Tales From a Rogue Ranger

Rosanne S. McHenry (Indie author, 2024)

Genre: Non-Fiction/Memoir/Outdoors

Via: Blog Tour/Author Request

Pages: 236

Note: We received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We didn’t think our favorite ranger, Ranger Rose the PAWsome, could top her last book, Trip Tales: From Family Camping to Life as a Ranger. Which we like, totally love-ified. (See our brilliant review: Outdoor Memoir Delights in Trip Tales.) 

Just shows you what we know.

She’s Baaaack!

Cuz Ranger Rose is back! With as much insight, info. and entertainment as ever! In fact, her latest book, Tales From a Rogue Ranger, Totally Rocks. In fact again, Her Momness almost dropped it in the sink. Reading while teeth-brushing. Cuz Mom couldn’t put it down!

Silly Mom. (Like that’s new. Insert Kimber eye roll here.)

Anyway, here’s the scoop on Ranger Roses’s latest magnum opus:

Real Ranger Life

Dive into the pages of this book for an inside look at Real Life as a Ranger. This includes a little crazy, a little creepy, a little You Have Got To Be Kidding, some Big Adventures, and a whole lot of joy. The stories speak to the comedy and tragedy of being a park ranger, a job that’s nothing like you might imagine – especially during the 1980s when female rangers were pretty rare. Protecting the people from our parks and the parks from our people is a curious challenge unique to park rangers and one presented “in Living Technicolor” in Tales From a Rogue Ranger.

Format

This book is divided into roughly two parts. Part one focuses on the author’s experiences as a patrol/peace officer. The second part is about her experiences as Whitewater Rafting Program Manager at Auburn State Recreation Area. Doing “the greatest job in the world” at both.

Also: Photos! Maps! The dangers of rushing water and centrifugal force. “Officer Dummy.” Crazy Woman Ranger. Recipe for stupid, aka: how alcohol, drugs, raging hormones and too many peeps crammed into a small space on a hot summer day makes some folks lose their minds. A terrorist attack goose. Killer caterpillars. “You book ‘em and we cook ‘em.” ”Young and invincible” is a thing. Until it’s not. Ouch. The “Yoda of the California State Park system.” Clipboard interviews. Endless death by PowerPoint. “Rubber ducky” rafts. (Bad idea. Really, really bad idea.)  Lots more, including:

Didn’t think we’d look that up, didya? Heh heh heh.

Some standouts:

Chapter 17: Mudslingers. (Scene stealer: Clem the mule.)

Chapter 24: Crazy Woman Blues

Chapter 37:  Woman Down! (Takes all kinds!)

Soft Spot

Full disclosure: This book is set in the American River Valley of California’s Sierra Nevadas. One of us happens to absolutely love the Sierras. Mom could eat ‘em up with a spoon! She spent so much time there as a kid and young married – back when the earth’s crust was cooling – that they were gonna charge her rent. So we had a soft spot for the setting right off the bat.

We also have a soft spot in our hearts for most any well-written tome about The Great Outdoors and Wide Open Spaces.

Moreover, Mom’s dad was a seasonal park ranger when she was little’un. Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Her dad rangered at Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park and then at Washington’s regal Mount Rainier National Park. So we also have a soft spot in our heart for all things ranger-ish. We’re just funny that way.

Boogie – Woogie

So one of us was doing the Bow-Wow Boogie as soon as this book arrived. Opening it up, one of us kept boogie-ing. And is now doggone tuckered. Cuz we read Rogue Ranger cover-to-cover in one day. Without dropping it in the sink. And loved it!

 

All of the Above

Yea, verily. Tales From a Rogue Ranger is top-notch. Tightly written in an absorbing You Are There kind of style, every page pours out warmth, wit, and whimsy. Often told with a twinkle, it’ll grab ya in chapter one and not let go until the final page. We’re telling you this because you may want to avoid the sink while reading. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. So pack your sense of wonder, awe and adventure as well as your funny bone. Cuz you’ll need all of the above!

“… the years between 1986 to 1989 at Folsom Lake and the Auburn SRA had really transformed me. I had become a rough-and-tumble patrol ranger. Venturing into the remote canyons of the American River taught me how to embrace adventures. Whether it was bumping down a backroad in a four-wheel drive truck, gliding down a trail on a mountain bike, hiking into the canyon on foot, or cascading down the river on a raft, I was ready to face whatever lay ahead.”

By the way, next time ya see a park ranger, smile and say “Thanks.” Just sayin’.

Kimber: Wait. Do I smell bacon?

***

Our Rating: 4.5