Park Luminaries & The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Welcome to Day # 142 of our "365 Parks in 365 Days" adventure. I am still vibrating with energy from the events of the past week. (Surprisingly, I heard this same statement from Ranger Betty Soskin, the oldest ranger in the park service and more importantly, one of the most profound persons I have ever met.) It's only now that I'm home that I am able to revisit the experiences in my mind and process them.

  

 Last week 64 people from 13 countries were sworn in as American citizens at Glacier Point in Yosemite. "In a sense, you're going to own Yosemite National Park," Superintendent Don Neubacher told the new Americans and encouraged them to "protect it for all generations to come." Fresno Bee Photo.

 

  

One of the things that stands out sharply is the 45-minute ride on the bus from the Tenaya Lodge up to Yosemite Valley, with former Lt. Governor of Alaska Fran Ulmer seated on my right, former Deputy Director of the National Park Service Deny Galvin behind me, and my daughter Lisa at the window beside me enjoying her first sight of the mountain vistas.( I'd visualized us sitting in the front of the bus so she could have the best views, and though lots of people were already onboard when we got there, the seat behind the driver just happened to be open!) Deny is a compendium of knowledge and experience in the entire park system from the early 60s, and I saw the park rangers spellbound as he recounted some of his early history in the park.

  

 

Deny Galvin (l) spent his entire career in the National Park System. Here he talks with Dan Jensen, President of Delaware North/Yosemite, with NPCA's Ron Sundergill and Yosemite Superintendent Don Neubacher in the background.

 

"When  Bruce Babbitt  came to the park as Secretary of the Department of Interior, he'd never been here before," Deny said. "By the end of his visit, he said, 'The thing about Yosemite is that everybody loves it so much, you cannot turn a single stone without running afoul of someone who had an experience with that stone and wants it to remain exactly where it is. ' "

  

I thought that must feel like a salve to the park staff, NPCA and the concessionaires in the park that are currently working hard to meld many interests in the Merced Wild and Scenic River Management Plan.

  

Then Fran mentioned in awe that she'd recently come back from visiting the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado.

 

  The Gunnison River in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison falls at one of the most stupendous rates of any in the country. Fran Ulmer Photo.

 

"The average fall of the Gunnison River is 95 feet per mile in the canyon," she marveled.  "Outside the canyon the river falls at 43 feet per mile.  By contrast in the Grand Canyon the Colorado River falls at  a rate of 7  feet per  mile, and the Mississippi River falls at only 6 inches per mile."

 

Wow! Where else could I get such schooling? I knew the Black Canyon of the Gunnison exists but I haven't visited yet, and here's someone who's toured many of the largest parks in the country in Alaska, marveling at this natural formation in Colorado.

"The canyon walls are 2000 feet high. Amazing !' she exulted.

 

Here's how the park service's website describes this natural treasure that you might visit this summer:

 

"Deep, Steep and Narrow: Big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of the Gunnison exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky."

 

 

 Ranger Betty Soskin and I like each other a bit..what  a privilege to stand in the shadow of a Rosie who is black!

 

Coming down from the mountain top, I had the magical experience of visiting Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park and meeting Ranger Betty Soskin, the oldest ranger in the park system, who came in to work and led the 2 p.m. tour specifically because I was there. Of all the rewards I have received from following my passion and doing this work, meeting Betty ranks close to # 1. Thank you Betty! After experiencing the tour, I told her about this message I got from my friend Ron who runs the Pacific Region office of  NPCA after our Day #99 tour featuring her:


"There is no one - absolutely no one - in the park system who I would rather listen to than Betty Soskin. She is riveting, and kept our Regional Advisory Council spellbound for 30 minutes a few years back. Amazing to see. Amazing to experience her incredible presence."

 

 

Our ecstatic team includes, from left, artist Marguerite Brown, me and Betty, Carolyn Finney, PhD and a member of the National Parks Advisory Board, Lisa Suber and Ranger Raphael Allen.

 

I totally agree. I can only aspire to recall the profound knowledge that Betty shared with us, and the things that stand out in my mind include:

  • Throughout her young life and into adulthood she had the opportunity to experience her grandmother who had been an enslaved person. She carried the stories of her grandmother, her mother and her daughters with her when she was a guest at President Obama's inauguration.
  • America met and mastered the challenge of World War II with the contributions of a man - Henry Kaiser - who thought he could make ships fast by using the pre-fab technology that Henry Ford used to build his motorcars, and brought thousands of people into the city of Richmond to unite in this effort, including thousands of black people from the South. Blacks were riding in the front of the bus effortlessly in Richmond 20 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat.
  • Systemic wage inequality has always required black families to have two people in the workforce to earn as much as one white person.
  •  
  • "I've outlived my rage but not my passion."

 

At the end of her presentation, I told Betty that I could clearly see how the story of Rosie the Riveter can serve as a model for us to confront the challenge of climate change.

 

I'm thinking that all I need do now is work it out among our allies so that we can get Ranger Betty Soskin and Ranger Shelton Johnson in front of the Congressional Black Caucus and as presenters at the CBC Annual Legislative Weekend in Washington, DC this September. They make the case exquisitely for why ALL Americans must come to know, love, support and be supported by our National Park System.

  

  

Have you discovered your love for our national parks? They feed your soul in ways you cannot imagine until you have the experience. . .

  

 Start by getting a copy of Our True Nature  featuring my top 60 favorites at www.legacyontheland.com and I will send an autographed copy with a personal message to you! You'll be joining a great group of people!

   

    If you've missed any of our "365 Parks in 365 Days" adventures, find them here  (Archive)

  

  

Publication of "Our True Nature: Finding A Zest for Life in the National Park System" is supported by Delaware North Companies, Inc., Forever Resorts and Guest Services.

 
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