About

National Parks

I live in California and we have many wonderful parks to see, no doubt. Some of my favorite places to visit are state parks such as Anza Borrego, Mount San Jacinto, Big Sur…I would like to eventually visit all of California’s state parks, but there are about 280. That’s quite a lot to see. I always assumed that any park that was really big and popular was national, but that’s not always the case. The most basic way to understand the difference is that state parks are run by the state, and national parks are under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Besides national parks there are also national forests, national monuments, national lakeshores/seashores, national wildlife refuges and more. When I first started exploring the parks this was all very overwhelming but the more I saw then more I wanted to see. I thought a fun adventure would be to explore all the parks, and to narrow down which kinds of parks to see, I chose the 63 national parks.

How It Began

I’ve always loved being outdoors witnessing the beauty of nature. As a kid I would rush through my homework during class and the bus ride home so that as soon as I got home I’d throw my back pack down, grab my bike, and head outside to feel the wind on my face, enjoy the smell of trees, and of course keep an eye out for cute bunnies and butterflies. My family was never “outdoorsy” so I didn’t start hiking until my early 20’s. Soon after I started hiking I began camping, and soon I felt the urge to travel further from home to explore bigger mountains, caves, waterfalls, and trees that are as old as Christianity.

This is where the National Parks idea came to my mind. I have been to a handful already and there are so many I plan to see, but it’s a bit intimidating since there are so many and each park is so large I don’t even know where to start. So I thought, maybe I could do some research about each one so that I’ll know where to go once I do get out there one day, and maybe someone else will benefit from it too.