After visiting the Orderville Mine Rock Shop, Tom and I headed to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  After spending a week with temperatures over 100, we were looking forward to the average July temperature at Cedar Breaks of 63. Cedar Breaks National Monument is a natural amphitheater filled with heavily eroded rock spires and hoodoos.  The …

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Both Tom and I spend time working in the Pipe Spring National Monument Visitors Center almost every day we work.  Because of the Fruit Loops schedule, we are usually in the Visitors Center for a couple of hours. I really like working in the Visitors Center because it is our first point of contact with …

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After hiking around Red Canyon, Tom and I decided to drive up to Bryce Canyon National Park.  As I mentioned last week, we have visited Bryce Canyon National Park several times.  It is one of our favorite parks.  Bryce Canyon is more accessible than the Grand Canyon and less crowded than Zion.  The scenery (and …

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Wagons were an important form of transportation for pioneers heading west and for everyday transportation.  Here at Pipe Spring we have six wagons scattered around the monument.  Each wagon is a little different.  Today I give you an opportunity to see and learn about the Pipe Spring wagons. The first wagon you encounter at Pipe …

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Pipe Spring National Monument treats Tom and I just like regular rangers.  We get assigned the same shifts and duties as the rangers.  Tom and I really like this because there isn’t a ranger vs. volunteer hierarchy.  We feel valued for what we know and what we can do.  Being treated as rangers means that …

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The first hike we took in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument was the easiest hike.  Getting to the Toadstools trailhead doesn’t require driving on any dirt roads.  The parking lot for the trailhead is right of US 89 about 45 miles east of Kanab. Toadstools is one of the most popular hikes in the Grand …

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Every two weeks Tom and I receive a new work schedule.  We got work schedules at Death Valley and Grand Portage.  But we didn’t get work schedules at Kings Mountain, Chickamauga, San Juan or Fort Frederica.  The places where we don’t get work schedules we do pretty much the same thing every day.  Or we …

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Grand Staircase Escalante is a National Monument administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  I don’t know why some National Monuments are administered by the BLM and why some are administered by the National Park Service.  As far as I can tell, they are all pretty amazing! Grand Staircase Escalante comprises most of the …

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I love helping history come alive for people.  Living History connects people to the past and helps them understand more about the present.  Here at Pipe Spring National Monument, Tom and I have the opportunity to give living history demonstrations most of the days we work. Every ranger here at Pipe Spring is expected to …

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Have you ever watched any episodes of Death Valley Days?  It was an old radio then television series which told supposedly true stories of the old west.  The series started on radio in 1930 and was first broadcast on television in 1952.  Death Valley Days continued on television until 1970.  The show was hosted by …

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