Many years ago, after I had visited a few National Parks in California, I became enamored by the idea of visiting all the National Parks by 2025 by visiting at least two new National Parks every year. It was an aspirational goal, serving as a motivational force to keep me seeking new adventures and planning new destinations every year. It felt far away, but I slowly kept kept chipping away at this goal, getting closer and closer even as the number of National Parks were expanded. And yet, in a few weeks, I will be visiting my 50th National Park (of the 63 named National Parks today). I never imagined I would reach this milestone this quickly and putting me within earshot of my goal. That said, the next dozen, with a few in Alaska, are anything but easy or accessible.
This gave me a moment to pause and think of the very first National Parks I had visited, of the memories I had created, and of the experiences I had had. The very first one on the list was Sequoia National Park, that I visited with a few colleagues during my first summer job in the country, and that experience was life-changing. Not only was it my first visit to a National Park, it was also my first camping experience. And having grown up a big city kid, seeing nature and wilderness in such a scale was eye opening.
Here is one image that captures the feeling of enormous scale that I felt watching these giants rising high against the foliage of the forest
Sequoia National Park
CA USA
Gentle Giants
These gentle giants have been growing silently on the rugged slopes of the Sierra Nevadas for thousands of years, and have, in their lifetimes, probably survived hundreds of fires.
And yet, over the last few decades, they have faced far more pressures from the drying climate and human activity. While these giants evolved to survive the smaller fires, they now burn with fiercer intensity, and the lower precipitation reduces their ability to withstand them.
Will these giants survive the next big fire? With Creek fire approaching dangerously close to the Mariposa grove, it is hard to say.
Yosemite National Park
CA USA