National Parks

I am a passionate believer in the American National Park System - truly they are “America’s best idea.” The American Park System contains some of the most diversified eco-systems on the planet.  Around the world, our example for creating National Parks to educate and inspire visitors through environmental and historical conservation has been copied to preserve heritage sites. The National Parks System far reaching mission protects everything from the oceans to the mountain, all for the benefit of present and future generations.

"There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred."  -  President Theodore Roosevelt

Places

Below is a list of park units I have been fortunate enough to visit.  Some I have only been to once, while others I have been to so often that I know them as well as I know my own home.  Each one leaves me with a yearning to come back.  Whether it be beautiful scenery, or learning about the history of our great county, there is always reason to go back.  It never gets boring.

The list is in no particular order, it's just divided up by region according to Eastern National's Passport To Your National Parks program.  Myself, and my family are avid collectors of the cancelation stamps as a great way to record and remember when we visited each park.

North Atlantic

National Capital

Western

Rocky Mountain

Mid-Atlantic

Southeast

Southwest

“Without love of the land, conservation lacks meaning or purpose, for only in a deep and inherent feeling for the land can there be dedication in preserving it.”  -  Sigurd F. Olson

Stewardship

If you want to support our National Parks and it's truly noble mission, then donate to National Park Foundation, or the National Parks Conservation Association, or Eastern National. Alternatively if you have a park that you particularly want to support, check with a NPS ranger in that park to see if they have a 'friends of' organization associated with the park that you can donate to.

Firsts...

Not that it started out as a goal, but my family now knows that when we travel, I will make a concerted effort to make it to that respective country’s first national park. Below is my list of first national parks I have been to. The two parks I would love to get back to… Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe for it’s wildlife and Þingvellir National Park in Iceland for the geology and history. Þingvellir just felt magical to me. That said, all these parks are amazing and I'm glad the areas are now protected in perpatuity.

Hwange National Park

 Zimbabwe

Killarney National Park

 Ireland

Yellowstone National Park

United Sates of America

Þingvellir National Park

Iceland

Eryri National Park (Snowdonia)

Wales