Faye

We stopped at the visitor station on our way into El Dorado National Forest.  We popped out of the van, and walked towards the little ranger booth. 

"Honey, everything you can find over there you can find over here"

I kept walking towards the booth.  Joey stops me and steers me towards a shaded bench next to the parking lot.  Sometimes, I can be a little oblivious. 

There we met Faye.  She is the ranger stationed at the visitor station.  She lives in a little RV there, and has been there for over 20 years.  She is a spry little lady wearing a visor and oversized sunglasses.  She's not wearing her collared ranger shirt, it is just too hot for that. She's likely in her 70s.   

She tells me that although the hut has air conditioning, it is much more comfortable to sit in the shade on the bench.   And that way she can keep track of what's going on better.  She said something about bears that I missed. 

I ask Faye if she can recommend any areas for dispersed camping.  She picks up a little map from the stack she has next to her on the bench. She goes on to tell us about every labeled feature marked in the map.  And she does this from memory.  You see, she can't quite read the map since she doesn't have her glasses on.  

So we hear about RV hook up sites, group camp sites, the 5 lakes in the area, which ones have motorized vehicles on them, and which are better for fishing.  And the jeepers. She tells us the water is very cold, and you could catch hypothermia.  The only people they've lost have been in the lake.  "If you get stuck out there you might as well just tell the Good Lord you're coming and to come get you quick."

After the soliloquy, she starts writing us a fire permit.  We didn't ask for one.  She says you don't need a fire permit if you camp in any of the 17 campgrounds that are on the map and that she just elaborated on.  But some of them may be full, so if you don't get a spot - you could just camp in one of the spots on the side of the roads with a little fire ring.  (Those would be the dispersed camp sites.) She assured us we'd find them.  (Where they were, that'd be up to us.)  She wrote the fire permit to be good until the end of the year.  

We thanked her profusely, as we walked away with our map and our fire permit.  Then she stops us and asks if she gave us a map.  I told her we were all set, we had our map.  Then she insists that I take a second map.   Clearly, the second map goes in your glove box so you'll always have it. She gets all sorts of people who've left their map at home in the drawer - the best thing to do is to just have two maps.  Then you'll always have one. 

We smiled as the next visitor walked up asking about fire permits.   Faye sits them down and tells them that she can tell them just what they need to know.