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National parks are core to our American identity.
It’s National Park Week! The National Park Service is celebrating its 110th birthday with special events this week. Here at LCV, we love national parks and public lands. We’re fighting every day to protect them from the Trump administration’s attacks. Before we head outdoors to celebrate our parks this week, we asked our staff to share their favorite parks and stories and photos from their adventures. From coast to coast, from mountaintops to subterranean caves, from perfect weather to perfect storms – here are LCVers’ top park picks and tales from the trails.
Favorite memory: “When I was a kid my family went to Rocky Mountain National Park for a short vacation every year. They have these little bare-bones cabins you can rent, so we’d go and then we’d do horseback riding and hiking, and we’d go explore in the park. I loved, loved, loved it.”
Who would you take on your dream national park trip?: “I would take my three daughters and my wife, and we’d go to Arches National Park in Utah and do one of the sunrise hikes to see the sunrise through the arch.”
National park bucket list: “I’ve never been to Acadia in Maine or Glacier in Montana. I’d like to go to all of them, but those are very high on my list. ”
Pride in America’s parks: “Preserving our national parks is one of the best ideas that we have ever had as Americans. The fact that they exist, I think speaks to American hopefulness and idealism, and I think that is part of what makes us ‘us.’ And I when I say American, whoever is here and however they got here and however long they’ve been here, it doesn’t matter once you’re here. Experiencing the parks is part of what living in this country is all about, and I think it really sets us apart.”
Favorite memory: “I grew up going to Ellsworth, Maine in the summer because my grandmother grew up there. We’d go to Acadia every summer. We’d go on a hike, we’d play on the rocks, or dig under the seaweed for crabs. I have a ton of really good memories from Acadia.”
Who would you take on your dream national park trip?: “I do really like birds. There is a birder who does a variety of different adventures. His name is Noah Stryker. Going with him to a national park, like one of the national parks in Alaska, like Gates of the Arctic, or American Samoa, or Hawai’i, where there are a ton of birds that I have no idea what they are would be really fantastic.”
Park bucket list: “My wife and I are trying to go to all the national parks. I think I’ve gotten to 37 of the 63. So I’m over half. I want to go to all the rest of them.”
Favorite memory: “I grew up in Maine, but I didn’t get to Acadia until high school. I remember the experience of going and seeing how many people from across the country and the world were there, and being blown away by that. I don’t think it really hit me until I actually got to go how spectacular the landscape is, and how special it is that we get to have one of the few national parks east of the Mississippi.”
Who would you take on your dream national park trip?: “I have a lot of young kids in my life who, as they get older, would be really special to visit Acadia with. I hope to give them a chance to experience public lands before anything happens to these places, but also as part of growing up and getting to see our shared places.”
National park bucket list: “I’ve had the good fortune of going to a few of the national parks in Alaska, but there’s just so many up there to explore. I also really want to go to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, because that’s another one that’s in the eastern U.S. and gets less hype than some others.”
Protecting public lands: “There are many different ways to protect public lands. Often, once an area is protected as a national monument, it helps draw support for even further protections.”
Favorite memory: “We were camping in Acadia one time, and it was downpouring. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and my whole family was scooping buckets of water out of our tents. It was definitely not the most fun weather, but it was such a fun experience with my family, and it was one of my first times camping. I was just like, ‘Wow, this is so cool, being in nature and experiencing all the elements.’”
Who would you take on your dream national park trip?: “I’ve always wanted to go camping in a national park with my college best friends and my sister, who I also went to college with. It’d be a little college reunion adventure! They live on the west coast, and I love Crater Lake in Oregon, so I feel like that’s a good spot in between.”
National park bucket list: “Yellowstone. I would just love to see the hot springs. They look beautiful. It’s one of the most iconic national parks in my mind.”
Favorite memory: “One of my favorite memories was with my dad. He was not always the biggest outdoors person, but he loved hiking. I remember us climbing up Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite National Park. He was convinced he wasn’t going to slip on the ice, and of course he did. He fell and went halfway down the trail. But he kept going. We ran into this family of fawns, and we just sat there. And it’s like just one of those perfect kind of childhood memories of really being able to appreciate a perfect, beautiful place while your parents are being a little ridiculous. I don’t think there’s any place like Yosemite on Earth.”
Who would you take on your dream national park trip?: “I would take Senator Jon Ossoff from Georgia because he cares deeply about public lands, and Congresswoman Maxine Dexter from Oregon, who is such a badass hiker, to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. There are very few places in the United States where you can see public lands in ways that are not disturbed by humans at all. You’re literally walking in the steps of the caribou.”
Park bucket list: “Glacier National Park in Montana. The mountains, the lakes, the tremendous wildlife. I think everything about Glacier has always drawn me to that national park, and I’m kicking myself that I haven’t been there yet. But I can also name like 20 other places I’d like to go.”
Favorite memory: “My husband and I got engaged in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state. We both love to spend time outdoors, and getting to have that moment in a place like Mount Rainier feels really special.”
Who would you take on your dream national park trip?: “I would like to take Teddy Roosevelt now to see all the progress we’ve made with the protections that he set out, and also to look at everything that is being threatened and under attack. He’s probably rolling in his grave a little bit.”
Park bucket list: “I want to go to Sedona! Sedona, Arizona is just stunning, it’s surrounded by incredible public land.”
The importance of national monuments: “Almost half, 31 out of 63, of our national parks started out as national monuments. That’s why we work so hard to ensure protections for national monuments.”
Favorite memory: “I grew up in Kentucky and spent a lot of time on camping trips with my parents and siblings. I spent a lot of time in the Smokies camping and doing mountain bike trips and things like that. When I think about national parks and why they’re special, I think about my camping trips with my family as a kid.”
Who would you take on your dream national park trip?: “My fiancé and I keep talking about going to Hawai’i. Getting to add on a stop to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park out there would be super cool, so that’s high on my list.”
Park bucket list: “The big one for me is Glacier in Montana. I would love to do Glacier. It looks incredible. There’s actually an alt-country music festival at the base of Glacier National Park on a ranch with Glacier in the background. I’ve heard Whitefish, Montana, the mountains, and everything up there is pretty beautiful.”
Favorite hidden gem: “My home state national park, Mammoth Cave, is the biggest cave system in the world. I’ve found a lot of people don’t even know that Kentucky has a national park. I would definitely recommend folks check it out. One of the big activities at Mammoth Cave is spelunking, and there are caves that are so small that you have to crawl through a very narrow tube. There are size restrictions because it’s very, very small. You can’t have claustrophobia.”
National parks, and the memories we make on them, are core to who we are. But the Trump administration is trying to take these treasured places away and hand them over to Big Polluters to exploit for profit. They have launched countless attacks on our national parks and public lands, including:
This National Park Week, and every week, LCV is fighting back to protect America’s public lands. You can help us protect these beloved places for generations to come by taking 5 minutes today to tell your members of Congress: Keep public lands in public hands! Send them a message or call their offices (here’s how!) and remind them that public lands belong to the people, not Big Polluters!
Act Now
Trump has been relentlessly trying to sell off our nation's most treasured public lands and parks to Big Polluters for oil and gas drilling and mining. Trump and his allies are taking steps to sell off Boundary Waters, Chaco Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante, AND the Arctic Refuge to the highest bidder. These lands are irreplaceable. Let's make sure they're protected for future generations, not exploited and polluted for Big Oil's profits. Tell Interior Secretary Burgum: Don't sell off our public lands. Not now, not ever.
Send a Message: Keep Public Lands in Public Hands
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