re given the whole day to go hiking, work on programs and enjoy the park. Coincidentally Michael and I had the free rove together, so we went up to Scouts Lookout (near Angels Landing) and got an incredible view of the canyon.

Since it gets so hot out in Zion during the day and we’re surrounded by cliff faces, the evenings don’t cool off until about 11:00pm and we’re basically a convection oven. However, I have started going down to the river behind my house after work to cool down and that does the trick. I have a nice deep little private beach / swimming spot which is great for soaking.

There’s so much to see in and around Zion, its truly incredible. The amount of hiking and public land within a 6-hour drive is stunning. We’ve been enjoying our time going between hiking and exploration on our weekends. Some of our notable hikes were going up to Cable Mountain, which is a historic draw works structure on the plateau.

We went back to Bryce Canyon with our buddy Ranger Nick and did the Fairyland Loop, seeing an incredible amount of Hoodoo formations and bright orange-red hues on the landscape. We saw some natural bridge formations and stopped at the Red Canyon USFS Visitor Center on our way home to get a photo with our main guy Smokey Bear.

Over our long weekend, Michael and I decided to explore Natural Bridges National Monument, Bears Ears and Monument Valley over on the other side of Southern Utah. It was quite the drive, but it’s always great to explore and check another park site off the list. After a big hiking weekend prior, this trip was filled with light hikes, scenic drives and bumpy dirt roads. Natural Bridges had some of the funkiest front country hiking trails I have seen at a park site, with metal steps, ladders and narrow passageways.

Bears Ears was an interesting cultural monument set aside by the BLM. Apparently, there is about 10,000 archaeological sites across the lands. We went to House on Fire which is one of the most well-known ancient Puebloan structures, and we came across quite a silly sign as well.

On the way home we stopped by Monument Valley, a local tribal park, and we got our iconic movie shot moment too.

Today marks 2 months since my first day in Zion, and I know I made the right decision to come here this summer. I’m very much looking forward to the months to come, filled with adventure, more park sites, hopefully some visitors and of course sharing my stories with you all. Until then, Ranger On!