E85: National Park Ranger: A Summer of Adventure

Host: Ray Loewe Guest: Carol MacAllister Description: While an Associate Professor of Social Work at New Mexico State University, Carol took a summer job as a National Park Wilderness Ranger at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. She was the first woman ever to be given this assignment (they were desperate), so they let her have her two dogs with her for protection. There was no electricity, the nearest store was 10 miles away, and the nearest help from the main ranger station was 50 miles away. Daily she cut wood, cleaned out houses, doused abandoned campfires, navigated invading cattle and sheep (it was an open range), avoided snakes and bears, coped with difficult campers, and rescued hikers from deep in the canyon It was a summer of adventure....and yes, she met a real cowboy rounding up his Brahman bull.