Life’s a Camping Trip
Local author writes a memoir about her childhood camping trips and life as a park ranger
After a career as both a National and California State Park Ranger, first-time author Rosanne McHenry shares stories of her childhood camping trips and how they inspired her to write her book, “Trip Tales: From Family Camping to Life as a Ranger.”
McHenry was born in San Francisco and became a Park Ranger after volunteering at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area while attending San Francisco State University. “I was volunteering every weekend, giving guided walks and talks about the natural history of the area,” she says, “and then after six months, they invited me to join their staff, and the next thing I knew, I was a National Park Ranger.”
In those early days, McHreny worked in the Marin Headlands doing cliff rescues and naturalist duties and educating the public about nearby beaches, marshes, and the environment. She would later spend a couple of summers at Mount Rainier National Park in Washinton state, working in a glacial mountain environment.
In 1976, McHenry married her husband in Mendocino and became a California State Park Ranger after having her first child. “We got very involved with the Mendocino Coast,” she says, “MacKerricher, Russian Gulch, Van Damme State Parks, we lived on the coast, and we also lived at Hendy Woods for about a year and a half.”
McHenry filled the book with stories from her childhood camping trips and her
time as a park ranger — like when she ran away from her dad or when he brought a picnic table to the beach. There’s even a story about the time she fell on her behind in front of a group of Boy Scouts during a hike at Mount Rainier National Park. “The great thing about the book is that you can pick it up and put it down. It’s a collection of stories and is always fun and engaging, and yet it sends some important messages about the importance of the outdoors and taking care of our planet,” she said.
McHenry says that the role of a park ranger is to help park visitors understand the importance of our National and State Parks. “I wrote these stories because I want people to understand how important it is to go outside, to appreciate the beauty of nature, and to know that this is our home, our unique world and that these parks belong to all of us.”
“Trip Tales” is the first in a three-part series, and McHenry says that the second book will focus on her days working as a California State Park Ranger filled with stories of her travels with her own family when her kids were little. The third book will focus on her time as a naturalist ranger in Death Valley Park, living in a small camper while doing outreach to park visitors.
“Trip Tales: From Family Camping to Life as a Ranger” is available at Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino or online at Amazon on paperback or Kindle e-book. To learn about McHenry, and her future adventures, visit her website at triptalesbooks.com.