Being In Nature: Hike With Me
I wasn’t expecting this hiking trip to be a success, including an injury [not me OneSelfers, but she is okay] and my allergies
from hell. But all in all it was amazing!! If you live in a state in the United States make sure you visit one of your state parks. We are very blessed enough to even have these parks here in the states that are national parks. What do you mean by “national parks” Jazzman?
In the United States there are 60 protected national parks. That is included in the 417 areas covered as a whole including state parks,monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks and sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails and the White House. That’s a lot OneSelfers! The parks are operated by the National Parks Service, which is an agency of the Department of the Interior and an act was created and signed by President Woodrow Wilson on August 25, 1916. President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872 1872 signed an act that established that created our first national park, Yellowstone National Park (Hey Yogi and Boo-Boo! Okay, they live in Jellystone National Park, which is based off of Yellowstone)
Currently twenty-eight states have national parks, as well as the territories of American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands.
Facts:
California has the most national parks with nine. Click Here. Yes, I live in the state that has most of the parks. YAY!
Alaska is right my state with eight national parks. Click Here. Alaska is also the champion who has the largest national park is Wrangell-St. Elias with over 13.2 million acres…WOW! Bonus: The next three largest are also in Alaska!
Utah has five national parks. Click Here.
Colorado has four national parks. Click Here.
Missouri has the smallest national park which is called Gateway Arch National Park with 870 thousand acres in the 60 National Parks. Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Pennsylvania takes that title away from Missouri as a whole with the 417 parks combined with 0.02 acres.
118 of the 417 park sites in the United States charges entrance fee.
I was fortunate enough to head to Central Coast in Monterry Country with three friends of mines to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in the hub of Big Sur State Park which is a 26 + miles along Highway 1 (best and long road trip if you want to see the ocean along the West Coast) between Carmel and San Simeon.
The hike was amazing. I got be in nature and be able to take everything in including the coastal breeze coming from the water below. We came to hike a couple of weeks after a major fire in the Big Sur area. There are a few parks that is closed to the public to clean up the area. I was able to touch a few trees that were affected by the fires along our trail. The anthropology girl me came out and was sad about the trees, the animals that live in their parks and the future generations that we keep fighting for to be able to see these amazing park, learn and educate others.
The best part about me living in California; even in Fresno, CA is that I have my very own National Park in my own backyard that is 62 miles away from me. You guess it OneSelfers, Yosemite National Park.
Go out and explore. It doesn't matter if it's a national, state, historic parks and sites, etc., even if you may not have time, make some time, especially in the summer time if you have kids and/or nieces and nephews. Don’t forget to check out my hiking tip blog post titled Hiking Survival Tips. Until next time OneSelfers!
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