Grand Canyon National Park
Beyond my love for the outdoors and US parks, we use backpacking hiking trips in our company as opportunities to test portable Blue Pacific Solar products and renewable batteries in actual rugged backcountry conditions. About three weeks ago we received our backpacking back country hiking permit which I threw on my desk, glanced at the approved start date and did not think too much about it going about my work week. Later, upon closer inspection it became apparent that after 30 years of never receiving a permit that was in error, it finally happened. The permit was issued for 3 nights instead of eight. I brushed away my initial irritation relying instead on the Park Service’s stellar past performance and return the permit 2 weeks ago with a letter of explanation and a copy of my original permit application.
Last week I got a call from a Grand Canyon Park Ranger who read my letter, called me to apologize for the mistake, and needed 10 min. to walk through some possible dates and scenarios that would work which is what we did. The US government, on any given day, is pounded in the media mostly by opportunistic people who, while they are doing it, are quietly shoveling US tax dollars pork into their own district or lining their own personal or corporate pockets.
The National Park Service is one of many examples of something in the US government that does work. Spending 10 min on the phone brought a smile to an otherwise drab day and I was beaming when I got off. In all my experiences (and there have been many over the years) in engaging a park ranger I find them to be competent, informative, personable, well educated professionals and willing to take the time to help with whatever it is you are lo0king for.
This encounter was no exception. Since we were applying a little close to my request date, he had some difficulty accommodating my route. However, he stayed with it exploring different dates and use areas until he was able to come up with the 8 nights while accommodating the challenge I was looking for.
Beyond the success of working out my permit, I was able to take the opportunity to ask the Park Ranger about a side trip I had wanted to do inside the canyon that is not commonly known about. Want to make a park ranger nervous? Ask them about a route that is not very well published. Their nervousness is not without merit since they end up doing several hundred rescues a year inside the Grand Canyon and some recoveries every year mostly from people unwilling to heed the many warnings they write about, post and talk about.
When I mentioned the name of the route, even though you would have to be a canyon fanatic to know about, he knew immediately of it and was well informed. He asked a few probing questions to see if I had really studied it. But I think he was a little re leaved to learn that I had copied an old map showing the route and was not going to attempt it without something to reference.
The men and women of the United States Department of the Interior and specifically the US Park Service pardon the pun “rock” We are lucky in this country to have such a professional example of something that does work that is an example to the world and our national park system is a testimony to our democracy.
