Forbidden Places I've Been

I recently read an article about ten places the public is not allowed to visit.  Sorry to say, I haven' been to any of them.  However, reading the article got me wondering about the places I've been that the public is not generally allowed to visit.

Here's my list of five places I've been that are usually off-limits to the public.  Unfortunately, because most of these places have restricted public access either because of safety or security reasons, I have very few pictures of these sites.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

5. The Fire line
Back in 1996 I served as a wild land fighter for the National Park Service.  I was part of the Stehekin hotshots and fought fire on the Wenatchee national forest.  We fought fire high up on the steep banks of Lake Chelan, far removed from any road or trail.  It was hard, dirty, dangerous work, which gave me a deeper appreciation for all wild land fire fighters.

4. Hanford Plutonium processing plant
During World War II, the United States authorized the research and development of an atomic bomb.  The bomb's top secret development was called the Manhattan Project and lead to the building of the bombs that were dropped on Japan.  The plutonium that was used as the fuel for the Nagasaki bomb was processed at the Hanford Nuclear facility in central Washington State.  Allow nuclear fuel processing at Hanford ended decades ago, the clean up on the 640 acre site continues to this day.  Due to national security and public safety issues, public access to the Hanford site is strictly regulated.  I have been fortunate to have visited the site for work on a couple of occasions.


3. Crater of Mount St. Helens
In the mid nineties, I worked for the Forest Service at Mount St. Helens.  It was a mere 15 years after the mountains eruption of 1980 and the volcano's crater was steaming and its central dome growing with an active lava flow.  With several of my Forest Service colleagues, I was granted access to the actual crater and got a scramble up the central lava dome.  It was a very humbling experience to stand on earth that had been extruded from the planet's core mere days before.

2. Wolf Rendezvous Site
In 1997, I was a Park Ranger with the National Park Service at Yellowstone.  Being a Yellowstone Ranger meant I sometimes had the opportunity to do things and go places off limits to the public.  One such opportunity was to accompany park wildlife biologist on wolf management expeditions.  On one expedition, I assisted a wolf biologist to a remote backcountry site that the park knew to be a wolf rendezvous site.  Rendezvous sites are places where wolf packs leave that years pups with a younger pack member, and head off to hunt. For obvious reason, the location of rendezvous sites are strictly guarded by the Park Service. For several hours until sunset, the two of us watched several cubs and a single juvenile wolf pass the time, while the older wolves hunted.  It reminded me of a teenager babysitting while the adults went out for dinner.  One could almost sense the juvenile wolf was not happy being left behind to entertain a half dozen pups who appeared to have endless energy.

1. Oval Office
In 1991, I worked as an intern for a Washington D.C. based environmental non-profit.  During that time, I met and became friends with an intern that worked in the White House.  During one weekend, the President was out of the city, which meant the intern was allowed to invite colleagues to tour the West Wing of the Executive Mansion.  We started our tour in the press briefing room, visited the Roosevelt and Cabinet rooms, the rose garden, and finally the threshold of the Oval Office.  We weren't allowed to enter the country's center of political power, but standing in the doorway one couldn't help but think of the history that had and would take place in that room.

How about you?  Have you been to any forbidden places?

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Sean Smith is an award winning conservationist and author. He is a former National Park Ranger at Yellowstone, Glacier, and the North Cascades. He is a TEDx speaker, and private pilot. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1989 with a degree in Political Science. He got his master's in Natural Resources Management from Central Washington University in 1996. He currently runs Washington State's efforts to reduce and eliminate toxic chemicals from consumer products and serves as the Mayor Pro Tem of Covington.

He has been writing stories and books since he was a child and currently writes national park thrillers from the shadow of Mount Rainier.

All his novels can be found here: Mr. Sean D Smith

Everything you wanted to know about being a Ranger

Ever wondered how a park ranger knows all the names of every flower or animal in their park? Ever wondered why some rangers where baseball caps, while others wear the famed flat hat? Ever wondered what advice rangers really give visitors on what to do when confronted with a bear on the trail?

The following is a talk on some of the fun, adventure, crazy questions and wacky adventures I got into over my five seasons as a ranger. It also provides my behind the scenes, never before shared insight into what rangers really do and think.

Enjoy!

Sean Smith is a former Yellowstone Ranger, and an award winning conservationist, TEDx speaker, and author. He writes national park thrillers from his home in the shadow of Mount Rainier National Park. To learn more about his thrillers click here or follow him on twitter: @parkthrillers

New Parks benefit all

The national park system is comprised of well known sites like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. Yet, it also includes lesser known jewels like Point Reyes, Devil's Tower, and Fort Vancouver. All total the park system contains nearly 400 sites, sites that contain and protect some of America's most sacred ideas, hopes, places. The founders of the park system envisioned that as America developed, its history unfolded, and scientific understanding deepened, the park system would expand to capture these new chapters in our ongoing story.


Currently, efforts in Washington State are underway to elevate Mount St. Helens to a national park. Adding the volcano to the park system would bestow added prestige to the volcano, attract new visitors, improve the regional economy, provide more stable funding, improve recreation, and better protect irreplaceable natural and cultural wonders. Recently, 100 economists, including three Nobel laureates signed a letter to President Obama detailing the economic benefits of protected lands such as that in the park system.


Unleashing Colter's Hell, my soon to be released novel, is set in Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is the world's first national park. Since that time more than 100 countries have followed America's lead and established approximately 1,000 national parks. Some have called the "national park" America's best idea.


Across the country today, community leaders, business owners, recreation enthusiasts, wildlife lovers, and countless others are re-discovering their nearby national treasures and exploring the benefits of adding their sites to the national park system. Several new park bills have been introduced this congress, many could be pass this Fall.


A park system that continues to evolve and expand, can better tell the American story, better reflect the changing face of America.


What benefits do you see from an expanded park system?