Work.

Student Conservation Association work is serious business...

So with all the fun adventuring to do here, it would be very easy for the internship I’m doing to be sort of incidental. But that really couldn’t be further from the truth. The Yosemite museum archives hired five SCA interns, myself included, to complete a couple of specific projects. So for the most part, half my day is spent scanning newspaper clippings about the park from the 1920’s and 30’s, which are really fun to read, and the other half is spent “processing” an shit-ton of paper material we received from the Yosemite Park and Curry Company, which was a hospitality provider for the park for ages.

Processing consists of removing staples from paperwork and rehousing it in archival folders and boxes. As you can probably guess this is not the world’s most interesting work, but we pretty much just put on our ipods and power through it. Occasionally the monotony is broken up by funny or crazy things we find while processing, such as the letter I found this week from a park employee, authorizing the deduction of $50 from his pay (this was 1968) for damage he did to park property “while intoxicated.” This included a door ripped completely off the hinges, a broken stair, and a smashed window. Apparently things used to get pretty wild here…

In addition to the everyday stuff we have special side projects we’ve signed up for. I signed on to help out with the Yosemite Oral History Project. The project is pretty new, but basically the archivists have started doing filmed oral history interviews with people who have had long-term connections with the park. The ones they’ve completed are really cool, and they recently sent out a press release about it, so we’ve been flooded with calls telling us about folks we should include. I’m really excited about helping out with this – I love the idea of oral history as a way to document lives and historical events, and can’t wait to see what crazy stories we hear.

Photos

So, yea, this is what happen when you go snowshoeing in fleece pants. The first of the many important lessons I hope to learn in Yosemite.

Here are some preliminary snaps...nothing spectacular as I haven't even broken out my good camera yet...

Before we get to the pics, I want to share a note about photographs and this blog: While this post will contain a few classic Yosemite/El Capitan/waterfall goodness photos, don't expect that to become a regular thing. As the title of my blog implies, certain folks have done a lovely job of photographing Yosemite's monuments and all the glory that entails. I will not be attempting to do that here, it would be boring and redundant. This park, with all it's big dramatic visitas, also contains a host of lovely nooks and crannies. I plan to spend my time photographing these quirks, and will try to save the monuments for adventuring and admiring with my eyes rather than my lense. For the most part, at least.

We got a tour of the valley our second day of work, and there was an awesome rainbow in front of Upper Yosemite Falls. Apparently on when there's a full moon, there is also a "moonbow" that forms. Can't wait to see that.






And here's El Capitan, because I was so blown away I didn't know what to do, so I took a crappy picture.




This next set is from last weekend, when my roomate Molly and I tried our hand at snowshoeing. We drove up to Badger Pass, which is a ski area in the high country of the park. We trudged along Glacier Point Road, which gets turned in to a cross-country ski/snowshoe run every winter. It was totally beautiful, snowy, amazing.

There was this crazy psychedelic-green moss growing all over the trees, which was incredible contrasted with the snow.


And a really rad crooked tree


All in all snowshoeing was great. We wandered a ways down Dewey Point trail, and hope to return to go all the way out to Dewey Point. This would be a good day worth of walking, but the views are supposed to be spectacular, so we're making it a goal for a few weeks from now (and I will definitely wear more waterproof gear this time :) )

So two days ago we got a HUGE snow, even down here in El Portal, which is only at 1800 feet or something. It was beautiful, and my roomies (both from the warmer part of the country) were really excited.

Here we are enjoying the snow on our porch


And here's what we woke up to the next morning


This photo is blue because it's that frickin early. We have to be at work at 7:30 every morning, but we also get every other Friday off, so it's worth it. Although it doesn't always feel that way at 7:30.

First Yosemite Post!

So here it is: the first post on my life here in Yosemite. I arrived in my new home last Sunday afternoon. I live in El Portal, California, which is a tiny town just outside the Arch Rock entrance to Yosemite National Park.

El Portal is comprised of Yosemite employee housing, a small elementary school, a community hall, a post office, a market, and the world’s most overpriced gas station. The town is situated in the middle of a canyon formed by the Merced River, which is pretty much as beautiful as that sounds. We’re literally feet from the banks of the river, and I’ve been told that when the spring thaw starts, El Portal is suddenly much closer to the Merced than it is right now. I can’t wait.

Here’s a short list of things I already really like about living in El Portal:
--My roomies - beautiful, smart southern gals who are up for as much adventuring, beer-drinking, and general mayhem as we can fit in to these four months. And they do their dishes!
--I can’t talk enough about the proximity of my apartment to the Merced River. I can hear it whenever I step out on the porch. And smell the water.
--The view out our living room window. Oak trees, canyon walls, sunrises before work. Anna Bunny likes it too. She watches birds.
--Bear-proof dumpsters and recycle bins.
--Monday night yoga in the elementary school gym.
--The fact that when one of my roomies and I stepped out on the porch last night there was a deer munching on the tree right in front of us. It didn’t even look up.
--The “street” I live on turns into a beautiful ass-kicker of a trail just a short walk from our building.
--The elementary school playground has a kiddie-sized climbing wall.
--Sal’s taco night. This really deserves it’s own post, so I’ll elaborate later, but every other Thursday a taco truck pulls in front of the community hall. The whole town shows up, beer is sold, mayhem ensues.

Overall things are going really well here, I will post again soon with photos and thoughts about my internship.