Ranger Confidential : Living, Working, and Dying in the National Parks

**The__real__stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks** For twelve years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it. In this graphic and yet surprisingly funny account of her and others’ extraordinary careers, Lankford unveils a world in which park rangers struggle to maintain their idealism in the face of death, disillusionment, and the loss of a comrade killed while holding that thin green line between protecting the park from the people, the people from the park, and the people from each other.__Ranger Confidential__is the story behind the scenery of the nation’s crown jewels—Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Great Smokies, Denali. In these iconic landscapes, where nature and humanity constantly collide, scenery can be as cruel as it is redemptive. The real stories behind the scenery of Americas national parks For twelve years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it. In this graphic and yet surprisingly funny account of her and others extraordinary careers, Lankford unveils a world in which park rangers struggle to maintain their idealism in the face of death, disillusionment, and the loss of a comrade killed while holding that thin green line between protecting the park from the people, the people from the park, and the people from each other. Ranger Confidential is the story behind the scenery of the nations crown jewelsYosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Great Smokies, Denali. In these iconic landscapes, where nature and humanity constantly collide, scenery can be as cruel as it is redemptive This Is Your Brain On The Grand Canyon -- Plover Patrol -- Faint At Heart -- As Yosemite Falls -- Our First Summers In The Sierra -- Dead Bear Walking -- The Ranger Olympics -- A Girl In Boys Town -- The Partner -- The Tell-tale Backpack -- Mary, The Split-tail Clerk-typist -- Gateway To The Underworld -- Scorpion Karma -- Predator-prey Relationships -- Cruel World -- Crash -- A Cold Wet One -- Dry Heat -- The Devil's Corkscrew -- Friday The Thirteenth -- The Gut Of Darkness -- Thunder And Lightning -- Pine Pigs -- Dangerous Types -- Thanksgiving Ledge -- Stuck In The Fee Booth -- What's So Wonderful About Wonder Lake? -- Separation Canyon -- Place Of Emergence -- On The Mountain -- The Ranger's Burden -- The Last Call -- Epilogue. Andrea Lankford. Recounts the experiences of the author while she was a national park ranger in locations across the United States