海角大神

Robert Lewis describes himself as 鈥渁n optimist who wears body armor.鈥� He has seen the need for both.

Mr. Lewis is a National Park Service ranger. He is in the protection division, so he does wear a Kevlar vest. Until recently, he was a policeman in San Francisco, often patrolling the grimy underbelly of the urban circus, what he calls 鈥渢he bottom of the bottom.鈥�

When his wife had a baby, he decided that 鈥渨orking the 3 a.m. shift patrolling the Tenderloin district was probably not what I wanted to do with a daughter.鈥�

Now his workplace is a stunning breadth of forest, reaching from titanic sequoias to a folded carpet of Sierra Nevada Mountains that fades blue at the horizon.

His experience 鈥� from the city to the forest 鈥� offers a view of the human condition that Lewis ponders, sometimes with curiosity, sometimes with amusement.聽It is a valuable perspective in this sampling of views in a reporting trip across America.

Take crooks, for example.

鈥淚n San Francisco, you鈥檇 go to an auto burglary. There鈥檚 glass broken, stuff from inside the car is missing. You follow the trail of detritus into the weeds, and there鈥檚 some guy rooting through the backpack. Here, you go to a broken window. There鈥檚 a bag missing from inside the car. You follow the trail of detritus into the woods, and there鈥檚 a bear rooting through the backpack. It鈥檚 the same thing!鈥�

Lewis laughs. 鈥淗umans are animals.鈥�

He chats sitting at a picnic table at a campground with a majestic view in this park just south of California鈥檚 more famous Yosemite National Park. He is off-duty; he鈥檚 scrupulous about that.

Lewis worked at Yosemite and a half-dozen other national parks and wilderness areas, ranging from the Virgin Islands to Glacier National Park, before joining the San Francisco Police Department. On the city force, he saw scenes 鈥渁s bad as anywhere in the world. Broken bones that healed crooked, abscesses, living in their own feces and vomit, there鈥檚 no hope they would ever get out of it.鈥�

But he saw good, too: 鈥淚t always struck me to see people go out of their way, risk their life, to help.鈥� Just regular citizens risking their lives helping somebody they don鈥檛 even know.鈥�

As a policeman, he dealt with the economic disparity of the country. He recalls rousting a homeless encampment in the shrubs next to the home of a wealthy man who did not even know they were there.

鈥淚f you are at the bottom, you have an awareness of the top,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut if you are at the top, you don鈥檛 know whose heads you are standing on.鈥�

Even in the sylvan national parks, homeless people come to camp. The dishwashers and cleaners have to work a week in the Wuksachi Lodge to earn what guests pay to stay for one night.

鈥淧overty is a relative condition,鈥� Lewis says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always going to be somebody at the bottom and always someone at the top.鈥�

Lewis found urban police work an education. 鈥淚t was super interesting. I learned a ton.鈥�

But his heart beats most comfortably under a flannel shirt. He named his daughter Eleanor, after Lake Eleanor in Yosemite, which he explored on an earlier parks service assignment patrolling the back country on horse and muleback for six days at a聽time 鈥� 鈥渙ne of the best jobs I ever had.鈥�

The sheer beauty of this country鈥檚 expanse is a benefit of the job. 鈥淟ast night, there was a guy who broke his leg in Tokopah Canyon in Lodgepole and I went to go help carry him out of there. On the way back, I stopped at Halstead Meadow. The sky was just 鈥︹�� He pauses, hunting for words rich enough. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no lights 鈥� It is so beautiful there.鈥�

He grins like a kid amazed at his own luck.

鈥淏eautiful 鈥� beautiful. Who gets to do that? These rich guys who have those yachts in the Virgin Islands, there鈥檚 no amount of money they can pay to have the kinds of experiences that I have had. That鈥檚 worth something. I may never have a house in Zurich, but I鈥檝e had a lot of good things. I鈥檓 luckier than I deserve to be.鈥�

Part 1: A young woman comes to L.A. to follow her dream 鈥� helping the homeless