About that National Parks Bucket List.... Planning #42.
A few days ago I wrote about how one of our "bucket list" goals is to visit all US National Parks. The idea to checkpoint our progress came late the week before, when we were on the boat to Key Biscayne National Park. That's where a ranger informed us there are now 60 national parks.
Later that same day, as part of our " Kicking Back in Key Largo", I built out a spreadsheet of all 60 parks, including location and whether or not we've visited them yet. Yes, working on spreadsheets is a recreational activity, if you do it right. Key Biscayne, which we visted just hours earlier, was number 40 out of 60 for us, exactly the two-third mark. And we had plans laid in to visit Dry Tortugas two days later, putting us at the 41/60 mark where we stand today.
Once we counted that we'd visited 41 out of 60 our natural next questions were, "What are the other 19 parks, and how shall we visit them?" Well, "what" is an easy question to answer having built a list but "how" is a bit more complex.
Some are Hard...
Visiting all the 19 parks we haven't seen yet will be challenging. Several are in remote locations. For example, 8 are in Alaska. You might think, "Just take one trip to Alaska a hit 'em all," but a) Alaska is huge, and b) some of those parks are really remote. Like, there's not even a paved road to them remote. The Park Service advises visitors to Gates of the Arctic National Park, for example, to hire outfitters to fly them in via private aircraft.
With some parks it's not so much that they're remote/expensive to get to as much as they're not worth it. When you think about it it's not terribly surprising that our system of national parks includes several members that are... let's say... political appointees. Unlike parks such as Yosemite and Zion, which were preserved for their multitude of fascinating natural wonders, certain parks got created because someone in Congress really wanted a national park in their state or district. Parks I put in this category include Cuyahoga Valley, near Cleveland OH, and Congaree, near Columbia SC. We haven't visited either one yet. And though they're near populated cities far easier to reach than the roadless sub-arctic wilderness of Alaska, they're 2000+ miles away from home, not near anything else we'd want to visit, and just not special enough to warrant trips of their own to see.
...Some are Not. Planning for Saguaro!
With us having visited 41 out of 60 national parks already you'd think all the low-hanging fruit has been picked. I.e., all the parks that are relatively easy to get to, we've gotten to. We thought that, too, until I pulled together the list.
Later that same day, as part of our " Kicking Back in Key Largo", I built out a spreadsheet of all 60 parks, including location and whether or not we've visited them yet. Yes, working on spreadsheets is a recreational activity, if you do it right. Key Biscayne, which we visted just hours earlier, was number 40 out of 60 for us, exactly the two-third mark. And we had plans laid in to visit Dry Tortugas two days later, putting us at the 41/60 mark where we stand today.
Once we counted that we'd visited 41 out of 60 our natural next questions were, "What are the other 19 parks, and how shall we visit them?" Well, "what" is an easy question to answer having built a list but "how" is a bit more complex.
Some are Hard...
Visiting all the 19 parks we haven't seen yet will be challenging. Several are in remote locations. For example, 8 are in Alaska. You might think, "Just take one trip to Alaska a hit 'em all," but a) Alaska is huge, and b) some of those parks are really remote. Like, there's not even a paved road to them remote. The Park Service advises visitors to Gates of the Arctic National Park, for example, to hire outfitters to fly them in via private aircraft.
With some parks it's not so much that they're remote/expensive to get to as much as they're not worth it. When you think about it it's not terribly surprising that our system of national parks includes several members that are... let's say... political appointees. Unlike parks such as Yosemite and Zion, which were preserved for their multitude of fascinating natural wonders, certain parks got created because someone in Congress really wanted a national park in their state or district. Parks I put in this category include Cuyahoga Valley, near Cleveland OH, and Congaree, near Columbia SC. We haven't visited either one yet. And though they're near populated cities far easier to reach than the roadless sub-arctic wilderness of Alaska, they're 2000+ miles away from home, not near anything else we'd want to visit, and just not special enough to warrant trips of their own to see.
...Some are Not. Planning for Saguaro!
With us having visited 41 out of 60 national parks already you'd think all the low-hanging fruit has been picked. I.e., all the parks that are relatively easy to get to, we've gotten to. We thought that, too, until I pulled together the list.