Across Yosemite’s Wilderness

Across Yosemite’s Wilderness is a memoir about the life and career of Laurel Boyers – the first woman to serve as head Wilderness Management Ranger in the park’s history and the first to do full time mounted backcountry patrol. This two-part memoir begins with a travelogue of Laurel’s last mounted patrol of the park as a ranger. This section, a chapter for each day of the patrol, walks readers through the wilderness all around the park’s iconic Yosemite Valley. The narrative of the patrol is interspersed with park history, stories from her career, descriptions of the geography and vegetation, and Laurel’s reflections on her 30 years of service. This section immerses readers in the details of a backcountry patrol, introduces them to the park and its history, introduces them to Laurel at the end of her career, and sets the stage for the chronological story of her life.

Part two tells her chronological story, beginning with deep roots. Her great grandfather ran a way station for early visitors to the park, welcoming Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir in 1903. She was born in Yosemite Valley in a little house near what is now Yosemite Village and went on to join the Park Service in 1976. Her narrative is full of details on what life as a wilderness ranger is really like – stories of helicopters, search and rescue operations, multi-day hikes, mounted patrols, and the challenges of managing the wilderness. It also describes unique connections she made throughout her life, from having known Ansel Adams personally (and having a polaroid he took of her) to leading former first lady Laura Bush on a weeklong backpacking trip through the park. Through her career and experience, she reflects on the global significance of Yosemite and the importance of effectively managing and protecting its iconic wilderness and other wild places across the world.

This will be a window into Yosemite’s history, the inner workings of the park, the life and career of a trailblazing wilderness ranger, and the most remote corners of the park. Laurel Boyers’ perspective is an incredibly unique one, and few people have been lucky enough to live a life quite like hers.

Laurel Munson Boyers was born and raised in the Yosemite Valley and lives there to this day. She joined the National Park Service in 1976, going on to become the first woman head Wilderness Management ranger in the history of Yosemite National Park. The bulk of her 31-year career was spent in the wilds of the park not often reached by visitors, protecting the park’s most remote corners. She has been featured in podcasts, National Park Service oral histories and books, and highlighted in a museum exhibit, “Yosemite Women,” displayed in the park from 2020 to 2022. She was the recipient of the Park Service’s most prestigious national wilderness management award (Director’s Wilderness Management and Stewardship Award – Wilderness Champion) as well as the annual Yosemite Award for the most significant contribution to the park in 2008.