Becky Finds Her Park: Celebrating our national Parks 100 YRs

Growing up, I was blessed to have camped, hiked, canoed, played, relaxed, and soaked in history exploring several dozen of our National Parks.  Every summer since I was six month old, all the way through my teenage years, our family loaded into the station wagon, hooked up our modified pop-up tent, and set off from Austin to get away from the stifling mid-summer Texas heat.  My family had been doing this long before I was born…as the youngest of six, I started these camping trips when I was 6 months old.  While not yet complete, I’m compiling a list of the National Parks I’ve experienced during my nearly half-decade, and have a recurring question…can I “count” being in Big Bend NP when I was inside my mother the previous summer?

I recall these summer vacations fondly…with six kids, Mama, and Papa, our trips were always full of adventure!  We hiked up mountains, through grasslands, besides lakes, and around canyon and volcano rims, dipping our toes & swimming in streams and lakes, and being drenched by unexpected storms along the way.  We saw wildlife viewed before only in picture books…moose, elk, big horn sheep, marmots, coyote, pika, and of course my favorite, black bears.  Noisy birds of every color and size graced the sky, trees, and bushes.  History was brought to life for us kids getting to wander on Civil & Revolutionary War Battlefields, explore villages that Quakers and Colonial families lived and worked, and Indians had dwelled.  The views were always spectacular…from the rim of the Grand Canyon to the glaciers of Glacier, to the geysers and potholes of Yellowstone, to the majestic redwoods of California, we relished it all during our roadside travels and hikes.  Then, we would wind down our days at our campsites playing hide and seek, king of the mountain, and gin rummy sitting around our campfire or Coleman lantern together.  

Being raised in a family that was privileged to take off two to four weeks every summer, I grew up with the misconception that everyone got to take that much time off work to spend with their families in the summer.  While not wealthy, our parents understood the importance of family time and getting us outside in nature to play and explore, so they made these trips happen every year. 

My career took me from Texas to California to New York, and then back to Texas, where I learned that each state is amazing and unique in its own way.  As a Civil Engineer in the environmental field, I was blessed to do much of my work out doors.  My field work involved investigating sources of contamination in soil and groundwater, so while my time was spent outdoors, it was not exactly a hike in a National Park, yet it allowed me time outside and the opportunity to do something to right environmental wrongs caused by errant human activities.  Some of my favorite times were spent in upstate NY, where my job often pulled me away from people and into rural areas, and even to the Adirondack Mountains.  Who could have imagined that a degree in Civil Engineering would have taken me on trips to the middle of the Adirondacks, riding in the back of a pick up truck on high-rails, marking wetlands? 

I transitioned from contaminated site assessment work into compliance and auditing…my hopes that keeping companies in compliance with environmental, health, and safety regulations, would prevent them from messing up the environment or harming their workers.  Things got busy, travel increased, and my field time was spent more in manufacturing and petrochemical facilities, at gas stations or bulk petroleum facilities, or simply in the office than in nature. The further my career advanced, the more time I spent inside, managing projects rather than getting out into the field.  I value all my career experiences, knowing that my time as a child getting out into nature gave me the passion to go into a career to help cleanup the environment and develop plans for industry to prevent further contaminating our great Earth.

So the next summer when my husband was scheduled to be in trial, where there would be many weeks of 18 hour days for him, I decided it was time to take the kids on a road trip, out of the Houston heat, and to the mountains where you can play outside during the day!  That first summer road trip was a success…we traveled 26 days, through three states (TX, NM, and CO), camping, hiking, and exploring eight of our National Parks and many State Parks, with the kids becoming Junior Rangers in both National and State Parks. Our adventures took us to dormant volcanic craters; to sand dunes and mountains waterfalls; to the majestic Rockies; to cliff dwellings and historic forts; and amazing natural springs.  Returning to many places I had been to as a child brought back wonderful memories, and getting to share them with my children, along with creating new memories with them, was priceless.  We didn’t want to return home, but we did, and set our sites on the next summer!

The following year, Summer 2014, I started planning for our summer adventures in the spring.  I pulled out a map of all the National Parks & Monuments in the lower US, touched base with family and friends along the general route we wanted to travel, and set to work mapping out a route to capture as much history and beauty of our country that we could in our weeks away.  Our journey took us up the Midwest through Indian Nations; to a memorial to innocent lives taken and our nation’s resiliency; to tallgrass prairies; to the Gateway to the West; to the Lock and Dam Systems of the Mississippi; to ancient burial grounds shaped like bears and eagles; to the monument depicting four of our greatest presidents.  We saw towering rock formations and evidence of prehistoric beaver dwellings, explored the pristine waters of the lakes on our nation’s border, and saw eagles soaring above us; learning the stories and history behind the places along our travels.

We explored the visitor center, learned a bit of the history of the park, picked up our park map and Junior Ranger materials, took our mandatory photo next to (well, on top of) the Theodore Roosevelt National Park sign, and set off to find our campsite.  We found a great one in the South Unit, set out to explore the campground, and checked out the bulletin board to find upcoming park activities.  I was a bit disappointed to learn that nightly Ranger Program, normally starting in the amphitheater just after dark, was being replaced with a “night walk” that would start much later than I’d preferred for my 8 and 10 year olds.  My daughter, however, was thrilled to see there was horseback riding right in the park.  “Mom, we need to ride a horse in Teddy Roosevelt National Park, just like he did!”  Who could disagree with such great rationale?  

As with many things that happen in life for a reason, despite my initial concern, the late-night program was a blessing.  It gave the kids and I the chance to set up the tent, have dinner, check out where the horses were kept, and explore the river, experiencing so many new things before nighttime fell.  After dark, we set off to find the Ranger group, armed with our nifty flashlights, but soon learned that we would not need them at all.  The ranger explained how our eyes would adjust to the darkness, open our other senses, and we wouldn’t need a light at all.  We hiked in an open field and listened to the night sounds, finding a thrill in not having to use a flashlight.  We were further rewarded at the end of the Ranger Program by visiting astronomers who had set up a few telescopes, taught us more about what we could find in the nighttime sky, and let us experience it firsthand.  We saw the Milky Way so vibrantly to the naked eye one could not imagine that it is not capable of being seen in most places because of ground lights.  Through the telescopes, we got to see the rings around Saturn, and even another galaxy.  The kids and I will never forget the magnificent darkness of that sky and the brightness of those stars!

Our remaining time in the park included traveling the North Unit, enjoying hikes, climbing on rocks, and learning more about the history of the park and its namesake through the Visitor’s Centers and Junior Ranger program.  While I may not always get it all right, I recall that a man named Teddy Roosevelt ventured out to North Dakota all those years ago to hunt bison and to recover from heartbreak, having lost his mother and wife on the same day.  I remember the humorous stories of his bespectacled, polished, city-boy-on-a-horse appearance, and having to win over a roughneck in a bar to gain the respect of the locals.  

In his own words, he held fast, “I have always said I would not have been President had it not been for my experience in North Dakota.” We are all so blessed that his time out in North Dakota, in what is now Theodore Roosevelt National Park, healed his soul, sparked his drive and commitment to conservation, and led to his being instrumental in protecting 230,000,000 acres of public land during his presidency.