Nothing lifts spirits quite like a little mischief, so I created Galen-tines—a holiday named after Galen Clark, dedicated to celebrating park rangers and our devotion to Yosemite (and keeping ranger morale from eroding faster than a granite cliff face).

The week kicked off with an interactive station where visitors could write love letters to the park (and some to park rangers!) — followed by chocolate bears, gummy bears, and a pink waffle breakfast.

To keep things light, I dressed our office bear as "Cub-id”, who would strike plush arrows at rangers whenever they needed a pick-me-up to fall in love with the park again (or a reminder of why they signed up for this job in the first place). And to bring it all together, The Granite Gossip zine featured a custom crossword, a cartoon, a maze, and a tongue-in-cheek story — and even a bonus "build-a-bear" riddle quest that would lead to a bear Lego in a bear can.