National Parks and Reflection on Nature

Keeping the theme of travel for the day, I decided to check out some of our nation's most prized geological and ecological conglomerations: National Parks!

I'm the kind of person who can get into nature and lose myself. Everyone can say that they can get lost in nature, though. All you have to do is go off course and wander into a particularly thick patch of trees and, bam, you're reenacting the last half of "The Edge," trying to stay alive while Anthony Hopkins uses his skills as a survivor to make sure you don't ruin his family. At least if your name is Alec Baldwin.

And I could use all those cliche words to describe the experience of being in the woods, on a mountain, or next to a running stream: serene, peaceful, "at one" with the surroundings. But, really, it goes beyond all that. It's reaching the face of God, listening to His voice and trying to translate the sound of wind and leaves and animal cries into emotion.

It reminded me of a poem by Emily Dickinson that I read in college:

[324] Some keep the Sabbath going to the Church
Some keep the Sabbath going to the Church —
I keep it, staying at Home —
With a Bobolink for a Chorister —
And an Orchard, for a Dome —
Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice —
I just wear my Wings —
And instead of tolling the Bell, for Church,
Our little Sexton — sings.
God preaches, a noted Clergyman —
And the sermon is never long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last —
I'm going, all along.

Photo: Grand Teton National Park

Yellowstone
Wyoming (and Montana and Idaho)
March 1, 1872
Size: 3,468.4 square miles 
Famous for: "First nation park in the world."
Home of: Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone Caldera (worth its own post)

Yosemite National Park
California
October 1, 1890
Size: 3,080.74 sq mi
Home of: Giant Sequoia Groves, Half Dome

Grand Canyon National Park
Arizona
February 26, 1919
Size: 1,902 sq mi
Home of: Hoover Dam, Navajo Bridge, and the Grand Canyon, of course!

Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming
Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado
Big Bend National Park - Texas
Denali National Park and Preserve - Alaska (home of Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America)
Everglades National Park - Florida
Glacier National Park - Montana
Arcadia National Park - Maine
Arches National Park - Utah

For way more information and pictures, check out http://americannationalparks.wordpress.com/


-JJ