Rangers are good people in my book. Sometimes they have to play hard to keep people in-line because there are too many unruly people visiting our National Parks these days and, to unruly people, nothing is sacred anymore.
A few years back, friends of mine decided that it would be nice to take three late elementary or early junior high school aged boys with us to Yosemite for their first camping trip. Never having met the boys, I agreed. (none of the adults had ever been parents) Turned out that one of the boys was an absolute nightmare. Every time we took a hike I feared he would push one of the other boys over a waterfall when he got tired of throwing clothing over the waterfall. I did my best to keep up with the boys when hiking to the top of half dome because I was afraid that the rascal kid would push someone off or do something stupid to cause himself to fall off Half Dome. One night, I and the other adults with me decided to go to the Mountain Bar (we walked both ways from the campground)....big mistake..took too long. Little did we know that the rascal, nightmare kid had a boom box and decided to blast the rap song, "Cop Killer", through the campgroud while we were gone. On top of that, he was trying to beat a raccoon with a stick. When we arrived back at the campground it was very late, all was quiet, we didn't know what had gone on. The next morning we awoke to all the neighbors glaring at us, we were very uncomfortable with the looks we were getting. Finally, a kind neighbor came over and explained to us everything that had happened the night before, to which we confirmed with one of other the boys. We were thinking we would have to go home, but before we took that step, the first thing we did after hearing the bad news was to find a Ranger to explain to him the problems we had been encountering with this rotten kid. The Ranger was so cool, he said he would have a talk with the kid, which we overheard what he said. He told the kid that he's in the raccoon's home and he needs to respect the homes of the animals because he is a visitor in their home, not the other way around. He told the kid that there is a jail in Yosemite Valley and that he will not hesitate to throw the kid in it if he hears the kid is harrassing and hurting animals again, throwing litter in the water and he gave him a stern warning about playing his music too loud. The Ranger put a fear into the kid so well that we were able to continue our vacation in the Valley and the balance of the week was enjoyable. Every now and then the Ranger would come back to check up on the kid. This is only one good encounter I've had with Rangers.
