Just Read: The National Parks - America's Best Idea

This is the companion book to Ken Burns' PBS series coming out at the end of the month to which I have a link on my sidebar. Some time ago, Matt and I went to a preview of the movie with Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, and I was obsessed.

Friday night we were in a bookstore and I noticed the beautiful coffee table book for 30% off. And since I am spoiled, I went ahead and bought it and took it home. Today I finished reading its 386 pages of text, with many gorgeous photographs thrown in.

And again I remembered why I changed my major to recreation. Why I wanted to work for the Park Service. And why it is silly that I have been to many other countries but not to all of our parks.

The book's theme seemed to be a bit different from the movie's, at least based on the preview I saw. The most influential part of the book seems to be our personal connection to the parks. How it is hard not to go to one and not have some sort of epiphanal moment, or feeling of awe and grandeur.

I have had the luck to go to many National Parks. I don't remember going to many as a child; I remember being bored at the Grand Canyon after just a peek from the top. But my parents had certainly instilled a love of nature in me from all our hikes in the mountains near Tucson.

In college I visited the Grand Canyon again. I took a job at Bryce Canyon for a summer and fell in love with Zion. I also saw Capitol Reef. At the end of the summer, a fellow intern and I spent a week on a driving tour to Glacier, Yellowstone, and Mount Teton. We thought about going to graduate school in Montana, in the midst of all the beautiful scenery. A week was not nearly enough time.

The summer after college I visited Crater Lake. I took another trip to Yellowstone, where I saw the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone for the first time. Grand Teton again. At the end of that summer, I embarked on a solo camping trip on my way back home to Arizona. After two nights on the gorgeous Oregon coast with a friend, I visited Redwoods National Park, Lassen Volcanic, and Yosemite. I did not make it to Sequoia and Kings Canyon as I had planned, because as it turns out I was not too good with the loneliness factor - I camped just 5 nights alone.

But on this solo trip, I had pivotal experiences that are probably my favorite memories of National Parks. Because I was by myself, I would go to sleep early and then wake up early. At Redwoods National Park, the Coastal Trail I had planned to hike was gated until 9 am, so instead I hiked the 1 mile interpretive trail at Lady Bird Johnson Grove. I was the only one there at the early hour of the morning. I wrote, "The sun was filtering through the trees. The only sounds were of the wind in the giant trees and little animals scattering around me." It was like I was lost in a fairy wonderland. I have another memory of Redwoods, a sinful but beautiful one, although perhaps I dreamed it because I don't see anything about it in my notes. I was driving (the sinful part of such a memory) out of a campground early one morning through a meadow enshrouded in mist, with a herd of elk grazing through it. Did I dream it?

Later I arrived in the Toulomne Meadows in Yosemite, a few days before the campground would close for the season, in late September. I stopped to hike to the Gaylor Lakes, which rise to over 10,000 feet, challenging by ability to deal with altitude. I remember feeling like I had a head cold the whole hike. But it was worth it. I remember hiking up the trail, and suddenly you would come up over a ledge, and there would be a lake in front of you that you could not have seen before. As I wandered around Middle Gaylor Lake, I saw another hiker, the first I had seen. When he saw me, he seemed to change direction and walk around the side of the lake I was on, so we would meet. After he told me briefly about the rest of the hike, we stood there together in silence contemplating the view. Then he continued down the trail. Maybe you like your solitude in the wilderness. I do too. But I remember this as a priceless moment where it was fantastic to share the beauty with someone, having taken in such gorgeous sights the last several days by myself.

Since that solo trip, I have visited with Matt Yosemite, Mesa Verde, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison. All fabulous of course. I'm sure I'm forgetting a park somewhere. I've also been to numerous National Monuments and National Historic Sites.

Reading this book makes me want to plan more trips. Yosemite for Thanksgiving. Maybe Yellowstone this winter for a ski race. I want Matt to see Glacier. There are so many places I have yet to see.

What is your favorite memory of a National Park? Do you love them like I do?