Arrival Day - Mather Campground

I arrived at Mather Campground on Sunday 6/29/2014.  What a whirl wind month this has been.  I just returned from a 5,541 mile trip out east to visit family and friends.  After that I repacked from my bags to the RV to start my 4 1/2 hour trip up to Grand Canyon National Park.

The drive was typical with my regular stops at the Sunrise and McGuireville rest areas along I-17.  I arrived at the park at 3 PM and found Ranger Carrie Roberts at the Mather  Campground kiosk.  After our greetings, she showed me where my site would be on the Fir loop.  It was easier to enter the site from the Aspen loop.  So after maneuvering through the narrow Fir loop, I pulled into the site and within the hour I had the travel trailer hooked up and watching DirecTV.  I tried out my new tripod for the DirecTV antenna and it worked out very good.  Ranger Carrie had the propane tank on site and had arranged for Titan Gas to be on site today to connect the 50 gallon tank to my trailer’s regulator.  Mike from Titan showed up around 10AM and made the connection.  I’m now fully connected and ready for my 3 month volunteer duties.

This morning, Monday 6/30, I took a nice 5 mile walk down to the lodges and then back on the rim trail.  On the way back I noticed a squirrel on my tire and he then disappeared into the engine compartment.  I opened the truck hood and there he was nosing around.  I left the hood cracked open.  I’ve heard that this will keep these critters from trying to make a home in your engine or worse yet start munching away on wires.  I pondering getting a light to mount inside the engine.  This is another way to keep them out of the engine during the nights.  Ahhh, the great outdoors!  We have to remember we are visitors and the animals live here.

Internet access from the site is very sketchy.  Broadband access isn’t available from the site, but there is 3G/4G available at the lodges and wifi available at the library and park headquarters.  This will make keeping the blog up a challenge.  I’ll have to schedule time each week to check my email, Facebook, and update my blog to ensure I stay connected.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 7/1, is the first day of my volunteer work.  Ranger Carrie has asked that we meet her in the morning around 9AM.  From there we will go over our duties, get our volunteer shirts and hat, and then its off to work.  I’m excited, but at the same time already missing Billie (she stayed in Gilbert - but will be visiting).

Well, I’m off to get my bike set up and inflate the tires.  Maybe I’ll take an evening ride.  

It’s Official - My First Day

This morning, Tuesday 7/1, I met with Ranger Carrie to start my first day of volunteer work.  Steve, the other host, and I walked down to the kiosk to start the day around 9:30AM.  The morning started off with a brief orientation of the duties and a typical day.  We then received a tutorial on how to start and drive the Polaris vehicle from Ranger Heather.  From there we split up.  Steve went off to receive his volunteer shirts and hat, while I went with Ranger Heather to do an inventory of the sites to determine which sites were occupied and which were vacant.  This is used by the Rangers at the registration kiosk to update their database of sites and prepare for the day’s arrivals.

One of the duties as a volunteer host is to police the sites that are vacant and clean up any trash that may be left.  They call it micro trash because most is small in nature as people are packing up for their travels.  There are also Ravens that seem to wait and watch the sites for those leaving to enjoy the park.  Once they leave the Ravens move in and shred garbage bags or anything left out.  What a nasty, annoying bird.  In addition, we have to check the sites for things such as clothes lines or hammocks.  These lines and hammocks can’t remain up.  The ropes or hammocks create a hazard for the elk that move through the park.  If possible we will remove them.  We also leave a note for the campers reminding them of these rules.  

This afternoon I made my first rounds and completed everything in short time.  I met Ranger Mary later in the day and did a final ride through of the campground.  This evening I’ll be helping out at the kiosk with the final rush of campers arriving on site. 

Evening Rounds 

Well, this evening was an eventful evening.  The national forests are under a fire ban.  This means that no open flames or fires are allowed on the park.  Upon arriving at the kiosk, Ranger Mary informed me that there were two reports of fires in the campground.  Park Police arrived and together we went to the reported sites.  One site had started a fire in the fire pit and the police handled that incident.  I told the officers that I’d ride down and check on the other report.  I arrived at the site to find that the folks were enjoying a bottle of wine and had some candles going to add to the moment.  I informed them of the ban and they were very nice and put out the candles.  I reported back to the police and that concluded that.

Arriving back at the kiosk Mary was preparing to close up for the day.  After closing we had a couple come up and report that there tent was missing from their site.  They said it had been stolen.  We confirmed their site in the reservation system and asked the normal questions; Are you sure you went to the right site?  Are you certain that the tent is missing?  After this questioning they called the Park Police and we handed the incident over to them.  

UPDATE:  The police found the tent!  When they returned to the site to complete the investigation, they found it.  The couple was at the wrong site.

One day down and 89 to go.