A Rookie’s Perspective: Why don’t you love this?!

Editor's note: Alexa is a first-time NPS intern at Devil's Tower National Monument. We hope to have her chronicle her first season as a parallel to the "Postcards from Alaska" series. Her author bio is available at our Contributors page.



As the third full week of my internship comes to a close and my life feels less like a vacation, I’m still struggling to understand the tourist mentality.

“Let’s hit as many of these national parks in a single day as we can! If we leave Yellowstone by 8 a.m., we can hit Devil's Tower and Badlands before the closing ceremony at Rushmore!”

What? Why? Why won’t you stay for sunset? Why not just camp here tonight, watch the sunrise, and then go to Mount Rushmore? Hell, spend a few days here!

Every day, I see families, groups, couples, lone travelers stop for an hour or two to look at the tower before speeding off down the twisting exit road to the interstate.  Park.  Snap a photo.  Walk up to the base.  Retreat.  Leave.  Like clockwork.   How can you love this place if you’re only here for seconds?  How am I supposed to help you understand this place if you can’t even experience these beautiful Wyoming nights?  How will you ever appreciate this place (“in your own way”) if you don’t even know what a full day here feels like?  How will you ever know what the other side of the tower looks like?!

I try so, so hard to encourage people to stay longer. “You know, we have a really cool evening program tonight at the amphitheater.  It’s the perfect vantage point for the sunset!”

“Sorry, we’re trying to get to Rushmore by sunset.”

“Sorry, we’ve got a full day of traveling to Yellowstone ahead of us.”

“Sorry, we can’t.”

During my walks and programs and informal talks with visitors, I try my best to “give them the information so they can learn to appreciate this place in their own way.”  I try to talk about whatever they're interested in so they, too, can see how amazing this place is.  I try to show them all the cool, secret rock ledges to sit on.  I try.  But still, somehow, I encounter those who just can’t enjoy themselves here.

Normally, I would think that’s okay.  The geographer in me knows that everyone will appreciate places in their own way – positive or not.  But I just can’t help but blame the person spewing those horrible accusations (especially after I’ve shown them the cool rock ledges).

You’re never going to love this place if you’re only here for an hour, mid-day.  I know you just want to talk about the tower right in front of you, but turn around!  Look at the view! Look at the plains and the Black Hills!  If you don’t love it, I’m keeping these rock ledges for myself.

Before this internship began, I thought I’d be sharing cool stories with curious visitors.  I thought I would be talking about geology to people who are truly interested in learning.  I thought I would be encouraging people to step off the nicely-paved tower trail to go explore the red beds or Joyner ridge or one of the many wilderness areas that speckle my map with green.  It’s not that I don’t try; I do.  Maybe it’s because I’m at a smaller park/pit stop for those going between Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone.  Maybe it’s because these people have schedules to keep up with or itineraries to follow.  Maybe I just don’t share enough of my enthusiasm (I think if I try to share any more enthusiasm I will be numb).

I guess it just takes patience and practice to make it through the day listening to people rush rush rush when the land is telling you to relax and stay for a while. Or maybe it’s just me, no one else seems as bothered by it. Whatever the case may be, I have an incredible amount of respect for park rangers now after seeing the amount of people they have to interact with on a daily basis, especially those who insult our park.