National Parks

I think it is safe to say that I have an obsession with National Parks.

This obsession began in 2000 when my best friend Christina and I spent 3 months at the Grand Canyon, living, working, praying, and playing.

It heightened the following summer when I spent the most transformative 3 months of my life at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Which is why, when I graduated from college in 2002, the only move that made sense to me was yet another National Park. So I packed away my degree and moved to California, where I spent 8 months in Yosemite.

While living in California I spent as much time in Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Kings Canyon & Sequoia National Parks as I did at home among the "Big Trees" of Yosemite.

My next move was to Arkansas to live with my grandmother, but before I could get there I added Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, and Mesa Verde in Utah and Colorado to my growing list of National Parks I consider home.

While in Arkansas I of course had to take advantage of Hot Springs National Park. And in the dozen years since, I've added Crater Lake in Oregon, Petrified Forest in Arizona, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio, and most recently, Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, to my list of happy places.

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

What is it about these places that continues to draw me back? The purpose of the National Park System says it all:

“The fundamental purpose of the parks 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 will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

How many other places in our world are unimpaired, undamaged, unspoiled by our hands and constructs, but left to remain perfect, the way they were created by our Creator? How many other places were set aside by our fathers and our fathers fathers for our enjoyment, and for the enjoyment of our children and our children's children? How many other places serve us, as a place to live, work, pray, and play in, at any age?

Lassen Volcanic National Park, California

Our recent trip to Lassen was especially momentous as they had just two weeks before celebrated 100 years since the last major eruption of Lassen Peak, an event that led to their being designated as a National Park. We also learned that next year, in 2016, the National Park SERVice will be celebrating 100 years as an official government organization.

I, for one, am grateful for the service of the National Parks, and will continue to support them through my obsession with visiting, living, working, praying, and playing in their midst.