Editors note: Andrew Post and Ryan Lawrence began their season last week at the Entiat Ranger District.  For the next 10-14 weeks they’ll get a feet first introduction to the North Cascades as they hike and monitor some of most beautiful alpine wildernesses in the lower 48.  Read on to learn more about our two North Cascades Wilderness Rangers.

Andrew Post

Raised in the Pacific Northwest forests, I’ve always enjoyed the natural world. Through my years in school, I maintained a connection with the outdoors through “weekend warrior” activities and longer trips during breaks.

Post-graduation I consolidated my material possessions to what fit in my rig, made a B-line for the Rocky Mountains to climb/explore, and let the “endless summer” take the reins in deciding where the next adventures were waiting. Supporting myself with seasonal conservation work, a little busking, and a few odd jobs, I’m now back in the PNW to be a wilderness ranger in the Okanogan-Wenatchee forests in central Washington.

Ryan Lawrence

After having zig-zagged almost 3,500 miles from Austin, Tx, through multiple national forests and parks, having suffered through three yellow jacket stings, two transmissions, one shower, and what felt like 300,000 airplays of “Patience” by Guns’n’Roses, I finally made it to the Pacific Northwest, a place with a powerful and quiet beauty. I still can’t get over just how big the trees are, their rosemary scent, their gravity.

I grew up in coastal NC, a much flatter land with a briny smell (which he loves). I hoofed it all the way from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail, and would recommend it to everybody, and nobody, if you know what I mean. I like authentic Mexican moles, John Ford vistas, completions of twenty yards or more, and climbing things. I’m super-duper excited about spending his summer in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and sharing my love of the natural world and its conservation.