A new National Park, a new stadium, and a new state for Michael! What an adventure we’ve been on. Our good friend Zenja has been working at Mount Rainier the past two summers, and she invited us to come visit her in Washington. OF COURSE, we had to coordinate our summer visit with the weekend the Phillies were in town. We kicked off our weekend by visiting Klondike Gold Rush (the Seattle Unit). They had a really neat museum with genuine historical objects on display.

Afterwards, we headed to T-Mobile Park and enjoyed the ballgame. It was a slow start, but the Phillies ended up winning 5-0. I told Michael I am his good luck charm for the games because they are 2-0 now for both games we’ve seen together!

After the game, we took a quick stop at the REI Flagship store in Seattle, we both had so much fun looking around and found a few things we needed. Then it was off to Mount Rainier!

We had 3 full days there to explore which was perfect, we broke down our days into each subdistrict, we stayed in Longmire with our friend Zenja, then explored: Paradise, Sunrise and Ohanapecosh over the course of 3 days. Of course we befriended the rangers, chatted them up and got to trade Junior Ranger swag.

In Paradise, we caught a Geology ranger program and hiked the Skyline Trail, arguably the most popular hike in Mt Rainier. It offered stunning views of the peak our entire hike and the wildflowers were in full bloom.

Day 2 was spent in the Sunrise Corridor. This was an interesting section of the park because there was one main trailhead where all the hikes left from. We chose to hike to the Fremont Lookout Tower after several recommendations, and up and over one of the boroughs down to the other side. The Lookout tower took me back to all our summers in Graeagle and hiking the Sierra Buttes one!

Each night was so wonderful to come home and debrief with Zenja about our day. Honestly, we had so much fun and were focused on enjoying quality time together it wasn’t until after we left that we realized we forgot to take any photos! However, thank you again to Zenja for being a wonderful host!

Work has been exciting but bringing new challenges recently. August in Zion is still hot, but we now enter something known as ‘Monsoon Season’ which is a common occurrence with desert parks. This means we experience thunderstorms, heavy rainfall which often move into the area quickly. While it has provided gorgeous scenery and an exciting weather change for us, it has brought a new challenge with hiking messaging, especially for the Narrows. People spend lots of money to come out here, and are dejected when we discourage a hike, but my team has come together and shown how strong we are by leaning on one another through this.

August has been an exciting month, and I was lucky enough to have my college bestie, KT come visit with her boyfriend Christian. They have been together as long as Michael and I have, but due to our hectic work schedules it has been hard to get together. We had a WONDERFUL 3 days together, exploring Zion by hiking Angels Landing and going on a kayak trip down the Colorado River by Lee’s Ferry.

Michael was not keen on hiking the chains section, so he decided to hike to a different viewpoint known as the Patio, and we would see each other from each vantage point through binoculars. And of course, knowing Michael, he waved his Phillies flag proud and high, and Christian was able to capture a photo through his binoculars of Michael!

Our second big adventure was a backhaul trip from Lees Ferry up 8 miles to a place called Petroglyph Beach. Together the 4 of us had 2 tandem kayaks and paddled down the Colorado River. It was a beautiful day, the storm clouds stayed at bay, and we all agreed this was a high-quality experience for us all.

We laughed, competed in Wii Bowling and it was so nice to be together again. KT and Christian, thanks for taking the time to come see us, you are truly one of my best pals!

In addition to monsoons at work, one of our duties is to write a monthly social media post. This can be as simple or as creative as you choose, you sign up for a topic and the creativity is yours! Since the Barbie movie was a summer hit, I made a parody of the popular ‘Hey Barbie’ song to the tune of ‘Hey Ranger’ for Women’s Equality Day (when we were given the right to suffrage). The goal was to highlight as many different work groups as possible which is challenging with busy ranger schedules, but I did get some colleagues in there! https://photos.app.goo.gl/w5XeKHkYQN6QZJyLA

After back-to-back fun adventurous weekends, I had to have some ‘rot (relaxation) time’ or as Michael calls it a “Veggie Day.” We stayed mostly local and went up to Cedar Breaks National Monument for a mini day trip. We hiked some beautiful trails, and the scenery was comparable to what you see at Bryce Canyon NP! I’d argue for those views I might like Cedar Breaks even more just because it’s so much quieter.

We took the scenic route back and drove by Navajo Lake, which was stunning. There’s something about lakes that just have my heart!! It was a simple weekend, and we were rewarded on our return with a gorgeous sunset over Watchman!

As one-chapter winds down, another one begins. My season will come to an end here at Zion on October 9th, after that, I have accepted a seasonal interp ranger position at Big Bend National Park in Texas. Until then, Ranger on!