Typically, the parks established east of Rockies during the early days of the National Park System tended to be small urban parks, carved out from the desire to have scenic open spaces near to home, especially for recreation, rather than with the goal of preserving a unique slice of the landscape such as the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. Cuyahoga was one such park of the former type, nestled between major urban areas, and its story is rooted in the environmental and social movements of the 20th century. Its creation is about not only providing a refuge from the urban wilderness but restoring a landscape to be culturally vibrant, less polluted, a better home for wildlife, and a model for sustainable living.
And that was why, even though it was an arms throw from urban areas, I found places of solitude. I had visited the park during the fall season, hoping to escape the maddening crowds of a major college campus I was studying at that time. During this season, this midwest park takes on a new color scheme, covered in golds and yellows. It also becomes remarkably quieter without the urban crowds. In wandering along numerous trails that meandered through the forests and old moss-covered rocks and stonework, I realized that it truly was a hidden gem that aspired to the goals for which the park was created
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
OH USA
A National Parks Journey - Everglades National Park
My whistlestop tour of the my 24th National Park, the Everglades, consisted of nothing more than taking an airboat tour of the vast swamplands that form the primary terrain of the Everglades. I remember the boat gliding over marshes and open water, catching glimpses of tree snakes and walking with jacanas, checking out the ospreys fishing, and soaking in the humid atmosphere of these pristine wetlands. Nevertheless, these were just the teaser to the largest subtropical wilderness of the country.
Being so close to the population centers of Florida, the Everglades ecosystem experiences multiple stresses: from human intervention to control to the flow of water, air and water pollution, the lowering of the fresh water table, and last but not the least, the rising sea levels from the global climate change. It remains to be seen how much impact these factors have had already, and how much more the region's ecosystem can take
Everglades National Park
FL USA
A National Parks Journey - Carlsbad Caverns National Park
I always thought of caves as a dark and dank place that I hope I would never get caught in without a source of light. Spelunking, or cave exploration clearly wasn't my thing. But walking through the open gaping hole in the earth down to its inner depths along an artistically lighted walkway that highlighted the classic limestone formations of a cave - the tall stalagmites and the dangling stalactites and straws, towering columns and thin curtains. The walkway wove through a profusion of such formations in the karst-laden cave, formed when acidic rainwater slowly dissolved naturally occurring limestone over thousands of years.
And even though I enjoyed my first, and subsequent visit, my irrational fear of caves still remain. This fear was reinforced when, on one of the guided trips, the ranger cut power to all the lights, leaving us tourists to bathe in darkness.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
NM USA
A National Park Journey - Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce, which I first visited with a group of friends during Easter many years ago, changed what it meant to see the effect of sand, wind and water. hiking through the other-wordly red-rock hoodoos of different shapes and sizes in the grand amphitheater of the park was a memorable experience. Since then, I have been to the park twice more, each to explore a different area of the park in detail. And even though it is not a particularly large park, it takes on a fresh coat of color with every change of season, and that makes it worth visiting more than once.
One of its hidden secrets, which make it worth staying by the Park entrance, is the phenomenal night sky, At 9000ft, the clear air on a no-moon night lends for spectacular astrophotography, as long as you can bear the cold.
Bryce Canyon National Park
UT USA
A National Park Journey - Olympics National Park
I never knew a rainforest could exist this part north of the equator. Hence I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked along the moss-laid trail made of roughly hewn wooden planks that snaked its way through the dense foliage. A thick undergrowth of ferns and shrubs covered every square inch of earth, from which sprouted towering trees draped loosely with moss and lichen. It was only a short hike through the forest, but even that short time had etched its memory into my mind.
I have since returned back multiple times to explore the multiple biomes the park had to offer, from vast glaciers, ridge-top walks, alpine lakes and the pristine Pacific coast. It is one of those parks that offers a new perspective with every new visit. Living closer to the park compared to my very first visit certainly has its advantages.
Olympics National Park
WA USA
A National Park Journey - Pinnacles National Park
My strongest memories of Pinnacles remains wandering through a wildflower meadow dominated by with brightly blooming California Poppies. Its vibrant orange blossoms were a show of delight against the dry chaparral vegetation, and egged me to go further on the trail on that warm spring day. I thought that was all there was to Pinnacles, but in my subsequent visits, I discovered that this park had far more to offer: I tracked breeding pairs of California Condors with a wildlife biologist, squeezed through narrow clefts and clambered over steep pinnacles, and watched the night skies above and the delicate under-canopy below.
It was perhaps this reason that Pinnacles was designated a National Park in 2013. While it may not carry the epic grandeur that is typical of National Parks, it preserves a rather unique part of California
Pinnacles National Park
CA USA
A National Park Journey - Grand Teton National Park
By the time I had visited 9 National Parks, my itch to see more had started to grow. So when the opportunity to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton had presented in the summer of 2008, I jumped at it. Having heard more about Yellowstone, mainly due to the marketing prowess of Ol Faithful and its representation in the Yogi bear cartoon series, Grand Teton was merely an afterthought. But our path to Yellowstone took us through Grand Teton, and in retrospect, it was the best decision ever as I found Grand Teton to be far more enthralling than Yellowstone.
I still remember waking up early in the canvas tents of Colter Bay village, and walking up to the still shores of Jackson lake where I got to witness the first light of the day strike the jagged yet characteristic peaks of the Teton Range. From here, the prominence of the Teton Range, reflected fully on the lake, was just hard to comprehend; it stretched from horizon to horizon with alternating shades of snow and granite topping the undulating highline of the Tetons. I had to come back.
A few years later, I did, and I hiked along the Teton Crest trail, winding my way up and over mountain passes, along steep ridges and narrow shelves, and through beautiful alpine meadows nestled behind the mighty Grand Teton. It was an unforgettable trip, but permitting challenges make it hard for me to ever repeat such a trip again. This image is of a rainbow that appeared right after a thunderstorm hit a wildflower-laden meadow on the first day of the backpack.
Grand Teton National Park
WY USA
A National Park Journey - Shenandoah National Park
Shenandoah was my first exposure to the rolling Appalachians, and to my first National Park on the eastern half of the United States. It was a very different experience compared to the parks in the western half. Shenandoah was designed more for the automobile tourist, with beautiful paved parkways that snaked atop ridgelines coupled with generous pullouts for the best views of the blue mountains.
Except for the Appalachian trail, hiking and backpacking seemed to be afterthoughts. And since the Park was established long after the region developed, accommodations consisted of motels and hotels in the various communities that border the park. And in that aspect, it was very similar to its southerly brother - the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
I had tried to time my visit, over a decade ago, to see the fall foliage. However, Mother Nature was a fickle beast, and only very small sections of the park showed any hints of color. Nevertheless, it was a memorable trip to visit such a venerated addition to the National Park System.
Shenandoah National Park
VA USA
A National Park Journey - Sequoia
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
Floral Wonderland
In some years, spring is muted, and in some years, the mountainsides explode in color as wildflowers bloom enmasse, blanketing the sun-drenched slopes of the Cascades. This year, it was the turn for the eastern side of the Cascades to greet visitors with a fresh coat of balsamroot, phlox, lupines and many other varieties of flora. Normally a drab sun-baked brown for the rest of the year, the lush green slopes get carpeted with tiny shrubs and plants from different flowering species competing for space and attention from the pollinators which have a field day. Watching the flowers dance and sway with the cool winds from the Cascades blowing down these slopes is a mesmerizing experience.
What makes it even more special is the ephemeral nature of this phenomenon: blooms like these rarely occur every year, and even if they do, last more than a few weeks before they fade away and are taken over by the dry summer browns. Hence, it is worthwhile to go seek out these special places at the right time, all the while make sure not to trample on these delicate blossoms.
Wenatchee
WA USA