“Yosemite just feels like home,” England told me when I encountered him after what had been an exhausting hike for me—7.5 miles to the summit of Clouds Rest.

He and a trail crew were working just past the summit. They have a camp about halfway up the trail, but they still have to hike back and forth to wherever they're working, and with shovels and tools. Actually, one of England’s colleagues passed me—with two shovels slung over his shoulders like I wasn’t moving (I was, just very slowly)—during my hike on the final steep bit of the trail.

Their six-month season of daily hiking and working is usually April to October, though this year it started later due to Covid. England first worked at Yosemite in 2006 and continued for three more field seasons. Then he traveled to other parks and other countries to work, but three years ago he came back to Yosemite. He’s running out of trails to hike but loves the park like a home. He said he usually travels internationally in the off-season. This year it was supposed to be Colombia, but that has obviously changed.

This summit is one of my favorites, with views of Half Dome and the whole expanse of the park. After I talked to England for a bit, he and the crew moved farther down the side of the mountain, past the summit. I chilled out on a rock with the summit to myself, which felt pretty glorious. I ate the sandwich I’d packed and then headed back down the same 7.5 miles to my minivan. I kept an eye out for the trail workers’ camp on my way back and imagined what it would be like if this was my daily commute to work.

*Note, this was just two days before the Creek Fire changed the whole landscape. I checked in with England and he wrote back that they had been evacuated the week after this photo and are now working in the front country.