I was sad to read the news mentioned on the Yosemite Blog earlier this week. Phil Frank, the author of the comic strip "Farley" has died. I had been familiar with the Farley strip, because its stories often occurred in Yosemite National Park. Frequent characters included a group of Yosemite bears which ran a diner called the "Fog City Dumpster". The comic strip itself is only carried in the San Francisco Chronicle, but I had seen reproductions of the ranger oriented strips appear in a lot of places around the internet. Phil Frank had even published a couple of books of his park characters, including Fur and Loafing in Yosemite: A Collection of Farley Cartoons Set in Yosemite National Park

Phil Frank had been suffering from a brain tumor. He announced his retirement from the Chronicle on a Sunday. On the following Wednesday, September 13th, he had died. He was 64.

On Monday, folks in San Francisco got together to celebrate his life at an event called "Camp Farley". Among the crowd were more than a few National Park Rangers (I count at least 10 in this picture). You can see video of the event here.