One of the first things you notice about the Yosemite Valley is the hundreds of people just staring up at El Capitan. All summer and through much of the other seasons, there is a constant train of telescopes and binoculars and finger-pointers. At the same time, the Yosemite Valley has gained a reputation for a plague of tourists. When the park rangers met this obstacle with further regulations and mandatory bus shuttles, it sent huge shockwaves around the outdoors community. So I ask Jason, "What do you think of the tourists?"
" One of the things I try to remember when I think of the tourists is that if it wasn't for them, I wouldn’t work here. Even I found it confusing that I didn’t know where things were when I first got to the Valley. And I understand that people are always gawking when they come to the Valley. Everybody removes there brain because they are dumfounded by the beauty of the place. That may be bad, but it isn't so bad. It's because they love Yosemite."
Jason lives in a small housing unit near the Awhahnee, with a roommate. He pays seventeen dollars a week in rent. The drama of life in the valley seems to be the relationship between the valley workers and the rangers. He says, "If you’re not legally drunk, the rangers can arrest you. They'll get you if you even go out to run to the bathroom."
He continues, "A while back, a German couple was just over the (alcohol) limit, and she was under the limit, and they arrested him and put her in jail just for her own safety. We joke about how the Yosemite Valley is a police state. But on the other hand, if you mind your own business and don’t do stupid things, life is pretty easy here."
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