If the Sign Looks Interesting, Take the Exit
Ranger Emma Mitchell of the Lowell National Historical Park
Happy New Year!
One of my 'resolutions' for this podcast way back when I first started it was to broaden the definition of adventure. I want everyone to reimagine what outdoor experiences look like, to bring a new appreciation of the small moments or unique connections with nature that you can have right where you are now, that can bring so much joy and fulfillment.
You don’t need to be 17 miles into the backcountry, surrounded by woods and megafauna, to have a fulfilling outdoor experience!
So to kick off 2022, I’m sharing my conversation with Emma Mitchell, who is a National Park Ranger. You might think that means Emma spends her days dodging elk in Yellowstone, or recommending day hikes in Acadia, but no - Emma is stationed at the Lowell National Historical Park in very urban Lowell, Mass.
If you’re not familiar with Lowell, it’s a mid-sized city along the Merrimack River that was one of the first planned industrial cities in America. In the first half of the 1800s, Lowell was an important center of textile production it’s canal-powered manufacturing became a model for urban development across the country, for better or worse.
Today’s Lowell benefits from the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup that is the legacy of employing successive waves of immigrants, but has had to grapple with the environmental disaster that was the industrial revolution, and the economic fallout of all of the city’s foundational industries moving south or overseas over the last century.
Emma’s chance visit to Lowell as a child actually set the stage for her applying to be a ranger at that park, as we’ll hear. But we talk about a whole heck of a lot more - so if you’re a jack trapper, get ready to rumble. And even if you have zero idea what I’m talking about, I know you’ll want to listen in to this fun one.
Make sure you follow @RangerEmma406 on Instagram, and check out some of the other links from our conversation: