Behind the Scenery (U.S. National Park Service)

Episodes

February 14, 2021

Valentine's Day Episode: A Canyon Romance … Times Three

Transcript

Good day, and welcome. My name is Becca. I am a National Park Service ranger, working at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Today I would like to share with you a Canyon Cut brought to us by Ranger Doug.

Ranger Doug has a story to share … a story of love, romance, and the Grand Canyon. The title is: CANYON CONNECTIONS A Canyon Romance … Times Three!

I will let ranger Doug introduce himself. This … is his story.

My name is Doug Crispin. I’m 68 years old and I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This is a story of my first visit to the Grand Canyon. I was 17. This was like the Chevy Chase classic station wagon family visit to the Grand Canyon. We left Southern Calif there actually three generations of us including our Grandma. She didn’t ride on the roof! She actually rode in the passenger compartment. The family ended up at Mather Point for the first time. We walked out. I can specifically remember looking down into the abyss and thinking “wow, This is awesome, this is great. The Grand Canyon is just really really cool.

So I asked my parents … just drop me off and leave me. Which they did!

But the back story is I went into the employment office and Fred Harvey, the park concessionaire, and I got a job working as a Bus Boy at the famous El Tovar hotel. Then I asked my parents to “drop me off and leave me”, which they did! And I spent the rest of my summer living and working at the Grand Canyon. How cool is that?

Now, the job itself, you know, wasn’t very good: busing tables, and working six days a week, split shifts, take home pay 93 cents an hour.

But, I got to live and work at the Grand Canyon so I told my roommate, Elmer, I said, we get off work at 10 o’clock tonight. And we have one day. Let’s hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

We loaded up our packs, and we headed straight down the Canyon when we got off work. Got down to the river maybe 2, 3, 4 in the morning, something like that. Had a quick snooze on the beach and then continued all the way down to Phantom Ranch. I can remember stripping off our clothes and jumping into the swimming pool located at Phantom Ranch.

Looking all the way back up to the rim and thinking “wow, this is great, this is the life. Swimming at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.”

Now we couldn’t enjoy it for too long, because we had to hike all the way back up and go to work the next day, which we did. But after my summer work season ended, I stayed on for another four days. And this time I took a more leisurely trip, all the way down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Camping the night at Indian Gardens, as well as Phantom Ranch. And more swimming in the Phantom Ranch swimming pool. Loving life!

After … when it was time for me to go back home, I handed my camera to a tourist along the canyon rim. And I said, now watch … I’ll give you a signal and I want you to take my picture.

Then I carefully climbed over the rim, which you are not supposed to do these days, I had found a little limestone opening, a natural rock arch and I crawled down over the rim, sat crossed-legged in this opening and I waved at the tourist and he took a couple pictures of me.

Because I had a plan.

I wanted to use that picture of me at the rim of the Grand Canyon for my senior Yearbook picture. It didn’t make the scrutiny, unfortunately, of my Yearbook Committee. But nevertheless, I didn’t care. It was my senior class picture taken at the Grand Canyon.

I made small little copies, wrote corny sentiments on the back like seniors do, and handed it out to all my high school friend.

That introduced me to the idea of living and working in the Grand Canyon which I thought … or in any national park, which I thought was pretty cool at the time. Now a few months later, on Veterans Day, I talked a few of my friends into driving all the way out, in November, to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time for three of my buddies. Now we needed a place to stay, and again, don’t do this today, it’s not legal, but I found a small, abandoned miner’s tunnel just below the rim, not too far from the El Tovar Hotel … maybe a mile away. And that’s where the four of us rolled out our sleeping bags. And for Veterans Day weekend in 1969, we slept in an abandoned miner’s tunnel. Had a great time. All my friends loved the Grand Canyon. And were very envious of me getting to spend the summer there in the park.

Two years later I talked a friend of mine into hiking rim to rim to rim, which we did. And on our way up from the South Rim headed towards the North Rim, we camped at Cottonwood Campground. I was 19, my friend was 18 which put us at prime draft age as the Vietnam War was still raging in 1971. I was politically opposed to the Vietnam War, but, you know, if my draft number came up, then I would be faced a very important life decision. What’s going to happen? As luck would have it, the draft lottery selection occurred while we were at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. And spending a night in Cottonwood Campground, we met some hikers who had just hiked down from the North Rim. And they had a current newspaper with them that they were getting ready to burn in their campfire. We snagged that newspaper from them and we were able to look up our draft numbers as they had printed the draft lottery results. And that is where I found out, that my name would probably NOT going to show up on the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC, which today contains over 58,000 names. So I have a very close attachment and affinity to Cottonwood Campground, in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, cause in a way, that kind of saved… may have saved my life, and saved me from going to Vietnam.

I was starting to acquire and … an affection and a love for the Grand Canyon at a very early age.

On that rim to rim to rim hike, I collected a small bottle of Colorado River, dirty, muddy, water as we crossed over it the second time. I took that back and had it for all these years at my college desk. Occasionally I would shake up this bottle and turn it all muddy. And a day or two later, I would see all that Colorado River sediment had settled out at the bottom. And that’s how I kind of remained connected to the Grand Canyon during my college years.

Now when I graduated from college, I still on my mind, on the idea of working for parks as a possible career. I worked in another park concession job, I worked as a volunteer national park ranger, I worked park maintenance jobs, and eventually worked my way up to a permanent national park ranger job, which was, you know, a childhood dream of mine. In 1979 I started dating a former Grand Canyon National Park summertime ranger who had worked at Desert View as a fee collector. I met her working in parks in South East Utah. We started dating. And we started building a romance.

A couple months after we started dating in ‘79, I got accepted in 1980, to go to the National Park Ranger school located at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I was so impressed, my girlfriend would drive 250 miles, one way, from SE Utah, to visit me on her weekend. I thought that was a very special women that would do something that … just to see her new boyfriend. We continued to grow spiritually together, we started to have a spiritual connection to the lands of the American Southwest, the peoples, and the stories. And two years after my Grand Canyon ranger school, my friend contacted me and said “hey, I have permit to take rafts through the Grand Canyon. I am planning a 23-day trip. I would like to know if you and your girlfriend would to join me? I am only taking seven people, and six of the seven or either current or former national park rangers?” I said “heck, yea man, let’s go.”

So that was a wonderful time to spend together, my girlfriend and I. Twenty-three days sleeping on a tent on sand bars, doing day hikes, fighting the rapids, and enjoying the Grand Canyon as only the way that rafters can.

And two years after that I proposed to my wife and we actually got married, standing right on the rim of the Grand Canyon. A place called Shoshone Point. I can truthfully say that was one of the happiest days of my life.

After getting married on the South Rim, we drove all the way to the North Rim spent our first honeymoon night together in a cabin at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. And we continued to spiritually connect with each other and the Grand Canyon.

A short time after that, I did leave the National Park Service, I moved to Oregon, and we bought a house. We had a child and we started a family life. Eventually I retired from my State of Oregon job. My wife recently retired from her career in education and we started making plans together like retired couples do. My wife remained healthy for about three weeks, and then she got sick and suddenly died about four months later. And that happened last year, which, you now, obviously, completely turned my whole life upside down.

So … people have different ways of dealing with grief and loss. How do I deal with it? Well the first thing I did was I shaved off all of the hair on my head. I couldn’t look in the mirror and picture myself as the same person again. I wanted everybody to know whenever they looked at me that I wasn’t the same person again. I had suffered too serious a loss. Grief, kind of like your hair slowly growing back … maybe it could help get through this loss and grief, you know, about as fast as your hair grows, which isn’t very fast. And then last year, on the Anniversary of our wedding, I made a pilgrimage to Shoshone Point. And walked out there. Sat quietly by myself on the very end, had a quiet moment. I said a prayer for my wife and thought of those 40 great years that we had together.

But, I was facing an uncertain future. Or, you know, some people said no future. You know, you lost … I lost my life partner. My whole life had been turned upside down. So I was contemplating: what should I do with my life?”

Grief counselors usually say don’t make any radical or sudden decisions after you suffer a loss. I had made the decision that I did not want to lose my national park career. That’s my third love in life. Let me backtrack a little bit. You know, I had an early exposure to the Grand Canyon and what park work may be. I started at the very bottom working my way up, and eventually, you know, served in five different national parks in five different Western states. And I was a career national park ranger in two separate national parks. When I left the National Park Service and moved to Oregon, I continued in my park career. I was an Oregon State Park ranger. I stayed in the profession. A total of 25 years I worked as an Oregon State Park ranger. And I retired … when I retired from that job, with my wife’s blessings, I returned to working as a summertime ranger for the national parks.

And since I retired, it was 11 summers ago, I’ve worked in eight different national parks. So if you put all that together, my career has taken me to about a dozen Oregon State Parks, 13 national parks. I have been in the park profession for a total of 48 years. I did not want to lose that profession. I had already lost my life.

I love working as a park ranger because I am helping to preserve the best of America. Some people call national park rangers “America’s Storytellers”. They’re guardians of nature, and of history, and of culture. You know, there are many great professions in the world … you can go into medicine, you can go into education, but I like to call park rangering one of the last great American professions. And I did not want to lose that.

I made the drastic decision after my wife died, I’m going to sell our family house, which we had lived in for 25 years, and devest myself of all of my worldly possessions. I took some duct tape, I measured off a 4’ by 7’ rectangle in the garage, which is the size of my pickup truck bed, and whatever I wanted to keep in my life after my wife died, I put it in that little rectangle. If it didn’t fit in my truck, I ether sold it or gave it away or otherwise got rid of it.

I worked with my supervisors … my old national park. They wanted me back. They said, you know, “take whatever time you need for grieving.” I said “the sooner I could get back, the better, cause that will be a measure of normalcy in my life.” Because I like doing the ranger walks, I like giving the ranger talks, leading the tours, giving the campfire programs in the campground. Giving out hiking advice to people in the visitor center. Helping the park visitors being connected to the parks. I was very anxious to get back to that national park lifestyle.

This year is 51 years since I worked as a bus boy at the Grand Canyon. So in a way, you know, I have come full circle with my life. Bookends. Started my career now I am working as a summertime park ranger here at the North Rim of Grand Canyon. In a way, I feel I am honoring the memory of my wife. And, I am rekindling, and keeping alive my park connections by wearing my ranger hat every day.

Some people say “ranger Doug, you know, why do you keep doing this? You’re Age 68, you have Social Security, you’re on Medicare, you don’t need this for finances. Why do you keep coming back? And I tell them, because, you know, I’m surrounded every day by inspirational scenery. There are very powerful stories in the national parks concerning the people, and the places, and the times. And I want to be part of sharing that story with the American public.

And, let me just give you an example of how special national parks are and how they have been so special in my life.

I have witnessed Old Faithful geyser erupt 350 times. I have hiked to see Rainbow Natural Bridge 91 times, hidden in a remote corner of Southeast Utah. I have seen wolves, grizzly bears and moose, sometimes in the same week, at Grand Teton National Park. And for a whole month as a volunteer ranger, I fell asleep every night in my tent, to the sound of Yosemite Falls, off in the distance. And I’ve climbed wooden ladders, stone steps, and I’ve entered Cliff Palace cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park, a total of 142 times. And sat there and admired this ancient village and the story represented by these folks. And today, I enjoy a Grand Canyon sunset every day. It is a part of my life. The park ranger profession is my third love and it allows me to have these and many other unique and special experiences.

What would I say to the person contemplating coming out to visit the Grand Canyon, or any national park for the first time? You know, I would say Go for It. Give the Grand Canyon a chance. Or any other national park. You know, the Grand Canyon doesn’t care about your race, your age, your gender, your economic situation. It doesn’t care what your immigration status is, your sexual orientation. You know, just stand by the rim of the Grand Canyon and gaze into it. Watch the sunset on the rim.

Be inspired. Be wowed. You know, be humbled. We need places like this in America, where, I like to say, you can recharge your emotional and your spiritual batteries. Will visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time change your life? Probably not. But it could! You know it happened to me.

My name is ranger Doug, I’m a park ranger at the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and I approve this story and message.

Before we go, we have a final invitation for you. Think about somebody you know. Somebody in your life. When the time is right, set aside a moment with that person. And ask. Ask them to share a story about their life. Then listen.

This has been a Grand Canyon National Park micro podcast. A Canyon Cut

Entitled CANYON CONNECTIONS A Canyon Romance … Times Three!

I’m ranger Becca. Ranger Doug, thank you for sharing your story and your voice. And to all those listening, near and far, thank you for your time.

At age 17, future park ranger Doug’s parents dropped him off at the Grand Canyon. How did this experience shape his life, and what are his three distinctive canyon-influenced loves and romances?

February 4, 2021

Magic of Manzanita

Transcript

CEILI (HOST AND NARRATOR): What do you see when you picture the Grand Canyon? Is it massive? Full of light and shadows and colors? Can you tell how deep it is? Can you make out the details of anything familiar? Does it look like wilderness? What’s even down there? Let’s find out. Hi, I’m a Park Ranger, Ceili, and you’re listening to an episode of Behind the Scenery: Canyon Cuts. In this episode, we’re going to zoom way in to a specific spot in Grand Canyon, where two side canyons, Bright Angel and Manzanita, meet. But first, travel into your memory with me for a moment. You’re a kid in the summer. School just got out, its hot. You take every possible opportunity to get in the water. Where are you in this memory? Who are you with? What are you wearing? What are you eating? Keep these memories in mind as we explore one of my favorite places in the Grand Canyon.

This summer, I’ve spent a lot of time at Manzanita Rest Area, or Manzanita Ranger Station although it goes by other names too. To get there, you start on the North Rim of Grand Canyon, on the North Kaibab Trail. At the trailhead, it’s relatively cool, shaded by ponderosa pines and spruces at 8000 ft above sea level. Just 5.5 miles and 3840 feet of downhill hiking will bring you to Manzanita. The ranger station is a brown house right next to the confluence of Manzanita and Bright Angel Creeks. In the summer its very hot, and is amidst cacti and lizards. But because of the creeks, has some big Cottonwood, Box Elder and even Fig trees nearby. There are several backcountry ranger stations in Grand Canyon, each with their own character. Manzanita doesn’t have the views or day-hiker activity of Indian Garden, or the river and canteen culture like Phantom Ranch does. It’s the only one on the corridor trails without a campground right outside. It’s the furthest away from the bustling city that is the South Rim, but closest to what feels like my Grand Canyon home, the North Rim.

My other home is my family’s porch near the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve grown up dripping saltwater, drinking coffee on cool spring mornings, and hanging out late into summer nights on that porch. Summers were spent with my brother, cousins, and neighborhood kids, in bathing suits all day, in the water or on the porch.

When I first visited Manzanita Ranger Station, the porch is what caught my eye. Leafy vines creeping up the pillars help keep it shady almost all day. The creek and cicadas are the soundtrack to time on this porch, in the rocking chair, sipping an electrolyte drink after a long hike. Some porches have a sweeping view, but this one looks straight into a cliff. Luckily, they’re cliffs of maroon and golden Bright Angel Shale, swirly Tapeats sandstone and the majestic redwall limestone. From many viewpoints on the rim, these rock layers are too deep to see.

Around sunset when it starts to get cooler, I gravitate towards the helipad. While its main function is keeping a safe space for helicopters to land, it also serves as an extension of the porch. There may be no better place in the Canyon to eat dinner, lay down, and watch the stars appear.

When I’m at Manzanita, the photo album on the bookshelf inside is never far from my mind. It’s filled with photos of this same porch, the same creek and trees and rocks, but they’re transformed by time.

This wasn’t always Manzanita Ranger Station. It used to be and is still often referred to as Bruce’s house, and was the home of the Aiken Family. Bruce Aiken kept the pumps running at the nearby Roaring Springs, which pumps drinking water to both the North and South. When he took the job and moved here with his wife, Mary, and baby daughter in 1972, they never thought they’d stay for 30 years. As he ran the pumps and captured the scenery around him through his art, the 3 kids grew up, climbing cliffs, doing schoolwork, building forts, selling lemonade and swimming in the creek.

In the album, there are photos of babies crawling in a patch of grass amidst the canyon’s rocks, toddlers in sneakers and bathing suits on the NKT, kids fishing knee deep in the creek, a pool party after a rock fall dammed part of the creek into a lake, adults laying in hammocks and sitting in the same chairs that I’m sitting in now, chatting and laughing. Piles of colorful rock collections around the porch. Bruce getting ready to hike human-sized canvases in and out of the Canyon. Trail-side lemonade stands.

The album is labeled in ballpoint pen, “This is what went on here at Roaring Springs over past several decades ~1972-2005 Enjoy, Bruce”.

It seems I’m even more mesmerized by the cliffs, rocks, smells and sky around Manzanita, because I can’t help but see it all through the eyes of these kids. Everything is amazing through the eyes of imagined kids, exploring this place, their backyard. As Mary said of her kids’ schooling here, “The classroom is endless.” This is true of Grand Canyon, and of outdoor spaces around anyone’s home. While the bottom of Grand Canyon could not be more different than where I grew up, the photos in this album look familiar to me. I also spent summers in sneakers and bathing suits, in and out of the water all day, my brother, cousins, and any other kids that were around also explored every inch of our backyard and sold lemonade to passersby.

The story told in these photos is a popular one. There are countless photocopies of magazines and book pages that tell parts of the story of the Aiken’s time living in the Grand Canyon. My favorite photocopy is from a book, telling some of this story from Mary’s perspective. She says, “’I’d be out on the heliport and I’d hear these distant voices. I would look up and they would be way up on a ledge at the base of the Redwall cliffs. I’d see these tiny figures, these dots of color. I couldn’t even look at them; I’d have to come into the house. But I couldn’t say anything to them. They were just like little mountain goats. I didn’t want to make them afraid they were going to fall. That was hard for me.’”

I can imagine what it might feel like to be a kid growing up here. As I watch the sunset from the helipad and look up at the cliffs, high and steep around me, I can also imagine what it might feel like to be a parent here.

Recently I spent a whole week at Manzanita Ranger Station. It’s the middle of summer, usually a very busy time in the Canyon. But between Covid and fires on the North Rim, I only saw 5 hikers in all those days. So instead of talking to hikers, I’ve been imagining the lives captured in this photo album, searching for signs of their days here. One late afternoon, I was hiking along one of the same trails I’ve hiked on many times. I was focused on the terrain, how the steepness, the side drainages, and the flood zone left little area to safely live, to build a home. I came to a spot that was flat and away from danger of flooding and stopped to look around. All of a sudden, walls came into focus, more and more of them. Angular rocks stacked up on top of each other sometime in the last thousand years, and flat floors. I knew there to be archeological sites all over Grand Canyon, but had never seen these, despite passing by so many times. I imagined photo albums from these homes. I wondered how the photos would be different than the Aikens’ album, and how they’d be similar. They would probably still include kids in the water during hot summers, and parents squinting up into the cliffs for them. I started to see other parts of Grand Canyon, not only through the eyes of the 3 kids in the 80s who grew up at Roaring Springs, but through the eyes of all the kids since time immemorial who grew up here, played here, and through the eyes of all of their parents who worried about them and worked to raise them. Grand Canyon is proposed wilderness, and has been a National Park for 100 years. But to Grand Canyon National Park’s 11 traditionally associated tribes, and their ancestors, it has always been, and still is, a backyard, a home, and a sacred place. What can we learned from reminders that we are never the first to love a place? What are you leaving behind to express your love for your favorite place? This episode of Canyon Cuts was brought to you by the Interpretation Team at Grand Canyon National Park. We gratefully acknowledge the Native peoples on whose land we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home here today. Music is High Ride by Blue Dot Sessions, and Springish by Gillicuddy. Tracks provided by Free Music Archives. Thanks for tuning in!

While spending lots of solitary time at Manzanita Ranger Station this summer, Park Ranger Ceili Brennan reflects on reminders that we are never the first to love a place.

January 14, 2021

People of the Canyon: Meet a Wrangler

Transcript

Kate Hensel: Hi, I’m Kate, and you’re listening to Behind the Scenery, Canyon Cuts. This episode of Canyon Cuts was recorded on the front porch of the Phantom Ranch Ranger Station, down at the bottom of Grand Canyon. (sounds of mules walking by) This episode I was joined by two wranglers, Tex and Macy. Tex Parker: Tex Parker, and I am one of the wranglers here on the South Rim and this is my second season here. Macy Alford: My name is Macy Alford, I’m a wrangler out here as well. This is my first season out here and I’ve been here for almost a year now. Kate: What was your path to becoming a wrangler? Macy: Well first of I didn’t know what to do for college after I graduated high school. So I went up to Yellowstone first, my Grandparents who told me about it, and then I had a friend come from here she was like “Hey go check it out.” Alright cool, so I came out here and loved it ever since. Tex? Tex: I came to the Grand Canyon for the first time in 2011, fell in love with it. Cam back two years later and because I had found out that they did the mule ride. I did the mule ride as a guest and boy I had the time of my life. Did it again in 2014 and I said this is going to be a pretty cool job they have here. Did it again the next year and said I need to get this job. And so, I had growing up riding, I had the experience and I brushed up on my skills since it had been a while at a facility in Brooklyn. They had trail rides on the beach out there. And here we are today. Never gets old. Kate: Can you just kind of describe what your job is to someone who might never have been to Grand Canyon before? Tex: Wake up really early Macy: Yes (laughter) Tex: (Laughter) We have to brush and tack up the mules. Greet the guests. We do two rides here. An overnight, two-day ride to Phantom Ranch. Or a two-hour ride, three-hour with instruction, at canyon vista. So, then we take out the guests and we’re in charge mostly of their safety. Keeping an eye on them, ensuring everything goes well. Macy: If anyone’s not feeling good or anything like that Tex: Especially with heat, that’s a major concern for us in the summertime Macy: Like she said, in the summertime we try to get them down as early as possible so nobody can have any issues. Kate: So, you mentioned early morning starts, how early are we talking? Macy: Up there we clock in at like 4:30a, down here sometimes 4:00a? Tex: In the summertime Macy: In the summertime, yeah Tex: Another part of our job, which is really my favorite part, is we also get to give interpretive talks on the ride. Kate: Do you have a favorite spot or thing to talk about? Tex: I enjoy the rocks; I think geology is really interesting. Especially because from the rim you cannot see how cool all of these rocks from the second half down, how they actually look down here. Macy: I’d say one of the points I really like is Skeleton Point. Tex: Good choice Macy: ‘Cause I mean it’s crazy, it’s such a narrow pathway and you got the rock wall on your side and then you got this ginormous vast of area you can look at with, of course, a nice little drop-off. And then Phantom Ranch is really cool. Tex: The Narrows on the Bright Angel Trail in the Tapeats Sandstone is really cool too. And I love just before Oh Jesus Corner as you’re going through that gateway into the metamorphic rock and you can see Devil’s Corkscrew, all the switchbacks below. That’s a beautiful view too. Kate: What would you say is something that surprised you most when you started this job? Something that you didn’t expect when you applied? Tex: Good questions. I think maybe how much the wranglers do to keep an eye on the people and make sure that they are safe and all of the things that people could encounter on the ride surprised me. Because they make, and I guess we do now (laughter)… it look’s like a piece of cake from the outside. But really there’s quite a bit that goes on for ensuring the safety of all the riders. Macy: Yeah. My other thing was, because I’ve worked with horses a little bit as a kid with my dad as an able rider and roper so I got into that with him, but the skills of all the mules like how sure-footed, and how strong they are. I mean they just push themselves and they’re just amazing. It’s hard to explain mules, like once to get to know them and stuff, like their personalities and everything, and really get to work with them it’s a really great experience. Kate: How do you get to know the mules? Tex: The bosses ride them to make sure they’re legit and good for us. They come saddle broke but they’re still very young. They’re about five years old and so they’re pretty green. Macy: I was going to say I think we have a few that are three maybe Tex: As wranglers it’s our job to start riding them first out on the canyon vista ride and really get them to settle down and keep riding them until they are safe enough to turn over to the dudes Kate: Could you define dude for me? Tex: We just refer to dudes for guests. Macy: Mules that people can ride easily without being scared that they would do something crazy. Kate: Do you have any funny, or interesting, or just stories that stand out from your time here? Tex: My recent story is that we have to open and close the gates while we feed the mules. They bring in this little Bobcat machine and feed them. So, I was standing at the gate one day and there’s this cute, cute large mule named Vike who came over and wanted attention. Mules are very, very affectionate. So I said “hi Vike,” loving on him, loving on him, he takes off. Then later he comes back with a friend, Hance, and I say “hi you guys” and I’m petting them then Hance disappears so I’m loving on Vike. All of a sudden my hat gets yanked off my head, because we have these long things called stampede strings that we put under our chin to keep our hat from blowing away. Well Hance had decided to grab that and he ran away with my hat and I was chasing him and cursing at him and he was just flinging that hat all over creation having the best time. And eventually it ended up on the ground with a hole in it. (Laughter) So they are very funny. They hold in their farts too. They let it rip right in our face every morning. Macy: I felt bad for a guest one time. One of our mules, Delilah, she has some…I mean they’re pretty ranky. Tex: She is a very gaseous mule. Macy: She is, and we were going on the trail and we were coming up above two-mile. We were coming around all these switch backs and there was this guest at one of the corners and he’s breathing pretty heavily, and I was like he’s probably running or doing something. And all of a sudden, we started going and all of a sudden I see Delilah’s face and I was like “Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it.” And as she is coming around the corner she lets it rip. I mean, she just lets it all out as she is turning the corner. I could smell it all the way in the back. And this guy breathes it all in, and he’s just sitting there and starts coughing and everything and I’m like “I’m so sorry!” I felt so bad for the man. I was like, golly. Tex: There’s two times of the day that are my favorite with these guys. That’s in the morning when we come out here, especially down at Phantom, because we sneak up on them and they’re laying down. And they’re so cute. They’re looking at us like mom, just fine more minutes, I’m not ready to get up to work yet. And then after we unsaddle them for the day, they will go and roll and we just watch them. We give them a round of applause for the ones that roll all the way over. Very entertaining. Macy: Sometimes some of them will be on hill or in a little hole and they’ll be on the side where they that can’t turn the other way and your like “You can do it, I believe!” Kate: What are some challenges or misconception that you have to deal with? Tex: That’s a good one. The first one that come to mind is as we pass some hikers, not many, some people believe that riding the mules in the canyon is a cruelty to them. And that is not at all the case, these guys are so in shape, they’re really like Olympians. They work out every single day. The amount of weight of a person on them is negligible given the amount that they weigh. Just like backpackers, you don’t want to carry more than 20% of your weight on your back. Same thing with the mules, we’re not overburdening them. Macy: We make sure that if someone’s over we’ll be like “Look we’re sorry but we can’t.” We’re not going to do that to them and put them in that position. Tex: They’re very strict on the weight limits. Macy: Very strict. We make sure to take care of these guys, especially with that kind of stuff. Tex: Some people think that we’re working them too hard and yes, they do have to go uphill, however, they love their job. When we are picking out mules for the next day and putting them into the other coral there are mules that try to get in. They want to work. Macy: Yeah, they will try to run in and fight the other ones and you’re like “Come on back off!” Tex: “It’s not your turn yet!” Macy: I will say I have a lot of people tell me that on the trail that don’t they hate doing this? They actually really enjoy it. They really like to do it, it’s a lot of fun for them. Kate: Do you have a favorite interaction with one of your guests? (Weather rolls in, rain is heard in the background along with intermittent thunder) Tex: I will say I have the best time with the groups, especially if the entire group is together, we take ten riders at a time down to Phantom, and it is so much fun to have the groups that are hooting and hollering and having a good time. I love the people who chit-chat and talk and have a good time on the ride. Macy: I’ll even have people on my rides sometime yell yee-haw out of fun and you’re like yee-haw! When they’re having a good time, I’m having a good time. Tex: Absolutely. Kate: Is there anything else you would like for the future of Grand Canyon? Tex: I think that the park service is doing a really great job, to be honest. Especially with all the things that I’m seeing y’all put out. I think outreach and education is really important, especially with online and podcasts venues right now, just so that we continue to have funding for these parks we have to out to as many people as possible, especially minority groups. We want everyone to continue coming to the canyon so they can see how special it is and really experience it for themselves. And if you do come to the canyon I would really suggest, ensuring it’s safe, get below the rim. See inside the canyon because it’s a whole other ballgame. Whether you go down for a hike a little ways or you ride the mules down or even getting on the river, it is just so special and you can’t see it all from the rim. I personally would like to see more, and I know you are already working on it, about the native people. From what I hear there’s an intertribal council that you guys working with but I cannot wait until that information comes out. We have a fantastic museum collection on the South Rim. I would love to see more of that available to the public, because they have a whole museum with all the river boats out there. Kate: Is there anything else or thoughts about your job that you want out there? Tex: Best job in the world! Macy: Oh yeah, definitely, couldn’t ask for a better job. There’s always something different in the canyon and it’s just very spectacular, especially with the different weather that comes in too. It’s amazing. Tex: That’s absolutely true. You see new things. I love seeing people on the rides especially, or even just hiking in the canyon. This place is really quite magical, and it can really touch you on a very deep level. I love when that happens and you really make a connection. Kate: Do you have a favorite joke you tell? Macy: My thing is I like to tell my guests we can’t teach you how to ride like John Wayne, but we can teach you how to walk like him. (Laughter) Tex: The hikers that we pass, especially going uphill, they always make a comment about how we have the easy way. I like to tell them, just wait until they get off, or ask them how their rear end feel right now. The people who work at Phantom can easily tell who hiked down and who rode the mules down. And the answer is “The hikers don’t want to stand up and – Tex and Macy together: – mule riders don’t want to sit down.” (sound of mules walking by) Kate: Thank you for listening to this episode of Canyon Cuts, a Behind the Scenery mini episode brought to you by the North Rim and Canyon District interpretation teams at Grand Canyon National Park. (sound of mules walking by) Male voice: Hello! Is this the Uber we ordered? hahaha

This episode was produced by Kate Hensel and with sound editing by Wayne Hartlerode. This episode was recorded in August 2020 on front porch of the ranger station at Phantom Ranch in Grand Canyon National Park. Thank you, Tex and Macy for sharing your perspective from the bottom of Grand Canyon.

Meet the fascinating folks who live, work, and recreate at Grand Canyon from rim to river. In this episode, explore what life is like as wrangler, packing mules up and down steep canyon trails.

December 30, 2020

New Year's Special - Delight

Transcript

Austin:

I would you know kind of spin around 'cause you're just kind of moving on the rope and then take a break because I was super tired and you know kind of shaky and just like try to take deep breaths to calm myself down, and I would have this moment where I'd be like “oh, I'm in the middle of the Coconino Sandstone. I'm free hanging next to the Grand Canyon and I'm seeing this amazing view-scape” and that was a really cool. It's like these weird moments from this like whoa this is super cool this is super unique and I'm in this really beautiful place and then very quickly juxtaposed with like slipping rope noises and terror.

Jesse: I'm Jesse,

Austin: I’m Austin,

Jesse:

and you're listening to Behind the Scenery. That's where you say “the Canyon Cuts.”

Austin:

Oh, the Canyon Cuts, oh sorry.

Jesse: It's been a weird year, I think for everybody everywhere, but it seems exceptionally weird here. We had like the delay in opening because of COVID. We had like a pipeline break.

Austin:

A fire that made it so we couldn't leave and people literally had to hike across the Grand Canyon to work.

Jesse:

Yeah, they closed the roads. It burned up all the power lines, we were on generator power for weeks.

Austin:

Our food was flown over in a helicopter for a brief moment, which was very very odd.

Jesse:

Yeah, but kind of cool. It was kind of cool to get a food bank delivery via helicopter.

Austin:

Yeah it made me feel very important.

Jesse:

And now like the pumps are failing down at Roaring Springs again.

Austin:

It's really hard to be surprised by new things happening where they’re like “oh yeah the pumps broken and they flew it out to Phoenix and it can't be repaired.” We're kind of just like “oh yeah makes sense.”

Jesse:

Makes sense it’s 2020.

Austin:

Right exactly, in any other here you'd be like “hold up, what's going on?” like this is not normal. But this year it's just kind of like just another thing.

Jesse:

I think I came up with this idea while we're in that canyon down in the Coconino, sort of inspired by an episode of This American Life and the Book of Delights by Ross gay. Why don't we just do a whole episode just about things that are delighting us. And the specific memory that triggered that for me was exploring the canyon down in the coconino sandstone. We’d repelled down into the canyon, we were climbing back up the ropes. I think you were just getting on rope and climbing the first pitch and I was just sort of sitting on a ledge, and while you were sort of like flailing around in the brush trying to get on rope I was just looking at the columbines that were growing out of this water course. And then this rufous hummingbird, like this shimmery red hummingbird, comes up and buzzes by me and starts going up to those columbines and drinking nectar from each one of the little Flowers. And it was a funny juxtaposition because it's like such a delightful moment for me, I'm watching this super cool bird drinking out of these really beautiful flowers in this place that's like a pretty narrow little slot canyon, and then I'm also hearing the sounds of you kind of struggling up this rope. Trying to figure out this new device that was not working as well as it should have been.

Austin:

There is like this analogy here. That's kind of what we're going through in 2020 some of us are “the Austin on the rope” but like having this really scary time, and then there's like these other weird moments where I have found myself in and obviously you have where it's like there's this unrest. There's things happening. They’re not happening directly to you but we're still finding these moments of like solace.

Jesse:

Without further adieu here are moments of delight from Rangers across the Grand Canyon Doug: This is Ranger Doug on July 11th with my delight diary moment. Before work I went out for early sunrise run from my cabin. I saw the whole Sky turn red as the sun came up, and even though it's mid July I could still smell the beautiful smell of lupins in and around my cabin.

Jeff:

Last night I was reading outside near my cabin while group of juncos were flitting around. Slowly they would hop closer and closer as they pecked around for food. Eventually the mature birds were hopping around my feet. While I watched the older birds hop around, a younger junko crash landed on my book. Still learning to fly, and apparently still learning to land, the little bird slid down the page coming to rest in my hand. Quickly realizing where it landed, off it flew.

Doug:

I notice afternoon clouds are starting to build. We haven't had any clouds for such a long time. Maybe we're going to get an afternoon or evening thunderstorm. I hope. (Sound of heavy rain)

Ceili:

Yaaaaay rain!

Jesse:

Our first big monsoon rain of the year here on the North.

Ceili:

I’m hiking on the South Kaibab Trai.l I just met a visitor that went to the same school that I did and played sports, and then two hikers right behind him went to schools that played against our school in sports. And it's really hot day so I told them not to make our conference look bad.

Brendan:

Oh no! I slipped on this cliffside. I am currently hiking a route. It's going way better because I've almost reached the top and I have found the route again. But I am hiking while holding this iPad to record, which I don’t think I've done ever. One of the delights of working in the Canyon District, you get to do things you've never done any other place. Oh, I’m almost to the top, this is exciting. I’m very tired. But what I think I take for granted, which is funny because I’m in the Zoroaster Granite, it is how I get to do this every day for work! Even though it's going to be like 115 today I am truly lucky and privileged to be down here, and to not only hike, but also to share everything that's down here. Hope this quality isn't bad, goodbye!

Jesse:

We just heard from rangers Doug, Jeff, Ceili, and Brendan. Behind the Scenery is brought to you by the interpretation team at Grand Canyon National Park.

We gratefully acknowledge the native peoples on whose ancestral homelands we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant native communities who make their home here today.

Hey Ceili! What's the best advice you got from your college cross country coach?

Ceili:

Not to make our conference look bad or look stupid. It was delightful!

Produced by: Jesse Barden

2020 has thrown challenges at everyone. Why don't we zoom in on the things that delighted us? Grand Canyon National Park rangers share the delightful moments that gave them solace and joy throughout the year.

December 1, 2020

Polly Pod

Transcript

Becca: We are indebted to her for being the 1st and we are indebted to all the people who are being first now.

Jesse: You’re listening to Behind the Scenery, the Canyon Cuts. I’m Jesse, a park ranger on the North Rim, and we just heard from my colleague Becca

Becca: I’m Becca, park Ranger, North Rim

Jesse: talking about Polly Mead. Grand Canyon's first female park ranger. We recently got our hands on an oral history interview with Polly done by the parks creative media specialist, Mike Quinn, in 1995. Becca and I sat down and had a conversation about what we heard. What do you know about Polly Mead?

Becca: I know Polly was the first woman ranger at Grand Canyon, is that correct?

Jesse: That's right.

Becca: And I know I've seen a picture of her wearing a hat that's shaped like kind of like an upside down Tulip. I get the sense she was a passionate thinker but that's basically the extent of my knowledge.

Jesse: OK yeah. I'm just going to play clip for you that will give us a little background on Polly Mead Polly studied botany at University Chicago and her first trip to Grand Canyon was part of the trip out West with her botany class.

Polly: As we were going through the Kaibab Forest us my professor said “do you notice how the trees come right down to the edge of the Meadow and just stop? He said that would makes an interesting study to see why the tree lines just stops suddenly like that at the Meadow.” I thought haha! That’s the subject of my thesis for my Masters. So when I graduated from college, my aunt and benefactor gave me a choice. She said “I’d like to give you a gift of a trip to Europe or trip to the Grand Canyon to do your research work.” I've never been to Europe. So, I tried to cover the whole plateau. It took me a long time, mostly on horseback. I had a plant press on my back and I’d go out and collect specimens. At night I’d put a bed roll on the floor of the forest and sleep there. All I needed was a canteen of water and a bed roll.

Jesse: So Polly came from the University of Chicago, she came from a big city and she came out West and was just like for her research just traveling around camping alone every night on horseback. you've camped alone, right Becca?

Becca: Yes I have.

Jesse: In fact I think you're working on a podcast about camping alone.

Becca: Yeah, the working title is Becca Camps Alone.

Jesse: Tell me about your experiences camping alone.

Becca: Before I started camping alone I thought I would feel more confident out there by myself. The first time I camped alone I spent the first little portion lying in my sleeping bag in my tent planning what I would do upon human attack, but as time has progressed and I’ve camped alone more I still have that in my mind, but I also have other things in my mind like “oh I'm happy to be here and I'm glad I can do this.”

Jesse: I think she also experienced some of the same things you talked about, too.

Polly: When I was doing my thesis work I had a little pistol, because I thought I'm a woman alone. I might need it if there were any drunken man or something like that. So one time I was out in my bed roll asleep. I heard footsteps going around me. I put on my hand up to get that pistol and I went to sleep. In the morning there were footprints of a deer all the way around me. Jesse: At the end of her research Polly needed to get to the South Rim to talk to the park geologist about including the geological information of the Kaibab Plateau in her thesis. Polly: Now I didn't know any other way but to just walk across. And I did. Of course, I was 25 then. So I walked down. Nobody knows how big Grand Canyon is unless they have walked every step of the way and across the river with still boots and blistered feet. I got up the South Rim. I didn't know that there was a, maybe there wasn’t the Kaibab Trail going out to Yaki Point, I only knew of Bright Angel so I had to walk all across the Tonto and go up Bright Angel. I was so tired I couldn’t sleep, but anyway some kind person hauled me a pail of water and I made it.

Jesse: Shortly after that Polly got a job at Grand Canyon, so her path was research at Grand Canyon, job at Grand Canyon. Of course, there were there barriers to that:

Polly: I had trying to get a job with the Forest Service but they wouldn’t take me because I was a woman. Period.

Jesse: I just wanted to ask you what is your path in getting to Grand Canyon?

Becca: Sure, my path to Grand Canyon was not planned in advance. I was working for a nonprofit based out of Atlanta, Georgia and we hosted a training on the Sout rim of Grand Canyon. Todd Nelson, the volunteer program coordinator, reached out and said “hey would you like to take this position?” I was quite close to saying no. I had written on my planner “say no to Todd.” And then I just procrastinated it to the next day and pushed it to the next day and kept not saying no. So after some more reflection on how much of an opportunity that really was I decided to take that chance and move to the South Rim. And when I first visited the South Rim I was walking around the Albright Training Center and I just had this thought, this feeling: “Oh, I’m gonna live here some day.” And it came true so I worked a year coordinating facilitating volunteer experiences based mostly on the South Rim. I fell in love with Grand Canyon, I fell in love with that community. I was not ready to leave after the first year, so in a collage of different jobs (ski instructing nearby, working on a chainsaw crew, teaching preschool in Grand Canyon for about six months) it all led to the North rim position I hold now, which is the second time I’ve returned to it.

Jesse: Can you just describe what it is you do as a park ranger?

Becca: I see it as my job to provide and facilitate spaces of learning and discovery or where folks can create their own meeting and make their own connections with this special place. What that means on the logistical level is giving educational programming. Sometimes it's tied to a specific tangible topic like geology or the California Condor and sometimes it covers more expansive content like stories of resilience in Canyon, or uranium, or other sticky topics that we want to dive into.

Jesse: Our roles as interpreters have evolved somewhat over the years especially in the last five years. I think if you were a park ranger at Grand Canyon in like 2015 your job description might sound almost exactly like Polly Mead’s, which is the next clip I’ll play for you.

Polly: We lived in little cottages and I lived with 2 other women who worked at the office. I took people on nature hikes or gave campfire lectures at night. And then my main job was to be stationed out a Yavapai where the bus loads of people would come and I would give lectures to a group of people right there at Yavapai.

Jesse: Sound pretty familiar, right?

Becca: Sounds familiar and more perhaps deeply rooted in specific content to express.

Jesse: Sure, yeah, and also we don't really like the word lecture.

Becca: That's true, the language we use has changed.

Jesse: I'm going to play just a couple other clips for you and I'm just interested in your reaction. There are some similarities and differences in her job description and I want to see if you've noticed similarities or differences in this other facet.

Polly: One time I was giving a lecture, oh it was such a good one, on the rim of the canyon. Getting everybody so interested in the canyon and how old those oldest rocks in the bottom were, and how many years it took to the carve the canyon (200 million or whatever it was). I asked if there were any questions. One man put up his hand and asked “how old are you?” I wasn't there at that time.

Becca: Yeah that's a familiar dynamic. so I'm aware that like my response today might not be my response in a year but, honestly when I hear that I’m like “yeah Polly!” It’s just obnoxious and a little undermining and a little patronizing. And those adjectives, especially experiencing patronizing moments from visitors is familiar to me. That being said I assume most visitors mean very well.

Jesse: It wasn't just comments from visitors to Polly had to deal with. Not all of her coworkers were happy to be working with a woman.

Polly: So I was very proud of that job. And some of the men ranger naturalists resented the fact that I was a woman and had the same position they did, and made it a little bit difficult. When I say give me a hard time it was just an attitude that I felt. That wasn’t important, I thought.

Becca: Yeah, so when I first came to Grand Canyon in 2017 realities of sexual harassment at Grand Canyon were very much on the surface of, in my view, most folks and most work groups’ consciousness. I was very excited about that. I think part of that stemmed from ignorance because I didn’t fully understand at the time the depth and trauma of being so isolated and in a backcountry setting and experiencing sexual harassment. Not just in an office, but when the person who is victimizing you is like also your tether to survival, but anyway the reason I was excited that sexual harassment was on the forefront of Grand Canyon consciousness, was because I felt like “yeah sexual harassment exists everywhere.” And the fact that Grand Canyon is thinking about this, to me, is a step the right direction. Perhaps some male colleagues weren't sure how to act and they were navigating their own fear around that. To me, that's great you're growing. Growing uncomfortable and also it's helping the whole community be healthier and safer. Place in terms of like reflecting on my own experiences around like gendered dynamics in the Park Service I find I definitely benefit from having women leadership and women around me and not being the 1st. And I also feel more challenging gender dynamics in general from my interactions with visitors for sure. Jesse: Polly may have been alone as the only woman ranger at Grand Canyon, but she wasn’t the only woman ranger in the park service.

Polly: I can’t say I was the first woman ranger naturalist because Herma Bagley was the 1st at Yellowstone. When there was the superintendents conference at the Great Smokies she was there. And she and I were going off into the woods and just talk about plants all the time. She was a wonderful person and a wonderful botanist.

Jesse: Polly’s only female counterpart in the Park Service worked at Yellowstone National Park. She had to go to the superintendent's conference at the Great Smokies to have interaction face to face with her. How is that similar or different from your experience?

Becca: Super different from my experience. I am surrounded by powerful women in the Park Service and specifically at Grand Canyon. The women around me, both in my work group and beyond have shown me in some ways that more is possible for me. So for example I never considered law enforcement before I got to Grand Canyon, and though I don't think it's the career path I'll choose, when I arrived in Grand Canyon and discovered a whole number of women who are doing incredibly competent thoughtful important work in the front and backcountry, that opened up a whole sphere of possibility for me just in how I conceptualize that work. I don't need to look far for allies here of all genders, and I don't need to look far for women doing incredible things that I admire and collaborate with, so that is a huge change.

Jesse: I think like without seeing yourself in that position it would have been challenging to know that that's something that is an option.

Becca: Yeah, I agree I think this ties into so many current and continuing conversations about why representation matters. It matters to see people that you see yourself in in positions of leadership and just in positions of leadership and in diverse jobs across so many spheres. It super matters. Jesse: Well, the last clip I want to play for you is, well, I’ll just play.

Polly: I got my job in 1930. And I was so interested. I loved that job, and I sort of thought I would go on with it. But my husband said he didn’t want his wife working, so I said yes dear. That’s the way we did in those days.

Becca: What a loss, not only for Polly personally, but for the Park Service and for Grand Canyon. When I hear that I just think of all the people just like Polly. Yes, Polly was first here and alone in terms of her gender identity perhaps in her work group, but I think of so many people who past and perhaps present have had more experience where it's like that's what you did in those days or that's what you do now or that's the role of the wife or mother or a person of this gender or a person of this racial identity. The boxing in is a real tragedy I think for the individual and for the collective.

Jesse: Yeah, to me this is this is so heartbreaking, especially after knowing how hard she worked to get to that place, getting her undergrad in botany, doing her Masters research on the North rim of Grand Canyon, being denied by the Forest Service because she was a woman, and then finally becoming the first woman at Grand Canyon to do this job, and to love it and to do it well for a year and a half and then to be told by the person she loves that he doesn’t want her doing that job anymore. I can't imagine what she must have felt in that moment. So at the end of that clip she just sort of laughed it off saying that's the way it was in those days, and I wonder if that's what she would say today.

Becca: I wonder that, too.

Jesse: I'm mostly just thankful for Polly for doing what she did and being the first woman at Grand Canyon and being a pioneer in that way. I’m thankful that we have this audio recording of her, thanks to Mike Quinn for doing this oral history. It's incredible to be able to hear her voice.

Becca: I share your sense of gratitude for Polly, I really do. And I feel like there's so many different ways to frame what we know of her story or at least what I know her story. We can frame it as a triumph we can frame it as a triumphant and temporary assertion of the patriarchy. However we choose to frame it I think the fact remains that this seems like an incredible scholar and human being and that's something to celebrate.

Jesse: This episode of the Canyon cuts is brought to you by the interpretation team at Grand Canyon National Park. We gratefully acknowledge the native peoples on whose ancestral homelands we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant native communities who make their home here today. Hey Polly, what do you think of the Park Rangers working at Grand Canyon today?

Polly: Bunch of cowboys. Rough men, but they were very very shy. I want to chat you know talk to them a little bit, but they wouldn’t talk

Credits: Music and sound production by Wayne Hartlerode

Grand Canyon hired its first female park ranger in 1930. What has changed 90 years later?

November 24, 2020

Many Hats of a Park Ranger

Transcript

Jake

The coolest thing about the grand canyon Is that it gives you a chance to participate in a legacy of extraordinary people I think this place really calls people to rise to the occasion it also has been doing things that I never thought I'd be doing in a million years

Austin

Hello, my name is Austin and I’m a Park Ranger at Grand Canyon National Park and this is behind the scenery the canyon cuts. When I first started working for the Park Service, I was also amazed by the extraordinary people doing a wide variety of things as National Park Service employees. While visiting parks when I was younger, I was always under the impression that everyone who worked at a National Park was in fact a Park Ranger. However, as I got to know the park service better, I came to understand that this term was a sort of “blanket term” to cover everyone working in a national park. Though many folks wear the signature “flat hat” of a park ranger and maybe even have those exact words in their job titles, there are a wide variety of jobs underneath this hat, and many more employees that wear completely different hats in their work in National Parks. Especially in a National Park as unique as the Grand Canyon, nobody is just one thing. We all carry a variety of identities or wear a lot of different hats in our work and also our lives.

[Acoustic guitar melody plays briefly]

The idea of wearing many different hats is something we will explore through a series of these episodes. We will talk to rangers across and sometimes even inside the Grand Canyon. Rangers interviewing other rangers in offices, backcountry ranger stations and sometimes even on the sides of the trail they are working on. By listening to their stories, their hats they wear and some of the interesting aspects of their jobs perhaps we will learn a little bit more about the wide variety of jobs in national parks, and the unique roles that some of grand canyon’s employees are called to.

However, National Park Service employees are not unique in this. We all have a variety of roles, a variety of hats we wear. By listening to each other’s stories, we can better understand the complexity of all individuals, and maybe find common ground by looking past our most obvious traits.

[Soft guitar melody plays]

Please join in on our first conversations where one of our inner canyon rangers recorded Jake-Lee and Tristan Blue at a backcountry ranger station as they interview each other about their jobs and the many hats they wear working in the trail’s division at Grand Canyon National Park.

These are the many hats of a park ranger.

Jake

Are you wearing we've got a great show today we're going to be talking about hats how many do you have Boston are you wearing weed I'm Jake Lee and I am a trail maintenance worker here in Grand Canyon National Park and basically what I do on a day to day basis is build structures in the trail to prevent erosion and I guess I should think about a better description of my job title quite laboris commit yourself to a lot of labor's tasks my official job title is a motor vehicle operator and laborer and basically what I do on a day-to-day basis is used various and tools and power tools to build walls check steps and structures like that in trail

Blue

I’m Tristan BLUE, everyone just calls me blue since it’s easier to remember. I work for the compost division on trails, I have the exact same title as Jake. But I have a couple different hats that I wear working on compost. I like to tell people that I’m a janitor with nice calves with the amount I hike through the canyon. Sometimes I tell people I’m an instigator cause I’m always stirring up

(Sound of squirrel chirping in the distance).

It’s kind of weird with compost, when they first put you on it, they tell you you’re going to be doing a lot of different things from the get-go. Sometimes you’ll be expected to do random electrician work like switching out fuses or you can be checking out pumps like a Plummer. Making sure the lines are clear. Even more out of my wheelhouse, they will expect me to, not quite look for SAR’s but make sure people are alright.

Austin: A quick interruption, a SAR or search and rescue is lingo used by park service employees to refer to visitors who might need help or even a rescue down trail. Back to blue.

Blue

Because I will find myself in parts of the canyon where even the rangers won’t be in during those times. We work from 6am to 4:30, and if I’m going down to tipoff/phantom down the Kaibab I’m going to be running into people around 12am to 3pm so that’s something I didn’t quite expect.

Blue

There’s like a weird thing I didn't expect like working on this job. I know where in the middle of nowhere there's a lot of wildlife, but I didn't think I was going to feel like I work on wildlife at times. I had three occasions where I'm cleaning bathrooms and I opened the door and I'm like “oh that's a snake I'm gonna have to deal with the snake now” cause it's not like I got to leave now cause I don't wanna deal with it. So, I've had times where I've ran up from the IG day use bathroom all the way to like where wildlife was working “so what's uh white spots black body” “oh its fine” but then I go back the snakes gone. Yeah that's one thing I always found kind of funny that I’ll have to deal with a lot of different animals, black widows, scorpion, other fun critters that want to hang out.

Jake

I think uh if I were to shorten my job description to the easiest shortest thing it would be backcountry dry stone Mason. if I were to describe what actually happens on a day-to-day basis sometimes, I'm helping you out, Blue, with compost duties doing things like cleaning bathrooms, shoveling poop into barrels, and hooking them up to helicopters things like that. But also, the trail crew often finds themselves very frequently doing medical evacuations on the trail. Because we're the only people down there and sometimes when people get in a tight spot we are the only people around that can help out and sometimes your miles in to where nobody else can get in in a timely manner so you have to rise to the occasion

And I think that is the coolest thing about Grand Canyon is that it gives you a chance to participate in a legacy of extraordinary people. I think this place really calls people to rise to the occasion and it really has the capacity to bring out the best in people. But it also has me doing things that I never thought I'd be doing in a million years!

Blue

Ya, totally I mean like when I started my first season here I was like working as a laborer, like you, I was doing West stone masonry and I thought I was gonna be doing that the whole time around and I ended up working on the South Kaibab when I got put in like structures like a retaining wall that people could sit on and by the end of it like after we did the wall like by Verkramp’s. I came by like a couple weeks later and it was lowered it was like 6 inches at 1st and then we brought it up to 18 inches, so when I went back like I could just see family sitting there taking pictures and I'm like “man this is going to be there like for decades, you know it, could be here for like another century”. People were just getting there like to enjoy it. I just feel, you know, really thankful that like this job as a laborer really afford this the chance to do so many different things you know.

Jake

Another really exceptional Department here in the park is the water utilities division. They are another division that operates a very understaffed rate and they often have to do things like repairing the water pipeline throughout the Canyon that supplies South rim from the North rim. Their expertise is in doing things like welding ,in that super niche stuff and sometimes they'll need our help to come in and dig a hole in dig holes cause that's our expertise, we are really good at digging holes.

Blue But I think that's about all the time we have for today thanks for listening in

[Electric guitar rift plays]

Austin

After listening to the hats and experiences from jake and blue, I’d like you all to think of a time you have had to rise to the occasion and wear a different hat or take on a different role than you’re used to?

Thank you so much to Ceili for making this interview happen, and to Jake-Lee and Tristan blue for their time and their words. Music from this episode courtesy of freemusicarchives.org. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the native peoples on whose ancestral homelands we gather. As well as the diverse and vibrant native communities who make their home here today. This has been the many hats of a park ranger.

Jake

Join us on our next episode are bellybuttons canyons?

Produced by Austin Kelley

Rangers have a multitude of roles and responsibilities. How does the idea of "wearing many hats" manifest itself in all our lives? Let's find out with interviews from rangers who work on trails and maintenance of Grand Canyon's backcountry!

November 20, 2020

Longing and Belonging at Grand Canyon: Who feels welcome at National Parks?

Transcript

I. GUEST INTRO SNIPPETS

AUDREY And so, then I said, “Well, what the heck is a National Park?” Because I never knew before.

STEVE The demographics of the National Parks versus the demographics of the nation – they don’t match.

NAIRUTI And I think at the Grand Canyon when it comes to, you know, who feels welcome and who’s belonging, historically, there’s been a really narrow vision of who that person is.

AILEMA And if it’s calling you, you will get there.

MUSIC TRANSITION

II. HOST INTRO

DOUG So, let me turn it up a little bit, test test test.

LESLIE Turn it up, Doug!

-Beep-

BECCA How would you describe yourself? Have you ever- blah di blah di blah… blah. -Laughs-

LESLIE Cut.

-Laughs-

BECCA Okay! We’re trying again.

-Beep-

LESLIE Hi, I’m Leslie.

DOUG I’m Doug.

BECCA And I’m Becca. We are Park Rangers on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

LESLIE You’re listening to a Behind the Scenery podcast. Today, we’re exploring the themes of Longing and Belonging at Grand Canyon and discussing the question: “Who feels welcome in National Parks?”

DOUG That’s right. Now let’s start with the question: “Who feels welcome?”

BECCA Yes! Let’s start with that question. So, maybe it would be helpful to give our listeners context first. Why we’re creating a podcast, why we’re asking who feels welcome at National Parks, so… Gosh, we showed up here as Park Rangers on the North Rim of Grand Canyon and – laughs – what happened?

DOUG Well, it was kind of touch-and-go whether or not we would even open the Visitor Center this year. And then we got word late spring that Grand Canyon was canceling all Ranger programs.

LESLIE And regardless, there was a huge fire that kind of blew through the area pretty soon after the season went under way.

BECCA Yeah, we were closed because of COVID-19 to the public and simultaneous to COVID-19, we were closed because – as I told my mom semi-emotionally on the phone – we were surrounded by fire on our isolated peninsula.

DOUG What are we gonna do as interpretive rangers on the North Rim if we’re not gonna answer questions in the Visitor Center, we’re not gonna be doing nature walks, evening programs? So, somebody came up with the idea that maybe the rangers can still be productive and work on a podcast for the Park.

LESLIE It’s very 2020.

BECCA Yeah, I think so. And, honestly, I think the idea of doing podcasts was appropriate not only for our special, but unifying circumstances with the entire globe, but also, it kinda ties into the theme of what we’re exploring here: who feels welcome at National Parks? Who has access to National Parks? Because creating a podcast can hopefully manifest an experience that doesn’t require being at Grand Canyon or being at the North Rim in order to be in community with us. Why do you feel like asking “Who feels welcome at National Parks?” matters to you?

DOUG Well, because I’m a National Park nerd! I love my National Parks. I’m so proud to work for the National Park Service that tells, tries to tell, all of the stories: the good and bad, ugly, and everything in between. From my perspective being in the Park profession for my whole adult life, I can’t imagine somebody not feeling welcome in a National Park. So that’s something that needs to be corrected… that there is a segment of people that don’t feel welcome in the National Parks – that’s shameful. That should never be. And we all need to feel welcome in the National Parks to get that “good vibe” that is available to all of us, to recharge our emotional and our spiritual batteries.

LESLIE We have young folks across the country who either do not know about the Park Service and what it has to offer them, or who have ventured out into green spaces and have been made to feel that – either directly or indirectly – that they do not belong there. And at the same time, this same group of young people is almost expected to solve the nation’s problems in terms of the environment and the climate crisis. There’s this huge disconnect between the expectations of these spaces and the realities of these spaces.

BECCA Mmm.

LESLIE How are we going to create a better world for those who come after us if we are not being inclusive and welcoming of the current generation?

BECCA (Breath) I think it’s important that we interrogate this question, “Who feels welcome in National Parks?”, not because we don’t know elements of the answer. To me, if feels very clear that not everyone feels welcome at Grand Canyon, not everyone feels welcome on the North Rim, and beyond. And so, asking the question, “Who feels welcome?” serves as a window to do better and identify that systems of inequity and power that exist in our larger societies, perpetuate themselves in our little community here on the North Rim and also in the Park Service, I think. I see this podcast as one tiny, little opening for progress.

When people listen to this podcast, I’d like them to… No. No, no, no. I don’t want to tell them what to do. But I do want to communicate: “Hey, these individuals that we interviewed, these amazing people, speak for themselves. They don’t speak for entire communities or entire demographics of people.”

DOUG When you listen to the guests, keep in mind they are speaking for themselves.

LESLIE And just as I don’t speak for every American or every woman out there, our guests do not speak for the entire communities that they hail from. Everyone has their own individual voice that’s based on their own personal experiences.

DOUG And boy, did we get some great interviewees, some guests, to lend their voices to this podcast.

BECCA Incredible human beings! We lucked out!

DOUG Yeah, definitely.

LESLIE No kidding!

Our four guests are as follows: - Audrey Peterman (in her own voice) - Ailema Benally (in her own voice) - Stephen Arnold (in his own voice) - Nairuti Shastry (in her own voice)

BECCA Our guests’ individual stories shed some light on the questions we were exploring.

DOUG I think that’s the best part of the whole podcast, is not the ranger voices, but the four guests that brought all these different perspectives to the table. So, I think the listener’s really gonna be wowed when they get introduced to our four guests and hear to the profound things that they had to share.

MUSIC TRANSITION

III. ALL GUESTS THEME 1

LESLIE So, in chatting with these folks, we discovered what it means for these four individuals to feel at home in the natural world. For you personally, when was a moment when you felt connected with the world? Here’s what our guests said, referencing poignant experiences at Grand Canyon.

AUDREY Here we were looking forward to seeing the Grand Canyon, which I describe as the Grande Dame, the Crown Jewel, of all the crown jewels. You know? We were… we were not disappointed. In fact, we could not, in our wildest dreams, have imagined anything so wonderful and beautiful.

You know, we felt like, we felt a very strong energy and it was just very soothing and at the same time, very inspiring. And the view of the Canyon, spreading out across all of those acres – with the spires and the temples and the chasms and the colors. Ah! Wow. It’s mind-boggling, breathtaking, awesome, astonishing, no word can describe the Grand Canyon. Every word pales in comparison.

AILEMA And it’s good to see it in all its different moods, you know, if that’s the word for it. By moonlight, by sunrise, sunset, in the wind, in the rain, in snow, fogged in, hot days, cold nights. There's a lot to experience there.

And then you begin to see how big this this entity is. In our world. And it is. It’s a – it has a grand presence. And we just can’t see all of it to know how big it is. We can’t see or know its power because it’s so incredibly silent.

STEVE I felt very small. Well, practically, you’re just this little speck on the edge of this vast abyss.

And that’s the interesting thing about Grand Canyon you’re on the edge looking down in. And so, for an individual like myself in a wheelchair, I feel like I’m getting the experience that 90% of the visitors are getting: I’m on the edge looking down in.

It’s just one of those places, it’s so special. Not just in our nation, but in the world, greeting people from all over the world coming to see it, that love for the Park grows over time.

NAIRUTI I remember feeling very, very – there was a deep feeling of anticipation. I was feeling unprepared and feeling like, you know, is this a place that I can really engage with in a safe and healthy way? You know, what kinds of materials do I need in order to do this in a safe way? Kind of, what are sort of the norms and cultural norms and social norms and expectations of this space? So I think I was overthinking it a bit. And all of those thoughts and worries and anxieties sort of melted away the first time I saw the Canyon.

MUSIC TRANSITION

IV. AUDREY PETERMAN BIO + THEMES 2/3

BECCA How would you describe yourself? Have you ever felt like an outsider, or uncomfortable in a space, or othered? Where do you feel at home, and does this intersect with your experience of the natural world? It’s time to meet our four guests in full, and hear what they have to say.

LESLIE Our first guest is Audrey Peterman, conservationist and author. She and her husband Frank are celebrated for their work in encouraging Americans of Color to discover and love their National Parks.

AUDREY My name is Audrey Peterman.

I am a very happy Jamaican-born woman who became a citizen of the United States in the 1980s after experiencing America’s wondrous National Parks. I had actually been in America for fifteen years and had not really thought to become a citizen. But when I went out and saw places like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite, I was eager to become a part of such a great country. And I’ve made it my life’s mission and work over the last 25 years, I’d say, to convey that great love to as many of the American and world public as possible.

It makes my life so worthwhile. You know, I’ve heard people say that they’re looking to find their purpose – my purpose found me. And it’s just been more and more wonderful. And because my background is in journalism and my husband Frank’s background is in business, we set up a consulting company called Earthwise Productions. We got our information into the Black Press, into the New York Times, into NPC Magazine… So, we did a lot of writing and publishing.

When I found out that there was such a thing as National Parks and saw these beautiful places, and then saw that they were devoid of Black and Brown people, who in my estimation, needed the freedom and the respite and the inspiration and the joy and the glory more than any other, you know, segment of society… I got really offended.

I called my best friend since high school and I was telling her about all these amazing places that we had seen and how beautiful and she was like, “What are you talking about? What are you? What are you talking about?” Nobody knew! Our… our friends who were… college president, our friends who were in network anchors, our friends who were newspaper publishers – none of them knew that there was such a thing as a National Park system and that it belonged to all Americans.

And then as we got involved with the conservation movement and we were invited to serve on several boards, I realized that the people who were operating those non-governmental organizations needed as much of an education as the Black and Brown people who did not know that there was such a thing as National Parks.

So, we’d be sitting at board tables, and we’d be talking about the subject of more inclusion and people would be saying, “Well, we all know and love and support the Parks.” And I’m like, “Excuse me! No, we don’t all know and love and support the Parks. Half of the population doesn’t know that there’s such a thing as a National Park, or National Park system. I didn’t know until I actually stumbled upon it myself.” You know? So, that was part of the frustrating part. Because people stuck to what they knew. They presumed; they extrapolated that experience to all Americans. And, you know, I’m being kind when I say that because they must have noticed that there weren’t any Black or Brown people out there. So, clearly, you know, the experience could not be true for everyone!

And I would talk and I would pour my little heart out and then, many times, people would listen to me very, very patiently – and then, when I stopped speaking, the conversation would just pick up right where it had left off before I started speaking. And, you know, a lot of Americans of Color report that that is their experience in many situations, where they’re the only one at the table, where there’s not an equal diversity of voices or representation, you know.

Based upon race, people in America have completely different experiences with almost everything. It’s like parallel worlds. And so, when I came to America in 1978, immediately I started looking around for: well, where are the natural places that I can go, to be, you know, happy and comfortable?

Once you’re in Grand Canyon, it’s like your face, your visage, your countenance changes. There’s a light that comes up on you. There’s a freedom and a radiance – radiance! That’s the word! – it gives you a radiance.

Every human being, every living creature, everything that has breath, should feel at home in the Grand Canyon.

Now personally, as a Black woman, I know that there are times when, you know, people like myself don’t necessarily feel comfortable or safe in some places that are way off the beaten track. But I reserve the right to be at home anywhere in the world. I belong in the world. So, I belong at the Grand Canyon just as much as I belong at Denali or in the Everglades or any place else.

MUSIC TRANSITION

V. STEVE ARNOLD BIO + THEMES 2/3

DOUG Our second guest is Steve Arnold. Dr. Arnold works in education year-round: he a university professor and a summertime interpretive ranger.

In the context of this podcast, interpretation does not mean language interpretation. Rather, National Park Service interpretive rangers support Park visitors in creating their own meaning and personal connections to cultural and natural resources.

STEVE My name is Stephen Arnold. I’m a Park Ranger sometimes and a professor other times.

I am an Associate Professor at a university, in instructional technology, and that’s my primary job. And then in the summertime, I work in interpretation in the National Parks.

I grew up in northern Idaho, a very rural community. For part of the time, going to a school, an elementary school, that as two rooms, kindergarten through 8th grade. So, that might give you some sense of how small of a community it was – two classrooms.

I was one of six, with a single mom. We didn’t really get out and go to a Park, even though I grew up four and a half hours’ driving to Glacier, about seven hours to Yellowstone. Cost is a big inhibitor to visiting Parks. You know, traveling and that sort of thing at that point wasn’t really on the table, but we were in the mountains and it was a nice place to live and grow up.

Fast forward, I went into the military at 17 years old after I graduated. Got hurt. Sustained an injury there. And then I spent a few years adjusting. I don’t know, I’m a pretty resilient person.

Being a wheelchair user, when I go to a National Park, including Grand Canyon, you know, I notice if there are others like me or if there are not. But it often strikes me when I am going into Parks, whether I’m going there as a visitor or working, that I don’t really encounter as many individuals with disabilities as I’d expect or possibly hope to see.

And I think the longer I’ve been in a wheelchair, the more that I notice this… There are individuals that just won’t make eye contact or acknowledge my, “Hello.” And I’ve had that happen. I’ve been out, roving with colleagues before, and I have visitors who will totally look over me to talk to the other individual who is not in a wheelchair. And so, it certainly makes me do a lot of thinking about that, that there’s no way I can really separate that out. You know, I try to analyze: well, maybe it isn’t because I’m in a wheelchair, maybe… you know, there’s some other reason.

And I think about the National Park Service mission, to preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. It’s kind of a lot to wrap the brain around, and I like how – if you’ve ever gone into Yellowstone, the Roosevelt Arch – Teddy Roosevelt pared it down to “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” And what I go to is, it doesn’t say “some of the people.” It says the people. And, if you’re a wheelchair user, or if you’re able-bodied, whichever it may be, you’re all the people.

MUSIC TRANSITION

VI. NAIRUTI SHASTRY BIO + THEMES 2/3

BECCA Up next is Nairuti Shastry, who describes herself as an “avid outdoorswoman,” “educator,” “strategist,” and “engaged scholar.”

NAIRUTI My name is Nairuti Shastry. I’m calling in right now from Virginia where I grew up, so, I am an immigrant of the one point five generation. I was born in India in a city called Ahmedabad and moved to the states when I was about six years old. I have two younger sisters. I identify as a woman of color; I use she/her/hers pronouns, and in my kind of working life, professional life, I serve as an educator and as a sociologist. I’ve worked at a few different institutions of higher education over the years in sort of the first iteration of this thing we call “career,” and have really worked to advance place-based community engagement and racial justice and restorative justice. In general I’m really passionate about transracial solidarity movements, anticolonial resistance, all of that good stuff.

When I was little, my parents took me to Shenandoah, um a national park in the state of Virginia, and once we got there, even from something as small as the looks that you get when you’re on a trail, to feeling like you’re constantly being watched and almost policed when you’re interacting with spaces, it just – I think that was the moment that I began to feel really uncomfortable um in green spaces and natural spaces.

And one of the things that I think has been contested and complicated for centuries, or at least since the United States was quote-unquote “founded,” is – is belonging in natural spaces. I think it’s been really a battleground um for a lot of folks of color. We see a lot of um policing and criminalization and just a sense that you know there’s one “right” quote-unquote way to employ, be with, be alongside, use, nature and natural spaces.

To me the perspective shift about the Grand Canyon didn’t really happen until we had the opportunity to visit the park’s museum collection. The woman who was speaking with us brought out this bowl – hundreds of years ago these bowls were made in fire. And she kind of turned the bowl inwards, and we looked right into it, and you actually see the fingerprints of this woman who had made this bowl. And that just felt like such a poignant moment, and I think really linked in to when I began to feel belonging in a space as vast as the Grand Canyon and feeling like natural and human history are these inextricably connected entities.

You know, for a lot of folks of color and especially for me, nature provides this space of healing and restoration. Nature is really, really helpful for me to be in green spaces outdoors, and feel like connected to something that is much larger than myself. Um and I really – I’m so grateful to all these folks who have encouraged me to um – to just re- participate, and re-introduce myself um to something that was once lost, and is now found.

And it wasn’t until I took the time to reflect and think about these you know micro-experiences or moments in my lifetime that I really understood, like, “Wow, so much of that sense of belongingness really came from more positive experiences of my racial identity in natural spaces.” You know, when you see people who look like you who are doing things you didn’t think were possible for you to do, it’s a transformative experience.

MUSIC TRANSITION

VII. AILEMA BENALLY BIO + THEMES 2/3

LESLIE Our fourth and final guest is Ailema Benally. She is a retired park ranger who’s worked at both Hubbell Trading Post and Canyon de Chelly, two National Park units located on the Navajo reservation in Arizona.

Ailema is a founding member of the Council for American Indian Interpretation, a subgroup of the NAI, or the National Association for Interpretation.

AILEMA My name is Ailema Benally.

I've lived on the reservation most of my life -- on the Navajo reservation. I am Navajo, full blood. I have two children: a daughter and a son. I am currently a caregiver to my mom and her sister, my aunt. We have a great time. [Laughs] That's what I've been doing since I retired; I’ve been caring for both of them. And, um, we have we have a very good time being together here.

In the summer of 1973, I was 16 years old. And we had just gotten out of school for the summer. And a neighbor came by – she lived behind us across the alley – and came by one evening and she said there was a job opening for students. And, um, she said come to Hubbell tomorrow and just let them interview you; you'll fill out your application while you're there. So, I thought, “Okay.” So, I went there, applied, and I was immediately hired. And by the end of summer I was doing a tour every hour. [Laughs]

I became a permanent employee in 1986 and just stayed in interpretation all the way to retirement. Yeah, and I spent most half my life maybe um working with the National Park Service and the other half of was being a kid. [Laughs]

… We were, we were not in uniform. We were wearing traditional Navajo dress -- and I didn't like that because people, they would try to speak loud to us. They’d speak slowly. And so, I didn't like being in traditional Navajo dress. I wanted so bad to be in park uniform so I can be treated differently. And, uh, I was so happy when I went into uniform. It was a very, very different kind of attitude and respect when - when I went into uniform.

From then on, I spent a lot of personal time paying attention to how people would speak: How they wanted to be spoken to, how - how they reacted to speakers, and how they responded to certain words. I was very attentive to that. And I realized that and as I would speak about Hubbell and Navajo people there seemed to be a gold ticket to ask any kind of question of me about American Indian cultures: tradition, history, like anything, anything they wanted to know.

And when I answered, I was answering from my own little experience with my family and they took it as an all-out answer for all Indian cultures in the United States. And it was an incredible, incredible “whoops” kind of responsibility. It’s, like, “No, no, I didn't mean that.” Didn't know how to take it back, because I didn't have the right words to say, “This is my own experiences.” And so, as I go on, the questions become more challenging, and and deeper, and sometimes very personal.

And there's a friend a very close friend now who was down the road I was at Hubbell… Wilson Hunter was at Canyon de Chelly, and we had both heard about each other through park visitors. But it would be years later before we would meet. And when we did, it was kind of funny, because we both said, “So, you're Wilson Hunter;” “So, you're Ailema Benally.” And, um, from there, we we began to talk about the questions we were getting from visitors and oh my gosh it was so incredible we couldn't stop talking about the challenges it brought to have people ask us of cultures of other people.

And so, we started talking together, and we reached out to other parks that we knew that had uh American Indian interpreters. And they were going “Yes! What you said! It’s true! Help! What do we do?” So, we started to meet. We had a visitor from the NAI Southwest regional representative and he goes, “You know what, you guys should go big. You're not the only one with this this discussion. This needs to go nationwide.” We named ourselves the council for American Indian interpretation.

We were… we were just so happy to share what we have and and realize we were not the only ones with that challenge, that we were able to call on each other, and and share the experiences we were having. So, we really had a great support of people around us and we were better cultural interpreters because of our support.

MUSIC TRANSITION

VIII. ALL GUESTS THEME 4

BECCA What is next? Where do we go from here? How do we move beyond explicitly naming challenges, to collaboratively addressing them? All four voices - Steve, Nairuti, Audrey, and Ailema, in their own words, bring us home.

DOUG Once again, this is Steve Arnold:

STEVE Figure out a way to let the Parks represent Americans.

If you look at anything from ability or disability to cultural diversity, there’s so many different subgroups of people that the Parks are lagging. And they’ve kind of lagged, I think, initially when the Parks were created, the visitor was… tended to be more of a middle-class – or higher, financially speaking – predominantly white visitor, most likely not too many individuals with disabilities. And we’ve made some headway but not as far as we need to, especially if you look at the demographics of the nation, they are substantially different.

I think from a Park Service standpoint, they need to gather data, and not… There’s this tendency for us to try to do what we think somebody else needs. And with my personal experience with that, that’s not the right way to do it. Somebody else can’t begin to understand what somebody in a wheelchair needs if they’re not in a wheelchair. They can start, they can get some good ideas, but oftentimes they miss the mark. You know, I’m talking with you - I use a wheelchair - but I can’t begin to understand the needs of everybody else.

And so, I think, to get enough data gathering from folks that have needs: get them involved in the decision-making, and then a renewed investment in making these adaptations.

You know, if you’re looking at the accessibility side of things, once you’ve done research – and whether you have somebody to go with or not – just the bottom line is to go, to experience it and see these natural wonders.

PAUSE

BECCA Once again, here is Nairuti Shastry:

NAIRUTI There’s a movement to feel like belonging is more expansive and imaginative than it has been. And you know even with this podcast right like there’s still work to be done, and I think so much about feeling welcome is beyond diversity. I think we really have to start with the conversation around inclusion, right. Folks can’t feel like they belong in a space, if that space isn’t constructed to be inclusive in the first place.

I think that exposure really needs to begin from a young age. I think if young people don’t feel like they can access the national parks, we’ve already lost the battle. I can imagine, you know, for someone who is my parents’ age, if they’ve had time and time again these micro-aggressive or just straight up plain aggressive interactions with natural spaces, it’s going to make them much less likely to: one, participate in land and natural spaces themselves, and two, advocate for others to be able to have access to that space as well. So, I think we have to acknowledge this like ripple effect that doing diversity and inclusion work has, and equity work has, on entire communities of people.

If I were superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park, I think one of the centerpieces I would hope I could work on as well as, you know, as other staff and really encourage folks to center, is this idea of reckoning with history. To me, that reckoning isn’t just – it needs to go beyond, you know, simple land acknowledgements. It actually looks like moving land and resources and redistributing that ownership in a way that is equitable. And the land goes back to folks that rightfully own it.

PAUSE

LESLIE Once again, this is Audrey Peterman:

AUDREY Everybody’s gonna have to be a little bit uncomfortable if we’re gonna move forward together, you know? Because right now, it’s a painful place we’re in. We can no longer have this separation of who is considered to be worthwhile to be in the Parks, or who is considered, you know, to have the “sensibility,” the “sensitivity” towards Parks. You know, and that always excludes non-white people. We can’t have that anymore!

I would say, “Look here. Freedom cannot be given – it must be taken, okay?” I am not going to wait around on somebody to make me feel comfortable somewhere that I want to go. And I say, it is the responsibility of the National Park Service, and a lot of these organizations that get a good deal of money, to send out the message to non-white Americans that they are invited and welcome.

But, since that is not happening to the extent it should be, thankfully there are thousands of grassroots organizations of Color around the country that are doing this work in our communities and bringing the message of what we actually have in the National Parks and the public lands system to our peers in communities of Color. And so, I heartily encourage people to find one of these affinity groups. I find that one of the key desires or requirements that people have is that they should see themselves reflected in the visitor group.

In summation… you know what I would do? I would invite a group of these people to invite their friends to come to the Grand Canyon. I would work on the media to get some PSAs done, showing these people at the Grand Canyon and the wonderful time that they were having. I would invite them to do their social media campaigns. We would light up the world with images of People of Color at Grand Canyon having a wonderful time. That’s all that needs to happen, that people need to see that it’s accessible and welcoming to others like ourselves.

But I’d just stay to people: “Take your freedom in America, okay? Take your freedom because, you know, nobody is waiting around to give it to you.

PAUSE

DOUG And our final guest – Ailema Benally:

AILEMA Change how the National Park Service communicates the Canyon experience. Prime the visitors so they know what is here, and how to be a guest in this place that welcomes every living thing. The natural world is for every living thing to find own niche -- to survive and thrive. There are some places in every culture, there are places there, that have different levels of significance for accommodation, for medicine, for, well – life-sustaining, life, life life- giving resources. And so, people regard these in different ways and they use them for their own survival.

These places are accepted as a gift of life and greatly appreciated. These places have their own song, because they have their own special kind of life force. So they must be approached with reverence and humility. So you approach, just like when you're trying to introduce yourself to a dog, to a horse: you reach out gently and you let them know you mean no harm.

So when you come to these places you come with offerings, with blessings, with Thanksgiving. People will have a song, a prayer, they may have done some fasting before they arrived. And then that trade is made. You make your offering, whatever it is, and then you take what you need. And then there is that mutual exchange. There is respect, protection, there's life, there's food, there's medicine… that is given and taken. And so, there's like a mutual protection that is given from the canyon, the river, the mountain, for, for the people, for the family, for the individual.

Once you're there you've already - you've already been invited. What drew you there, what brought you there, are different circumstances, different people, different times. But in the natural world, in the spirit world, you are called to be there. There is a reason for you to be there.

Every now and then, I long to go back. And there was the medicine man that told us one time, “If you have a longing, you don't know why, maybe you've been there once or maybe haven't even been here before, but you have a longing to go to the mountain, to go to the river, to go to maybe a certain particular place, you have a longing.” He says, “Because before we were human, before we were flesh and bone, we were spirit people, and these were the places that we belonged to at one time. And we long to go back. It's our spirit that draws us back that way.” And so I think these places call us back, because we are a child of the earth, of a certain time we don't know of, as the spirit. And so, we go back to these places to renew our spirit, to renew ourselves, for however long that needs to be.

So I go back to the Grand Canyon every now and then. And stand at the edge, and just let my presence be known: I'm here to be acknowledged as a child of the earth. And that I'm here to recognize the majesty of the ocean, the mountain, the canyon, the rivers, the desert, whatever those places may be.

MUSIC TRANSITION lasting longer than the others to signify the end

IX. HOST OUTRO

LESLIE We want to extend a full-hearted thank you to all of our guests. We are so grateful for all that you shared, the grace you showed us, and your openness.

BECCA Here at Grand Canyon, we also gratefully acknowledge the Native Peoples on whose ancestral homeland we gather, as well as the diverse and vibrant Native communities who make their home here today.

DOUG Let’s keep this conversation going. Who feels welcome in your own community? And what’s next in your own scope of influence?

LESLIE For more information on accessibility in parks, affinity groups and natural spaces, and much more, please reference the show notes attached to this podcast.

BECCA And one more thank you to all who added their voice to this project. We are blown away.

DOUG I don’t know how we did it as a team, but man, we got some really, really great voices to agree to participate in this podcast.

BECCA Ailema synthesizes it best:

AILEMA Oh my gosh, wow. Wow! [Laughs]

Who feels that they belong at Grand Canyon -- and that the Canyon in turn belongs to them? An investigation into the patterns of privilege present in green spaces and public lands across the United States, with specific attention to the NPS. Our guests explore what it means to feel truly welcome in the natural world and give recommendations for how Grand Canyon National Park can help more people discover and own their sense of belonging at Grand Canyon.

October 29, 2020

Canyon Cut: Coming Together in Hard Times

Transcript

[Music quietly fades up and footsteps on crunching gravel]

This is Jeff, I’m a ranger at Grand Canyon National Park, y you’re listening to Behind the Scenery, Canyon Cuts

Working as a Wilderness Ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park for the past several seasons, I’ve had time to think…more time than I wanted some days. Whole summers spent walking, staring at my feet, winning imaginary arguments, and pondering…all between cutting trees from the trail, talking to hikers, search and rescue, the actual work of my old job. What did all that thinking produce? Tangibly, not much, but with all those quiet miles, I had the chance to wander on trails, mentally, that I wouldn’t normally wander on. National parks and the United States were created with pens, paper, and ideas. Our founding parents thought, argued, wrote, and came up with a government. National parks weren’t born from anything like the Continental Congress, but they’ve become one of the greatest expressions of our civic culture. Credit for these big parks and big ideas usually go to Presidents like Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and national park pioneers like John Muir, Stephen Mather, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, Virginia McClurg, and countless others. Same with our founding parents. These people are long dead, but their ideas and actions still inspire us and affect us…we still walk in the national parks they helped protect and we live in the country they helped create. Neither of these creations are perfect, we’re still working on both.

I hiked a few hundred national park miles each summer and I got idealistic. So, let’s come back to the present where those founding ideals are struggling through a smoldering, battered civic landscape, near antebellum polarization, COVID-19, tens of millions unemployed, and the re-exposure of old, simmering racism. It’s not a great view, it’s exhausting and disheartening. Between my lofty thoughts and the trail under my feet is a story, it’s a story written in my head as I walked…a story about all of us…actually, it’s the trail that’s the story, and the boys who built the trail. Eighty-seven years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps and sent millions of unemployed young men into the national forests, parks, farm fields, and cities to repair damaged national resources and create even more. But we shouldn’t look only at the natural resources and tangible products of the CCC. President Roosevelt had more in mind:

Audio recording of Franklin D. Roosevelt It involved not only a further loss of homes, farms, savings and wages but also a loss of spiritual values -- the loss of that sense of security for the present and the future that is so necessary to the peace and contentment of the individual and of his family. When you destroy those things you will find it difficult to establish confidence of any sort in the future.[…..]First, we are giving opportunity of employment to a quarter of a million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have dependents, to let them go into the forestry and flood prevention work . […] and in creating this civilian conservation corps, we are killing -two birds with one stone. We are clearly enhancing the value of our natural resources and, at the same time, we are relieving an appreciable amount of actual distress.

The CCC is simple history, pick up a high school textbook and you’ll see some paragraphs about the billions of trees they planted, the thousands of miles of roads and trails they blazed and built. But President Roosevelt created the CCC not only to address the economics of the Great Depression, but to heal a suffering nation and its citizens.

[Aspen leaves quietly fluttering in the breeze]

One of the young men in the CCC was born in 1918 on the plains of central Kansas. His father was a stonemason and his mother a homemaker. Roman grew up in a small town with three brothers and five sisters, went to St. Joseph’s Grade School during the week, and to church on Sundays. After finishing 8th grade he went to work at his uncle’s small-town service station. Roman’s young life sounds like a Norman Rockwell painting, but I doubt it was Saturday Evening Post perfect. Most of our lives aren’t. But life changed for Roman when the Depression came to Kansas.

Roman lost his job at the service station, his dad wasn’t working, and there were seven people at home. In October of 1937, Roman joined the Civilian Conservation Corp and left for a job that paid him $5 and sent $25 to his family each month, it fed him, and gave him a place to sleep. Superficially, Roman’s work in the CCC was far more profitable for his family and the government. Roman’s family got $25 each month of his pay, his parents didn’t have to feed him, and the government found a motivated and inexpensive employee until 1940. After a few years in the Army during World War II, Roman came home from Japan and married Cecilia in 1949. They had three kids and bought a house and Roman worked on cement trucks until he retired in the 1980s. An 84-year life reduced to its most basic milestones.

For a naïve, idealistic wilderness ranger wandering the high country, milestones are handy. They punctuate a day, but they don’t say much about the trail between them. Smashing our country and economy and our health into social media sized milestones neglects our humanity and our citizenship. Sharing Roman’s story with only the high points may simplify his life’s story. But, what did the CCC do for Roman and for our country?

The Civilian Conservation Corp and the New Deal fed and employed a generation of young men, created hope in the midst of the Great Depression and brought some much-needed certainty to uncertain times and they helped set Roman on a path towards a 54-year marriage, children, and eight grandchildren. I’m one of his youngest grandchildren and probably his favorite. It’s impossible to know what Grandpa’s life would have been like without the New Deal’s CCC and it’s impossible know if the United States would have survived the Great Depression, but because of President Roosevelt’s decisions and the CCC’s work, I’ve been able spend part of my working life on trails built and improved by my Grandpa and all the others who enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Today, we can all enjoy the civic and material benefits of the CCC and the trails created by the Civilian Conservation Corps still welcome everyone who wants to enjoy them.

Writing this short episode has been a struggle mostly because I’m a better ranger than I am a writer. But it’s also difficult, probably impossible, to articulate a story that speaks to the diversity of challenges we face right now and to write a story that can speak to our country’s diverse peoples. It’s no more possible for me to write a story that speaks to every problem or every person in the United States than to invest any single person with the responsibility to fix our national problems. Grandpa didn’t lift us out of the Great Depression and President Roosevelt didn’t wipe away the nation’s suffering with his signature during the first 100 days in office. It took the efforts of millions of Americans. And today, 90 years later, we still need a diverse population of millions working to help solve our nation’s problems.

[Footsteps on crunching gravel]

All those miles of staring at my feet and pondering, I was thinking about our National Parks and our country. Along with our nation’s capitols and monuments, our national parks are civic places. Our national parks belong to you and to me and to all of us and we all share the responsibility to care for them. They’re places where we can be citizen, visitor, spectator, volunteer, or tired hiker. We can all look up at the same mountains, lean against the same railings and together look into the Grand Canyon’s depths. If we yearn for equality and we can find some in the parks hiking up the same trail, being soaked by the same rain, sometimes waiting in the same long lines at entrance gates. Our national parks can’t cure all the problems we face, but they are spaces for us to gather, to share our stories, and wonder at the beauty of these United States.

[Music quietly fades up] Thank you to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum for allowing me use recordings from their collection and thank you to Passenger for letting me include his music in the podcast and finally thank you to my family for your help and good humor…grandpa made us all feel like we were his favorite. [Music quietly fades down]

Throughout our history, Americans have overcome difficulty through unity and shared experience. Join Ranger Jeff on the trails of Rocky Mountain National Park and Grand Canyon as he tells a story about wilderness, family, the Great Depression, and coming together as nation during hard times.

October 19, 2020

Moonwalkers

Transcript

Kate: Hidden forces shape our ideas, beliefs, and experiences of Grand Canyon.

Melissa: Join us as we uncover the stories between the canyon’s colorful walls.

Kate: Probe the depths and add your voice for what happens next at Grand Canyon!

Melisa: I’m Ranger Melissa.

Kate: I’m Ranger Kate.

Kate and Melissa: This is Behind the Scenery.

Kate: In the entire history of our planet 107 billion people have set foot on it. Of them, in just one year, 6 million come to Grand Canyon. But only twelve people, twelve have ever set foot on another world. So all of you listening, I don't know if you realize but before astronauts left those big tracks up on the moon those same feet walked to the bottom of Grand Canyon. That's like a nine mile walk or 14 or 7; it just depends on the trail.

Melissa: In this episode we're going to retrace some of these footsteps with a couple of people we've met along our own journey and exploring the Apollo astronauts in their time together Grand Canyon. We're going to hear from historians, some of our own people that we met at the bottom of the Grand Canyon on their own hikes, and were might even just hear from a future astronaut that might land on another planet in their lifetime, and most importantly, you'll hear from a moonwalker themselves, one of twelve to walk on the moon.

Kevin: So ok, this is right like Neil Armstrong stood and what was he thinking? You know, he didn't know he was going to be the first person on the moon and this was years before its first flight and yet this is where his preparation was happening. Now what was he thinking as he was gazing across the Canyon and perhaps up into the heavens? Maybe the same thing that so many of us think about the grandeur of it all.

Kate: This is Kevin Schindler. He is a historian at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, the same observatory where they discovered Pluto. Kevin is describing Neil, not looking over the craters of the moon, but looking into the bottoms of Grand Canyon. Neil Armstrong sits on the edge of the Canyon wearing his classic red baseball cap. His field notebook lies forgotten to the side as his gaze is lost in the bottom of the canyon.

Kevin: I’ve been able to not just hike into the Canyon but actually retrace where a lot of astronauts went by helping me find the locations of several pictures. We have a few dozen pictures of the astronauts during those hikes, and I wanted to write a try to recreate where those pictures were taken.

Kate: I first met Kevin, and I remember it was the Centennial year at Grand Canyon and here in the park we were getting ready to celebrate the big 100th birthday. In my email inbox, I get this letter saying,” Hey! did you realize it's also the 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions? And why don't we celebrate how much Grand Canyon was a part of humans going up to the moon?”

Kevin: The astronauts were on a mission. When we look back at going back on the moon, we can remember the inspiration it gave us and the science we learned and such but the reason we were going initially was to beat the Russians. It was all part of the Cold War and that president Kennedy in the middle 1960s declared that we were going to go to the moon…. President John F. Kennedy: We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

Kevin: And so these astronauts were brought on to do this very patriotic very in a lot of ways military mined activity. We gotta beat the Russians, we gotta beat the Russians there! And so as we were developing the missions, a lot of scientists said if we’re gonna go the moon and plant the flag and thumb our noes at the Russians and that is all we do then that is a wasted opportunity. We should do science. We should take advantage of that opportunity and explore that world.

Kate: Going to the moon is not so different from going on a trip to Grand Canyon or your next exploration and it makes me think, “ Why are we exploring? How can we bring something useful back to the people at home?”

Kevin: Yeah, the thing about the astronauts is they were hired to beat the Russians, they had to get to the moon first. What does picking up rocks have to do with beating the Russians? The geologist realized this, realized we need to inspire the astronauts to learn about geology.

Kate: Melissa, you and I have taught a lot of kids coming to take field trips at Grand Canyon. Who do you think would be more excited to learn about rocks - your third graders or a fighter pilot with a crew cut and military background? Melissa: Definitely the third graders.

Kate: The astronauts were survival specialist, just focused on getting to the moon and back alive. Well now, NASA has big ask for them: to train their brains in a new way, to learn to be scientists.

Melissa: Just like our third graders!

Kevin: These guys didn’t have much geology. In most cases they didn’t have any geology training. And so their early training in geology was fundamental. It was basic. It wasn’t trying to find a place that had similar rocks to what they would be seeing on the moon. It was more just learning to think like a geologist, learning how to look at rocks and interpret the stories that they tell. And so they needed a geology classroom to learn how to identify different types of rocks and how they are formed, and how to know this type of rocks is a lot different than that one. When they go to the moon they want to be able to collect as many different types of rocks as possible......so they have to be able to it to know the difference. As I learned more I found that they came to Northern Arizona initially to just learn basic geology, going to Meteor Crater and Sunset Crater and then I got really interested and learned that all the Apollo astronauts trained in Northern Arizona in preparation for the Moon missions and they were learning basic geology. Almost a quintessential interest came about when I found out they had trained at the Grand Canyon. The astronauts trained at the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is one of my favorite places in the world.

Kate: Kevin's research led him to NASA and at NASA he found historic photographs of people like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on field trips at the bottom of Grand Canyon. Kevin wrote a book, an Images of America series about their Northern Arizona space training, and then he decided it was time to pack his own backpack and followed the astronauts footsteps into Grand Canyon.

Kevin: The people who did that work and retrace their steps it’s a lot more fun. You can really feel it more. It’s neat to read about it in the living room with a lamp at night reading a book. It’s a different experience hiking down and making the same stops and having the same, you know, breathing problems coming out. And you know, really envisioning what they are seeing.

Kate: Kevin met Melissa and I on the trails and he had the historic photographs from NASA in his hands. He would hold them up and try to match them to the brilliant colorful landscapes that hikers see in Grand Canyon. When it matched up, it was this amazing moment where we realized we were probably standing at the same place where Neil Armstrong was standing at.

Kevin: And then a later group of astronauts after that visited the canyon in 1966. They all kinda followed the same pattern and were there essentially two days. So the geologist would meet them at Yavapai museum and do an overview of the Canyon. And then they would go to the South Kaibab trail and the trailhead. So you would have two to three astronauts with one geologist and every few minutes one of the groups would start hiking down the trail. And as they hiked down the trail, the geologists would describe what they are seeing, the types of rocks, interpret what the rock layers meant. You know, tell the story of the rocks.

Kate: One of my favorite pictures shows the astronauts eating lunch at the Fossil Fern exhibit on the South Kaibab trail, and this exhibit shows fern fossils from millions of years ago, and it might be why the astronauts joked when they were landing that they had found fossils on the moon. But on that field trip the astronauts were learning important skills like how to take rock samples, how to use overhead maps to navigate an unknown landscape. The spot where they are having their picnic is where a lot of hikers are also looking at maps, learning to navigate the landscapes of Grand Canyon.

Kevin: If you look at some of these pictures they are carrying field notebooks to describe their observations, they have maps so that they can learn geology mapping. They can look at layers of rocks and describe what they’re seeing and map it out to where it will be useful to other people. They have geology hammers which normally you would not do and Grand Canyon but they had special permission to collect some rocks like they would be doing on the moon. They had hand lenses to look at minerals up close which they wouldn’t do so much on the moon because it is kind of hard to hold a hand lense next to your space helmet and focus in. .....One of the first things they would do in landing on the moon is to survey what they are looking.

Duke and Young on the Moon: It sure is flat John!

Kevin: To look at the rocks and the layers, maybe mountains or valleys

Duke and Young on the Moon: Wow, there's that ridge to the North!

Kevin: or whatever and describe what they are seeing.

Duke and Young on the Moon: All we gotta' do is open the hath and we've got plenty of rocks.

Houston: It looks beautiful John. Wish I were there.

Melissa: The voices you just heard are of John young and charge you Apollo 16 astronauts as they gazed out to the moon for the first time.

Kate:

Melissa and I had the pleasure of meeting Charlie Duke at the Flagstaff Festival of Science. As the lunar module pilot of Apollo16 in 1972, he became the youngest person at 36 years old to walk on the moon.

Melissa:

We asked Charlie Duke almost 50 years later if there were any similarities between the moon and Grand Canyon.

Charlie Duke: Ah, there was about zero. The moon was mostly volcanic and the Grand Canyon is mostly sedimentary rocks, and as far as I know there has been no water on the moon in mass quantities and so there's no sedimentary rocks. But the moon does have Layering in it because it's been volcanic and has been erupting up there so you see different layers and different stratus with different volcanic eruptions. You could see that in the side of the big craters. The biggest one that we visited was 500 meters across. You can stand on the southeast side, southwest side and look across the crater and you could see inside the crater different flows and so seeing throws flows was similar to learning identifying the different stratus in the Grand Canyon. But I got excited about Flagstaff and I loved it. I loved the instructors. Astro Geology I think they called it or something anyway. And I met the people out there and they were so enthusiastic, and they got me so excited about geology, and I loved it. For six years we had trip every month somewhere for three or four days in the field and a lot of it was in Arizona with the Meteor Crater down south across the border and Grand Canyon.

Kate: The Grand Canyon and the moon may have different rocks, but it sounds like Charlie really did learn to see like a geologist and I saw this in videos of him trying to collect moon samples but in zero G that often meant a back flip. The science he and the other astronauts learned allowed them to expand our knowledge of the universe . You know the rocks that they were visiting at the bottom of the Canyon are about 1.8 billion years old but the Trinity rock the moon rocks they collected on the moon are 4.5 billion, just a little bit younger than our planet, and with those rocks we realized that maybe another planetoid hit planet earth and the moon is actually a part of our crust. That knowledge allowed them to bring something useful back home, expanding our knowledge of the solar system. It was a real honor to meet Charlie Duke and hear more about what it was like for them going down into the bottom of the Canyon. Well, Kevin has met a lot of astronauts and a big part of his hikes into the Canyon were about these shared experiences that he found with them.

Kevin: I have been to the bottom of the canyon a couple dozen times or so and it is interesting how some of your experiences overlap a little bit. For me it was I guess one of the most obvious and dramatic ones was also kind of comical in that my first trip to the bottom of Grand Canyon when I was in college - more than a few months ago- I woke up in the middle of the night while camping at Phantom Ranch and a skunk was sniffing me. As I was doing research about the astronauts going to the bottom of Grand Canyon, I ended up interviewing Charlie Duke and learned about his experience of skunks fighting over his sleeping bag.

Melissa: Did you finally get to meet the skunk that bothered him? Charlie Duke and Wife Dorothy: I didn't get to the bottom. We went to the North side from the North side. We did get to the bottom but we rode out. I said, “I’m riding back out of here.”

Kate: When you look up at all the challenges to get out of the Canyon, the vertical mile of climb ahead, it's a crucible for even the most fit of hikers and runners. Astronauts in peak physical condition may want an easy way out too.

Kevin: A few of them, especially the really quintessential type A personalities like Allan Shepherd, who was the first American to go into space years before these trips. He would not ride a mule. He was going to hike out of the canyon and he was going to be the first one out....Others like Neil Armstrong were fine to ride a mule and Neil Armstrong later said in his life something to the effect “I only have so many heartbeats, I don’t want to waste them on exercise.”

Melissa: Going into space was a big investment, more than just an astronaut heartbeat. I was curious about who benefited from all the work that went into getting them up there.

Kevin: You know, well you may or may not agree with the reason we went. You can look back and say you know we humans when we get a common goal and work together we can achieve amazing things. I think about only 12 people walked on the moon. If they are the only ones to benefit, we sure spent a lot of money on 12 people! To me the benefit. It was life altering. The reason we went to the moon was political. There is no way Congress would have approved that money if there was not a perceived threat at the time. We were in the middle of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. It was a perceived threat. We had to get out there and show our superiority. If the challenge were let’s go out there to explore and do science it never would have happened. Not how it did because this was against so much happening on Earth. That money could be used for a lot of good things on Earth. People Starving. Homeless people. But because it was a perceived threat, while these issues on Earth were important, We must go out there.

Kate: Going to Mars and as we think about expanding as galactic humans each and every one of us can ask, “ Well what makes it worth it? What are the costs? What are the benefits?”

Kevin: One is the amount of money we spend, is that better used for things on Earth? And that is something that goes back to Apollo. You know, the country is crumbling. There is civil unrest. There are riots. There are race riots. The Vietnam War is going on and we’re spending a gazillion dollars to try to get people to walk on another world. How is that helping us? How is that saving lives? How is that feeding people who are starving? And so that is always a question. I have answers for that, my own personal answers. But I think that’s always something. You know, if you spend money on anything. What are you getting out of it and why are you doing it? How do you qualify it as a success.

Historic Radio: Today, President Kennedy signed an authorization from Congress to spend 1 billion 700 million dollars on our space program for the next fiscal year that's $10 for every man woman and child in the nation but fair enough for what is by far the greatest show on earth, the dramatic race to the moon.

Kate: How did the American public feel in the 1960s before the Apollo missions were successful? It surprised me to learn that according to Roger Launius, who was the former chief historian for NASA, that a majority of Americans in the 1960s did not believe Apollo was worth the cost. Many raised their voice in protest and spoke out for social justice the night before Apollo 11's launch into space with Neil, Buzz, and Collins getting ready to go to the moon. Hundreds of people came to protest at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They were people who had also marched with Martin Luther King Junior in Washington. Their priority was addressing widespread suffering caused by poverty and they called themselves the Poor People's Campaign.

Melissa: So in this picture I see a couple of mules there are being lined up by a few men in front of a large rocket and a bunch of palm trees. In this photo they're using mules as a symbol of systemic poverty in the United States. it's crazy to compare that to here at Grand Canyon. Today, mules are a sign of luxury. You get to pay to take a mule right down to the bottom instead of using your own two legs.

Kate: Other protesters are standing in front of a lunar module and holding up high a sign that says, “ It takes $12.00 a day to feed an astronaut. We could feed a starving child with $8.00” The leader of the March Ralph Abernathy gave a moving speech in which he said, “We may go on from this day to Mars and to Jupiter and even to the heavens beyond, but as long as racism, poverty, hunger, and war prevail upon the earth, we as a civilized nation have failed.” Listening to what Americans felt back in the 1960s, I wanted to hear what people feel today. Right here and right now. So we interviewed hikers and backpackers in Grand Canyon. We asked them: that considering the problems we have on earth today, should we be thinking about going back to outer space?

Jess: Hi! My name is Jess. I believe that space exploration and sending humans out into space is really important. I believe that it will bring a whole new world like literally to our environment, to our perspective. I personally would love to become an astronaut and just the thought of going out to space, possibly landing on a different planet in different solar systems. Even like if that could be made possible that's something that furthering space exploration can be made possible. If you go further you can know your boundaries and then surpass that even more. There's so much to the universe now and we only know so much of it and so space exploration will just further that knowledge.

Doug: My name is Doug and I think that once our constitution is secure and we have our tax situation under control that we should be able to spend some of that on space exploration because we have other technologies that comes out of space exploration that benefits us here on earth.

Celia: Hi! My name is Celia. I think that space there's so much about space that we don't know and that's so intriguing to like break beyond our boundaries and explore new environments, new species, new areas and there's so much out there that we don't know about. But even more so I think that exploring the seas and the oceans on this earth. We've only explored like 90% of them, and so as much as there is about space that we don't know, there's even more so about the oceans. We only know like 90% of them. So yes, I think that exploring the depths of everything that we don't know, whether that’s space or the oceans, breaking new boundaries, putting footprints on places where there haven't been footprints or maybe Finn marks if we're going down into the ocean. But yes, going into space going down to the ocean exploring new areas. 100% let's do it!

Kate: The voice of every living being matters, and we have the opportunity to speak out for the values we care about at home, whether that's planet earth or where we go from here. It is time to talk to someone who since three years old has committed her life to going to Mars as a spokesperson for the Mars generation. Alyssa Carson has a long list of accomplishments. Alyssa is the youngest person to graduate from the Advanced Space Academy. She has her pilots license and got her rocket license before her drivers permit. She is now the youngest person on the planet to be certified to go into sub-orbital space. In the interview, we dive deep into what the future of space exploration could look like, but I wanted to hear from Alyssa - Is space exploration worth the cost?

Alyssa: Yeah, you know first of all I would say that I feel like a lot of people when they think about how much money goes into the space program and goes into building rockets and sending astronauts to space there's a lot of other things that kind of go into that as well. So during the Apollo days having that space program and having the Apollo missions that employed 400 thousand Americans which are jobs that weren't necessarily fills in any other way. You know we had 400,000 people because we're going to space NASA is one of the only government and entities that you put $1 into it brings $8.00 back into the economy. So NASA has been able through, you know all the technologies, developed and now marketed to supply so many other things here on earth. You know, most of the technology in the everyday. So a lot of other just simple things, you know Velcro or you know, just little things that no one thinks about was either developed for the space program or by the space program. And so a lot of things that we have, we wouldn't even have if we weren't putting in the investment and pushing ourselves, wanting to go into space and with the idea of traveling to Mars. You know, Mars is that first step in learning to colonize a new planet because in the long run, you know, we know that the sun will burnout. That's how all suns run through their course of life. You know, we have never seen, you know, a sun just kind of burn forever so we know eventually one day the earth will not be livable anymore. And so in order for humans to want to continue to survive and continue to face new things we're going to have to travel to new places and it's going to have to be something that we address at some point. Obviously, Mars is not going to be ultimate savior or anything. You know, Mars revolves around the same sun, but Mars is just the first step in developing that technology and developing our space technology so someday we are able to do that and someday we are able to continue ourselves. And as we continue pushing ourselves for gaining so much new technology, as well as income into our economy to benefit from - that I think, that's a grand dream for like on a human perspective.

Kate: So I am curious. In my research I found that it could be more cost effective to send robots up to other planets, so what do you think are the justifications for having humans out in the field on places like Mars?

Alyssa: Yeah, so there obviously are many rovers and satellites and all kinds of things that we have sent to Mars so far to start doing research, and the biggest issue with only having these robots on Mars is just the time efficiency of it. So, for example, because of the distance on Mars, the time delay between earth and Mars ranges between, you know, 15 to 30 minutes sometimes. And so, if you tell a rover to move to move forward, 30 minutes later it's gonna move two feet and then it's gonna move two feet and 30 minutes later you'll get the command back that it has successfully moved two feet. So, in one hour we've done such a small movement and so having to constantly do that pass over and over and over again makes such small movements each time. And so, all of the research that we are gaining from Mars, although it's useful, it is coming in quite slowly. Whereas with humans on Mars and having a crew there, you know, a human is able to go out on the planet and say “Hey! this rock looks interesting. Hey! let's bring if you would, rock samples back. Let's run around and see what we can collect. Let's bring it back and start doing some experiments with it. So, humans are able to do, I think it's like a years’ worth of work over in just one hour on Mars. And so, having people there is really going to just expedite all of the research and science so we went to accomplish there.

Kate: As we go into space and I think about “Who owns the Moon anyway?” Especially when we see multiple nations and now private interest actively gearing up in in some ways competing to go into outer space and it makes me think of the international space treaty which made guidelines for peaceful collaboration as we expand into space. What would you like to see included as we figure out how to best govern space exploration?

Alyssa: Yeah, I think that as space exploration continues, it's basically just going to have to become a joint effort. I think if we want to keep, you know, especially peace in space, you know, obviously the International Space Station has worked well for so many years with so many different countries represented and so many different astronauts from all these countries have visited and contributed in some way. And I think that that same idea that has worked for us will have to continue once we start looking at going back to the moon and to Mars. And along with that, you know we're actually starting to see so many more companies building up and so many more countries building up their space programs, and you know their thoughts of going to the moon, going to Mars and that kind of thing. So I think that as all these countries start getting to that point of wanting to start going to the moon, I think the collaboration will then start to play in even more because we'll have obviously more people wanting to go to space and going further into space, so I definitely think it will have to rely on strong collaboration between the countries.

Kate: When I give programs at the bottom of the canyon, I like to joke that I am going to be the first park ranger on Mars at that bigger canyon. But it’s really cool that you may be one of the first people to go out there and to explore these wilderness areas. Do you have a place that you care about in space that you think would be a good candidate for an international space park?

Alyssa: Yeah, I think as we look for you know missions to Mars and also if we continue to go deeper into space, I think that there are going to be places in our solar system that we are going to want to preserve. You know, I think especially even looking back at our own planet. You know, earth now has a lot of space junk around it just from all the satellites and all the stuff and rockets so we sent up over the years, and so I think that is kind of you know a problem that was kind of learned through the space program and something that we’ll try to avoid. I think as we continue traveling in space to not create such a dense pollution of space junk. So, I think you know if we look to go to Mars, you know, that's a big thing that I think we would love to see is just having quite a good amount of less pollution around the atmosphere of some of these planets. And then also even on some of the planets, you know, like the Canyon on Mars would be obviously a really awesome thing to preserve um even you know different points in space you know that we have certain kind of measured out points in space that we think would be great to have like stationary like space stations. So always like keeping those in mind for feature ideas in future projects of what can actually come about in the space program.

Kate: So, you have been through anti-gravity training, what does it feel like to float through outer space?

Alyssa: Yeah, I would probably tell them to just kind of think about roller coaster rides 'cause that's probably the most similar thing that we can related it to. To be honest, it definitely is just that rollercoaster feeling of like your butt coming out the seat just a little bit but it's just that feeling extended. And it feels very weird that it is extended because you're so used to that rollercoaster feeling of, you know, you come up for just a quick second and then you go back down. But in this case, you like come up a little bit and then kind of stay up for 20 seconds and your body just like, “ Why aren’t we going down?” It's just all sort of disorienting. So, I definitely said that's the closest thing I can kind of pinpointed it too, but it is a pretty unique feeling. I would definitely say, you know, for it's an insane amount of microgravity. A lot of time in the space program, we use, you know, under water or water in general to simulate microgravity because you know like your friends weigh less in the water and that kind of thing, but it's definitely just not quite the same feeling. Because, I feel like when you're actually like on a microgravity flight you kind of have this feeling in your stomach of you actually you know everything being lifted rather than in water everything just a little bit lighter.

Kate: Part of the International Space Treaty says that astronauts shall be “envoys for all mankind,” and that’s a big responsibility. And, it may be yours in a couple of years. People would know your name if you are one of the first people on Mars. How would you like to be an example for the kids looking up to you?

Alyssa: Yeah, I definitely think that space, you know, it has a lot and a huge impact on everyone who's gone there. You know, astronauts are able to look back at the earth and you don't see borders, you don't see state lines, you don't see any lines, and you just see how fragile the earth really is, and I definitely think that, you know, the more people that we get to space, the more people that see that we're going to have you know a big impact on how we see each other here on earth. And so hopefully you know as future astronauts, you know, we strive to want to continue to inspire the next generation of kids we want them to continue to get interested in space and go on to pursue those space dreams. So hopefully, we inspire them, encourage them and just set great examples of wanting to encourage that collaboration of you know humans together. And then also just, you know, hopefully teaching them to go after their dreams from a young age and never giving up on them.

Kate: How would you like to see the science involved with the journey to Mars benefit our home planet?

Alyssa: Yeah, I think that a lot of the tasks and things that we are going to be doing on Mars is going to come back and benefit so many things here on earth. You know, a lot of the research that we're going to be doing that for us is mainly just going to be learning more about Mars, you know, the makeup of the planet, it soil, the rock, the water on Mars, signs of bacterial life, its atmosphere. So, if we look in a full, comprehensive overview of Mars and really the possibilities with that. You know when looking at Mars, we could find resources that could be useful here on earth, possibly even new resources that, you know, could help in new ways and once we find out what the potential is with Mars there's the idea of Mars machine like a second home for us to have so looking down the road's population were to continue to grow, you know, it's possible that we could have Mars as a second planet to live on which would definitely help with you know kind of managing the population and resources. And then, just kind of in the long run, Mars is going to kind of be that first step in us learning how we can go to a new planet to colonize it. Once we’ve lived there for a period of time, come back to earth or possibly even live there for a longer period of time and that's gonna come in handy once we start even further space exploration.

Kate: As more and more astronauts share new visions from outer space, how is space changing our priorities back at home. The Pew Center of Research conducted a survey, asking them what do they want NASA to do in space today. The third thing the public wanted was to conduct basic scientific research and expand our knowledge of the universe. The second “ask” of NASA was to monitor asteroids or other objects that could potentially hit the earth. But the public has spoken, the number one thing that they want NASA to do in space is to up and monitor the earth’s climate system. It shows that the public is really concerned about climate change and how we're taking care of our planet back at home.

President John F. Kennedy: There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again.

Kevin: But I think the scientist coming along and saying - we want to not just go there but we want to learn and make the most of that experience. To me, it gets to the core of us as humans. We are explorers. We want to learn as much as we can about places. There is the human drama of exploring. 12 people walked on the moon and 400,00 people helped them get there. Much of the rest of the world stood by dumbfounded watching, just exhilarated to see a fellow member of our species walking on another world. And so I think that spirit of human exploration that was so important to the moon missions is something we get at the Grand Canyon. They’re similar in that way. I look at the Grand Canyon and there are rocks and then you get on the rim. It still conjures up that idea of exploration. Everyone who hikes down into the Grand Canyon, especially for the first time it’s like the astronauts going to the moon, discovering a new world and trying to put their place in that world. You know, I don’t know, the first time you hike to P Pt. or hike to the rim and back. And get back on top. You look around and think about how it all happened and what it all means and what’s your place in this? And it’s a similar thing to the astronauts going to the moon.

Melissa: Well its time for us to blast off. Hopefully, you have enjoyed listening to us here at Grand Canyon National Park. This is Ranger Melissa.

Kate: And this is Ranger Kate.

Kate and Melissa: This is Behind the Scenery

This episode was produced by Melissa Panter and Kate Pitts for the National Park Service. Music and Audio Engineering by Wayne Hartlerode. Special thanks to Lowell Observatory and Historian Kevin Schindler for leading the project to retrace the Apollo Astronaut photographs in Grand Canyon.

Before the astronauts went to the moon, they came to Grand Canyon. Fifty years later, Lowell Observatory Historian Kevin Schindler traced their story down the canyon trails.

The tracks the moonwalkers left behind hold the human values they carried into the universe. In this episode, we hear from the youngest man to walk the moon and an astronaut-in-training for the Mars Generation!

Let’s track how our values shape our galactic footprint moving forward!

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