Commentary: Park rangers are heroes

2 days ago 40

My husband and I were in trouble. We knew it, and it was time to take stock, create a plan and make some choices.

Have you been to Glacier National Park? It is magnificent. Tom and I visited it for the first time about 20 years ago. On that visit we hiked from a trail head to Granite Chalet, the 4-mile hike that is considered the most arduous approach. It is steeply up to the Chalet and then steeply down.

We did that hike in an afternoon. This summer we thought of doing the 8-mile hike from Logan Pass to the Chalet and then the downhill hike to the trail head where we would pick up the shuttle back to the parking lot at park headquarters. We are fit and healthy, exercise daily and were carrying enough food and water for a serious day hike. It seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, we had not counted on the 20-year difference in age, and living in the Rio Grande Valley, which made the mountain altitudes a problem.

There were no mile markers on trail and we had no clue as to how slow our travels were, until the point of no return had been passed. It was late in the afternoon when we realized, after yet one more unplanned rest stop, that we were not going to get off the mountain in time to catch the last shuttle. In fact, we were in danger of having to spend a cold night in the open. We were dressed warm (even in August, Glacier National Park lives up to its name) but the overnight temperatures would be near freezing. Hypothermia is the second-leading cause of death in Glacier.

We had to get to Granite Chalet. We would have shelter there that would save our lives.

Granite Chalet is a way point for people hiking the long stretches of Glacier National Park. You must book your space at the Chalet months in advance. The cabin rooms are spartan, the bathrooms are outdoor latrines, there is no restaurant, just a group cabin with a kitchen that you can use if you bring your own food.

I knew we would have neither room nor food at the Chalet but even spending the night in the mess hall would be better than in the open and on the ground. With a decision and a goal in mind, we set off again, putting one foot in front of the other with as few stops for rest as possible.

We got to the Chalet at 7 p.m. We went in and spoke to the park ranger and Chalet manager. I guess a look at two 78-year-old people at the end of an 8-mile hike through the mountains kept their questions to a minimum. But so were their options. No room, no food, no heat.

Yet, the park ranger, through more effort and more care than he needed to provide, came to us with a proposal. There was an unheated storage room. They could bring in a couple old cots and two torn but serviceable sleeping bags. Would that be satisfactory?

Satisfactory? I have never been more grateful for a cot and a sleeping bag in my life. That man and his extra effort had saved our lives.

We got set up in narrow quarters, spent the night, arose early and made it down the mountain the next day.

We were clearly the worse for wear. Tom lost six toenails and 10 pounds on that hike. I lost four nails and eight pounds. But we were alive thanks to a National Parks Service ranger.

That man walks up the rigorous 4-mile hike to the Chalet at the beginning of every week. He lives in those cabins, maintains his part of the park, and helps people like Tom and me. He then hikes back down on Friday.

This man receives around $43,000 per year.

That Park Service ranger is the man Elon Musk and Donald Trump have fired.

Neither Musk nor Trump could have made the hike that ranger does. They would not live for a day under the conditions he does. To say that they are not as humane, kind or decent as he is would be to point out the sadly obvious.

We must stop this arrogant insanity. It is the only way we can keep the faith.

Louise Butler is a retired educator and published author who lives in Edinburg. She writes for our Board of Contributors.