At Yosemite, Misha learns about the Chinese and Black history from rangers, Yenyen Chan and Shelton Johnson. She also overcomes one of her greatest fears.
Misha gets on the road to see America, and to tell a new story of our National Parks. When she gets to her first park, Yosemite, she learns about the Chinese and Black history of Yosemite from rangers, Yenyen Chan and Shelton Johnson. She also overcomes one of her greatest fears.
The Southern Sierra Miwok Nation, The Bishop Paiute Tribe, Bridgeport Indian Colony, Mono Lake Kutzadika'a, North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California, Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians have been stewards of this land for over 4,000 years.
More about the podcast:
Hello, Nature host, Misha Euceph, didn’t know about the National Parks until she turned 21. But after an experience in Joshua Tree and watching 12 hours of a national park documentary, she sets out on a road trip to answer the question: if the parks are public, aren’t they supposed to be for everyone? In this podcast, she goes out to see America and tell a new story of our national parks.
Hello, Nature can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Learn more about the podcast and our season sponsor, Subaru.
This season of Hello, Nature is brought to you by the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness — a brand new kind of Subaru, built to take you further off the beaten path and into your next big adventure. Learn more at subaru.com/wilderness.
ACT I
I didn’t grow up visiting National Parks. I grew up in Karachi -- it’s a big ass city in Pakistan.
The biggest in the country. Then, when I’m 11, I move to a big ass city in California called LA. You might have heard of it.
I don’t even hear about the National Parks until I’m in my 20’s.
And of course, I find out about them in the most Misha way possible.
A silent meditation retreat right outside of Joshua Tree National Park.
I’m the kind of person who, when I decide I’m into something, I go all in. So one second, I’m finding out about the American National Parks at the ripe old age of 21.
And the next second, I’m into National Parks.
I read about them, follow all the individual park instagram accounts. I even end up watching a 12 hour documentary about them. A documentary many people would say is the most boring thing they’ve never even watched.
But I, Misha Euceph, I am RIVETED by it. Bawling my eyes out. Feeling as patriotic as I do when watching Simone Biles land her signature move.
I watch and read everything I can find.
And I decide, I have to go see the National Parks, these American Parks, for myself.
I must follow in the footsteps of Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, Stephen Mather.
I must see America. Really experience it.
I’m going to hike all the hikes, camp, gaze up at the stars, hang out with the bison, and the wolves, and the bears-- ok, maybe not the bears.
Misha: oh my god oh my god who do i get it?
I’ll touch the red rocks, feel the mist from the waterfalls, bathe in the cold streams.
Misha: That was the shower i needed
So that’s what I do.
Because these are America’s parks. They’re supposed to be my parks. Our inheritance. For everyone.
But, wait. Am I really supposed to believe that?
I mean, it’s 2021. We’ve lived through some… you know, you were there. In the last few years, if I’ve learned anything, it’s that America sometimes has trouble with … honesty.
Is the story of America’s national parks that I know - true? Complete? Or am I buying into a whitewashed version?
I wanna know the truth about “America’s Best Idea.”
Tom Rodgers: Misha, nice to meet you.
Carolyn Finney: Yeah, hi
Misha: Nice to meet you too, I’m misha.
Cassius Cash: My name is Cassius Cash
Derek Des Rosier: Welcome to the Two Medicine Valley
You’re listening to Hello, Nature by REI Co-Op Studios. A new story of America’s Parks. Brought to you by Subaru.
I'm your host, Misha Euceph.
Misha: Ok there we go. Left. Cherry Valley campground. Oh my gaawwwwshhh
Hello hello? This is Misha Euceph, your host. Welcome to Hello, Nature. Although it’s really like hello, fuck you nature. I’m tired already.
Here’s the problem… I’m not a backpacker, a rock climber, a big car camper… I’m not even super hikey. Not high key, cause I am V E R Y high key.
You know, I don’t hike a lot, or do really hard hikes. The longest one I’d done before this trip was a day hike.
So, I have a LOT to learn.
I call my outdoorsy friend Elizabeth Nakano for advice.
Elizabeth: Hey I’m Elizabeth. Yeah, when Misha called me saying she wanted to go on this trip, I was like. Okay. Do you think this is a good idea?
And she gives me a list of what I need to get… and she will not stop talking to me about poop shovels…
So anyway, she tells me to check out a store called Recreational Equipment Incorporated, Co-Op. Aka REI.
Scott: Hey there, how’s it going, I'm Scott. Welcome to REI.
And Scott teaches me about the ten essentials for camping:
Navigation
Scott: Some people may not know this but your phone actually has a compass in it.
Misha: Oh wow, did you know this?!
Headlamp
Sun protection
Fire
Scott: Let’s talk about fire.
Misha: ooh yes!
Scott: oh are you a pyro?
First aid
Shelter
Knife
Scott: We’re at the fun stuff now.
Misha: yes! KNIVES!
Scott: KNIVES!
Extra water
Extra clothes
Extra food.
And I gotta say REI has some pretty extravagant freeze dried food options.
Misha: Classic spaghetti with meat sauce! Pasta Primavera!
Scott: Chicken and dumplings!
Like forget national parks! Why don’t I just go to space?! Oh wait, I’m not rich like Jeff Bezos.
Once I have my gear, I assemble a team to help document this trip, this experience.
And I pick pros, like Elizabeth.
And Jonathan.
JS: Hey yeah, this is Jonathan.
Because, if I’m gonna be driving all through the country, a white guy is definitely gonna come in handy.
JS: Yeah I dunno... Misha called me and asked if I wanted to do this. I grew up with camping so I was like, yea cool... And I also needed the money.
Franchesca: Hey, it’s Franchesca.
And Franchesca Diaz because -- well, because she’s amazing.
Franchesca: I’ve only gone camping once in my life and it was because I got stung by a bee five times on my face. So whoever said that nature was the great outdoors definitely did not experience that.
I started with Yosemite, ‘cause depending on who you ask, it was the first National Park. Also, it’s up north in California, so close to home.
Misha: We are very close to cherry valley campground.
And THAT’s the story behind how I end up here with Jonathan --
-- in the dark, exhausted from driving for 9 hours, trying to find our campsite.
Misha: What an adventure..
By the time we get to the campsite, it’s 11:56 PM.
Camping 101 amiright? Always set up your tent in the dark. Especially if it’s your first time ever pitching a tent by yourself.
Misha: Jonathan, you gotta come see my house. I did such a good job. It’s so organized in here.
It’s day 1 in Yosemite, it is freezing and silent.
Misha: Alright. I am getting up.
That’s me after a great sleep on my sleeping pad that never inflated. Thanks a lot, Scott.
Getting out of my tent.
There are a lot of tall pines. No bears came last night to visit us. Really thought they would.
It’s still amazing to me how quiet and how simple the world becomes once we leave the city.
Misha: Which oatmeal would you want? Would you want the apple cinnamon? Maple brown sugar? Cinnamon spice
And after that delicious breakfast of instant oatmeal and watery coffee -- thanks, Jonathan -- we hit the road again.
I’m about to see Yosemite valley.
There ARE a few things that terrify me about going out into nature.
The first: bears.
The second: injuring myself. I’ve JUST recovered from a knee surgery and I am not about to get sidelined again.
The third: driving. Sometimes I get panic attacks driving. It started in the pandemic. I know I know. Going on a road trip. Not an intuitive move.
I’m kinda freaked out that it could happen again.
And fourth: I’m a brown person. And a brown traveling through America-- not always easy.
After a couple hours of driving, we finally make it to an entrance station at the Park.
Ranger: You have to go into Yosemite valley to get to a visitor center.
Apparently we aren’t in Yosemite yet? But we play it cool.
Misha: And to get to Yosemite Valley do we have to…
Ranger: You have to go back out and that big line you saw, that’s to go into Yosemite Valley.
Misha: We didn’t see the big line.
Turns out we actually made a wrong turn and have ended up in a remote corner of Yosemite Park called Hetch Hetchy.
We own our mistake and explore a bit.
Misha: Yeah let’s just go and see and drive a little bit. Let me just look at the map.
It is gorgeous.
Misha: Oh my god! Wait can we not, we can go down there!
There’s a huge dam, and a pristine lake.
Misha: every year the hetch hetchy water power system produces 1.7 billion kilowats
A rock tunnel.
Misha: Hellooooooo nature!
Even though we’re completely off-track, “off-trail” as nature people would say, I’m kind of curious about Hetch Hetchy. This used to be John Muir’s favorite place.
The first time he visited Yosemite was 1868. And listen to how poetically and lovingly he writes about Yosemite --
This is HUGE at the time.
These writings sway the hearts and minds of Americans to take action. To protect the lands that we now call National Parks.
John Muir helps make Yosemite a federally protected National Park.
Misha: the beauty and ecological importance of the land before you was recognized by congress in 1890...
In Hetch Hetchy, there are little signs everywhere. Signs about the dam, the reservoir. Signs about the rocks.
And signs about indigenous people,
The people whose land we are walking on.
Misha: My ancestors lived here. For generations central mi wuk, southern sierra miwuk and mono lake Paiutee people…
It’s pronounced PIE-yute young Misha.
Misha: Who made mountain places like this their homes using the higher mountains for trade routes…
Misha: … I wish the navigation would come back to life.
We’re back on the road, and I start to get anxious.
Are we gonna reach Yosemite Valley at all?
And just like my insides, the road is going up and down. So windy.
And service is spotty. So our navigation is cutting IN and OUT.
GPS: Turn right. No wait, turn left. Redirecting.
That familiar sinking feeling begins: any minute I’m gonna have a panic attack.
GPS: You made a big big mistake Misha Euceph, hahaha…
I know this can go one of two different ways...
And then I remember a game. A road trip game.
The name of the game is snaps.
Franchesca taught it to me before I headed out on the road.
Here’s what you need to know. You think of a name, the other person tries to guess it. You have to spell out the word using a code.
For consonants, use a sentence. Now, The first letter of that sentence is the letter of your word.
For vowels, a e i o u, use snaps,. One snap for a, two snaps for e, three snaps for I… and so on. The guesser puts the word together by listening to the sentences and counting the snaps. If i’m thinking of the name TOM for example. Here’s how I would clue you.
Okay, it’s pretty confusing, but basically there are words and snaps and most importantly, the road in front of me stabilizes.
Franchesca, You. Are. An. Angel.
I think about what word I want Jonathan to guess. It was a word I learned before I came to the park. A word that, funny enough, has everything to do with roads leading into Yosemite National Park.
Do you want to try and guess the word?
The name of the game is Snaps.
Want to know who built the roads leading into Yosemite?
(Snap 1x)
Want to know what life was like for them?
(Snap 4x)
Not everyone does, unfortunately.
(Snaps 1x)
Misha: Can you guess what it is?
Jonathan: Wawona?
CHAN: The Wawona road was built in a really record amount of time, as started in December of 1874. And completed in April of 1875.
My name is YenYen Chan, and I work in Yosemite National Park as a park ranger.
She’s an interpretive ranger, which means she does a bunch of research, and creates natural and cultural history programs. And people who visit the parks can learn from them.
I talk to her about the Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants who helped build the initial infrastructure of Yosemite. This was before it became a National Park.
And the reason why it was built so fast was because there were two other stage wagon roads, that entered Yosemite Valley in the summer of 1874.
She’s talking about the southern route into Yosemite Valley. 23 miles of road built by hand in just 4 months.
And so if they hadn't built that road in the winter, the hotel down in the south would have lost all tourism, to the other areas where people were entering the park because they had a stage wagon road. So starting December, they hired I think, in the newspapers, it was 50 Chinese to start work on the road. And then that group grew to about 300 Chinese workers. And, you know, not every day, it was snowing, but you get up into the elevation of like 6000 feet, 7000 feet, and so there was probably some snow and snow storms that they had to battle through. And from what I'd heard a lot of these construction projects, the Chinese would camp, wherever they stopped work that day. So they didn't go back to a nice lodging area, they just kept moving along the road as they were working.
So, these aren’t just like the normal roads we take into the park today. They’re wagon roads. But without them, the valley wouldn’t be what it is today.
So before roads, people would either hike, which was not very common, but John Muir apparently hiked all the way to Yosemite, or they traveled on horseback. So it was a very uncomfortable long experience and journey to get to Yosemite Valley.
Learning about the Chinese history in the park was a really welcome surprise because I had not Thought about the Chinese having a role in our national parks until I did this research.
Yenyen wants to know more about these workers who have been basically erased from our National Parks history.
She learns how they constructed roads, worked in hotels and restaurants. There’s even a nearby town called Chinese Camp.
And then, she comes across a man named Tie Sing.
I started looking into his background, and I discovered in another book, that there was a picture of him in his white apron, standing amongst 19 men who were sitting at a dining table. And that's when I was just like, wow! it became more real when I saw a picture of him this black and white picture. And Tie Sing has this great smile, not, you know, open, broad smile showing his teeth, but it was like this really, like he was just a happy person standing there amongst all these men that were dressed really nicely. And um they’re sitting around these nice tables and there’s linen and silverware. And at the head of the table is head of the parks, Stephen Mather.
The expedition Yenyen is talking about was instrumental in getting people excited about starting the National Parks Service. Stephen Mather was the NPS’s first ever director. And this group of suits at a table that Tei Sing is the chef for was called, The Mather Mountain Party. They were a bunch of big deal politicians who visited Yosemite back in 1915.
At the time Tie Sing is photographed with the Mather Mountain Party, he’s already a part of the US Geological Survey. A well-respected employee. He’s invented all sorts of ways to make incredible food and preserve it in the backcountry.
Yeah, they had to every morning soak newspaper and the cold streams and wrap the meat in it and let the air and the wind and evaporation keep the meat cold throughout the day from camp to camp.
He also brought cantaloupe and a sourdough starter. That was what he made fresh breads, hot breads every evening for dinner. And he could make incredible pies and other pastries.
Tai is an adored member of USGS for 30 years. Like they name a mountain peak after him, adored.
It's a pretty tall granite peak. And from the top of Sing Peak. Look across at all these high mountain ranges all around you. You can see a semi Half Dome, you can see the minarets which is outside of the park towards Mammoth Lakes in that direction to the east. And so it's a 360 panorama of the mountains around the eastern southeastern part of Yosemite.
Tai dies in 1918 in a backcountry accident. And after his death, his legacy almost disappears.
But in 2013, Yenyen, with the help of the Chinese Historical Society, starts an annual campout for the AAPI community. And the whole goal is to celebrate Chinese History at Yosemite. And the most important part of the campout is a hike up to the top of Sing Peak.
Adn in building this experience for other people to feel connected to their roots and to Yosemite, Yenyen starts to feel more connected.
You know what's really neat is that most of my relatives are in Hong Kong and there's a few in Singapore and but for the most majority of my life, I don't have very many aunties or uncles or cousins here in the US. And so what was really neat about these pilgrimages is they they have a gathering in wawona in a nice evening dinner, where we are Big potluck, and people are staying in these cabins together in Wawona. And when I was invited to stay with them one time, so I didn't have to drive so far back to my home. It was like this big community, this family and I had all these Auntie's, and they're all like, you know, feeding me Chinese food and just, you know, taking care of me. And it was just really neat to also connect with this country's history and to feel pride in the fact that, in your summary, we have these contributions from Chinese Americans that you know, that we think it's really important to share this with the public and also among the Asian American community.
MISHA: Why is it important to you to preserve that?
YENYEN: I think there needs to be a greater understanding about the role and the contributions of immigrants to this country. And I think, also the struggles that they went through. And hopefully, it will help us to realize, you know, we don't want to repeat, you know, some of the things that happen in our past.
By the Wawona entrance to Yosemite Park, there’s an old structure. It’s called the “Chinese laundry building.” Because - over a hundred years ago, it WAS a laundry building. Then it turned into a wagon repair shop.
Right now, there’s work equipment in there. It’s basically like storage. But YenYen is working on restoring the laundry building back to its original state, to make it into a museum. A museum of Chinese history at Yosemite. With photos of people like Tie Sing.
It’ll be a place where more Americans can meet the people who built Yosemite. The founders who look a little more like us.
ACT II
Misha: Now we’re driving through this forest like part of the park and we’re 24 miles away from Yosemite Valley. It’s cliffy to the left. But it doesn’t feel as dangerous as the backroads.
And after going around in literal hilly circles, we finally get to the normal people entrance to Yosemite.
Misha: Hi how's it going?
Ranger: Need a map?
Misha: Yes we’ll take one. Thank you! And do you need to see it up close?
And I totally thought that all the parks were gonna be sooo White. But--
Misha: Another person of color! We’ve seen two rangers of color so far.
And I decide nothing, not even my fear of cars was gonna keep us from making our way into that granite-walled valley.
Misha: Wow tunel! Woo. Oh Wowwwww. It starts to change pretty drastically. Wow the waterfall!
Jonathan: Oh my god hahaha. Oh my god. Wait pull over.
Misha: Yeah I’m gonna pull over. Oh my god and there’s people in Shalwar kameez and full pakistani outfits right in front of me. What are the odds?
I want to say that I feel more at home, more welcome where I stand, because there are actual PAKISTANI people standing next to me, but… that’s kind of a lie.
I am excited but I am also embarrassed. Like why are you dressed like that? You aren’t doing nature American enough!
I think of myself as well spoken, erudite even - but when it comes to nature, I am in so much awe that I just like, turn into a salty sailor or something.
Misha: Wow jonathan it’s fucking gorgeous.
The afternoon sun is shining on the valley, right over half dome and waterfall after waterfall is cascading down steep granite cliffs.
So we get out of the car, and take a picture.
Remember how I told you I was obsessed with this 12 hour documentary on the park? There is this guy in it. Shelton Johnson. He’s like in almost every episode. And I was like, holy shit a Black park ranger? I have to talk to him.
Misha: Hi! How’s it going?
Shelton: Misha? Jonathan?
Misha: Yes, Misha and Jonathan, nice to meet you!
Shelton meets us in front of the visitor center. And I’m star struck. He starts moving toward us with long strides, a bag slung over one shoulder. And his shoes are so shiny.
Shelton: My father was a sgt. In the army. So guess what I had to do as a childhood chore?
Jonathan: Polish them?
Shelton: Polish his boots and my own. So it’s just in my head. Thou shall not leave the house representing the family without shiny shoes. That’s actually one of my nicknames.
Misha: Shiny shoes?
Shelton: Here is, shiny shoes.
Shelton is also an interpretive ranger, just like Yenyen Chan. He’s also a poet, author and musician. He’s literally a walking encyclopedia about Yosemite and the National Parks. But what he’s really really known for-- like what he’s famous for is telling people about the history of Buffalo Soldiers at Yosemite.
On his weekly audio series for the parks, And it’s called a Buffalo Soldier Speaks, Shelton inhabits a flute playing member of the 9th Cavalry -- a semi fictional character named Sgt. Boman.
Sgt. Boman: How you doin. This is sgt. Boman. You know, I've been talking to you about being here in Yosemite. You know, when I found out that Yosemite is something is something new and it's something different. It's a national park. I didn't really know what that was until we got here.
There aren’t a lot of books about the Buffalo Soldiers. And there were even fewer when Shelton started creating his program almost 20 years ago.
Shelton: I should have gone to Berkeley or Stanford and actually entered a Ph. D program. Because everything that I was doing was primary research. So it was old newspapers, old correspondence, civilian correspondence, federal or, and or army correspondence, photographs, it was all primary documentation.
I have to say, listening to Sgt. Boman is more poetic and more insightful than probably any dissertation on the planet.
Sgt. Boman: And in my mind, a national park is something so pretty you want to do you want to put it in your pocket, you want to take it home with you. But taking any bit of Yosemite home with you is illegal. And that's what the job was for the ninth cavalry in Yosemite, beginning in oh three, but also this year right now 1904 to keep people from taking pieces of Yosemite away.
The Buffalo soldiers only work in Yosemite for a short period and are essentially wilderness rangers. They’re supposed to enforce a brand new idea.
Shelton: This is taking place during the time of Manifest Destiny. And Americans still have this very much an inquisitive mindset towards the land. And so as John Muir put it, you take on a business person, he would have said, businessman, you know, other issues. That's another program, right? If you take a businessman and put them into a forest in Yosemite or Yellowstone, they don’t see board feet, they'd see timber, they'd see this, they have this acquisitive extractive mindset, in terms of how they perceive the land. When you show them game, that's what they would see. They wouldn't just see an elk, or here a mule deer, they would see something that you would hunt.
Sgt. Boman: And it was just our luck, troop k’s luck, 9th cavalry’s luck, to show up into somebody and have to tell all those people that what they've been brought up to believe was right. was now wrong. Now that ain’t easy duty.
Misha: I think the question I have is like, in your research, did you come upon any instances where any of the ninth cavalry members were hurt or treated badly? Or like if there's any documentation?
Shelton: there's, there's it doesn't need to be. It's the thing to keep in mind in terms of race relations in America, right around 1900 was the worst of times. And an African American historian by the name of Rayford. Logan became famous within historical circles, circles for coining the phrase the Nadir. And the Nadir in AI dir refers to the lowest point in African American History up to that date. And so he he pinpointed that year that specifically what was the year, that was literally the lowest point in terms of how African Americans perceived themselves and how society white society and I have to use that term? Because at that point, that was the term you know, how did they perceive African American? So the mindset was, that among Rayford, Logan, that 1901 was that year, the Buffalo Soldiers were here in 1899 1903, and 1904. So African Americans, mostly from the south, were enforcing law order on euro Americans during the literally the worst time that you could ever expect to do that.
Misha: Did you think in that situation where if somebody if like a euro, American or a white person comes in and you know, one of the ninth cavalry members says, like, sir, can you please give up your arms and the person resists in that situation? Are you saying that because they were part of the military, they felt like they had the power to enforce.
Shelton: They didn’t feel like it, they did. You know, regardless of race, like I said, they were they were men who knew they were men, and they were combat veterans, and they never were out on patrol by themselves. So you would have a sergeant, a corporal and a private or Sergeant a corporal, two privates, but they act as a unit. They work as a unit until they have backup. So think of it this way. Five, combat veterans from the Philippine insurrection. Now when you send it from their point of view, this is a picnic. This is a walk in the park.
Shelton turns to Jonathan, who’s now prettyyyy uncomfortable.
Boman: White isn’t the color they the people need to pay heed to the color a brown either or black. The color they need to pay heed to are the yellow of my stripes. That means our massage is the blue of that shirt that I'm wear. You know that's the color that they need to see. Or if they don't quite make that out. They need to see the color of that car been I got wrapped around my shoulders.
Shelton: In 1866 four different regiments of two of cavalry and two of infantry were created the ninth regiment of Calvary, the 10th regiment of Calvary, and then the 24th regiments of infantry and the 25th regiments of infantry. So those four groups to have cavalry to have inventory that were African American. And they became known as the Buffalo Soldiers, simply because of their involvement engagement with indigenous people during the Indian Wars. So this would have been post civil war from 1866 and then moving forward in time. And the name came about because when the Plains Indian antagonists this would be like the Lakota Dakota nakota Sioux, the Cheyenne when they when they saw these Soldiers, they noticed that the hair on their head was just like the medic cushion between the horns of the bison. And because the bison is sacred to Plains Indian cultures in general, that was perceived by these African Americans as a compliment. They were used to getting a lot of non complimentary things about them. But that was a compliment.
Shelton takes us from the visitor center to a nearby meadow.
Misha: So what is cooke’s meadow?
Shelton: It’s a meadow named after someone named Cooke!
We dodge pedestrians. On the walkway, a bicyclist stops dead in front of us and says to Shelton, without explanation. “You’re the guy right?” “I don’t remember what I saw you in, but that’s you right?”
Looks like I’m not the only parks nerd, fangirling over Shelton. He’s a total celebrity in Yosemite.
Shelton: Hello folks how are you?
Visitor: hello, how are you?
Shelton: Whenever I see african american visitors I like to make a point of saying hi. The relationship is different because a lot of african americans, when they see someone in uniform, they just think cop. The uniform pushes them away. And instead they could be going, wow a black ranger. That’s so cool...
We walk over to Cooke’s meadow, right in the middle of Yosemite Valley.
Shelton: I've devoted my life to this work. Because if not me, then who would? Who else would be doing it? I mean, the African American Ranger that was before me that told this story was Althea Robeson. Before Althea, as far as I know, it was a man by the name of Kenneth Noel. And so it was like literally a baton being passed one to the other.
So Althea handed me the baton, she told me about the story. And then I built on it, you know, yesterday, you're given something that you didn't you have the responsibility of adding to it. And so I realized that well make a story that was forgotten, not just known in the park, but known around the world.
I want African Americans to feel that parts belong to them. And the story is the tether. It's the umbilical cord that ties African Americans to the ancestors. And that's why I tell the story.
And that’s why I’m still here. Because I want to hand out the baton but there’s no one behind me.
And so for me bringing that story back is it's just like a plant that's never had roots, finally being able to touch the earth and be able to create a foundation for itself.
Shelton: That's it. That's really it. I as an African American working for the parks not seeing myself reflected and the staff not seeing myself reflected in the visitors to a great degree. It's felt like you're rudderless. It felt culturally speaking, that you were adrift even though you felt at home at the same time, because it was so beautiful. But finding that story gave me an anchor. You know, I was no longer a float and adrift I felt I Wow, this is this belongs to me as much as anyone else. That's why I'm still here. Because I'm home that's why I'm here. Place makes me feel happy.
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ACT III
Misha: We’re gonna hike today. The upper yosemite falls. I don’t know if we’re gonna make it all the way to the top or if we’re going to do it until columbia rock. Jonathan doubts me. But I have faith. It’s because I was a baby yesterday on our baby hike. Ooh! Wawona campground. Nobody is in Wawona campground and I have just veered off the road…
Looking for parking in Yosemite is worse than looking for parking in LA. But we find a spot, and get ready for the hike.
The Upper Yosemite Falls trail is 7.6 miles round trip. We’ve got water, we’ve got bars, apples, sandwich stuff. And to protect my old-lady knees, I have REI hiking poles. My very own Nimbus 2000.
Misha: I’m gonna take my slowass time, with the trekking poles. I’m not gonna let someone’s tailgating stress me out into falling to my death or fucking up my knee again….
The hike is basically all uphill. We zig zag our way up and up and up and up and up… (fades out)
Misha: (breathing loud) whoever is cutting this tape. Yes, I am weak sauce. No shame.
But the view--
Misha: Oh my god holy shit. Beautiful. We see half dome. We see all the meadows and the pine trees and the cars in the parking lots and the rivers.
The sky is a clear blue. The mist in the air feels like my own private facial. It’s also so nice after working up a sweat.
And then we round the corner…
And we see the Yosemite Falls.
Misha: Oh my gosh (slips) ahh….
I slip like about a million times.
Misha: Okay, there’s like spindelly shit.
It’s kind of hard not to be distracted by how gorgeous the waterfalls are. Like, HOW DO PEOPLE HIKE THIS WITHOUT DYING?
Wet wet wet. Wet and slippery
When we arrive at the base of the waterfall. I just have to stop.
I’m not stoned. But if I were, I’d have sat there for hours.
Misha: Whoa. Oh my god.
The water cascades down the rocks in slow motion. It turns me from a salty sailor to Keanu Reeves.
Misha: Whoa. Dude. Whoa.
There are literally no words for it.
Misha: Dude.
Well, maybe two.
When I think about John Muir -- which clearly I have been -- I think about this picture of him standing at the top of Glacier Point with Teddy Roosevelt. His beard blowing in the wind.
That was 1903. And in the background of that picture is THIS waterfall.
You know how I said before that , Yosemite is associated with 7 tribes. The Southern Sierra Miwok Nation, The Bishop Paiute Tribe, Bridgeport Indian Colony, Mono Lake Kutzadika'a, North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California, Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians.
For nearly 4,000 years, native people called this land home.
But in 1851, a bunch of Euro-American gold miners move here. Settlers. They called themselves the Mariposa Battalion.
And, when I say gold miner, you’re probably thinking they were just there mining gold right? No. They were burning villages. Destroying food supplies. MURDERING women and children.
Colonizing.
Committing genocide.
By the time John Muir comes along in 1868, he is stepping on hallowed ground ravaged by war and racism. He writes in his 1901 book “Our National Parks,” “As to Indians, most of them are dead or civilized into useless innocence.”
The man has no idea what he is talking about.
He shows more compassion and empathy to the plants and animals in the area. He writes natives out of the history of Yosemite completely.
Or at least, he tries to.
These days, a lot of people are talking about cancelling John Muir a lot right now. It’s a whole debate. I mean, John Muir is a racist. But, without him, there wouldn’t be a Yosemite National Park.
How do I reconcile that?
David: I don't need to reconcile it. I don't think it's important to reconcile, you know, someone like him or Teddy Roosevelt, I'm, I'm not too interested in exploring their complex humanity.
David Treuer is a writer and member of the Ojibwe of northern Minnesota. His book “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee” is about how indigenous culture and civilization is still very much alive in America. And you need to read it right now, ‘cause I couldn’t put it down.
On one hand, I'm really grateful for her national parks, I'm grateful they exist. If you've been to Niagara Falls, you can see what happens when there isn't a park to protect the land around that thing. You know, if Niagara Falls were a park, we wouldn't have we wouldn't have as many strip clubs, you know. And we wouldn't have as many like, like, haunted houses, you know, you'd have those things where you go in and then like, scare the crap out of you before you come out the other side. Yeah, I love those. But I don't need that. On the lip of Niagara Falls, you know? Yeah. And so I'm very grateful on personally, on one hand, for as flawed as they were, as human beings as flawed as their visions were for what parks are and what they mean and who they're for and, and how those parks relate to native people. Despite all that, I'm glad that Yellowstone is, is there not a strip club and a haunted house. You know, that Muir, and more pointedly Teddy Roosevelt, were incorrigible racists doesn't need to be reconciled. You know, what do they say that, you know? If you give like, you know, 100, monkeys, typewriters and they type forever, someone will eventually by the law of averages, write a Shakespeare play? Right? You've heard that before? You know, yeah, it's just, it's just like, given an eternity, you know, the random sequence of letters will coalesce? Well, they'll pop out a Shakespeare play. Not on purpose. It'll just happen. So like, you know, you give a couple racists like, you know, enough time, and they might have a good idea here and there. But it doesn't need to be reconciled in my mind.
Misha: Well, but what about the fact that these people are also the very people who have trails and monuments and parks named after them?
David: Hey, you know, this, this, this country's in a monument toppling mood. So I'm not too worried about it. But here's the thing, you know, john Muir meant by conservation was different from what we might mean by it. You know, and what Teddy Roosevelt thought of his conservation was, you know, protecting the park so he could go there and blow everything alive away into smithereens. When he went to Yellowstone for the first time, he was so butthurt that he didn't get to kill every animal he saw, he was really mad. And they had to soothe him, and like, calm him down and take him on some side trips outside the park, so he could just shoot things. I’m serious. So even his idea of conservation was different than viewers, you know. But yeah, I wouldn't go so far as to say that that conservation is a uniquely native concept, but it is a concept that we share. It is a concept that we that we acknowledge And many of us, not all of us, because again, you know, we're frail, we're human. But you know, many of us try to live by, you know, the tribes in what's now Yosemite Valley. miwok among them, had been shaping those forests for centuries to encourage acorn growth, which was a staple food source of theirs. So, we've been shaping this landscape for for millennia.
Misha: Ugh. Hate this granite shit. Hate it hate it. Wanna pass me Jonathan?
Misha: By the way, I’m still hiking. I ate a little sandwich, drank some water, and got back to it.
Misha: If i’m like, fuck this Jonathan, I’m turning back, you have to respect it. Okay, thank you.
And while I’m out here, one slip away from my death, I keep thinking about why John Muir's is the name synonymous with this park? He’s like on California’s commemorative quarter, looking up at, guess what? Half Dome.
I mean he did do a lot to preserve Yosemite. But you know who did more? The people who lived here for at least FOUR THOUSAND years before him.
In 2015, the National Parks as we know them are about to turn 100 years old. And this very fancy organization called the American Association of Geographers put together a summit. And the topic of the summit is basically John Muir’s legacy.
They invite Carolyn Finney. A cultural geographer.
Carolyn: It’s Finney! Finney!> Carolyn: Yeah. hi! My name is Carolyn Finney. You know, some people say Dr. Finney, you know, got that little PhD after my name. Carolyn’s book, Black Faces, White Spaces, had just come out. It’s an investigation into systemic racism in the outdoors, and it’s huge. The president of the conference that year asked about eight of us geographers to sit on the plenary and the question he asked all of us to consider to present on was, is John Muir still relevant. And i thought, ohhh he asked me -- Okay, and I was told that we had 10 minutes. So when I was thinking about what my answer was going to be, I said, I'm not just going to talk. I mean, I want to think I wanted to really think about it. What was clear about john Muir's writing, he was many things. He was a thoughtful man, when it came to thinking about non human nature, he was really committed to that. He spent a lot of time out in nature. He was in conversations with Roosevelt, coming up with wilderness and thinking about parks and management and all those things. And John Muir was also racist in his perspective of black and Native American people. In one of his books “A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf,” Muir talks about Black Americans using extremely derogatory language. And Carolyn is like, I want a chance to respond. So instead of doing something super academic, she decides she’s going to talk directly to John Muir. Carolyn: I imagined myself in conversation with him. And I wrote up a funny scene, I made it kind of funny, I was living in Kentucky, and I was inviting him over and giving him green tea. And he was kind of stunned to see me that I was sitting on this national parks advisory board as the only black person and like what's happening right now, but he was polite. “Take a deep breath, Mr. Muir. Close your eyes and see yourself and your beloved Yosemite. Find your center, my wilderness brother. And let me share with you a few thoughts. I would tell him stories of my parents and the land they cared for deeply. I would tell him that I've never been to Muir Woods, the steam rising from his green tea could not hide a surprise. But I do have a fondness for the baobab tree and the cherry blossom tree. I would tell him that I've gone to Yosemite where I have met a black park ranger who was holding it down with his heart and music from his flute. I would tell him about the city and the rose that grew from concrete even when no one else cared, I will leave out Tupac because that would confuse them giving too much info at one time. I would tell him that the wilderness is not only those vast natural expanses where we can see those vast natural expanses we can see what they are also those places, vast and unfamiliar that many of us occupy in our daily lives, and they are worthy of preservation and our care, the stories, the natures, the lives that he did not know how to know. No worry, Mr. Muir. I've got your back even if you don't have mine.” Carolyn: At the end, I look at the audience and say the answer to that question for me, is john Muir still relevant? it's not whether he is relevant or not, is that he becomes relevant on my terms, right. That's what it is, I get to choose what they -- it’s not that he's irrelevant, you know, or is like that i i want to understand that as equally as I come into the story as the way that I understand my own experience, as a black person, as a woman as a human being here on this planet. Of course, his point of view has influenced me whether I like it or not, you know, actually, that's almost inconsequential about whether I like it or not. It's just how I understand that. And where am I in that story? It makes news. All these headlines about John Muir being a racist. And then, she gets a call. From John Muir’s great great grandson. Carolyn: And he was getting it all so many calls from the media on his phone, he said he was so overwhelmed, he thought something had happened to a member of his family, he was getting so many phone calls. And I interrupted him and said, That's because something did happen to a member of your family. You know, I know he's a figure from the past. But he has a legacy in the present. And that we can hold those differences in a way that are respectful and are in service to a larger collective intention that we both want to be in service to, right.I think that's part of the challenge is that I understand people don't like to look at things that are hard to look at. Right, but that's part of who we are as human beings. And that's often where we learn the most about who we can be as human beings. So for me, it's like we got to get better at holding that. So it is making visible, right what's always been there. ACT IV That last thing that Carolyn said: “Where am I in this story?” Yeah, where IS she in this story? Where are the buffalo soldiers and the Chinese immigrants? Where are the Mi-Wuks and the Pai-yute and the natives who have been living here for thousands of years? Where am I? And can anyone tell an honest story of our American Parks without including all of us? Misha: I’m someone who came here as an immigrant and I had a lot of fears. I was afraid of people, I was afraid of biking, I was afraid of swimming, I was afraid of the outdoors, I was afraid of going into an Abercrombie and Fitch store. And I think through a lot of that was the way to get through it was to power through or avoid it entirely and I think neither one of those tactics actually work. Ooh chipmunk? Squirrel! Squirrel right? Fat squirrel... After hours of hiking and my high key complaining, we are still not at the top of Yosemite falls. And, Jonathan and I continue going up. Up, up, and up. Misha: The top isn’t all the way at the top of that fall is it? It is? WHAT? There’s so much still to hike. Misha: how you guys doing? Good! Did you go all the way to the top? Oh you’re heading up? Hikers: Thiiinking about it. How about you? Misha: I mean I dunno I’m kind of a scardy cat. I’m gonna try. Gonna take it one step at a time. People coming down from the top are a steady stream of information. Misha: (sighs) Ah! Misha: How was it? Hiker: It’s beautiful, I went to the viewpoint, but I couldn’t go to the top. I just knew my limit. Misha: Does it get more precarious than this? Hiker: No it’s just really rocky all the way up to the falls. Misha: Is it really scary? Hiker: when you get to the highest point you walk down from where those trees are and they have this iron railing. Misha: Oh so you can hold on to something? Misha: Did you guys see a bear? Hikers: We heard someone else saw one. Misha: I heard from the same people as you. Hikers: Yeah I think it was right around that corner. It was huge. It looked hungry. No. No no no NO. Why? Why on my first hike at my first park on this trip? Why, nature, why!! But admit it, you knew there was going to be a bear didn’t you? There wouldn’t be a podcast without a bear. And a mysterious death in a national park. Just kidding. I was in Arizona last summer, driving there actually and had a panic attack. Maybe the worst I’ve ever had. When it happened, I called my dad. And dad said something that calmed me. You know how with fear, people always say, “The only way out is through?” What my dad said that day was, “The only way out might be through, but you don’t have to make it all the way through today.” So I don't. I get my car towed all the way back to LA. I board a bus and let someone else drive me to Arizona. Misha: where? Wait where is it? Jonathan: So on that little cliff. Like where that green patch is? Misha: Oh he’s a brown bear. Wow i always expect black bears to be black. You guys see it? Oh wow, he’s coming down fast. Yeah he’s coming down really fast. I feel like we should go. I wanna go back, right? I don’t wanna go up there. He’s like literally fucking sprinting. No! These people can get mauled. I’m going back! You know, for me, and for a lot of other people, being out in nature is hard. It brings out all kinds of fear. The physical kind-- the sweaty palms, the shallow breathing, the racing thoughts, the fast and loud heartbeat… the fear of hurting ourselves. Or worse, dying. There’s the emotional kind-- the fear of looking like we don’t know what we’re doing. Of being noticed for not knowing what we’re doing. And there’s the historical kind-- the blood shed that took place on the land we’re walking through. The blood of people who look like us. And, when all these fears start to bubble up, it’s really really hard to remember cliches like “the only way out is through.” When that fear is with you, IN you, it feels impossible to overcome it in one grand moment. And that’s the thing about nature, right? You can’t overcome it in one grand moment. If you hike all the way to the top, you must hike back down. If you run into a bear and you scare her off, she still might come back around. There might always be a bear around the corner. Being in nature is the act of living with fear. Of listening to it. It’s on the way down, the tired steps away from the bear, from the stunning waterfalls… ...that I start to move at the pace of my fears, to listen to them. To what they’re telling me about myself. About the nature all around me. And about this country that I call mine. There’s this one other thing my dad said to me that day in Arizona. He said, the hardest person to get to know is yourself. Because, we all have this version of ourselves that we WANT to be. And looking in the mirror-- seeing ourselves for who we are-- it means accepting who we are not. How far away we are from who we want to be. Yosemite is just the first of 8 parks. And in going to these beautiful places, I’m going to try to tell a new story of our American parks. I mean, it’s actually the oldest story of this land. But it’s new to me as an immigrant. And it might be new to you too. It’s not gonna be perfect. It’s not even gonna be complete. But I will hold up a mirror. To myself. To these parks. And to our country. To what it means to be an American.