“Death Valley National Park” Gomez March 2016

On March 23, at 4am in the morning, Melody Swope picked me up from my apartment. We were about to embark on a drive half half across the country to Death Valley National Park. This was not only plans made on a whim in class but was also going to be my first time camping. Ever. As well as my first time experiencing a desert climate.

Death Valley was established as a national monument in 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt took office (nps.gov). He put the Civilian Conservation Corps to work by having them establish the land as a park for the American people to enjoy, including the construction of roads, buildings, camp grounds, and the installation of water and telephone lines. Services we would soon enjoy….

When we arrived in Death Valley, one of the first places we visited was Dante’s View, which overlooked Badwater, the lowest point in the United States, as well as mountain ranges, salt flats, and various canyons around the park. This was my first feel of Death Valley: huge landscapes, intense elevation changes, small plants and flowers and no trees. Repeat, no trees. Coming from Austin, an ecotone bordering a lush temperate forest and subtropical dry forest biome (austin.climatemps.com), the desert was a bit overwhelming at first. Melody, my partner in crime on the trip had nothing but love for this biome, I on the other hand was feeling a bit…. alone and longing for vegetation. The next stop on our trip was Zabriskie Point, an area at high elevation on the East side of the Amargosa Range that overlooked some of the canyons of Death Valley. We ate our first meal there and overlooked the intense erosion that is Death Valley.

We continued on in our day and found ourselves wondering around Furnace Creek Inn in the afternoon, walking up a steep dry hill to ruins that were at the top of the hill that overlooked our camping grounds. We walked down the hill to a lonely and unmarked monument which had what looked like unmarked grave sites surrounding it. While the land was nearly completely barren besides the few places that wildflowers grew abundantly from the past years heavy rainfall from the El Nino hitting California (scientificamerican,com), this unmarked grave site had several little yellow flowers growing around and in the graves. This felt like quite a phenomenon to see. We paid our respects and left to see Badwater, the lowest point in the United States at 282 feet below sea level. After Badwater, we drove to see Artist’s Palette at sunset. While the sun was going down the light glazed over the rocks and the colors were hard to see clearly. However, as the sun went down and many people drove away thinking they had seen the beauty of the landscape, we walked into the canyon, up and down the hills, and watched the sun fade. As the sun went down the colors became distinctive, marking clear yellows, blues, greens and pink hues. With minimal sun the landscape truly turned into a palette.

The next morning was cape day and I was really beginning to take in the desert in a happier way. I made a cape out of my sweater and prepared to take on the day with Melody, heading out to see Devil’s Golf Course first. Devil’s Golf Course, a name I didn’t serious until it was too late for my shoes, was once home to water millions of years ago and had now only become a crystallized salt flats. As the water had evaporated it had pulled the salt up with it created jagged and sharp features.

While Melody played Park Ranger for this trip, including setting up our tent, making our food, driving the whole way, creating our schedule, etc. Friday I had one request, to go to Ubehebe Crater. At 1pm we arrived at Ubehebe, a giant crater located deep in the park. The Crater was practically gravel, and on the walk down into it, (which was at a 45 degree angle) our feet would sink into the gravel. Upon walking hundreds of feet down into the Crater, it soon occurred to us that the climb uphill was going to be much worse. Not only was the angle and ground working against us but it was now around 2pm and the heat waves could easily be seen radiating off the ground. It probably took us around 30 minutes to an hour to climb back up the crater, due to the necessary amount of breaks we required but we finally did it and that’s when things changed. The desert didn’t feel devoid of life anymore, but rather a life of itself. The climb was intense but bearable and most importantly, we did it. Later that day we found out the high reached 96 degrees, not the 80 degrees the forecast predicted.

Prior to Ubehebe, the park felt like being in a new place and having to adapt to change, after Ubehebe the place began to feel freeing and empowering. The third day, we hiked Golden Canyon and met Park Ranger Laura. We got a chance to interview her over our blog topics.

Chelsea: As a female park ranger, have you noticed if or how gender influences work in conservation?

Laura: Well, women have been working in conservation way before it was fashionable. In fact there was a famous woman at the North rim of the Grand Canyon and there’s a famous woman at Yellowstone, when both of these women took their positions, they would wear a park ranger uniform same as the guys and they actually changed their name to male names so that when the government got their paperwork no one would flinch. That was some of the things women had to do. When we got hit with the 60’s and 70’s, there was a real backlash in Park Service. So on the North rim of the Grand Canyon you had women who were naturalists, who were being told ‘you can not wear that outfit, you need to put pumps and a skirt on’ and women had to make a choice- I’m going to remain an example of a woman as a park ranger I have to put on that skirt and pumps and I have to walk around the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and they did. And some of them left the field.

Chelsea: Wow, that’s wild. Even though it’s just clothing, that would definitely be a huge burden on female park rangers. Have there been any recent controversies with females in conservation work?

Laura: Most recently, there’s been a bit of a scandal in the River Corridor. Some women were kind of harassed in their positions by park service personal and that case is going to trial and the reason is because the upper echelon didn’t recognize it and do a proper punishment.

Chelsea: 40 years later and incidents like that are still occurring, do you think that gender influences the way in which we work to conserve the environment?

Laura: I don’t know that women’s interest in conservation is that much different than the men I work with..

Chelsea: Really? This is just my opinion but I feel that women treat the environment much differently than men.

Laura: I don’t think you find that in the service, but maybe in general. I will tell you this though, I have been backpacking with men and women for a long time. We are definitely different, that is especially true with rattlesnakes. If a group of hikers see a rattlesnake, and it’s a woman who sees it, she’ll show the group the rattlesnake from far away, generally behind something. A man will grab a stick. My husband, a park ranger, threw our keys! Statistically speaking, people who get bit by rattlesnakes are men from the ages 18-45, they get bit on the hand or the foot.

During our conservation with Laura, a woman joined our discussion. Her name was Inna, and she was a hiker/backpacker who did all of her traveling alone. Meeting her seemed serendipitous after our discussion with Laura over gender. Inna ended up hiking Golden Canyon with Melody and I and shared stories of her adventures with us. We asked her what it felt like being a woman alone on these adventures. She said that after the first night the fear is gone. She said she used to feel scared in her house and no she feels scared no where. She learned that by being alone on these trips, she feels more connected to nature than when she’s with a group of people.

This left me thinking about how many women don’t get to experience nature fully because they are constantly told not to do things alone. While gender is a social construct, it’s limitations are not. Gender is so widely accepted as one or the other, with barriers constructed to keep people into categories. While this trip was personally very empowering, I can’t help but wonder how many women are unable to do these things- be it traveling across country, visiting a national park, camping alone or becoming a Park Ranger because society has already created roles for them to fill. There are currently 1070 women in the National Park Ranger Service, compared with 2330 men (community.seattletimes.nwsource.com). While the gap is getting smaller and smaller, the challenges faced by women continue to influence their relationship with conservation efforts.

 

Works Cited

Park Ranger Laura

https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/historyculture/civilian-conservation-corps.htm

http://www.austin.climatemps.com/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/video/death-valley-super-bloom-is-a-rare-desert-wildflower-show/

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20010318&slug=rangers18