Jill Browne, from home and away

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

One of my good friends is Ranger Julie, who is a real park ranger.  She got the nickname when stationed up high on a mountain in a hut, watching for avalanches and helping hikers along their way. She’s seen everything to do with hiking, I’m sure.  The one story I remember is of a young Italian guy hiking in the Rockies with no food and no equipment, no tent, no sleeping bag, nothing.  He didn’t realize that Canadian hiking is a little more rugged than going from hut to hut in the Alps. By the time he reached Julie’s hut he was pretty hungry!

Imagine having a job that sends you out alone on horseback with a pack horse or two, for the summer, to live alone with the hikers and the mountains.  Sounds idyllic.  Julie doesn’t do that now but in the past she has.

It’s bloody hard work.

She got to be a ranger by paying her dues.  I think her first official parks job may have been on trail crew.

You know those trails and bridges you hike across?  Trail crews go out and fix those. Sometimes when I’m crossing a bridge or walking up some impossible slope holding on to a cable, I think of the poor fearless workers who built it. Ranger Julie and her pals.