Travel QA: Trailblazing Yosemite ranger shares her story in new memoir

Whether she was riding horseback through the Sierra Nevada for days at a time or taking a shift inside the box ranger lingo for the permit issuing station Laurel Munson Boyers -year career as a park ranger and wilderness manager at Yosemite National Park was full of adventure the outdoors and plenty of old-fashioned hard work We in recent months chatted with the trailblazing Yosemite resident who was the park s first female full-time mounted backcountry ranger and its first female wilderness manager to discuss her newly published memoir Across Yosemite s Wilderness A Trailblazing Woman s Career Protecting the Park s Backcountry Falcon Guides Responses have been edited for length and clarity Across Yosemite's Wilderness A Trailblazing Woman s Career Protecting the Park s Backcountry Falcon Guides published June is a memoir by Laurel Munson Boyers who grew up in Yosemite National Park and worked there as a ranger and wilderness manager for years She still lives in the park the present day Courtesy Falcon Guides Globe Pequot Publishing Group Q You ve spent the majority of your life at the park What do you want people to know about it A I can t overemphasize the global importance of great big tracts of protected land The overall importance of Yosemite is much more than coming to Yosemite Valley and taking several pictures or playing in the river The grand picture of really generational importance is manifested in the U S protecting these large intact ecosystems It s really hard to manage these big places and find the right balance between access and preservation The people who work here do it with the whole depth of their hearts with their souls They really try hard And yes of syllabus mistakes are made But I hope Yosemite and these other big tracts of population land remain intact and aren t squandered for short-term economic gain or the interests of a limited powerful people These are the world s global treasures FILE - People wait for the trailhead at Glacier Point to re-open at Yosemite National Park After months of delays and confusion the Trump administration has at last declared that visitors will be required to have reservations to enter Yosemite National Park this summer although on fewer days than last year AP Photo Jacquelyn Martin File Q You share a sparse examples in the book of folks you rescued who had ventured into the wilderness and got into trouble How can situations like that be prevented A The old Boy Scout motto is Be Prepared You need to do your homework You need to think about where you re going what you re doing check the weather and check your gear You also need to think about the weakest member of your group Maybe a friend comes along who has never been on skis or packed or has a bad knee As you start doing that you gain more appreciation for what you re getting into in terms not only of safety but logistics and the reality of the wild world Yosemite Falls and its reflection in a puddle of water in the meadow below at Yosemite National Park After months of delays and confusion the Trump administration has conclusively declared that visitors will be required to have reservations to enter Yosemite National Park this summer although on fewer days than last year Paul Rogers Bay Area News Group The planning process is often as rewarding as the actual thing Having reasonable expectations is fundamental I would caution people to go slowly You don t have to hike miles You can hike a insufficient miles and go sit by the river listen to the music of the rapids and let the tree sounds fill your soul Those moments are so special I hope people have just the grandest time ever back there Related Articles All Yosemite campgrounds open this summer for the first time in years You can visit any national park for free on June Yosemite Key parts of the park to reopen Saturday as more campground reservations are made available Yosemite Q A What you need to know about visiting the park under the new entrance reservation system Yosemite reservation rules are absolutely declared here s when you ll need them to get into the park Details Across Yosemite s Wilderness A Trailblazing Woman s Career Protecting the Park s Backcountry Falcon Press was published June Available where books are sold