Castle Rock's ranger, Miles Standish, counts the Plymouth Rock Standish as an ancestor
Photograph by Grant Wernick
Lone Ranger
For Miles Standish, Castle Rock is more than a park, it's also a place called home
By Shari Kaplan
With its Saratoga phone number, Los Gatos zip code and three counties meeting inside its borders--Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo--Castle Rock State Park is a commingling of many elements that form a cohesive whole.
As the nuts and bolts that hold a house together for its own protection as well as that of its occupants, Castle Rock State Park Ranger Miles Standish does likewise for the 3,600 acres of forests, meadows, grasslands, rock outcroppings, waterfalls and 32 miles of trails that just happen to comprise his home--a home he also shares with hundreds of strangers every week.
A Castle Rock resident ranger since 1980 and currently the park's only ranger due to funding cutbacks in the California State Park system, Standish and his family live in a cozy house ensconced in the park. The sandy-haired ranger, however, is as much at home ensconced in the park itself, where he can be found working various shifts, five days a week for at least 40 hours each, usually more.
On July 8, Standish invited the Saratoga News to hop into his "office on wheels"--a big four-wheel-drive pickup truck painted with the words Ranger Patrol; and spend a weekend afternoon doing a hike- and ride-along throughout Castle Rock.
"I can go for days where the worst I'd do is just hike around, or tell someone to put their dog on a leash," Standish said of his job. This afternoon, however, was not one of those days.
It began innocuously, with Standish checking out a small pile of glass in the park's main parking lot--most likely the remains of someone's broken car window, as the glass pieces were neatly shaped and had rounded edges--not really a threat to tires. No damaged cars were anywhere to be seen, either, so we exited the lot and proceeded down Skyline Boulevard, also known as Highway 35.
Photograph by Grant Wernick
Miles Standish, longtime ranger at Castle Rock State Park, takes a break in his busy day to enjoy sunset along the Ridge Trail.
"I use this and Highway 9 as major thoroughfares for patrolling. Highway 9 actually belongs to the State Parks Service; most people don't know that," he said.
"We only have three rangers here: me, myself and I," he added, grinning. "Because we're so short-handed, I try to concentrate on the places where there's the most people. I try to go from densely populated spot to densely populated spot."
There is a small volunteer park cleanup and repair corps, headed by Standish's friend, Al Lisin of Cupertino, and park aides staff the park's main entry booth to take money and give out maps and directions. However, the tasks of conservation, law enforcement and first aid fall almost exclusively on Standish's shoulders. Backup help is available from Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies for major incidents, but these, Standish said, are fortunately rare.
There are a number of places to pick up one of Castle Rock's many hiking trails--not just the main park entrance, as Standish revealed by pulling off the side of the road in a large turnout area and pointed to a marker for the popular Skyline-to-Sea Trail which, as its name suggests, takes hikers and campers from Skyline Boulevard all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
We hiked a portion of it, as Standish does to all trails, and were preparing to get back into the truck when a young woman toting her baby in front of her chest in a sling-like carrier hailed him. She wanted advice on suitable hiking trails, which Standish gave her.
A minute or two later, Standish spotted a young man named Page with a prohibited item on the trail: a bicycle. Before he could issue a citation, another young man ran onto the scene, shouting breathlessly about "some dude strokin' in the bushes," apparently right off the trail.
At that moment, Standish later reflected, his first thought was that John the shouting man was in cahoots with Page and was only raising a commotion to enable Page to escape without a citation.
Photograph by Grant Wernick
One of ranger Miles Standish's many duties is doing camp checks before dark, as he does here with visitor Brent Johnson at Waterman Gap campground.
Standish said afterward that he interpreted "strokin' " to mean someone was having a stroke or possibly a seizure. In order to respond to this medical emergency but not lose the now-angry Page, Standish handcuffed the young man, placed him in the truck and ran down the trail with John. Along with extensive training in natural resource management, field work, first aid and park administration, Standish is also a fully licensed peace officer and as such carries a law-enforcer's trappings, including gun, handcuffs and club.
Down the trail, Standish discovered a situation that was actually a 314: the law enforcement code for indecent exposure. Although only John had seen Patrick allegedly fondling himself, Patrick did make some incriminating and embarrassed remarks to Standish--not enough grounds for a citation, but enough for Standish to take down Patrick's name, address and other personal data as a matter of course.
After sending Patrick on his way, Standish returned to Page, completed the citation process and cut him loose from the handcuffs with the admonition: "In the future, you have to make certain you know which trails you can take a bike on and which ones you can't."
As we drove away, Page used his middle finger to indicate how he felt about the rules. John would later catch up with the truck to volunteer his name, phone number and additional information about Patrick. He also said he would serve as a witness against Patrick. "Now I have a case," Standish said, thanking John.
"Dealing with law enforcement issues in the back country is totally different from [the job of] city police officers. Our main concern is resources," Standish explained while driving along Highway 35, keeping an eye out for illegally parked vehicles or motorists with car trouble. He can also ticket drivers--often motorcyclists--who cross over the solid yellow lines to pass other cars on the winding highways.
Poachers, wood poachers and marijuana growers are common examples of resource offenders Standish has dealt with, as are individuals who use the woods for target practice, people like Page who ride bicycles on the wrong trails and people who smoke cigarettes--a forbidden activity on all trails. Another part of his "beat" is doing campground checks before nightfall, making sure nothing is amiss among the campers and camping sites.
Photograph by Grant Wernick
Driving from place to place on Highways 35 and 9 is a common part of ranger Miles Standish's day. His ranger patrol truck is equipped similarly to a police car.
One of his biggest arrests came when he broke up a rowdy little "party" some young men were having in one of the park's caves. As if smoking marijuana, getting drunk in the park and building a fire in an area where fires are prohibited weren't enough, they were also in possession of a live pipe bomb. Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies backed him up that time.
Standish has a nose like a bloodhound when it comes to catching the scent of anything burning in unauthorized areas. While patrolling Goat Rock and vicinity--a popular area for rock climbers, Standish's nose led him to one park visitor who was smoking and a few others who admitted they had been. Because cigarettes pose the danger of igniting forest fires, especially in the summertime, the penalty is stiff: ejection from the park for the smokers Standish didn't see and an expensive citation for the smoker he caught in the act.
"I was really into the idea of becoming a resource manager. But you know--being a ranger is addictive. I get to meet the people and protect the park," says Standish, who is 11 generations removed from his 17th-century namesake, a leader of the famous Plymouth colony.
He started that addiction early and fed it often. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in biology from California State University, Hayward in 1967, Standish worked as a part-time or "seasonal" naturalist at Prairie Creek Redwood State Park in California's far north. After a stint in the Peace Corps and seasonal ranger positions at various state parks, Standish completed a master's degree from San Francisco State University in ecology and systematic biology.
More ranger jobs followed, as did a second master's degree, this one in wild land resource science earned from UC-Berkeley. In 1980, he settled in at Castle Rock, and hasn't moved since. In between all the work that he loves, Standish also discovered the three other loves of his life: his wife Carolyn and their daughters Sierra, 24, and Skye, 19.
Ranger Miles Standish walks through the main Castle Rock campground at dusk to make sure all campers have permits and that no campers have brought contraband into the park.
Photograph by Grant Wernick
Being part of a park ranger's family has proven a unique way to grow up for Skye.
"I definitely grew up with a lot of bias toward the environment and all that. It's been a different experience for me than for most people--everyone says things like 'ooh cool! You live up there?" Skye says. "Even though I'm not really part of the park, I am. I have to work for the park as well--I have to remember to shut the gate and I can't walk my dog on the trails because that's kind of illegal," she said with a chuckle.
A student at DeAnza College in Cupertino, Skye is considering a career path related to sociology or criminal justice. Perhaps she will follow in her father's footsteps; perhaps not. Although she is not positive about her future job, she says it's interesting that she is attracted more to the law enforcement side of things. Her sister Sierra, who is pursing a master's degree at Colorado State University in environmental history, is more attracted to nature and the environment. "It's interesting; we've kind of split up the aspects of our dad's job," Skye says.
There are, however, aspects of their father's job that the sisters don't find all that appealing.
"I always worry about him, especially if he gets called out late at night--it could be anything from someone getting lost to someone building a bomb. It's scary but I'm used to it," Skye adds. "It's tough because he almost always has to work weekends and holidays. But it's not so horrible, though, because he basically works at home. He can always stop by the house.
"Then again, the benefits of living here are wonderful. I love the peace and quiet and clean air. I can go out for a walk and be by myself in a beautiful park. In five or 10 minutes I can be at a great view. I don't know anyone else who can do that!"
Standish agrees.
"I feel like I'm doing a worthwhile job. You're protecting the resources entrusted to your care and the people coming to enjoy those resources," Standish said. "You can't sit in an office and be a paper-pusher to be a ranger!"
Saratoga, California Since 1955
