On Friday July 23 retired National Park Ranger and author Bruce Bytnar will be at the Peaks of Otter Lodge on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia to sign copies of his book “A Park Ranger’s Life” and answer any questions folks may have about his career, park rangers, or the National Park Service.
The Peaks of Otter is within the Ridge District of the Parkway where Mr. Bytnar retired as District Ranger in 2008. The event will start at 4pm and will be located in the lobby of the Lodge.
Friday evenings the Lodge serves their well known buffet in the main dining room. The Lodge has rooms available and the campground across Abbott Lake are available for overnight guests. The opportunities for great food, breathtaking scenery, hiking trails, and good reading and conversation could make this an enjoyable evening to remember.
For more information you can contact the Peaks of Otter Lodge at 1 800 542 5927.
On Monday evening May 10th author Bruce Bytnar will be at the Roanoke County Library Headquarters to discuss his book “A Park Ranger’s Life: Thirty Two Years Protecting Our National Parks.” The talk will begin at 7pm and be followed by a book signing.
Mr. Bytnar spent 27 years as a park ranger on the Blue Ridge Parkway working in three districts in both North Carolina and Virginia.
“A Park Ranger’s Life: Thirty Two Years Protecting Our National Parks” is now available through the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s on line store. You can access the store by clicking on Blue Ridge Parkway Store in the right colum on this page.
Twenty seven of my years as a National Park Ranger were spent working on the Blue Ridge Parkway and many of the tales have the Parkway as their setting.
What is a park ranger’s life?
- A wild bear who favors Kentucky Fried Chicken
- A fugitive wanted in eight states
- A dog that saves his owner’s life
- Wildland firefighters battling nature and fire
- A ghost haunting a colonial mansion
- Hikers who stay lost because they think searchers calling their names are wild animals
- Being willing to risk your life to make our parks safe and help preserve them for the future
These are just a few experiences you will read about in A Park Ranger’s Life. Drawn from the thirty-two-year career of National Park Ranger Bruce W. Bytnar, you will discover what it takes to be a park ranger, what threats to visitors and resources they deal with on a daily basis, and what you can do to help protect and preserve our national heritage.
The latest addition to the Blue Ridge Book Club is Waterfalls of the Blue Ridge by Nicole Blouin, Steve Bordonaro, and Marilou Wier Bordonaro. Waterfalls are magical places – places of solitude, of serenity, of subtle power. This guidebook provides all the information you need to find these moving spectacles of water and gravity. Some are a stone’s throw from the road; others hide in the backcountry. Directions, hike distance and difficulty, and a brief history of the area accompany each description. So get out of your chair and into the woods. And don’t forget your camera: you’ll want to capture the elusive beauty found inside this must-have guidebook.
The latest addition to our book club is Best Easy Day Hikes: Blue Ridge Parkway by Randy Johnson.
This spectacular book details all the easy hikes along the entire Parkway, with detailed trail maps, distances, and mileposts. This book is perfect for the novice hiker and families looking for an outing together on the Parkway that can easily meet the needs of everyone in your party from young to old.
