Bryce Canyon first at setting the bar

Bryce Canyon first national park in the nation to present live Ranger programs.  We are setting the bar in Utah national parks and even the visitors comment on how we have our act together.

Although Bryce is making history with firsts I am not.  Didn’t get the camper emptied or cleaned over last week’s two days off as planned.  Maybe this week with three days off.

First field trip

Last week, instead of an unpleasant cleaning chore, I went on my first field trip of the summer with fellow Ranger April.  She was sent with a government truck into Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to gather rock samples and I went along for the ride safety.  No permit needed for non commercial purposes, 25 pounds per day, plus one piece, with a total limit of 250 pounds per year.

East off the Paunsaugunt Plateau on Utah’s Scenic Byway 12 to Cannonville then south on Cottonwood Canyon Road, which can be impassable even to all-wheel-drive vehicles under wet conditions.  But it’s been dry so there was just dust and washboard to deal with, along with amazing scenery.

We drove along an eroded geologic fault, parallel to the Cockscomb’s dramatic shapes and colors where the Carmel and Entrada formations are turned upright along the East Kaibab monocline.  Then continued not quite to the junction with SR89 observing the stratigraphy while geologist April decided where to gather on the return trip.

Stopped at Lower Hackberry for samples of Navajo sandstone with intricate calcite boxwork.

Then further north at Cottonwood Narrows with colorful, jagged Navajo Sandstone pinnacles lining the road and gathered some fine samples showing ripple marks.

Sadly, I left my big camera behind and had to shoot with the phone.  Even worse I got bit up by gnats and now have a whole bunch of bumps and itches on my face.

Bryce Canyon museum opens

The museum in the visitor center opened and now we allow 50 people into the building. People stay longer because of that so frequently there is a line to get in.  We are still counting at the door, not my favorite shift as I’m lousy at numbers and math.  The displays have to be sanitized a couple times a day so the area is briefly closed to the public.  The movie theater is still closed as distancing would have to be monitored in such a small space.  We do not have enough staff for that.  As it is, some schedules are opening or closing without other National Park Service staff.  Thank goodness we work as partners with the Natural History Association employees and help each other breaking down the day setup of merchandise, tables, and popup tents as needed.

Bryce Canyon first Ranger programs

We started scheduled and advertised Ranger programs on the 21st, first full day of summer, Mom’s birthday (she’d have been 96), and Father’s Day.  Bryce is the only national park in the nation to do so, and will continue if the public can follow distancing guidelines.  Just before the 2pm hoodoo talk a visitor told me about a woman coming up the trail with a bad ankle being supported by two people. I could see them only a few switchbacks down the Navajo trail and radioed for medical assistance. When I returned to the tables moments before I should start the talk several groups of people were standing on the distancing dots waiting. I was impressed and thanked them for doing the right thing which allowed me to drop mask and talk.

If all goes well and the night sky is clear, laser constellation tours by interns will start this week.

The same day started longer open hours from 8am to 8pm.  Ranger info is still outside the building.

Not a first for more bug bites on my face.  After work and washing my face I was speckled with pink dots of Calamine lotion.  When did that stuff get so runny in consistency?

In fact those nasty biting gnats eventually chased Ranger Paula and me off Yovimpa Point at the end of our day.  But not before I presented one and a half formal Staircase geology talks out of a possible four, talked about the Mangum fire, and answered questions.

Cows are not wildlife

Maybe the wranglers can roundup the stray cattle

A Bryce Canyon first for me was coming home after work to maybe a dozen cows outside the horse corral 100 feet from my door.  I called the non-emergency dispatch number in Glen Canyon and in the brief time it took for Law Enforcement to arrive the cows had wandered northward, still in the park.  Must have a break in the fence along the border between grazeable national forest and Bryce National Park.  The UCC (Utah Conservation Corp) crew of youth have been walking the fence to make needed repairs.

Visitors to Bryce Canyon act respectful and keep distancing, for the most part anyway.  I am noticing many large family-like groups.  They seem grateful for many Bryce Canyon firsts and frequently thank Rangers for their service.  I notice more people wearing masks to enter the visitor center than out at overlooks or trails.  I am wearing mine when in uniform in the public except for outside roving on trails when at a safe distance from others.  And now some counties in Utah, including Garfield and Kane that Bryce straddles, have gone Green, “the new normal”.  Not sure I see that as a good thing.

Next…

Come my Friday on Tuesday, and trying to decide what to do with my three-day weekend, other than the laundry I put off last week partly because it’s a bitch to find parking near either of the free/included in rent, in park options.

Feels like the summer season has barely started yet the season is almost half over already.  OMG, I find myself already thinking about what to do at the end of the season and over the winter which brings me back to owning two RVs I can’t move together.

Even after resetting the outside booster antennae my signal is not great, but guess that’s not a Bryce Canyon first.