Photographer Susan Priscilla Thew

"If you are weary with the battle, either of business or the greater game of life, and would like to find your way back to sound nerves and a new interest in life, I know of no better place than the wild loveliness of some chosen spot in the High Sierra in which, when you have lost your physical self, you have found your mental and spiritual reawakening." – Susan Priscilla Thew

When we were in Sequoia National Park, I learned about another Priscilla who loves parks just as much as I do. She was a photographer and a conservationist, who wanted to preserve and protect the park....and increase its size. Now this was back in the 1920s, and off she went on horseback, covering hundreds of miles and photographing the magnificent wilderness of the Southern Sierra region.

She compiled a massive photographic record of the region and produced a publication "The Proposed Roosevelt-Sequoia National Park," for distribution to members of Congress promoting the park expansion idea. Her efforts not only helped triple the size of Sequoia National Park, her work inspired Ansel Adams to create a collection of photographs to support the campaign to create Kings Canyon National Park (expanding what was then General Grant National Park) in 1940.

Now that's what I call Priscilla Power!

You can hear the story on SoundCloud with Park Ranger Dana Dierkes, or see the whole feature in this past issue of Big Blend Radio & TV Magazine. 

Happy International Women's Day,
Miss P.