No Way To Start The Day

The day began with a camper waiting outside our RV at 7am wanting to tell us about a deer that had its leg caught in a tree. We immediately headed over to assess the situation and saw the poor thing thrashing around on the ground with one of its forelegs caught in the V of one of the orchard trees. We had no idea how long she had been there and assume she had stood on her hind legs to get at some of the leaves on the lower branches and slipped. I called the staff biologist who lives down the road, and when she arrived, Russ tried to help her free the leg but to no avail. She left to find more help and soon a couple of guys arrived. In a flash they had the deer free as they seemed to know the perfect strategy, but it appeared the leg was broken as she limped a couple of feet and collapsed, completely exhausted. Within a couple of minutes she seemed to have gotten a second wind, stood up, and limped off down the trail, that leg buckling beneath her with each step. We finished our rounds, returned to the RV, and about half an hour later heard a gun shot. Russ got in the cart and headed to where she had last fallen. There she was in the same spot, and the ranger had needed to put her out of her misery, a task no one would relish. This was definitely no way to start the day.

Later that day a young couple came to let us know they had just seen a mountain lion resting near one of the trails by the campground. They were adamant about what they had seen so once again we needed to radio the ranger. He said they seemed pretty knowledgeable in their description and contacted the Resource Manager. Seems it’s not really uncommon to find mountain lions near the campground or even in it! They decided it was too late in the day to head up the trail looking for it so would wait until the next morning. They never did find it.

The rest of the work week was busy with the campground filling every night but no more excitement like that one day. We did have a group of 25 show up unexpectedly one night after the campground was filled but with the help of the Chief Ranger, we were able to accommodate them. Our front TV stopped working on another day, but fortunately we had the extra one outside that we set up on the dashboard until we can get the other one fixed.

The work week did end on a good note though. The Employee Association held their annual Welcome Back Barbecue at the town pavilion in Torrey. Nancy had offered to watch the campground for us if we wanted to go since she and John weren’t, and though the weather had turned cloudy, cold, and rainy, we decided we’d attend for a little while. The Association provided the meat and lemonade while everyone brought a side dish to share. The rain stopped before we arrived, the pavilion was indoors, and it was nice to just mingle with some of the staff on an informal basis. Sorry no photos...I forgot the camera.