A Day with Ranger Thomas

Sometimes it's easy to take public lands for granted. After all, it's nature, it would exist just fine without any human involvement. Most of us can recall seeing evidence of those who work tirelessly to protect these precious public lands, whether it's trail maintenance or the occasional presence of an official duty vehicle roaming around. Outside the visitor center, it's rare to spot these people in action. Last Tuesday, I spent the day with someone who helps protect one of these important places. 

Humboldt Redwoods State Park is home to the the largest contiguous old growth coastal redwoods forest (over 17,000 acres) on the planet. This state park just happens to be where I do most of my trail running and as a result, the place where I chose my trail race to be held each June. As a condition of my permit this year, I'm required to do a walk-through in advance of the event. I've never been asked to do this before, but as I've slowly been learning, the ranger I worked with in the past hasn't exactly followed all the rules (like boozin' and snoozin' on the job).

I climb into the pickup truck cab next to Ranger Thomas and he greets me with a smile. We've been exchanging emails for the past six months and it's always nice to finally put a face to the name I've seen so frequently in my inbox.

As we climb higher and higher along the course, we chat about our favorite trails, animals we've encountered, and the most recent trespass grow discovered in the park. We share stories and it's soon clear to me that we have a lot in common: we both love and respect this place in all its rugged glory. He seems impressed when I tell him that one summer, I made it my goal to cover all the trails in the park, over 100 miles of them. I'm not sure he believed me because his next few questions sounded like a quiz: "Have you seen the pack of wild horses?" Yes, except they're not all that wild. They were sad we didn't bring any carrots. (Long run post, here.)

June 2011

"Have you seen the pond off of Peavine?" Yeah. "Have you been on South Prairie Trail?" You mean the one beautiful section of singletrack in the middle of nowhere? Yup.

Also June 2011

Soon a downed tree blocks our path. Ranger Thomas dons safety gear and fires up the chainsaw. I jump out of the cab and pull branches out of the way. Together we clear the road before we're stopped by one too large for his chainsaw so we continue on foot.

Once on the trail and endorphins begins to fill my head, I become more comfortable and begin asking questions about the job itself. I soon learn that unlike national park rangers who are assigned to specific duties, those within the California state park system do a little bit of everything. "Some days, I'm in the office all day. Others I'm out on law enforcement calls, coordinating worker groups for trail projects, or out here hiking on the trails," he says, adding that they're hiring and I should apply. For a moment, I'm tempted, it sounds like fun. Hang out here everyday and get paid for it? Yes please!  But then I realize that my arm would probably keep me from doing all but the simplest inside tasks.

A little more of the professional facade melts away as the miles pass by. "How are you with a chainsaw?" Thomas asks as we reach yet another downed tree. After a few of my stories, he now knows I'm able to handle myself out in the wilderness and can cover a lot of miles at once, he jokingly tells me that he can hook me up with a chainsaw and I could run with it strapped to my pack. We reach another tree blocking our path. "Your pocket chainsaw would be pretty handy right now." By the end of the day, I realize that he's probably not joking.

As a compromise, I offer to tell him that if I encounter any washouts or trees blocking trails. He agrees and then adds a few things to mention if I see something, such as the size of the tree, type, etc. so he knows how many people to send to clear it out.

I snap the above photo and explain it will go on the race's Facebook page. "That picture should get at least ten more people to sign up," he says, "but how come you're only taking pictures of the beautiful sections of downhill trail?" Haha, he knows how hilly and tough my race course is.

He asks more about the running club and my role in it. Although it's on a much smaller scale and doesn't pay as well (read: volunteer), it seems to parallel how he's involved in the park. I do a little bit of everything, have my share of jobs in front of a computer screen, and sometimes I spend long days out on the trails too. Even though my trail race is only in its third year, I've had numerous runners tell me they didn't know about these trails and my race inspired them to explore more. Now many of them regularly head into the park to train. In my mind, that's how you know your trail race is a success!

By the end of the day, I feel like we've come to a place of mutual understanding and cooperation and I look forward to June 4th. I know why he places the hoops I have to jump through and he better understands the reasoning when I ask him to bend the rules in a few small ways. I really enjoyed this outing and look forward to race day!

Five days!