Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Endeaver to Persevere –

GreenbeltBarredOwl1a 1200x883 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A barred owl [Strix varia] out in a rare morning in Greenbelt Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson

The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — From humble beginnings in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama, where I was not even expected to live after my premature birth in a Southside hospital, I’ve climbed and clawed my way out of what seemed destined to be a mundane redneck existence and chased my own interpretation of the American Dream.

From one love to another, first sports then music and finally journalism, I’ve faced many setbacks along the way. But every time I’ve been shot down by people who thought they were better and smarter than me, I’ve found a way to get back up and keep going, with every flight rising higher and higher along the way like an eagle riding the thermals along the cliffs by a great river.

71964489 903449750035399 653663407924314112 o 1014x1024 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

An American bald eagle, along the cliffs over the Potomac River leading to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia: Glynn Wilson

In many ways I reached the pinnacle of my life and career 20 years ago when I made it like Huck Finn down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where I mastered the art of freelance reporting and writing and hit the front page of the Sunday New York Times with a byline story above the fold. It didn’t make me rich and famous or get me on CBS or CNN. It almost got me on the BBC, but I was bumped by Tom Hanks. But how many aspiring reporters or writers can claim the same?

It was there in that dripping wet swamp — the target of hurricane after hurricane — in a fantastic duplex apartment Uptown where I literally watched the true end of the greatest century and the end of the era of the mass circulation daily newspaper, and was forced to scramble to reinvent myself once again.

After an excruciatingly difficult decade of doing my familial duty and paying my dear mother back for bringing me into this world and helping me along the way by staying with her and letting her live 10 of the last 15 years of her life in her home, I found a way out and back into the game again.

Eight years ago I set out in a Roadtrek camper van remodeled into a media van and came to where any major political reporter would want to be for the big action, Washington, D.C.

It took some serious creativity to make it happen, since I had to live cheap and become my own publisher on the web. Always learning and trying not just to selfishly survive but to find a true way to promote altruism and help protect democracy and preserve human life on planet Earth, I discovered that I had something in common with National Park Service rangers. We both needed help to survive. Due to budget cutbacks from one administration to the next, the ranger is an endangered species.

So part of the dual survival strategy resulted in volunteering with the National Park Service and acting as a campground host, something I’m apparently not supposed to talk about much. But people deserve and need to know the truth. It’s a story like the Academy award winning movie Nomadland, only it’s not a sad story.

Saturday night, on the eve of Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022, a bit of a milestone occurred. I told my story at a campfire ranger program normally reserved for the special class of American professional, the National Park Service Ranger with the iconic hat.

NPS ranger Kevin Barry 1200x870 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

National Park Service Ranger Kevin Barry, Greenbelt National Park: Glynn Wilson

You see eight years ago, when I was exploring campgrounds in the D.C. Capital region, I discovered Greenbelt National Park. Technically it is not one of the 63 famous national parks. It’s just a “unit” of the National Park Service. But it is a pretty important place. It tends to fly a little below the radar like a low flying spy plane. Not that many people seem to know about it, but it includes a large campground just 10 miles north of the Washington Monument with 172 campsites and costs only $20 a night, $10 if you have the Senior Lifetime America the Beautiful Pass.

WashingtonMonument night1a 1200x1020 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A night shot of the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.: Glynn Wilson

As a camp host, for fulfilling a few of the duties of a park ranger since parks tend to be short-handed these days, I’m entitled to a free camp site with electric, water and sewer hookups. From here serving up to six months at a stretch, I’ve been able to spend time exploring the amazing nation’s Capital city, the most powerful city not just in the United States, but in the world. This is often overlooked or even derided by certain politicians.

Five years ago, I wrote a story about exploring Washington while camping here.

Explore Washington, D.C. from Greenbelt National Park’s Campground

This year, I turned that into a ranger program and delivered it to the public. This to me was as important as any lecture I delivered in my decade of teaching journalism at the university level, in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana.

In my life and times, I’ve seen people act like they are “big time” because they live and work in Tuscaloosa, where the Alabama Crimson Tide wins a lot of football games, or Atlanta, the biggest city in the South. Yeah, and New Orleans is a great place to visit for the food and music. But it’s nothing compared to this so-called swamp. Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are beautiful. But if you’ve never visited Washington, you’ve never been anywhere. This is the place to be.

And not far from here there is a forest on a mountain called Catoctin Mountain, which is also not that famous or well known. Yet presidents do sometimes sneak off and escape on the weekends to those woods, to Camp David.

If all goes according to plan, I will be there again this summer to escape the summer heat and humidity of the city. It’s only about an hour northwest of D.C. But in the shade it remains cool at night and in the mornings, and the bugs are not all that buggy.

The location fulfills a formula I drafted a few years ago to find a way to escape the worst effects of global warming and climate change. Starting in Mobile, Alabama, where I spent five winters a little more than 1,000 miles south of here, for every 300 miles you travel north, the average annual temperature drops about five degrees. Then, for every 500 feet you get above sea level, the temperature drops another five degrees. And the mosquitoes seem to find it hard to locate.

The place also has the benefit of acting as a rain shadow at times. There can be thunder storms rumbling to the north and south. Yet the mountain seems to block the rain, while the shade of the clouds and the breeze keeps you cool and dry.

Which makes me very happy while sitting outside under a canopy in the shade in the summertime, sipping an IPA and smoking my version of Tom Sawyer’s corncob pipe, where the living is easy. And these days, as I dreamed about nearly 40 years ago, with the modern technology of the internet, I can keep up with all the news and write about things until my heart is content.

If there is anything I can do or write about to make you happy, get in touch. And don’t forget to send in your contribution to help us protect democracy and preserve the Earth. Democracy and the planet cannot survive without some form of press. Even Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin knew that.

Trump and Putin know it too. That’s why they try to destroy the press to run their autocratic dictatorships.

So like the old Cherokee chief said he was told by the white eye from Washington, as quoted in the movie “The Outlaw Josey Wales”: We must “endeavor to persevere.”

More Photos

In the program, I showed some of these photos and more, and told stories about my visits to each of these places.

Greenbelt National Park

GreenbeltFallColor2022b - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Autumn color in Greenbelt Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson

GreenbeltFallColor2021a 1200x900 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Autumn color in Greenbelt Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson

IMG 0821 1200x900 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A snow covered bridge on a walking, hiking trail in Greenbelt Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson

IMG 7604 1200x900 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A white-tailed deer buck hiding out and munching on the vegetation under the snow pack after the first two blizzards of 2022 in DC: Glynn Wilson

big buck fall color1 1024x682 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A large white-tailed deer buck in the Greenbelt National Park Sweetgum field in Autumn: Glynn Wilson

national mall map 1200x895 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A map of the National Mall for exploring Washington, D.C.

White House

WhiteHouse night5ed 1200x767 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A night view of the White House from Lafeyette Square Park in Washington, D.C.: Glynn Wilson

White House9 11 14i 1024x648 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Marine One taking off from the White House lawn on 9-11-2015: Glynn Wilson

WH StateDiningRoom1a 1185x1024 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

The White House State Dining Room: Glynn Wilson

WH red carpet1a 1161x1024 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Rolling out the red carpet in the East Wing of the White House: Glynn Wilson

WH library1a 1200x900 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A view of the White House Library: Glynn Wilson

WH WoodrowWilson1a 1200x927 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service on August 25, 1916: Glynn Wilson

WH East 1200x836 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A view of the East Entrance to the White House: Glynn Wilson

U.S. Capitol

US Capitol framed2b 1200x843 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A unique view of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., July 7, 2018: Glynn Wilson

US Capitol07072018a 1200x809 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A view of the U.S. Capitol over the reflecting pool: Glynn Wilson

US Capitol night5e 1200x943 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A night shot of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.: Glynn Wilson

Memorials

Lincoln Mem3c - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

The Lincoln Memorial: Glynn Wilson

dc cherry blossoms1l 1024x693 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Washington cherry blossoms in full bloom framing the Jefferson Memorial: Glynn Wilson

MLK Memorial night1a edited 1 1200x891 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A night view of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.: Glynn Wilson

Teddy Roosevelt2b 1135x1024 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A statue of Teddy Roosevelt on Theodore Roosevelt Island, a presidential living memorial: Glynn Wilson

Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove

DC Fireworks 2014f 1024x677 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Independence Day Fireworks 2014: Glynn Wilson

DC Fireworks 2014g 1024x678 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Independence Day Fireworks 2014: Glynn Wilson

Museums

230879829 1424820141231688 7537042041608019062 n - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A view of the U.S. Capitol from the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian: Glynn Wilson

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.

It is the nation’s library, containing more than 162 million items in nearly every language and format—from ancient Chinese woodblock prints to digital files. Today, the Library preserves treasures such as a Gutenberg Bible, Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten draft of the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation in Abraham Lincoln’s hand. The collections also include the full papers of 23 presidents and the works of eminent Americans such as Hannah Arendt, Alexander Graham Bell, Leonard Bernstein, Frederick Douglass, Martha Graham, Bob Hope, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, and Booker T. Washington. Other treasures include the first printed book in the Western world, baseball cards, comic books and cookbooks, and millions of maps and atlases, photographs, posters, microfilms, movies, rare books, music manuscripts and recordings, and radio and television broadcasts.

Thomas Jefferson library books 1 1200x895 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Thomas Jefferson’s library books on display in the Library of Congress: Glynn Wilson

Shenandoah National Park

IMG 6689 ed1a 1200x900 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A cabin surrounded by peak fall color in Shenandoah National Park in the group area of Mathews Arm Campground, Autumn 2020: Glynn Wilson

IMG 6543 edited 1b scaled - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

An eastern cottontail [Sylvilagus floridanus ] is a New World rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is the most common rabbit species in North America. The population in Shenandoah National Park has never been hunted, so they are not too afraid of people, but please don’t feed the wildlife. They are wild animals and can bite and carry disease. This one I photographed on Sunday, July 12, 2020, looks a little mischievous and funny, like a certain cartoon character: Glynn Wilson

IMG 6569 edited 2b 1200x996 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

Visitors to Shenandoah National Park enjoy a summer sunset view along the Appalachian Trail by Loft Mountain Campground, Sunday, July 12, 2020: Glynn Wilson

Shenandoah black bear1z 1024x724 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A black bear along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia: Glynn Wilson

Shenandoah falcon quail1d 1024x832 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A peregrine falcon feeding on quail in Shenandoah National Park: Glynn Wilson

10505572 10203543723667514 93422627642375966 n - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A view of the mountains from the Appalachian Trail by the Big Meadows Campground in Shenandoah National Park: Glynn Wilson

BigMeadows fawn feed1b 1024x781 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A fawn just after feeding her doe mother’s milk in the Big Meadows Campground at Shenandoah National Park: Glynn Wilson

Skyline Bear1a 1024x668 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A black bear crossing Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Forest and Park: Glynn Wilson

Day Trips

IMG 1194 1200x965 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

The Maryland State House is the oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use and is the only state house ever to have served as the nation’s capitol: Glynn Wilson

IMG 1235 1 1200x1011 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

The Maryland State House is the oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use and is the only state house ever to have served as the nation’s capitol: Glynn Wilson

Yorktown program1a 1200x900 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

A National Park Service ranger during a program explaining the events that occurred in the summer and fall of 1781: Glynn Wilson

Alliance1a 1055x1024 - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington

The public can experience history with a tour on this 105 foot gaff-rigged schooner called the Alliance in the port of Yorktown, Virginia and ride out into Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean: Glynn Wilson

___

If you support truth in reporting with no paywall, and fearless writing with no popup ads or sponsored content, consider making a contribution today with GoFundMe or Patreon or PayPal.

pixel - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington
We hope you enjoyed this article.

Before you continue, I’d like to ask if you could support our independent journalism as we head into one of the most critical news periods of our time in 2024.

The New American Journal is deeply dedicated to uncovering the escalating threats to our democracy and holding those in power accountable. With a turbulent presidential race and the possibility of an even more extreme Trump presidency on the horizon, the need for independent, credible journalism that emphasizes the importance of the upcoming election for our nation and planet has never been greater.

However, a small group of billionaire owners control a significant portion of the information that reaches the public. We are different. We don’t have a billionaire owner or shareholders. Our journalism is created to serve the public interest, not to generate profit. Unlike much of the U.S. media, which often falls into the trap of false equivalence in the name of neutrality, we strive to highlight the lies of powerful individuals and institutions, showing how misinformation and demagoguery can harm democracy.

Our journalists provide context, investigate, and bring to light the critical stories of our time, from election integrity threats to the worsening climate crisis and complex international conflicts. As a news organization with a strong voice, we offer a unique, outsider perspective that is often missing in American media.

Thanks to our unique reader-supported model, you can access the New American journal without encountering a paywall. This is possible because of readers like you. Your support keeps us independent, free from external influences, and accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for news.

Please help if you can.

American journalists need your help more than ever as forces amass against the free press and democracy itself. We must not let the crypto-fascists and the AI bots take over.

See the latest GoFundMe campaign here.

Don't forget to listen to the new song and video.

Just because we are not featured on cable TV news talk shows, or TikTok videos, does not mean we are not getting out there in search engines and social media sites. We consistently get over a million hits a month.

Click to Advertise Here

NAJ 2024 traffic Sept - Ranger Program: Welcome to Washington