Show notes
If you’ve gotten a backpacking permit on the North Rim in the last decade, chances are you’ve talked to Steve Bridgehouse. Steve has worked at Grand Canyon in many capacities for the last 25 years. In this episode, Steve reflects on his Grand Canyon mentors, how he connects to landscape, and how he went from sitting in traffic in Washington DC to watching his roommate fall through the floor of their park housing at Big Bend. ---TRANSCRIPT:--- Jesse: Hey, this is Jesse. Today on the podcast, we're featuring an interview with North Rim backcountry ranger Steve Bridgehouse. Steve's had a long Park Service career, including 22 years here at Grand Canyon. We talk about his journey to the Park Service, his experience in the backcountry at Grand Canyon, and much more. Enjoy the episode. Jesse: Maybe we'll just start with an introduction. Can you tell, for folks listening, what your name is, what your role is here at the North Rim and how long you've been in this position? Steve: Yeah, I'm Steve Bridgehouse. I'm a long time backcountry ranger at the Grand Canyon. I think I've been doing the backcountry ranger thing at Grand Canyon maybe 22 years. And uh, this is one of the 12 different parks that I've worked in. So, but Grand Canyon has felt like home for a very long time. Jesse: Yeah. Yeah. 22 years is a long time to be in, be in one place. Well, I want to kind of dig into sort of how you got here. But first let's let's just start with, like early, like, do you do you remember the first time you had a significant or memorable outdoor experience? Steve: Well, I grew up in the southwest. I'm from El Paso, and, my dad retired out of the Army in El Paso. And my mom is German. And so, you know, she left, a very cloudy place and moved to the southwest. And so the first thing we did was set about seeing all the national parks and visiting all these great public lands. And I don't know if it was my first visit to the Grand Canyon, but when I was a young, early teen, I remember doing what a lot of early teens do. I remember walking down to have a Havasupai Gardens and, and, with my family, my mom and dad and, you know, my parents wanted to turn around, of course. And so I was, I was, I remember handing my mom the water bottle and saying, I'm going to go a little further and I'll catch up with you, you know. And so that's probably not an uncommon experience, but it it kind of speaks to the, to the nature of Grand Canyon if it's gravity or whatnot, but it just pulls people in and we just all want to see more and experience more and go for a longer hike. Whether that's a good idea or not. Jesse: Yeah. That's funny. My my first like, real hike at Grand Canyon was also to Havasupai Gardens., yeah, when I was a little kid with my with my dad. We also, that is that story we hear a lot with, like, kids wanting to or people generally wanting to hike farther than the rest of their group. And it doesn't always end up great, but it seems like it went well for you so. Steve: It did, you know, and I think, that was an early seed being planted and I, I think I just got the impression then that, well, you know, I was just behaving like anybody does. And people do this all the time, and people come back to the campground and say, I'm sorry, I was supposed to check out four hours ago, but I got pulled in, and, you know, it happens. Jesse: Yeah. The Grand Canyon does that to you, it pulls you in, sometimes for 22 years. Steve: Yeah. Jesse: Um. So I'm curious, like from from those kind of earlier formative experiences, how did you make your way to the Park Service? Steve: Well, when I was, when I was visiting all these parks, I knew at a very young age I was going to be a park ranger. And I didn't exactly know, looking back now, I didn't exactly know what that was, but I, I knew when I was in high school that I was going to be a ranger. I knew in college I was going to be a ranger. So I thought, you know, all these rangers, the rangers I see, you know, they're they're educators. They're people who have a science background or a history history background. And so I thought, and they all seem to be good communicators. And so I studied communications and journalism and I studied science and geology. And I just thought this is the best way I can prepare myself for this. Jesse: Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. It sounds like those trips to national parks gave you the idea that you could be a ranger. Like, I feel like a lot of people I talk to, you don't know that it's a career option or, you know, even people that that I've hired into positions are like, oh, I never really knew that this could really be a career option. Steve: Yeah. And I think even even parks, visiting parks sometimes is out of reach for people. And, you know, one great thing about national parks and public lands is that everybody's welcome, right. And so I felt like I had a chance. And people told me, prepare yourself for the challenges ahead, and it's going to take a very long time to get it permanently. And you'll probably give up before then. But as soon as I got out of college, I was applying to jobs and a lot of jobs. I was sending out applications to everybody, and I finally got picked up and, and, worked a handful of parks. And as you get that experience and you can communicate and show, yeah, I can do these things and be trusted, it grew into a career. And it's been, I can't imagine having done anything else. You know, if I had to walk away today, I would have to reinvent myself, and that sounds like a lot. Jesse: Yeah, yeah. You're in too deep at this point. Yeah. Well, so speaking of kind of those first Park Service jobs, where where was your first one? How did that, how was that experience for you? Steve: It was great. You know, I started volunteering when I was in college at the University of Texas, El Paso, and we have Chamizal National Memorial there. And I think that what I value about that time is that what was on display there and what was happening there was, you know, very real, you know, showing of, of culture. Like, the culture that was happening in El Paso contemporary when I was there is what was being celebrated there, you know. And so, you know, I was I was doing stuff like being a doorman in the theater for Ballet Folklorico or, you know, or, you know, all these things that were really important to the El Paso community were taking place. And it kind of laid a framework for seeing culture as a resource. And, and, the culture today has its history and that's one of these things that it was that that was, being shown there. And that's really meaningful, you know, to be able to think of the living culture today, having come from something where so many people might see parks today as the preservers of culture and history. And there it was, the very living history was on display. And then you could learn more about the history if you want it to. So it's a very contemporary, way of seeing culture. And, I think it was a great way to start. Jesse: Yeah, yeah. Especially in your own community. I think it's pretty rare that you're able to work for the Park Service or volunteer for the Park Service in your own community. Often you have to travel, like pretty far to do that. Steve: Yeah. And also, you know, your career, you can't just, snap your fingers and say, well, I'm going to become a ranger at Yellowstone. You know, I ended up going into Washington, DC and and working at the old Post Office Tower. And, you know, that's not some place I would have found myself working. But the Park Service has taken me to a lot of places I probably never would have lived and being part of communities I never would have been part of. So the Park Service for me has certainly been a a door that's opened and show me, it's really created. My entire adult life. Jesse: Wow, um I'm curious like what, what sorts of formative experiences you've had in the Park Service? Steve: Well, you know, every one of these resources is so different. You know, starting off at a memorial and going into a historic site, you know, suddenly I'm finding myself covering Ford's Theater and the Petersen Home where Lincoln was shot and where Lincoln died. You know, that's some place I probably would have visited once in my lifetime. And then suddenly I find myself working there. When I left Washington, DC, I really wanted to be back out west, and, I ended up in Big Bend, you know, being a fee collector and Big Bend and, what an incredible wilderness that is. And it was a much quieter part then, and, just getting into a place like that, I remember, camping out there and thinking, you know, since it's right on the Mexican border, there's not a lot of commercial flyovers and air flights over it. And I started to see the the sky as a resource. You know, I don't think I'd ever really considered the sky a resource. And then I was seeing the darkest night skies I've ever seen, you know, but there were a lot of things that I love about being in Big Bend and, and, you know, just having a six month window there and hoping. Well, one day I hope I get to come back and work here. And then it's in the past and I haven't worked back there since, but every one of these resources has been great. Jesse: Well, I'm curious, you know, you went you said you went from DC to Big Bend. Steve: Yeah. Jesse: What was that transition like? Steve: It was massive. You know, going from sitting in traffic to going to the to the park resources. You know, being in DC had incredible opportunities. You know, I would get invited to things, you know, to go go to the interior building, for example. And, and I remember one time someone said, hey, someone's written a book about the Park Service, so we need someone to go there. And I was sent there, and it turned out to be the, memorial service for Mollie Beattie, who was, the head of the Fish and Wildlife Service. And suddenly I was in this, you know, I walked into the room and I was shaking hands with, Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt, and Al Gore was there, and, the musical group The Byrds were playing music as a memorial to her. And I think that's those are the kinds of things that are only possible in a place like Washington, D.C.. I can laugh at it now. Jesse: Yeah, yeah, that definitely is not happening at Big Bend or at the North Rim. Steve: When I got to Big Bend, it was kind of like, what I expected from reading an Edward Abbey book. Like, suddenly I was living in a, you know, a 40 year old, 50 year old dilapidated trailer and, you know, I remember one time my housemate, Mike Reynolds, his family was visiting, and, and he was trying to show them, you know, some of the, some of the reasons he loves being a ranger. And he was standing on a section of the floor that was squeaking, and, and he fell through the floor. [laughing] Steve: And he was up to his waist, you know, at the floor level. And, all these javalinas that lived under our our, trailer. They all shot out in many directions. You know, I think there were probably 20 or 30 of them there. And so it was a huge contrast to move from a, an urban park, you know, pointing out features of the Washington, DC skyline to suddenly being in a really great wilderness and, you know, with extremes like, you know, I remember unpacking my, my household stuff and it was hot and I was wearing shorts and a t shirt and, you know, a couple of days later, a snow and ice storm came through and covered everything in, like, half an inch of ice. And so, a brave new world. Jesse: Yeah, yeah. Totally different. It's funny I, I worked for Mike Reynolds a few years ago, and he, yeah, when I told him I was coming here to the North and he's like, oh, Steve Bridgehouse, he's there. He was my roommate way back when. Steve: It's a really big community, you know, and as you work in more parks and you say, oh, I did a detail there, I was there temporarily or we have a mutual friend. I think there's still something like 20,000 of us. And so but a lot of us know each other, and I know our paths will cross again and again. So it's really satisfying about the career. Jesse: Yeah. He, he's also a pretty tall guy. So for him to go up to his waist is, he went pretty far in that trailer floor. Steve: Needless to say, his parents were not impressed. And, but he's gone on and been very successful, and now he's, you know, the superintendent of Death Valley. So, we're lucky to have him there. Jesse: Yeah. For sure. So, you said you've worked for 12 different parks. Steve: I have. Jesse: And, you know, we don't need to cover all of them here, but I'm curious, like, what were some of the more, I guess, experiences or places that got kind of deep down in for you? Steve: I think everyone's gotten through to me. When I left Big Bend, I went to Mesa Verde, and I had one season there as a seasonal interpretive and interpretive, guide. And, you know, taking groups of 50 through, you know, thousand year old architecture. And Mesa Verde is just a treasure. And you really feel like you're in an apartment complex, you know, it's just the, you know, seeing, you know, these these ancient builders might have left an infant baby print, you know, like a footprint of an infant and in a doorway, you know, or you might see loom hooks on the floor where someone was making, you know, weaving something, you know. But, what I got into there was, I was I had been exposed to these cultures before, but I started to understand what their calendars were. And at that time, we were trying to understand how people build their architecture relative to the sky. And, you know, there was just it kind of opened my eyes in a new sense. And, so it was really great. Even though I was very young, I was probably 22 or 23. Even if I had the chance to put on a backpack and help someone carry equipment, and just so that we could do this kind of science, it was really formative in shaping, you know, what my interests would become and how much, how much desire I would have to see more of this, you know, the history on display because, you know, national parks and other public lands, they protect these places. And I've spent most of my life running around and just trying to see some of this. And it's just fascinating. Jesse: Yeah. I think, one of the cool things, too, about Mesa Verde is that there's still 22 Tribes that are connected to that place. And, you know, I had friends who've worked there, and they have had really powerful experiences with those Tribal members who still come back and, you know, continue to have their there's ancestral and cultural ties to that place. Steve: Connections are still very strong. And, I'm happy to live in a time where, you know, all of us are listening a lot more to what those stories are. And listening to people today help us understand who was living there and why they were doing what they were doing. So I think especially for people who can listen, there's so much we can take in and learn, but, it is amazing to me too. And there are so many Tribes and so many people that I never would have expected have walked up to me and told me about the connections they have, the places. And I would, you know, it helps me to be less of a judge and to, you know, you know, like I said, just listen and try to see what I can learn from people. And it just goes on and on and on. So, one really cool place because, you know, when I was working at Mesa Verde, we would talk about, you know, where did these people go? And, and, I would say, oh, well, there are these, for example, l…
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