Paying tribute to our national parks

If you love America’s national parks, you’ll want to add the following movies and books to your library shelves:

The Calaveras Arts Council will present the film “A Walk in the Park With David Vassar” in a West Coast premiere event.

The showing will be held at Bret Harte Theater in Angels Camp at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 17.

At a VIP meet-and-greet reception planned for 9 the same evening, guests will have the opportunity to meet the Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Vassar following the presentation of this production featuring America’s national parks.

Vassar works with Backcountry Pictures to produce films highlighting not only the beauty of the natural world but also its power to heal and the importance of preservation for future generations.

Other titles of his include “Spirit of Yosemite,” “Discover Hetch Hetchy,” “California Forever” and “Conspiracy of Extremes.”

For details and ticket information visit: http://bit.ly/awalkintheparkdvassar.

This summer celebrates 100 years of the National Park Service. “The Wonder of It All” is a collection of 100 stories written by members of NPS. This tribute to our nationally preserved spaces recognizes the men and women employed by the NPS and those who volunteer their free time to ensure our public lands are continually well-cared for.

Steve Blizin wasn’t looking for a life-changing experience when he started volunteering at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. But after he and his wife met a group of volunteers with the Mountain Bike Unit, they decided to join.

The MBU assists the NPS, California State Parks and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority in patrolling Southern California’s state and national park lands.

Blizin says spending weekends as ambassadors for their local parks (on their bikes) has contributed to their physical well-being, strengthened their marriages, gave them knowledge and experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have and increased their appreciation of the world around them. The challenges also improved his management, communication and administrative skills, helping him become more satisfied in his day job and grow as an individual.

Don Frankfort has spent most of his adult life as a seasonal NPS ranger at South Dakota’s Wind Cave National Park. But for a few months in 1969-70 he protected the Statue of Liberty from visitors who wanted to write graffiti in the monument’s crown.

He’ll never forget the time he ran up the stairs prepared to scold a man but changed his mind after realizing the man couldn’t speak or understand English. The visitor from Czechoslovakia beamed when he saw the ranger. Grateful to escape the oppression of Communist rule, writing his name was his way of saying “thank you” to Lady Liberty.

Other stories include rangers and volunteers who saved wildlife, battled furry intruders while sleeping in rustic park housing, played leapfrog while restoring trails and experienced the thrill of being part of Yosemite’s historic horse patrol.

Anyone with memories of weekends or summers spent in any of our national parks will enjoy reading the stories of others who cherish these treasured places.

“Valley Walls: A Memoir of Climbing and Living in Yosemite,” by Glen Denny, chronicles the Golden Age of American rock climbing.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Denny and his friends spent several years forging their way up rugged cliffs with heavy, primitive gear. It surprises them now – 50 years later – to see how climbing has changed.

Denny tells of dining on sardines, crackers, salami and gorp (a 20th century word for trail mix). They slept on granite ledges only inches wide, hundreds of feet above the ground, with nothing but empty space in front of them.

Living simply and not too cleanly, they endured extreme cold and heat, hunger and thirst, discomfort, pain, sleep deprivation and survived many times on the barest of supplies.

Within the pages he describes what lured him and others to explore Yosemite’s granite heights – and what motivated them to keep climbing: the challenge of solving unique problems, figuring out how and where to make the next move, which pieces of hardware to use on rocks with cracks, flakes, ledges and chimneys and the joys and rewards of teamwork.

By the end of his last season he had grown accustomed to living in a vertical world, where it took four days to cover half a mile.

“Valley Walls” is a fascinating read and includes photos taken by Denny – some while hanging on the ropes.

Both books were published by Yosemite Conservancy.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Paying tribute to our national parks."