Celebrate America: Visit A National Park

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity..."
-John Muir, American naturalist, conservationist, and wilderness activist

"Who wouldn't be a mountaineer! Up here all the world's prizes seem nothing" -John Muir

Recently I traveled to South America. I was hiking through the Lares Valley, trekking in vast amounts of llama shit, tons of fog, and all I could think was, "I can't even see the epic mountain scenery. This sucks." When the clouds did finally clear, yes - the view was spectacular. The Andes are indeed a sight to behold. But I couldn't help comparing my beloved Rocky Mountains with these spectacular peaks and I gotta say, The Andes have some major competition. Pictured Above: Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

I have been to 10 of the 58 National Parks, and each one presents breathtaking beauty of incredible variety. The epic Great Sand Dunes of southern Colorado look like another planet, the blast of color of the bacteria in Morning Glory Pool in Yellowstone (Wyoming) is completely psychadelic, and the Redwoods of California will dwarf you.

We live in a country that is yes, just as beautiful as Europe, just as wild and untamed as South America, and just as exotic as Asia. I was really surprised when many of the Americans I met during my South American travels had never even camped in the Rocky Mountains. While exploring other countries is pure gluttonous consumption for the culture vulture, exploring your own country has it's benefits, too. When I saw the Salinas salt mines of the Incan ruins, I was impressed by it's beauty, but it honestly reminded me quite a bit of natural geothermal occurrences I had seen in Yellowstone. The point isn't that one trumps the other - it's that you don't have to go to another part of the planet to see some awesome shit. Pictured Below: Morning Glory Pool, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

The U.S. National Park Service's slogan is "Experience Your America." And yes, I think that's important. Growing up, I never knew that west of Rocky Mountain National Park lay vast canyons, red earth for miles and miles, and jutting formations balanced in perfect alignment in the shape of arches, hoo doos, and other Dr. Suess sounding objects in Utah's vast amounts of National Parks. Or that beyond that, Frazzle Ice forms every spring in Yosemite (California) with the snowmelt - the only place in the world this takes place. Or that north of that, in Washington, lies the only rainforest in North America, the Hoh.

We all know that Teddy Roosevelt helped lay aside federally protected land, but it was Woodrow Wilson who, in 1916, enacted the National Park Service Organic Act, which had the purpose of "to promote and regulate the use of the...National Parks...which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as we will leave them unimpaired for future generations."

America the Beautiful indeed. Yes - the big cities are cool. But the Big Sky Country is down-on-your-knees inspiring. There is a wildness, an untamed beauty that, if you don't experience in your lifetime as an American, really does leave something to be desired. These natural United States have inspired and sustained Native Americans, tested the resilience of European explorers, and continue to offer a place of refuge for our melting-pot culture. So many foreigners I met on my travels said they had been to "L.A., New York, and Florida" when I asked if they had been to the U.S. I told them they hadn't actually been to the states - they visited international hot spots - and that to get a true pulse of our country they should go to a donut shop in Hays, Kansas, or a National Park. To see the underrated, insane beauty that resides in America that even some Americans don't know about. Pictured Below: Arches National Park, Utah.

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies, for Amber Waves of Grain, for Purple Mountain Majesties above the Fruited Plane! No mention of skyscrapers there....it's a special kind of inspiration. So, visit a National Park this 4th of July weekend, or any weekend. Visit in the winter, when tourists are super scarce and nature speaks in a different way. American's National Park system is a reminder that humanity can never build, buy, or imagine anything as powerful as nature. Mother Earth, Pachamama is waiting for you in California, Colorado, upstate New York, Texas, South Dakota, Arkansas, Oregon....in every one of the stars next to those hallowed stripes.