1) Great Smoky Mountains National Park - What can you say about a National Park that already has the name "Great" in the title? This is not only the most visited National Park in the United States, but in my opinion it is also the most awe-inspiring and interesting park. But the beautiful scenery, as breathtaking as it is, is not what makes this park so special to me. Picture a place in your mind that inspires countless memories and is a favorite go-to place in my mind where I can get lost for hours.
Starting around when I was nine or so my parents and a small group of their friends started what became an annual camping trip at Cades Cove which is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We lived less than two hours or so from the Smokies so this was an easy get away location. This trip usually took place in late October, the weather was cold to crisp, the leaves were usually golden and all of this combined to create a magical weekend. We would explore the cove with an Ranger at sunset and try to count the number of wildlife that we would spot. Bears, turkeys, deer, raccoons, were always spotted and this outing never left us disappointed.
I've also lost track of the number of friends and family that joined us at one time or another for our annual camping trip in October. But I remember the touch football games we played at the field next to the pavilion. I remember watching world series baseball on a small black and white television with an tiny antenna trying it's best to capture the magic swirling around the mountain air. The smell of campfires that encompassed the valley. Renting bicyles and navigating the narrow roads with overly ambitious cars. Ranger presentations at the Cades Cove A-Frame Amphitheatre and movie nights under the watchful eyes of the mountains above. Telling stories while huddled together around the fire and dodging the smoke when the wind shifted. Or that time the camp movie started off with the MGM Lion roar and my grandmother moving faster than I ever thought possible for the safety of the camper. Skunks, bears, chipmunks, foxes and deer. Watching the mules work the sorghum mill at the Visitor Center. Yes, the Smokies are one of the most beautiful places I've visited on earth but what makes it truly special are the friendships and memories associated with all of my visits.
2) Yosemite National Park - It's 5:30 am and Dad and I are trying to quietly pack up his camera equipment to get prepared to take a picture at sunrise in what may be the most awe inspiring place on earth. I don't remember how the picture turned out but I can instantly recall that moment in my mind. And that was just one of the many "wow" experiences that awaited at almost every turn. Whether hiking up to an overlook of the valley created by glaciers long ago, or staring up at El Captain, Yosemite is the park that captures everyone's heart and never let's it go. It is also the origin of the infamous Lee family saying, "I'm as sure-footed as a mountain goat . . . "
3) Grand Canyon National Park - This park above all parks defies description. My puny attempts at describing this place usually start with the acknowledgement of a new-found awareness that I am small and nature is big. That sounds elementary but its easy to forget in our mundane, daily, chaotic existence. Yet staring down into canyon walls that plunge for thousands of feet below where you stand create a feeling of the finite in a way that I've only experienced one other time, while gazing up at the Redwoods at Sequoia National Park.
4) Carlsbad Caverns National Park - If the Grand Canyon Park is all about its overwhelming size, Carlsbad Park is all about nuance. I love the history of this park and the decades of rhythm that occur with the wildlife that call this place home. From the thousands of bats exploding out of the entrance at sunrise, to the eyeless fish navigating the underground rivers, this is one of the most unique and exquisite places under the earth. And there is something about descending below the surface to discover another world that jump starts my imagination in a special way . . .
5) Yellowstone National Park - I think the reason Yellowstone is 5th on my list is it so difficult to pin down a central memory or experience to this park. It is chock-full of variety such as; waterfalls, mud pots, geysers, canyons, buffalo, elk and so much more. I have not come close to fully exploring and appreciating the wonders of this park but look forward to spending a lot more time there in the future.
I'll close with one of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes: “Nature never taught me that there exists a God of glory and of infinite majesty. I had to learn that in other ways. But nature gave the word glory a meaning for me. I still do not know where else I could have found one. I do not see how "fear" of God could have ever meant to me anything but the lowest prudential efforts to be safe, if I had never seen certain ominous ravines and unapproachable crags. And if nature had never awakened certain longings in me, huge areas of what I can now mean by "love" of God would never, so far as I can see, have existed.”
