A High Sierra summer
Kylie Creighton (she/her)
Hometown: Stockton, CA
Major: Earth Systems ‘25
Internship: Yosemite National Park
What can you do with just a few hours in Yosemite? Kylie Creighton isn't sure; a whole summer wasn't enough for her.
I've spent the past couple of months up in the High Sierra, in the eastern most part of Yosemite National Park. Tuolumne Meadows, the grassy subalpine ecosystem surrounded by lodgepole pine trees, has a peaceful four-month-long spring/summer/fall season and a loooong and serene winter for the other 8 months of the year. Starting in October, the Tioga Road to access this area will close, and no one will enter or exit until the snow melts again. How wonderful it is to be here in the short period where Tuolumne Meadows is accessible. I am reminded of that particularly in this late part of the season where the grass is yellowing and snow is beginning to float down from the sky.
Here in Tuolumne, I'm being trained as an interpreter. I have given over 15 welcome talks in front of the visitor center, where I introduce this precious environment to people who are passing through. I have roved 30 miles of trails to talk to hikers along the way. I have worked in the visitor center answering basic questions and reminding people to slow down. Don't rush. When asked what he would do with just a day in Yosemite, the late Carl Sharsmith, a ranger-naturalist and botanist up here in Tuolumne, replied "I'd go sit by the Merced River and cry." Oh, how much I've learned just sitting by the river this summer! There are too many things to notice up here, and I try my best to emphasize this to visitors.
This summer I also got to lead the 'river walk' twice. It's a two-hour program that follows a small part of the John Muir trail next to the Tuolumne River. This is the river that feeds over two million people in the Bay Area, including those of us at Stanford. The program has been a highlight of mine over the summer. I have the participants consider where they get their own water, what it takes to deliver water to major cities far away, and to think about the impact of rivers in their own life. We visit swimming holes and spend silent minutes exploring the way the water flows and the shapes it makes in the granite. The theme I wove in through the program was that of looking at the river through fresh eyes, like you'd never seen it before, not taking anything for granted. I think it worked. One older gentleman stayed after a program to tell me that he had been on this river walk before, but that this one was completely different and new. If I can facilitate brand new experiences for people who have been returning to Tuolumne for decades, I know I did a good job. And it makes me feel quite honored to spend hours with visitors who could be swimming in the lakes or frolicking in the meadows without me.
My time here in Tuolumne has taught me how to find stories in every natural feature of the land -- stories of deep human history and tales of my own time here. The community is relatively small, and I'm so grateful to have gotten to be part of it. We all have different roles in the park. We are of different ages and backgrounds. Some of us have been here for over twenty years and others are spending our first season up here. But in Tuolumne, all of us are important and equal, and all of us celebrate this place together. I love everything that makes Tuolumne what it is.
