Meet Ranger Amy

Have you ever met a national park ranger? I hope you have! We are the people who greet you at the visitor centers and answer your questions. We also present evening programs at the campgrounds, take visitors on hikes, and give short talks. Maybe one of us gave you your first Junior Ranger badge, and then many more after that. Maybe one day you will be one of us as a college graduate or a retiree. Or perhaps you will volunteer for a few hours, or a summer, or more.

Exploring with a Junior Ranger at
Shenandoah National Park.

For the past ten years, I've been a seasonal park ranger for the National Park Service, but my love for national parks goes back before that. I was introduced to these protected places as a child, like many of you. My grandparents took me on a three-week summer road trip when I was 10 years old. Every morning we got up at 4 a.m. so Grandpa could drive to our next location and we'd have more time for our visit.

My brother and I sitting beside Ben Black Elk
at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

My grandparents took me again the following summer--this time with my brother, who was only eight years old. Some of the places we visited over the two summers included Mammoth Cave National Park, Badlands National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Glacier National Park. We also visited Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Have you been to some of these places too?

Those two trips changed my life forever. It made me realize I lived in a far bigger world than I’d ever imagined, and it was full of wonders. It gave me the “bug” for travel and adventure that has lasted a lifetime. Perhaps you have the same “bug”!

When I graduated from high school, I got my parents’ permission to go on a trip with my brother--just the two of us! After working to make the money, I purchased two round-trip bus tickets, and my brother and I were able to travel and camp in some of the same parks our grandparents had taken us to, and some new parks as well. We went as far west as the Grand Canyon; then we visited Grandma and Grandpa, who had retired to Arizona.

View of the Grandview Trail, Grand Canyon National Park,
South Rim. Photo by Amy Gaiennie.

Many years later I joined my family, most of whom had retired or moved to Arizona. The Grand Canyon became my “home away from home.” I first reached the bottom at Bright Angel Creek with other members of a local hiking club. Later, I went on my own, standing in line at the back country office at 5:30 a.m. in order to get a required permit. Several years later, my husband and I completed two multi-day, cross-canyon backpacks from Rim to Rim.

On the Tonto Trail, Cross-Canyon Trek,
Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Ken Kingsley.

Ken replenishes the water supply at our 
Monument Creek campsite. Photo by Amy Gaiennie.

How would my grandparents have felt if they knew I became a ranger, first at Zion National Park in Utah, then Shenandoah National Park in Virigina, and finally Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado? I'm sure they would have visited me!

Looking past rabbitbrush in full bloom to the Temples and Towers
 of the Virgin at Zion National Park. Photo by Amy Gaiennie.

Along the trail to Canyon Overlook at Zion National Park.
Photo by Amy Gaiennie.

Mountain Laurel blooming along the Limberlost Trail
at Shenandoah National Park. Photo by Amy Gaiennie.

View from Skyline Drive in the Spring
at Shenandoah National Park. Photo by Amy Gaiennie.

For me—and perhaps for you as well—the National Park experience spans generations. That means children, parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents like to visit and enjoy national parks. They are meant to be appreciated in our lifetimes and protected for the future. I hope you will share these special places with your families and friends. I hope you will want to protect and care for them. Perhaps you will one day write your stories. These are mine.

View of Black Canyon from the North Rim. 
Photo by Amy Gaiennie.

Visitors congregating for the light show at Sunset Overlook
in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
Photo by Amy Gaiennie.