IO: I'm Working at Yosemite

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fmattyh

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I know I've never posted on this board before... and heck, I'm new to Interference in general... but I just checked out this IO board for the first time and everyone here seems so great.

So I just wanted to announce what I just found out this week and why I'm incredibly excited:

I just got an internship at Yosemite National Park for this summer!

So I'm currently in my junior year of college, going for a B.A. in Business and B.S. in Geology, and I'm really interested in working for the National Park Service as a career, whether as a ranger or in resource management or whatever. These past couple months, I've been calling up national parks across the country, trying to get a job or internship in order to see if I really do like the NPS lifestyle and whether I really want to go into it as a career or not. And I just found out this week that I've been hired as an intern!

My job? Besides working at a visitor center in Yosemite Valley, I get to do patrols of campgrounds at night and educate campers on proper bear safety and food storage. Which is awesome to me, because any job where I can go around and just talk to new people all day is a perfect fit. Plus, time to hike and explore on the weekends = heaven.

So I just thought I'd let you know what's been on my mind this week (besides U2 tickets). Thanks everyone for reading! :)
 
that job sounds SO great.

i love the outdoors. hiking, swimming, canoeing...

the NPS needs people like you. :up:
 
Yosemite - the motherlode of National Parks!
Click to expand...
Baw, I have to go with Yellowstone on that one, but Yosemite is in the top 5, at least. Grand Canyon, Mt. Rainier, and Glacier are right up there with Yosemite. IMO. ;)

velvet, you've done that hike? Oh man, I'm so nervous about doing that one. I'm not a huge fan of heights, so that last bit of cable climbing looks like a bit much. Of course, I'll give it a go anyway...and hopefully won't die.

Also, you say you're a member of the YA? You know about the Yosemite Valley Plan and all that stuff then, right? What do you think about it? Sound like a good or bad thing?

As for those of you that eat brains, let's just say mine isn't used much so it might not be the best tasting. Better to go with a brain that's used more often than mine. :hmm:

(Also, 100!)
 
fmattyh said:
velvet, you've done that hike? Oh man, I'm so nervous about doing that one. I'm not a huge fan of heights, so that last bit of cable climbing looks like a bit much. Of course, I'll give it a go anyway...and hopefully won't die.

Also, you say you're a member of the YA? You know about the Yosemite Valley Plan and all that stuff then, right? What do you think about it? Sound like a good or bad thing?
Click to expand...

Yes, I did the hike and it was the most painful thing I have ever done in my whole life. I was short of completing it when my legs and body just gave out. I sat by while I watched my brother and his friend climb the cables. It was a long hard hike. We started at 7AM and did not make it back to base camp until 1AM the following morning. I can say hiking back at night with a full moon was the most terryifing but most beautiful thing I have ever done.

I am all for the Yosmite Valley Plan if it is going to preserve the park and reduce congestion. That was one thing that did bother me while I was camping. I did not like how crowded and noisey it was.

I would post my hiking pics but I no longer have them saved on my computer. :scream: :sad:
 
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MissVelvetDress_75 said:


Yes, I did the hike and it was the most painful thing I have ever done in my whole life. I was short of completing it when my legs and body just gave out. I sat by while I watched my brother and his friend climb the cables. It was a long hard hike. We started at 7AM and did not make it back to base camp until 1AM the following morning. I can say hiking back at night with a full moon was the most terryifing but most beautiful thing I have ever done.

I am all for the Yosmite Valley Plan if it is going to preserve the park and reduce congestion. That was one thing that did bother me while I was camping. I did not like how crowded and noisey it was.

I would post my hiking pics but I no longer have them saved on my computer. :scream: :sad:
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've heard the hike is a real scorcher. The best way to do it is to spend the night at the Little Yosemite campground and turn it into a two-day hike. Of course, getting camping permits are as tough as getting U2 tickets. :huh: But that's the secret, I think - it turns a long, painful, excruciating one-day hike into a two-day hike that you can actually enjoy the whole way. But hey, I think I'm going to be stuck doing it as a full-day hike, so I'll just have to grin and bear it. Well, grimace and bear it probably.

From what I can tell, I think the Yosemite Valley Plan is a good thing as well. There's a lot of opposition to it, but I feel that's simply from the people who don't understand it. They see some trees being chopped down and assume it must be bad no matter what, not realizing how much it will help to ease congestion (which will help eliminate smog and traffic jams). If they can figure out a way to spread people out and cut down on the crowding, the park will benefit quite a bit.
 
I need to go to Yosemite soon. I love hiking and the outdoors and taking landscape pictures, and I've seen soooo many breathtaking photos of that place it seems like heaven. :drool:
 
fmattyh said:
but I just checked out this IO board for the first time and everyone here seems so great.
Click to expand...

That's not the impression most people have at first, but welcome.

Pass me a brain smore.

And congrats on your job.
 
Hey, that "great people" comment was before all the brain smore talk. Had I known, I never would have showed up. :eeklaugh:
 
My Yosemite Calendar
16928Jan162005_019.jpg
 
I did that hike soon after I had some surgery, it hurt like hell. I busted up a ton of scar tissue too. :laugh:! I remember thinking as I was dragging my way throughout the hike that there is no way I am going to stop. I let my brother, my sister in law and friends go on because I was holding them back. I would take small breaks then a nice man came up to me and said we can help push one another. It soon became me, him and another lady who became each others life line. We would push one another, share our water, oranges, etc. I would look at Half Dome and cuss it out and tell it I would not allow it to beat me. Meanwhile I could barely move one leg in front of another, my knees were swollen beyond belief and I was dirty as hell. I kept going. But when I got to the point when you were to get to the cable part, my body literally gave out. I could not move one more inch. I had to sit and regain my energy. Last thing I need to do was climb up Half Dome with no energy in my legs and risk falling. :no: So there I sat waiting for my brother and his friends (who had no clue where I was on the hike. When my brother saw me on his way back down sitting there and waiting at almost the end he just about lost it. He was so happy that I made it as far as I did. Such a good bonding moment for us) sitting and watching tourists from all over the world walk by and looking over an amazing canyon. I also watched a rattle snake slither in front of me. :yikes: I saw a few deer walk in front of me on my hike but no bear. Anyway it took all day and night to finish. It was the most painful but the best thing I have every done. I am happy my brother and his friend made it to the top. His wife and her friend stopped too. Man what an ass whopping. I recommend it though to those who love mental and physical challenges. Oh and to rub it my face a man who was training for his Iron Man triatholon ran by me with ease. :down: I laughed and cursed him when he passed me. Anyway it makes you appreciate a lot when you are done with the hike.
 
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*adds Half Dome hike to list of things to do in Yosemite*

Awesome story, Iris. :up: Did you take any pics while you were there?

I'd LOVE to hike up to the top of Half Dome for a sunrise or sunset (and take a ton of pictures, of course).
 
I did take pics 3 rolls. But get this, the place I took it to get developed burned all fucking rolls. So nothing came out. :sad: I blew a gasket in the store. I found out mins before I walked in to pick up my pictures that my dog was dying. I thought I would feel better if I would go to the store to get my pictures. When I went in to pick them up I was told they burned my rolls. I yelled at the people, cussed them out and wanted to throw things. It was awful. I am still pissed off about that whole thing. :sigh:

Anyway thankfully the others who were with us took pics so I have some of photos of my hike.
 
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:drool: yosemite :drool:

I really really wanted to do the half dome hike when I was there, but it was early may, and it was still closed cos of snow and ice. So I climbed to the upper falls instead, which was incredible. the falls were really swollen cos of all the melt water.

that hike nearly killed me (it was more the going down that hurt than the going up - I'd done lots of up-ness on the treadmills in the gym, but never thought to excercise my down muscles :D )

but I will go back one day soon and do the half dome :drool:

before the hike:

yosemite.jpg


me near the top:

yosemite2.jpg


another photo wot I took:

yosemite3.jpg
 
Wow, nice pictures everyone. You're making me wish it wasn't still 4 1/2 months away. I've only been through Yosemite once, and that was just kind of a drive-thru on our way home from southern California. So I can't wait to actually get out and see the place firsthand.

Diemen, good luck seeing a sunrise or sunset from the top. Just remember - it is a 17 miles round trip. Which means you'd be in complete darkness for over 8 miles. :huh: Unless of course you stay overnight at the Little Yosemite campground - that will shorten it up considerably.

Alright everyone, so you're ready for Half Dome: 2005? :yes: Start getting in shape for this summer! :yikes:
 
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