First Days in the Park

After surviving two nights in Eugene, followed by two in San Francisco, I arrived last Thursday in Kings Canyon. I’m living in a two room cabin in Grant Grove. It seems that half my time will be spent in the Visitor Center and half doing wilderness trail patrol. Technically, I’m working under Law Enforcement (which means I’m the only who doesn’t CCW and I’ve been riding around in a car all day with a shotgun and loaded assault rifle of some sort sitting next to me).

Yesterday, I was offered a chance to go with my supervisor and supervisor’s supervisor to attend the last day of an EMT refresher course and help out as a victim. Of course, since EMT training usually starts around $600 and I was being offered a chance to be payed to attend, I went.

My acting skills were lacking, but I think they sufficed. It was a strange experience – I discovered that, as a WFR, my skills were on par with this room full of experienced EMTs. It would seem the most noticeable difference was their superior use of acronyms. I’m not sure whether this is praising WMI or criticizing NPS EMT training.

Today I was given the grand tour of the park. A lot of place names and people names that I’ll have trouble remembering, and discussion of which trails are where and are good for what. Toward the end of the day, the Ranger I was with was dispatched to chase down a speeding vehicle, so I was involved in what I’ll call a Kings-Canyon-high-speed-pursuit. (The guy hid from us and got away into Forest Service land before we could turn around.)

My battery is dying.