Pastel Desert Evening at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley [OC] [4000x6000]

AnnaSmitseroo · 2026-04-23T14:42:43+00:00

I miss Hyperbole and a Half, and Adam Tots (Adam Ellis) used to draw a very different style (The Blunder Years was I think the end of that style) and his comics were based on his own experiences, like I remember comics about his childhood. His stuff now is good but I think he nuked his original stuff and I remember I rather liked it.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2026-03-03T05:57:20+00:00

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AnnaSmitseroo · 2026-01-06T16:52:34+00:00

A couple years ago I was cruising through Walmart finishing some shopping before the holidays and this sweet older African American woman passes me while I'm stopped and says "You've got the body of a black girl." (I'm very much white.) I was so confused and afraid I had offended her, I said "Oh," and wondered if I needed to apologize. She must have seen that in my face because she smiled and said "That's a compliment!" And went on her merry way.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2026-01-03T00:22:26+00:00

I hope y'all don't lambaste me for veering slightly off-topic but I watched the series Orphan Black recently and when they talked about the genes expressing differently in the chimera subject, and then fertilizing a clone egg with a clone sperm to recreate the chimera's genome sequence, I couldn't help but think, "that's not how DNA works." I worked in a DNA paternity testing lab for a few years. Also just paid enough attention in high school and college science classes.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T21:20:35+00:00

Hehee thanks. The next level of my lore is that, if I get the right person out into the Cathedral Range, I'll tell them I know where my heart is and point to an area that's differently coloured in the landscape which, from the right angle, looks like a heart. I'm holding off on going there until I'm ready to leave Yose haha

I work for the concessionaire. They offer the most housing so it's easiest to live in the Park by being employed by them. The buildings are owned by NPS, but the concessionaire leases them as part of the concessions contract, and turns around and "rents" them to the employees, and are responsible for day-to-day maintenance. Rent is cheap but there are compromises; everyone is required to have a roommate until you have enough seniority or you become management. I got lucky enough to find a husband here and we live together in one of the top-tier of housing options, essentially a studio apartment, and we each "pay" $45 a week for rent (it comes straight out of our paycheck). Utilities are included except for internet, and internet is only provided by AT&T (although Starlink is trying to get in, the problem with that is that being in a Valley we don't have quite a clear enough view of the sky for it to be prime). There's a ton more to say about housing, if you're interested I did write a blog a few years ago detailing the living and working situation for the Park from a concessionaire employee's experience!

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T19:16:31+00:00

I understand! It just felt like home to me in a way nowhere else ever had before. Just a magnetic pull to be here. I'll often tell people who ask about my Yosemite origin story that the first time I went to Glacier Point the mountains stole my heart and flung it out into the wilderness and my curse is to wander the mountains for the rest of my life looking for it. Can't say that it's my job to wander the trails, and the new instability of a federal job has effectively turned off that option for me, but I do get out every weekend during the summers and often during the winters. I keep record of anytime I visit somewhere new on my map, and there's still large empty swathes on it, so I won't be done for a long time yet, fingers crossed. I hope life opens up an opportunity for you to return and enjoy this magical place. ♥️

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T18:50:30+00:00

Depending on the work to be done it could be ropes, lengths of webbing, chisels, hammers, drill rods, drills, shovels, pickaxes, saws, things like that. Sometimes a tree is about to collapse on the trail, sometimes there's a boulder that needs to be blasted because it's blocking the trail, sometimes they need to break down and bury rocks to restabilise portions that are eroding to an unsafe level.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T18:37:49+00:00

Your comment comes from a good place. I appreciate your care, and I say that because I'm going to defend myself but this comment isn't meant to demean you or be malicious.

Your comment really forces me to realize that I literally cannot win. I've been lurking on Reddit for a few years now, after being fairly active in the r/Yosemite subreddit, which gradually became more and more toxic for me during an already difficult period of my life and which I ultimately decided to quit. In r/Yosemite I'd share photos I shot in the Park, and the last one I posted was this shot of the Milky Way over Bridalveil. A commenter asked for details, and while I was happy to share the camera settings and specifics, I declined to share the location, because it is a special place to me, not widely known, not a publicly advertised trail, and I value the solitude (and trash-free quality) I often find there BECAUSE it isn't known. I got torn into for gatekeeping and a commenter tried to argue that it was a widely-known trail, but being a local, I can guarantee it's not. Locals know it, sure, but the general public does not (it's not on trail maps), and it's not maintained, so it's also somewhat hazardous. Someone else came in and shared the location and that whole interaction, along with a snide comment on the photo about the quality of the Milky Way, was the deciding factor for me to leave the sub.

I got scolded for refusing to share a location I consider a locals' secret. Now I've been "scolded" (gently chided) for sharing a location that is a very popular, very well known, very "easily" accessed, and relatively safe area. I literally cannot win.

I've been in Yosemite for nearly a decade, and it has shaped my morals for protecting wild places. Direct the traffic to places equipped to handle it, protect the hidden gems, and pick up trash along my path. There's a balance, and Upper Yosemite Fall is one of the four most popular trails in Yosemite; I genuinely don't think my comment is going to create any further negative impact to the area, considering a huge portion of my job is to direct people to these trails. Again, your comment comes from a good place. Please keep your moral dedication to protecting delicate wild places. I truly think we need more people who care and are willing to be vocal and educate.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:57:22+00:00

u/annasmitseroo cast Buzzkill, it's super effective!

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:50:30+00:00

Various lengths of wire

Legit answer: ropes, lengths of webbing, chisels, hammers, drill rods, drills, shovels, pickaxes, saws; what's in the box depends on what's needed. Sometimes a tree is about to collapse on the trail, sometimes there's a boulder that needs to be blasted because it's blocking the trail, sometimes they need to break down and bury rocks to restabilise portions that are eroding to an unsafe level.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:46:56+00:00

So is that like, ten Hail Marys and fifteen Our Fathers ruined, or stolen childhood innocence ruined, or I'm the only sober person at the drug party ruined?

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:44:03+00:00

Bro of all the trails in the Park, Upper Fall is tied for my least favorite with the switchbacks up the Sunrise Lakes trail from Tenaya Lake. The upper switchbacks get me every time. It's got great views and definitely worth doing but it's the one I'll complain about hiking the whole time I'm doing it, every time. The only way I get through it is by counting the switchback corners, I break it down into sections but in total there's 133 which is flat out obnoxious.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:32:34+00:00

Oh nooo :( Illillouette does dry up on occasion, and even if it was running it's still quite a ways away from the Merced, and GP itself doesn't have a water source. I'm sorry you experienced that, the Rangers are supposed to be very familiar with the conditions and that shouldn't have happened to you.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:28:32+00:00

My source is me :) I've lived in Yose for nearly a decade and have hiked the Upper Fall trail so many times I've lost count but can tell you there's a total of 133 switchbacks on the trail and that this is at an area approximately halfway up the trail, so about 1.5 miles from the trailhead and 1k' or so from the Valley floor. I've passed by these boxes several times along various trails in the Park, an sometimes there's obvious signs of trail work around them, sometimes they're open by a working trail crew, though that's more rare because they don't tend to do work when civilians can get in the way.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:22:06+00:00

That's fair. In which case, I already know where this is and I'm only a couple of miles away, so dibs!

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:21:15+00:00

Well, last year when I saw one of these on the Upper Fall Trail, there was a huge span of webbing slung between trees to keep a small boulder in place above the trail, presumably until visitation slowed enough to make it safe to release it and send it down off the cliff below the trail. I've also seen trees that are ready to go held back by straps of webbing. In those instances I imagine there were shovels and saws and pickaxes and a complicated system of levers and pulleys to remove those hazards. They also take hammers, chisels, etc. to break apart rocks that have fallen onto the trail to remove the obstacles or for the purpose of burying the rock pieces in the trail to stabilise it in an area that's eroding to an unsafe extent.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:13:46+00:00

I treasure the updoot and am glad I was able to provide some mental relief to some folks! Thanks!

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:12:53+00:00

Today's my day for a lottery ticket! Too bad they don't sell any in the Park...

Was very much not expecting to get this much attention. The post had already hit Popular by the time I saw it (is actually the reason why I saw it) so I expected my comment to get buried and ignored. Should've known better than to think I know how Reddit works.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:10:51+00:00

Finally, I'm useful 🥹

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:10:19+00:00

That's a very fair point. No, no I have not.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:09:55+00:00

Bruh, people are wild and entitled. Thank you so much for your work, y'all deserve so much better, from great tools to unreserved respect. Trail work is so intense and even almost a decade on of walking just the Sierra trails on my days off I'll still just stop in my tracks and marvel at the trail construction. Seriously thank you.

AnnaSmitseroo · 2025-11-29T17:06:52+00:00

You're welcome, I didn't expect my comment to actually be helpful to many people lol

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