Book Review | Across Yosemite’s Wilderness #booksky

Across Yosemite’s Wilderness by Laurel Munson Boyers caught my eye on Netgalley, so thanks to them and the publishers for an ARC. This book came out on Tuesday. This review might go a little political in some people’s eyes. The book isn’t, it’s just the timing.

Across Yosemite’s Wilderness

by Laurel Munson Boyers

Across Yosemite’s Wilderness is a memoir about the life and career of Laurel Boyers – the first woman to serve as head Wilderness Management Ranger in the park’s history and the first to do full time mounted backcountry patrol. This two-part memoir begins with a travelogue of Laurel’s last mounted patrol of the park as a ranger. This section, a chapter for each day of the patrol, walks readers through the wilderness all around the park’s iconic Yosemite Valley. The narrative of the patrol is interspersed with park history, stories from her career, descriptions of the geography and vegetation, and Laurel’s reflections on her 30 years of service. This section immerses readers in the details of a backcountry patrol, introduces them to the park and its history, introduces them to Laurel at the end of her career, and sets the stage for the chronological story of her life.

Part two tells her chronological story, beginning with deep roots. Her great grandfather ran a way station for early visitors to the park, welcoming Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in 1903. She was born in Yosemite Valley in a little house near what is now Yosemite Village and went on to join the Park Service in 1976. Her narrative is full of details on what life as a wilderness ranger is really like – stories of helicopters, search and rescue operations, multi-day hikes, mounted patrols, and the challenges of managing the wilderness. It also describes unique connections she made throughout her life, from having known Ansel Adams personally (and having a polaroid he took of her) to leading former first lady Laura Bush on a weeklong backpacking trip through the park. Through her career and experience, she reflects on the global significance of Yosemite and the importance of effectively managing and protecting its iconic wilderness and other wild places across the world.

This will be a window into Yosemite’s history, the inner workings of the park, the life and career of a trailblazing wilderness ranger, and the most remote corners of the park. Laurel Boyers’ perspective is an incredibly unique one, and few people have been lucky enough to live a life quite like hers. [goodreads]

My Review

It is painful to read the story of the Yosemite National Park, World Heritage Site, officially designated Wilderness, against the current backdrop, the decimation of the NPS and other environmental, science and climate change government support. Yet, hopefully, this too shall pass, before too much damage is done.

The author, Laurel Munson Boyers, is the same age as me, and has spent her whole career involved with the protection of this priceless global asset. How that works and what it takes is reflected in this book. I took an ARC from Netgalley on the basis of a slightly different blurb, and was somewhat worried at the description of the second half being a series of essays. I was not looking forward to this after the easy-going trail ride, full of anecdotes from people with a few hundred years of experience of the area when added together. It turned out that the ‘essays’ were more detailed memoirs of different aspects of her work, and that the publishers have revised their blurb to better reflect the content. And I have revised my original rating to five stars!

I loved the personal stories of life in the wilderness, the funny and tragic stories of ranger life, and the dedication of Laurel and her colleagues. She paints a mean word-picture of amazing scenery and jewel-like private corners. The final trail ride is a lovely introduction to the rest, which dives deep into how she got there in the first place, her upbringing, her rookie mistakes, but finally to the joys of sharing knowledge with others managing, or seeking to manage, their wilderness assets alongside the over-consumption presented by hikers and other users. The problems of Namibia, Japan and New Zealand provided fine insights and food for thought. This book should be required reading in all hospitality-related courses, just for that!

She finished with a thoughtful examination of the history of Yosemite, which did not start with the EuroAmericans or Anglos (she uses both terms). It seems to be early days yet, but the recognition of the area as part of a thousand year old culture for the descendants of the original people has begun, and can only be for the good of the area. The pressure from entitled rock climbing and hiking fraternities to keep the place to themselves has to be resisted, carefully. And what really worried me as this ended, is how the restrictions on the gun-toting recreational users will be enforced in the next few years.

I could go on, but you’d rather read the book.