Book: Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park
Basic Information :
Synopsis :
Expectations :
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Evaluation :
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Table of Contents :
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Basic Information:
Author:
Conor Knighton
Edition:
epub on Libby from the San Francisco Public Library
Publisher:
Crown
ISBN:
198482354X (ISBN13: 9781984823540)
Start
Date: August 20, 2021
Read
Date: September 1, 2021
323
pages
Genre:
Travel. National Parks, Osher
Language
Warning: None
Rated
Overall: 3 out of 5
Knighton’s
fiance has just broken up with him. He needs to start over. So he
sets a goal of going to all 59 National Parks in a year. The book is
his commentary on his journey. It is not in chronological order, but
in various themes.
Expectations:
Recommendation:
Osher Book Group
When:
May 2021
Date
Became Aware of Book: May 2021
How
come do I want to read this book: Sounds like a book I can get
excited about.
What
do I think I will get out of it? Insight into why I want to visit
some of the National parks I have not been to.
From
Efrain Robles’ blog,
it looks like this tour of parks happened in 2016.
Prologue
(Badlands)
Describes
the breakup with his fiancee. An
anniversary is actually what inspired this journey—the one
hundredth anniversary of the National Park Service. Freelancer
for CBS. Interested them into doing a series on the National Parks.
Badlands-a
combination of Mordor and the Shire. Ah…see,
that’s the beauty of this place,” a ranger tells me at the
visitor center when I stop in to ask for some advice. “Here, you
get to make your own trails.
In some ways this describes how to see any of the parks. Just go out
and be your own person, without being destructive. Once,
today would have been choreographed down to the minute. Now it’s
completely uncharted territory—it’s up to me to choose my own
path forward.
Don
Drapers-a
fictional marketing executive
1
Sunrise (Acadia)
Knighton
is at Acadia NP to catch the first light of the year. He goes up the
road to Cadillac Mountain to achieve this. apparently
something about the promise of a new year that makes people do things
they would never do otherwise
(that is to go up a mountain in hand numbing weather.) Lots of things
could go wrong in his project, but I
was perfectly calm. I had a good feeling about this, and I was filled
with gratitude for an adventure that hadn’t even started yet.
What
might begin with a few childhood visits to places like Yosemite and
the Grand Canyon gradually morphs into a piecemeal pastime.
He is talking about the quest to visit all of the national parks.
Probably
the best and longest description of a park in the book. In this
book,
I won’t be focusing as much on the chronology or geography that
separates the parks I visited. Far more interesting, I discovered,
are the threads that tie them together—and that tie us to nature.
That is why he groups the chapters by subject matter-his subject
matter.
there’s
no such thing as an average national park.
2
Water (Hot Springs, Biscayne)
Hot
Springs, Arkansas-a pretty full description of what a bath at Hot
Springs entails
We
get introduced to his side-kick and friend and videographer, Efrain
Robles.
Exploring
the underwater park of Biscayne. They will explore the sunken ship
Lugano.
A park ranger explains what is being looked at. Once
I got over my initial jitters, I found I really enjoyed being
underwater.
…. I
hadn’t expected the bottom of the ocean to be more relaxing than
the inside of a Hot Springs bathhouse, but it was.
3
Animals (Everglades, Channel Islands, Pinnacles, Death Valley)
The
overall theme to this chapter is the role National Parks play in
preventing extinction of species.
Talks
about the Everglades where both alligators and crocodiles coexist.
All
across the country, the national parks have been crucial in the
rehabilitation of all sorts of species on the brink of extinction.
Then
off to the Channel Islands with Efrain. Talking about the Channel
Island fox.
Then
off to the Pinnacles and condors. High
Peaks Trail
at Pinnacles National Park in Central California.
Death
Valley next-talking about the pup fish.
John
Muir quote—“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find
it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
Apparently lots of people misquote
this. Knighton got it right.
4
God (Yosemite, Capitol Reef, Lake Clark)
Places
where you can find your center, commune with God. To Knighton, there
are certain places which remind him where he needed the confidence of
being secure or where emotions could be laid bare. A lonely trail is
one of those places. I
cried on that walk[at
summer camp]
every time. That very first trip somehow linked the two experiences
for me: A quiet hike in the dark is when you cry.
He
does a Reader’s Digest version of Muir’s religious background. To
Knighton, I
was always thinking about what created the forests and canyons and
mountains.
nowhere
are church and state more intertwined than at Capitol Reef National
Park.
To
Knighton, it
feels like the national parks have more cathedrals than Italy. He
then goes on and quotes Muir in The
Yosemite:
Everybody
needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where
Nature may heal and cheer give strength to body and soul alike.
Then
on to Clark Lake, only accessible by boat or plane, in Alaska. Also
about the vets which are sent there as a means to get over stress.
Onward
to Yosemite. Muir, once again: it
seems to me almost like a sacrilege to build a church within the
portals of this grandest of all God’s temples. It is like building
a toy church within the walls of St. Peter’s cathedral at Rome. But
it will clearly show the contrast between the frail and puny works of
man, as compared with the mighty grandeur and magnificence of the
works of God, and I hope it will do good.
Ending
with Muir: The
clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness
5
Sound (Great Sand Dunes, Katmai)
The
quiet of the Great Sand Dunes. Later on he reminiscences about this
in Yellowstone during the Winter.
He
goes off and thinks about sound in various parts of his life.
Then
making noise in Katmai to make bears aware that you are there. Brooks
Falls
is famous for watching bears feeding on fish. My brother was in one
of the more watched videos of bears feeding. Describes his
confrontation with a bear.
6
Trees (Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Redwood)
Most
of the notable trees locations are kept secret due to the concern of
exposure and the resulting crowds which might injury or kill them.
Starts
with Joshua Tree, noting it is not really a tree. John C Fremont is
quoted as saying: Their
stiff and ungraceful form makes them, to the traveler, the most
repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom.
Then
onward to Redwood. Talks about the destruction of the Discovery
Tree.
Then
to Sequoia.A sign says: Looking
up at the General Sherman Tree for a six-foot-tall human is about the
equivalent of a mouse looking up at the six-foot-tall human,” it
said. Knighton
then goes on and notes that
The night before, I’d encountered a mouse scurrying around the
musty mountain cabin I’d rented for the weekend. If only I had
thought of myself as a mighty sequoia, I might not have jumped so
high or screamed so loudly.
A
few notes about trees seem to have their own communications system.
That
may be their most human quality of all. Like us, the trees are
stronger together than they are on their own.
See Overstory.
Interesting
enough. He talks about Sequoia, but not Kings Canyon.
7
Mystery (Crater Lake, Congaree)
Congaree:
They have mosquito meters, we have fire danger meters. I guess it
depends on where the concern is. Talks about the fireflies. Talks
about the ivory-billed woodpecker. Could it be there? Close to
extinction. (Note: On Sept 28, 2021, the EPA
declared it extinct.)
Then
it is on to the other side of the continent, to Crater Lake. The
discovery of Crater Lake. Then talks a lot about the Old Man of the
Lake-a floating log. The question of its longevity came up. No good
answers. The ranger/scientist who was taking Knighton around noted
that: I
think, maybe some questions should remain unanswered, ...maybe it’s
part of the human condition to believe in a little bit of mystery and
the interconnectedness of all things.
8
Borders (Big Bend, American Samoa)
Talks
about the culture of Big Bend. About how it borders Mexico and there
has been freedom of movement along the border.
Victor
Valdez of Boquillas died
shortly after Knighton interviewed him.
Efrain
was introspective after this visit. He had come across the border and
was thinking about when he was a child, brought by his mother. This
trip was safer. From
Efrain’s daily struggles to help people pronounce his name
(eff-rah-EEN) to the extra attention he would occasionally get from
suspicious gas station clerks when we stopped for snacks—glances I
witnessed but never got myself—his experience in America was often
that of an outsider. His trip across the river had come with a
lifetime of baggage, whether he wanted it to or not.
American
Samoa-a place where the people are on US territory, but cannot be
citizens. Talked about the culture of the area.
9
Volcanoes (Lassen Volcanic, Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakala)
Lassen
is the first park on the list. Talks about the sulphur fumes
(discussion of farts). Of course he talks about Bumpus
Hell-a
place I have been to a couple of times.
Then
it is on to Hawaii and the volcanos there. Talks about Craig
Steely
and his Lavaflow
houses.
What is it like to live on top of lava and knowing that lava will
come again? Steely’s answer: You’re
not, like, permanently here.
Talks
about a boat ride to see lava going into the ocean on the Big Island.
He
is joined by his sister, a former
seasonal ranger at Yosemite, chasing bears away from campsites.
They watched the sun come up from on top of a mountain.
A
couple of years later, another eruption. Knighton thought about what
a guide told him. Everywhere
else in your life you see destruction,” Kainoa had told me when I
asked why he loved the lava. “Things getting destroyed. Here you
finally get something being created.” But creation itself can be
destructive.
10
Ice (Glacier Bay, Glacier, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias)
Disappearing
glaciers from Glacier NP. Talks about climate change, then on to
Wrangell-St. Elias. You fly into it. He walks onto a glacier there.
Then to Kenai Fjords. Another glacier/ice which is in full
retreat-miles of it. President
Obama had toured Kenai.
11
People (Arches, Bryce Canyon, Zion)
Some
of my favorite places. He talks more about the porta-potties at Zion
than about Zion. More about traffic at Bryce. Then moves on to the
Denver Service Center where my brother worked.
For
Zion, he talks about meeting people on the Emerald
Pools Trail.
Not so much about the Emerald Pool, which was where I got my eyes
opened about the majesty of Zion. He later goes on and talks about
the number of people in the Narrows. A little bit about Angels
Landing.
He
then talks about the traffic at Bryce.
The
Denver Service Center does not offer official tours, although I wish
it did. For anyone interested in the Park Service, I’d argue that a
visit to that nondescript office provides a more illuminating look
into how the parks actually operate than a trip to Teddy Roosevelt’s
old cabin in North Dakota. Situated among the strip malls of
Lakewood, Colorado, the red-brick-and-glass building looks like it
might be the headquarters of an SAT prep company or an e-commerce
site that sells scented candles. The windows offer views of an
Advance Auto Parts store and a Sonic Drive-In across the street.
I have been inside of this building on visits with my brother.
I
was shocked by how the crowds would disappear the moment I wandered
away from the parking lots. The vast majority of visitors spend mere
hours at the parks.
I can find places in Yosemite Valley in the middle of summer where I
will hardly meet people. It does require me to move away from the
popular places.
there
are more than two thousand other arches at Arches National Park
[than the Delicate Arch]. Yep and going off the beaten track is a
wonderful experience here.
Our
best weapon for protecting the parks from people has always been
people
The
impression which I have coming away from this chapter is do not go to
these parks because there are too many people. Not what draws people
to the park and how to enjoy the beauty of the places without being
one of the hordes.
12
Home (Mesa Verde, Great Smoky Mountains)
Mesa
Verde-talked about the people who lived here and where did they go?
Talked
about Great Smokey Mountain. He sees the Road to Nowhere and walks
part of it. Some of the story behind this road.
As
I traveled through the parks, it was the one question I kept getting
asked—“Where’s home?”
Parks
are the homes we’ve taken off the market.
He thinks about the painful stories of when land is taken for parks,
but also that this is land which will be there for generations.
13
Canyons (Grand Canyon, Black Canyon of the Gunnison)
Grand
Canyon-talks a lot about the buildings and the architecture for them,
how tey were meant to reflect a theme. The architect was Mary
Colter.
While
Colter was not the first architect to see the value in matching
structures to their surroundings, she helped to popularize the
practice at what would soon become one of the most popular parks, at
a critical time in Park Service history. Her buildings became prime
examples of an architectural style still employed today: National
Park Rustic.
You can see this in the buildings in Yosemite, such as at Glacier
Point or some of the fire lookouts there. Geologic
Fireplace
Black
Canyon of the Gunnison:
14
Forgiveness (Dry Tortugas, Petrified Forest)
Dry
Tortugas lies sixty-eight miles farther out into the ocean, closer to
Cuba than to the mainland United States. It’s one of our most
inaccessible national parks. That’s what made it a perfect prison.
He notes that a 4½ hours trip leaves time for about a lunch break on
the island. It is a fort turned into a prison, notably one for Dr
Mudd, the person who set John Wilkes Booth’s leg after
assassinating Lincoln.
Petrified
Forest-Talks about how wood turns into stone. Then talks a lot about
people who take items from this park, as well as other parks. If
you’re the kinda person who would take something from a national
park, maybe you just have poor judgment skills
15
Caves (Wind Cave, Carlsbad Caverns, Mammoth Cave)
In
talking about forced going into a cave as an organized group, both
for the people’s and the caves protection: I
find that all of the blissful solitude, the quiet, and the ability to
roam free that I’ve come to treasure in the parks disappears.
On the other hand, it seems like alot of Knighton’s travels was to
meet people.
Caves-deep
dark scary places. He comes back a different person than when he went
down. This should be true for any endeavor or activity.
16
Light (Great Basin, Saguaro)
Great
Basin-lonely and dark. Ideal for stargazing. Ranger lead times where
flashlights are forbidden. Rising
up from the east, the Milky Way slowly streaked across Great Basin’s
horizon—it looked like the heavens had been ripped apart. This
wasn’t some faint constellation where you have to struggle to
connect the dots just to see a shape that vaguely resembles a bear
chasing after twin crabs. This was an unmissable interstellar Grand
Canyon, a massive band of light so brilliant it cast shadows on the
ground.
He is impressed. While
today we know far more about the cosmos than any generation in
history, we see far less of it
Saguaro
has Tucson in the middle of it.
17
Travelers (Theodore Roosevelt, Voyageurs, Denali)
Theodore
Roosevelt-Of
all of our national parks, Theodore Roosevelt is the only one named
after a person.
Place of bison.
Voyageurs-remote.
Most of it on/by the water. Sometimes
the best trips are reconnaissance missions.
Winter may be the best time-the lake is iced and people snowmobile on
the lake.
Denali-goes
into the naming of the mountain. Also the place of dogsleds in modern
life.
Some
chapter concluding thoughts: wherever
I traveled, there was no mistaking that I was always a visitor. I was
welcomed, but I never really belonged.
And a
household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes
all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by
comparison.
(words of Roosevelt).
Interesting-he
lets on that everyplace he goes he tries to get a date.
18
Love (Canyonlands, North Cascades)
In
Canyonlands, he meets a couple who has been on the road for years-he
only months.
He
talks more about his dating habits. He mentions Fresno in terms that
the dating apps recommendations of Nashville have more references to
God than the ones in Fresno. Efrain has a steady girlfriend. Knighton
said that I
was learning about different people, but I didn’t know how much I
was learning about myself.
In
North Cascade, he meets a couple of females. They have lunch
together. He dated one. Nothing comes of it.
19
Food (Gates of the Arctic, Kobuk Valley, Cuyahoga Valley)
Gates
of the Arctic-talked about flying into the park because there are no
roads or trails. He talks to a 16 year old resident who hunts for his
food. …
killing an animal for fun would never even occur to In’uli.
(Tell
a kid to “come home at dark” in Alaska, and they might not show
up till September.)
Kobuk
Valley-he teams up with an ex-ranger. Here, it is legal for native
populations to subsistence hunt for food. Respect
was a word I heard a lot in rural Alaska
Cuyahoga
Valley-Ohio. Talks to a chef who lives here who uses it for
farm-to-table.
20
Mountains (Guadalupe Mountains, Rocky Mountain)
Guadalupe
Mountain-tallest mountain in Texas. He prefers Hunters Peak.
Rocky
Mountain-contains 14’ers. Brief history of the park. Decided not to
climb Longs Peak. But did go to the top of Pikes Peak.
along I-25 were impossible to make out. Everything looked so
different from so far up, and none of it—at least nothing that
humans had made—looked even the slightest bit important.
…. Mountaintops
allow us to visit, but then they do their best to push us away. We
are not meant for such great heights.
It was because of Pikes Peak did America the Beautiful get written.
He
starts to question his decision to go to all parks. Instead of peak
bagging, he was park bagging.
21
Diversity (Mount Rainier, Shenandoah)
He
talks with an Afircan-American volunteer, extensively who he met at
Mount Rainier. This is where Shelton
Johnson
comes in. Knighton talks about Oprah’s visit. Then about Charles
Young. More talk about how the Parks are getting more diversified.
Note: I have met Johnson, once, not that he would remember me. But he
is a truly caring and delightful person.
Shenandoah-There
were the original signs at the park about separate facilities for
Blacks. That
Lewis Mountain sign came down a long time ago, but it’s hard to
overestimate its legacy.
He
meets Sally Jewel, former NPS director at Mount Rainier. The
“National Park Idea” is an idea, not a guarantee, and if it’s
an idea that’s going to survive, then it’s about time we get some
new ideas about how to make the parks more inclusive.
22
Disconnecting (Isle Royale, Olympic, Virgin Islands)
He
goes into the WIlderness Act. The
Wilderness Act promises land for solitude and primitive
recreation—how primitive can it be if it’s blanketed with a 4G
signal.
As a note, Grand Teton just got cell service in a few spots, not in
all and definitely not outside of the highway corridor.
Isle
Royale-He gets there by seaplane. Most of the island is designated
wilderness. He spends four days, pretty much isolated. It is beyond
reach of cell service. This is a time of reflection. When someone
says about being cut off from the outside world, he says that it is
the outside world which is cut off from this.
Talks
about Cheryl Strayed’s book, Wild.
Olympic-Talks
about how cell service is coming to the park.
Virgin
Islands-Talks about how Laurence Rockefeller bought land here with
the idea of giving it away to create a national park which would be a
refuge from the ruckus of city life.
He
talks about the need to encourage the next generation to visit parks.
This is based upon a Senate
subcommittee
on this subject.
23
Sunset (Grand Teton, Yellowstone)
Interesting
journey Knighton makes in Winter to Jackson, WY. He rents a Chevy
Mailbu even though it is raining in Salt Lake City and he thinks it
may snow in Grand Teton. Then does not look at his route, except to
follow Google. Then blames Google for taking him a scenic way. He
goes too fast, getting into a skid, landing off the highway until two
females come by and get him out, along with another guy. He talks
about scary drop-offs, which is probably true in Winter, but in
September when I drove it a few weeks ago, it was very pleasant and
beautiful.
He
has made it to Jackson. The
key to making a Hampton Inn breakfast taste amazing is to have a
near-death experience the night before.
He tracks down the women who helped him. He is attracted to one of
them. She is engaged.
He
is thinking now, where will he live after this year? After
seeing so much of the country, it started to seem crazy to me that so
many people choose to cluster together in so little of it.
He is wondering, can he make a go of it living on the road.
Yellowstone-He
stays at Yellowstone Lodge. They go to the Midway Geyser at night
with a tour group. People
come to Yellowstone to see the pools and the geysers, but standing
there in the dark, we could only hear them.
He remembers what he learned at Great Sand Dunes. They go back to the
Lodge. He walks around after everybody is back. He sees Old Faithful
erupt, alone.
He
wants to go to the last place where sunlight will reach the
continental United States. He thinks Washington, but then it gets
pointed out it is at Pt Reyes. He talks a little bit about the
history of Pt Reyes. His contract would expire at midnight.
When
you can go anywhere, where do you choose to go?
It
occurred to me that part of the reason I’d seen so much debate
about the year’s first sunrise, and not its last sunset, was that
our beginnings always seem more important than our endings.
The
group of voyageurs who came here named the mountain peaks they found
Les Trois Tetons, or “The Three Breasts .”
This does not seem to be a common rendering, but may be somewhat
historical as it was thought that some frozen French trappers came
across these mountains and named the mountains this. Google Translate
just comes out as The Three Tetons. But it would not be the first
place named in such fashion as there is a similar connotation of
Maggie’s Peaks near Tahoe.
Epilogue
(Gateway Arch, Indiana Dunes, White Sands, New River Gorge)
CBS’
Sunday
Morning
ends with a minute of reflection on natural beauty. He reviews his
own progress, being hired permanently to the show. Being able to go
to other nation’s parks. But has a first love for his own.
He
takes Teddy Roosevelt’s charge seriously. Not enough to visit the
parks, but to fight for them.
The
parks are our literal common ground. … I was surprised by how the
distinctions between red states and blue states seemed to slip away
whenever I was hiking through a forest, scrambling up a sand dune, or
sharing a patch of shade.
He
has adopted to a nomadic life. Not that he thinks it is permanent,
but one he is satisfied with for right now.
So
abundant and novel are the objects of interest in a pure wilderness
that unless you are pursuing special studies it matters little where
you go, or how often to the same place, ... Wherever you chance to be
always seems at the moment of all places the best. - John
Muir
The
pictures at the end are beautiful.
Acknowledgments
Ben
Cosgrove-composer.
Evaluation:
I
have been trying to figure out why I am uncomfortable with this book.
Most outdoors books I find interesting with the descriptions of the
places, either bringing back memories of being there or the desire to
go there and explore. On a recent trip to Grand Teton, I think I have
come to the reason for this feeling, and it may be more accurate in
saying disappointment: this is a book which is the equivalent of
viewing a park from a car window and driving on.
I
do sympathize with Knighton and his task. Describing each part
extensively would lead to a book 15 times as long and be pretty
unwieldy. Knighton usually examines a single facet of a park, hoping
this will entice us to want more. The problem is that most parks are
more than just one aspect: Yellowstone is more than Old Faithful;
Yosemite goes beyond rock walls and thundering waterfalls, Arches is
more than sandstone. What happened to me is that Knighton left me
with the impression that is all that there was to a park is what he
saw.
Is
Knighton’s task doable? Writing a moderate length book and
exploring 63 parks is a formidable task. I enjoyed Knighton’s
prose in trying to describe a park, but not the brevity of insight.
And maybe that is how our parks should be. They are not built to be
raced through, but to be enjoyed and set up for reflection on nature,
our history, and our own being. I hope that Knighton will continue to
sharpen his writing and produce the book which will expand my being.
Notes from my book group:
Knighton
arranges his visits by his perceived subject matter, instead of
chronologically. Does this arrangement work for you? Do you agree
with his groupings?
How
do you approach going to a new place? How do you feel? How do you
prepare?
Which
parks do you want to go to? Why? Which parks are not attractive to
you?
What
place does technology have in our parks? What is technology? Should
there be cell service in the parks? Where in the parks? Following
your answer to the first part of this question, If you were to take
part in an argument in 1915 about paving roads in Yosemite? What
would you argue? (Before then, cars were not able to drive to
Yosemite Valley.)
Knighton
asks an eerie question, When
you can go anywhere, where do you choose to go?
Knighton
notes that the ending of Sunday
Morning
show is a minute of silent reflection about places of beauty. What do
you do when you have times of silence?
The
parks are our literal common ground. … I was surprised by how the
distinctions between red states and blue states seemed to slip away
whenever I was hiking through a forest, scrambling up a sand dune, or
sharing a patch of shade.
When you are in a park, do you see elements of red or blue politics?
How
do you want your life to change because you read this book?
Many
of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why
the title of Leave
Only Footprints?
How
do you classify this book? Travellog? Personal reflection? Advocacy?
...
Did
the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
Every
story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s
world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
In
what context was religion talked about in this book?
Why
do you think the author wrote this book?
What
would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What
“takeaways” did you have from this book?
What
central ideas does the author present?
Are
they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual,
medical, or scientific
What
evidence
does the author use to support the book's ideas?
Is
the evidence convincing...definitive or...speculative?
Does
the author depend on personal opinion, observation, and assessment?
Or is the evidence factual—based on science, statistics, historical
documents, or quotations from (credible) experts?
What
implications for you, our nation or the world do these ideas have?
Are
these idea’s controversial?
To
whom and why?
Describe
the culture talked about in the book.
How
is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
What
economic or political situations are described?
Does
the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the
arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
How
did this book affect your view of the world?Talk about specific
passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound,
amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What
was memorable?
OSHER
Book Club Questions, from Kay:
For
me this book was a lot of making connections in reading
Text
to Self
Text
to Text
Text
to World
Which
of the parks that you have visited was your favorite? Why?
Which
park that you have not visited would you like to visit? Why?
Author’s
writing style
What
emotions did the writing evoke in you if any during his journey?
Our
charge: To not just visit the parks, but fight for them. To
prioritize and protect them, so that future generations may enjoy
their treasures.
He
stated that a common theme at almost every part he visited would be
“A discovery of land that was already inhabited by someone else, a
history written by white settlers.
Did
you find yourself laughing out loud at some of the things he said in
the book?
Efrain……
Interesting
thoughts/tidbits to ponder………………….
The
Fortune Cookie – As a chapter ends, you will find yourself on a
road to discovery
Ronald
Reagan’s quote – “A tree is a tree. How many more do you need
to look at.”
Operation
Heal our Patriots in Alaska
Lack
of trust surrounding climate science
Legal
status of American Samoans, Guamanians, Puerto Ricans
Everglades
the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles
co-exist
Healing
properties of water
Buffalo
soldiers first rangers at Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks
Romance
and on line dating while on the road
“America”
poem inspired by Katharine Lee Bates on her visit to Pike’s Peak
The
curse of Petrified Wood and the returning of the wood and apology
letters
The
cost of Disneyland passes vs National Park passes
Kentucky
Cave Wars and the death of Floyd the cave explorer
Sound
evokes more memories than pictures
Peak
Bagger (14er’s)
Technology
access in the parks – pros and cons
International
Dark Sky communities
Lack
of diversity (employees and visitors) in the parks
Oprah’s
trip to Yosemite
The
legends of the French Voyageurs of the 1800’s
Statements
made throughout the book:
There’s
something about the promise of a new year that makes people do
things they would never do otherwise.
National
parks are about more than protecting the land. Parks are also about
protecting creatures who call the land home.
I
won’t be focusing much on the chronology or geography that
separates the parks. Far more interesting are the threads that tie
them together and that tie us to nature.
Humans
are by far the planet’s most destructive species but we’re also
the only species that has ever worked together to ensure other
forms of life don’t go extinct.
Quiet
can be difficult to quantify – it’s easier to think of loud in
relative terms. And his discussion on the importance of quietness.
The
importance of trees – we speak often in terms of “trees” –
putting down roots, charting our family tree, we see faces in their
trunks and arms in their branches
Parks
are the homes we have taken off the market
Parks
have become our collective sanctuaries, places that welcome us back
through their gates with open arms no matter how long we have been
away.
Like
that stolen wood at Petrified Forest, once a piece of you has been
taken it can’t be put back
Seemingly
inconsequential actions, done by enough people, can make an
enormous difference.
My
favorite part of traveling, though, has always been the way my
trips have challenged me to rethink my preconceived notions about
other places and people.
Our
beginnings always seem more important than our endings. In life, we
can often control how things starts. Endings are elusive and
amorphous and uncertain.
Leave
no trace. Take only memories and leave only footprints
Book References:
