The Oregonian: April 14, 2006
Remembering a Mountain Man
By Jeff Baker
Randy Morgenson spent 28 seasons as a backcountry ranger for the National
Park Service, mostly in Kings Canyon National Park. He was a legend to his
fellow rangers, a man whose experience and knowledge of the Sierra Nevadas
was unrivaled.
When Morgenson didn't return from a three-day patrol in the summer of 1996,
a massive search was launched. Morgenson's friends and fellow rangers were
mystified that someone who knew the woods so well and had participated in
many rescues himself could disappear without a trace.
Morgenson exemplified the wilderness ethic and devoted his life to
protecting the mountains he loved. He grew up in Yosemite National Park,
where his father worked for the concessionaire and led wildflower hikes.
Morgenson received advice on photography from Ansel Adams and on writing
from Wallace Stegner, both family friends, and chose to work as a seasonal
ranger rather than pursue a career with the park service because he wanted
to stay in Kings Canyon, a place known to backpackers for its solitude and
spectacular beauty.
"He thought it was the most magical place in the country," said Eric Blehm,
author of "The Last Season" (HarperCollins, $24.95, 352 pages). "The people
who go back there year after year do it because they love their jobs. They
get helicoptered in, they live in rudimentary shelters, they do hard,
physical labor, but they keep coming back for more."
Blehm, a former editor of TransWorld Snowboarding magazine, learned about
Morgenson from a friend, Alden Nash, who had been Morgenson's supervisor
with the park service. Intrigued, Blehm spent eight years researching
Morgenson's life with the help of the journals he left behind and of
Morgenson's many friends on the park service.
"The cooperation I got across the board was amazing," Blehm said. "They
really wanted Randy's story told. Their attitude was, 'He was the best of
us. He represented what we aspire to be.' "
Morgenson became a backcountry ranger a year after the Wilderness Act was
passed and was on the front lines of cleaning up campsites and fire rings
and removing decades worth of garbage (what Blehm called "mountain man
middens"). He was a passionate believer in "leave no trace" and thought the
way to achieve that goal was through education, not issuing citations. It's
fair to say that the forests of the High Sierra are healthier and safer than
they were 40 years ago because of the efforts of Morgenson and his
colleagues.
Morgenson's fate did not remain a mystery. His friends did discover what
happened to him, but the sad ending does not spoil the life in the
wilderness.
Blehm discusses "The Last Season" at 1 p.m. April 22 on the Powell's Stage
at Wordstock.
