The National Park Service turns 103 today! In their honor, I've compiled a list of 10 reasons why our national parks, despite crowds and growing pressures, are still as awesome as ever.

So get ready, as we dive into what is best about our amazing national parks.

Let's begin with the gloriously, delightfully obvious.

Our national parks are home to some of the most phenomenal, spirit-lifting, gasp-inducing vistas to be found in the known and unknown universe.

The Earth is an intergalactic treasure by every calculation — and our national parks (home to some of the planet's very finest scenery), are home to some of the very best scenery to be found ANYWHERE. 

The Star Wars movies famously interpreted individual planets as singular ecosystems, but guess what: Hoth, Endor, Tatooine, Yavin and the like aren't locations in some galaxy far, far away. They're all real places located right here on earth, many of which are national parks.
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Adventure is a relative term. For some, surviving a day without Netflix, YouTube or facebook might be adventurous. Others prefer class-five whitewater, scaling the odd stratovolcano, or backpacking virgin arctic tundra, 100 or more miles from the nearest flushing toilet.

Fortunately, national parks can easily satisfy both groups and everyone in between. Regardless of your age or experience, there's enough adventure in our national parks to fill a thousand lifetimes.

The most important thing to remember is to start small, climbing gradually up the adventure scale. Start with a few scenic drives or shuttle rides, sprinkled with a couple picnics and day hikes. Then when you're ready gradually and responsibly turn the dial up on your adventures.

​You'll learn a lot about yourself, the planet we all depend on, and have incredible experiences along the way. Before you know it, you'll be climbing peaks, paddling wild rivers and passionately protecting these priceless landscapes.

Personal note: We love so many parks and we don't really have a favorite, but there is something truly special about Yosemite. There are adventures and beauty to be found in Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevadas that surpassed even our very high expectations. 

For a taste, check out this video as we summit Yosemite's iconic Half Dome (best you'll find anywhere), and subscribe to At Home in Wild Spaces on YouTube for more inspiring and adventurous national park videos!

Eww... gross.

I have to be careful here. Money, its hold on society, and the tendency of some to pursue it at all costs arguably remains the greatest threat to our national parks and other public lands. Ironically, money is pretty awful and defining true value. Far too much has been destroyed because we used money to appraise what is priceless.

But for better or worse money is here to stay and is too often the only language some people understand. The good news is, national parks and preservation in general, are incredibly valuable in terms of money. Current estimates suggest national parks are responsible for $92 billion dollars in annual economic benefit in the United States alone.

That figure represents more than tourism dollars. Our national parks and their healthier than average ecosystems provide direct and secondary economic value in the form of clean drinking water, fertile soils, buffers against natural disasters, atmospheric regeneration, carbon storage, food stores and other renewable resources that would be greatly weakened if not outright destroyed were it not for our national parks.

Why on earth then can we not properly fund our parks? Seems like a very poor investment strategy to me.
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As someone who visits numerous national parks year after year, I can attest to the fact that even the most familiar park keeps things fresh and can seem entirely new with each visit. 

From the time of year, weather and seasons to new trails and activities, or learning something new about a place you thought you knew so well: national parks are perfectly equipped to keep the surprises coming for years and years. 

To say nothing of their timeless landscapes and inspiring beauty. If only we aged as well, right?

One of my all-time favorite signs (yep, I have fovorites) can be found at trailheads throughout Yellowstone National Park and warns, "[t]here are inherent dangers associated with hiking in bear country. THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OF YOUR SAFETY."

While that's probably not much comfort to those suffering from Arkoudaphobia (fear of bears), I find this sign positively delightful. For me, it signifies one of the greatest virtues of our national parks. At least when compared with much in our modern world, national parks have not been sanitized or child-proofed. Efforts have been made to retain or restore their natural, primal and unpredictable character. 

In Yellowstone alone, bears can appear anywhere, one-ton bison lock horns in epic earth-shaking battles,  and stampede through the park (check out the video below). Snow can fall on the first day of summer like it did this year, geysers and thermal features can lay dormant for years and suddenly erupt sending water, steam and even rocks hundreds of feet into the air. It's marvelous.

Now don't worry. For a well-prepared and well-informed traveler, national parks are not unusually dangerous. If you don't let your enthusiasm overwhelm your judgment, remain flexible and avoid complacency, then national parks are dreamscapes where you can forge experiences and memories that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

On the other hand, nature is all too happy to remind the foolish, ill-prepared, or complacent who is in charge. In this way, she can seem harsh, and year after year there are tragic cases of people crossing a line and getting needlessly injured or killed.

But where nature chastises those who take her for granted, she rewards humility and preparation handsomely. So take the time to prepare yourself and those in your party appropriately. Use the resources provided by the national park service, and here on athomeinwildspaces.com to make sure your national park adventure ends in triumph.

Yep, that's right — time travel. But forget any thoughts of flux capacitors and quantum tunnels. That's Hollywood, national parks offer the real thing. 

Start off by heading to one of our numerous dark sky parks and appreciate the stars in all their undiminished glory, realizing that you're in fact peering hundreds of thousands of years into the past. When looking at the night sky, you're seeing at the universe as it was eons ago and not as it exists today. Viewing the literal past is a great way to feel incredibly small, yet incredibly significant.

Not time-travely enough for you? Then take a hike. I'm serious. Go hiking.

You may not know it, but hiking is about as close as you can get to literally traveling through time. On trails like The Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop in Bryce Canyon National Park (video available below) you'll begin on a forested plateau, gradually descending past "new" hoodoos just emerging from the rim before passing older, smaller, more eroded hoodoos as you near the canyon floor. For the geologically observant traveler, it's like traveling forward and backward in time and watching Bryce Canyon's wondrous amphitheater emerge over eons of erosion.
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Just like peering through time while hiking through Bryce Canyon, ​you can do the same thing when hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, where the Rockies once rivaled the towering heights of the modern Himalayas and Andes, but have over hundreds of millions of years eroded away to their diminished, albeit still inspiring height. Look for glacial cirques and imagine the massive, long-vanished rivers of ice, rounding jagged peaks and carving massive valleys, basins and canyons.

Finally, my personal favorite form of national park time travel, is the ability to see the wild, primal character of North America before European settlement and the short-sighted wholesale destruction that followed.

Now I'll admit — there are some differences. Native tribes have been displaced,  and some  of the natural features are choked by traffic and travelers carrying selfie sticks. But on an early morning, in the backcountry away from the crowds, there's a special experience awaiting you.

Surrounded by wild, primal scenery; inhabited by the full suite of native animal life, you'll be transported back in time to a younger, healthier continent that was almost lost forever.  

It's an experience you can't find almost anywhere outside a handful of national parks and the furthest reaches of the globe, where development, consumptive interests, and livestock have been kept at bay. It's akin to having a revelation: as if you've had your eyes closed you're whole life, then open them for the first time.​

Trust me it's super cool and a fundamental reason why national parks remain one of our very best ideas and most important treasures. 

In a perfect world, national parks would be equally accessible to everyone who visits responsibly and generally speaking, they are. With the exception of national parks being mostly concentrated out west where there was (and is) open land to be set aside and preserved; national parks are open to everyone for relatively little cost.

For $35 or less per car or $15 or less per person, plus the cost of travel; anyone can visit any national park in the United States and enjoy some of the greatest natural wonders in the world.

As travel expenses go, that's pretty much an unbeatable deal. If you've found a better bargain, I'd love to hear about it. The only competition I can think of would be visiting a national forest or other public lands. You gotta love Wild Spaces.
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If my school experience had included more about the national parks — perhaps even an occasional visit, I like to think that I would have been a much more attentive student.

National parks are some of the best classrooms available. They are ground zero for our ever-increasing understanding of the world and how our actions affect it. Spend some time in park visitor centers and speaking with park rangers. It will amaze you what we are learning in our national parks.

In addition to learning about the natural world, our parks are also where we learn about ourselves. They are home to some of our most celebrated triumphs, and some of our most shameful mistakes. They are time capsules that preserve not only our natural heritage but our cultural heritage as well.

This is simultaneously one of the hardest and yet most wonderful aspects of our national parks. The past few centuries have been witness to remarkable, inexcusable destruction.

Whether in the name of Manifest Destiny and the pursuit of riches at the expense of all else, or as the result of exploitive and even cruel policies and practices — humanity has at times blazed an awful, even shameful trail of carnage on our march to the modern era.

Our national parks in many ways are the rock upon which this terrible wave of destruction has been broken. Within our parks, the whole community of natural life can find refuge and a home. Our parks provide essential habitat for the most beloved and the most maligned creatures in all the natural world. And as intended have served as precious "reservoirs of life" preserving and often times replenishing the continent's decimated flora and fauna.

Most people likely know how our national parks have saved bison, wolves and bears from extinction, but not many know the key role Yellowstone and other parks have played in restoring populations of elk, bighorn sheep, pronghorn and other popular "game" animals.

My home state of Utah, as well as our neighbors Colorado and Nevada, are among dozens of states that either completely or almost completely destroyed their native elk populations. Thanks to Yellowstone and its reservoir of protected animal life, Utah and many of our fellow states are again home to healthy or resurgent elk populations.

In addition to preserving wildlife, national parks are the final home to many of the last vital stands of irreplaceable forests.

From old-growth rainforests to the tallest and largest trees on the planet, national parks have been an indispensable tool in preserving many of the most astonishing, inspiring, and important forests in the world. Were it not for conservation efforts of people like you and the acquisition and transfer of many of those stands to the national park system, we might have lost priceless and remarkable ecosystems that can be found nowhere else in the world.

Our parks may be the best and last defense against the enduring threat of extinction for countless plants and animals. Our parks preserve crucial, mostly intact, ecosystems that may hold the key to restoring healthy systems to the globe. They are a kind of Noah's Ark, sheltering and protecting life from the raging storm of exploitation.

This alone makes our national parks worthy of the soberest respect and appreciation. The world is a better, healthier, and more hopeful place with national parks and nature preserves in it.

The most amazing thing about our national parks is that fact that we all share ownership and responsibility for them. Regardless of your station in life, if you are a citizen of the United States or even a citizen of the world, you have a vested interest in the welfare and preservation of our national parks.

So, so much has been lost, surveyed, sold, and developed out of existence. It's truly sobering to think of what we've destroyed, including beauty and wonders we cannot fathom and may never know again. But some of the very best this world has to offer or ever has had to offer has been bequeathed to us in trust — to be preserved, protected,  responsibly enjoyed and added to.

One of the earliest patrons of the parks once said, "Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity an obligation; every possession a duty."

Keep that in mind next time you visit a national park. Don't be afraid to invite others to tread lightly and see our parks as more than backgrounds for selfies, mere natural curiosities or checkmarks for bucket lists. They are so much more. Let's treat them as such.

I leave you with this: All is not well in our national parks. Under increasing pressures, the parks are suffering from heavy, often destructive, sometimes outright foolish use. This is compounded further by insufficient funds and special interests that would like to see them further exploited.

There are very real concerns about the long-term welfare or our parks. Our right to enjoy these treasures demands we do so responsibly. We have a duty to protect these special places and to foster a culture of responsible recreation.

By all means, visit our incredible parks — but don't let it end there. Open your mouth, advocate for their responsible use, and become a life-long defender of these amazing Wild Spaces.

​We're it not for people like you, we'd have no parks at all. We need them, and they need you.
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There you have it. That's our list of 10 reasons our national parks are simply awesome. Did we miss anything? Please share your thoughts in the comments below, to help support us and help preserve Wild Spaces, drop by our store for great Wild Spaces apparel and make sure to follow At Home in Wild Spaces on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and right here at athomeinwildspaces.com

In 2012, nearly a decade since my last visit I returned to Yellowstone National Park for Labor-day Weekend. Though my most recent recollections of the world's first national park had aged significantly, they were anything but stale.  

Mere moments after passing over the park boundary, I was reacquainted with the sublime sights and sounds of this priceless wilderness. Since that labor-day weekend, my wife and I have returned to Yellowstone every year.

Our visits have become something of an annual pilgrimage – a tradition that has helped us remain centered. They are a time for family, and a time for making memories with our son. Each visit reignites our passion and respect for the natural world and fuels our desire share and help preserve all that is wild. We are immensely grateful that those who  had the wisdom to preserve this gem as a national park "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people".

It is in that spirit that we share this 4K visual tribute to Yellowstone National Park. We captured this footage during our visit in September 2017. This virtual tour highlights many of the park's iconic locations and is the next best thing to heading out on a classic Yellowstone wildlife safari.

We invite you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sights and sounds of Yellowstone National Park in breathtaking Ultra HD. Remember to tread lightly and Leave No Trace when visiting our National Parks and other Wild Spaces.

​What's your favorite part of visiting Yellowstone? Share in the comments below and make sure to check out the many travel resources available here on www.athomeinwildspaces.com.

More from At Home in Wild Spaces

Preface: This article was written for and initially approved for publication by KSL.com (Utah's largest news organization). Plans for publication were however abandoned by management believing it "might cause friction" with the Deseret News (KSL's sister company), which published Governor Herbert's op-ed, 5 myths about bears ears on Dec 4th, 2017. 

It is not the purpose of this article to attack the Governor or the Deseret News, but to make an independent and fact-based assessment of claims made in Governor Herbert's Dec 4th op-ed. 

Yosemite, Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon, the redwoods: they rank as some of the world’s greatest natural treasures. Numbered among America’s crown jewels -- and cherished by people all over the world.
 
But there’s something else they all have in common – controversy.  Major controversy.
 
It’s hard to believe that there could be much that is controversial about The Grand Canyon, but even the grandest canyon on earth struggled to achieve its protected status. Efforts to protect the Grand Canyon stalled for decades before President Theodore Roosevelt was granted authority under the Antiquities Act to unilaterally set aside tracks of federal land as preserves and national monuments.
 
Finally, the story of the Grand Canyon had a happy ending – except it didn’t. The battle to preserve this wonder of the world would wage on for years, and years. The State of Arizona, and more specifically Senator Ralph Henry Cameron engaged the federal government in a bitter battle over the fate of the Grand Canyon that echoes in every debate over monuments and public land to this day. 

This drama has played out time and time again. The venue changes but the arguments remain the same, whether speaking of the The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone or any number of land preservations. And here we are yet again. The newest episode in this serial having begun on April 26, 2017.
 
President Donald Trump signed an Executive order calling for a “review” of dozens of national monuments. Stating before even signing the order that “[Now] we are going to free [the land] up.” Adding, that these designations “should never have happened.” Then going on to emphasize his special interest in Utah’s monuments.
 
When listening to Utah’s delegation to Washington discuss Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments they tell a sad story of down trodden citizens, of Washington’s disregard for local input, and abuses of power by past presidents.
 
It’s a simple story with simple villains, but reality is not at all that simple. 

If you travel to Utah and speak to residents you’ll find their feelings on the subject are not as singular as that of Utah’s representatives. Sure you’ll find plenty of individuals, who oppose the monument designations of the past 20 years and would like Trump to partially or wholly repeal monument status, but then again there are plenty who support the designations and then there’s everyone else in between.
 
Take Bears Ears - If you listen to Senators Hatch and Lee, or Representatives Chaffetz or Bishop you could be forgiven for thinking the people of Utah hold nothing but indignation for President Obama’s December 2016 designation.
 
Not true. In fact, at this point it’s hard to determine a clear majority either in support or opposition to Utah’s newest monument. The results of numerous polls illustrate a tight conflict of opinions. Some polls suggest a small majority oppose the monument others a small majority support it.
 
It seems the people of Utah are still making up their minds. Something their representatives continue to ignore.

​Ok, so what about Grand Staircase-Escalante then? Twenty years young and still as controversial as ever right? – Nope. After 20 years, a clear majority of Utahns support preserving Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, citing the areas unique beauty and the boost it’s given the state’s economy. Utah as a whole wants President Trump to leave Grand Staircase-Escalante alone. Again, an inconvenient truth Utah’s elected officials continue to ignore.
 
When President Bill Clinton took up his pen and created the nation’s largest national monument from the rim of The Grand Canyon it caught many in Utah by surprise. The response was not generally positive especially within a heavily Republican state without much affection for President Clinton.
 
Rural Utahns feared the monument would destroy their way of life, outlaw hunting, livestock grazing and some forms of recreation, but it didn’t. The monument would continue to be managed by the Bureau of Land Management and not the Park Service. A model which is being built upon for the new Bears Ears National Monument with additional oversight by the Forest Service and a tribes commission representing the interests of 5 local tribes.
 
Grazing is still permitted on more than 96% of the monument. Hunting continues as it did before the designation with permits issued by the state. OHV access continues on miles of primitive roads.
 
Then what did change you ask? Vandalism and destruction of historical artifacts now carry greater penalties, funding for management of the land has increased, and mining and energy extraction are prohibited.

​It’s that last point which frustrates Utah’s officials the most. The state decided long ago to make much of the state’s funding for public education dependent upon revenue generated from leases of state land sold to mining and energy companies.
 
Resource extraction is the only use currently prohibited within Utah’s monuments. While Utah’s politicians continue to claim preservation would be best accomplished by the state, Utah’s historical approach to land management is not very conservation oriented. Using Google earth and other modern maps of energy development on public lands it’s easy to see how Utah has chosen to manage state lands.
 
It’s the state’s lopsided focus on resource extraction and the continued misrepresentation by their elected officials that has forced many Utahns to appeal to Presidents and their delegated authority under the Antiquities Act to preserve vulnerable and unique landscapes and historical sites.
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The threat to Utah’s public lands is perhaps illustrated best by an interview with Utah’s current Governor where he advocates for the “privatization” and “liquidation” of Utah’s  and the nation's public lands. Forgetting, that a liquidated asset is of no more use to the people.
 
Such is the climate of the public lands debate in Utah. There are legitimate concerns about the amount power granted to the president under the Antiquities Act and whether that power can or has been abused. But when you appreciate the fate of public lands controlled by the state of Utah you begin to appreciate the tempered presidential use of the Antiquities Act.

​Utah is very proud of its five national parks, Zion, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands and Capital Reef, numbered among some of the countries greatest treasures, conveniently forgetting that four of their Mighty 5 parks, like most of America’s treasured national parks were originally set aside as national monuments via unilateral action under the Antiquities Act.
 
But isn’t congressional action the more ideal method for protecting America’s Wild Spaces? Absolutely! Utah’s Washington delegation in fact attempted over the past several years to present a congressional solution to preserving Bears Ears, but due to Utah’s insistence that the Antiquities Act be rendered null and void in Utah and that the federal government transfer large portions of federal land and roads to the state - the bill failed.
 
Again illustrating that when natural and historical treasures face imminent threat only unilateral action by the President is fast acting enough to grant protection to what might soon be lost.
 
How then do we keep Presidents from abusing this power? For that we have Congress, the nation’s high courts and most importantly the voice of the people. We are the ultimate check to the President’s power.
 
These lands belong to the people of the United States and again it’s time for the people to let the President know what we want to do with our federal lands.
 
The threats are real, and time is short. Public comment on the fate of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments will only be considered if submitted by May 26, 2017 and June 10, 2017 for all other monuments currently under review. For a list of all monuments affected by Trump’s April 26th executive order click here.
 
We began with the Grand Canyon and we’d love to tell you that the Grand Canyon came through unscathed, but it didn’t. Many visitor to the canyon have stumbled upon areas with signs posted warning, “Caution: Radiation Area. Keep Out”.
 
That’s right radiation – an unfortunate aftereffect of mining within the canyon more than 100 years ago, and possibly the result of modern uranium mining outside the national park boundaries.
 
The decisions we make today will have long lasting effects on our public lands and generations to come. Let your voice be heard. Click here to contact Secretary Zinke and click here to write to the office of the President and you elected officials.

But it's not all good news. Mortality rates among wild condors remain extremely high for many of the same reasons which led to their near extinction in the 20th century. Loss of habitat, diminished food sources, lead poisoning, trash ingestion and poaching continue to frustrate condor restoration efforts.

They remain one of the rarest animals in the world. So rare, that they are one of relatively few species where each and every individual is numbered, and tagged.

Against the odds condors have come back from the brink of extinction, but they are far from in the clear. Condors are still hugely dependent on captive breeding programs and continuing conservation efforts. But there is hope that with greater awareness and continuing efforts to preserve and restore these birds to what is left of their historic range, that condors may once again soar through our skies on their 10ft wings.

Condors remind us that it is possible to bring a species back from the brink. But it requires continual effort and dedication. We've been fortunate to see four wild condors in our Wild Spaces travels, and each time it has been a huge thrill.

​Check out the stunning footage we shot of these massive birds in Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks. And make sure to check out our store for our new Condor T-Shirts!

References:
http://www.nps.gov/grca/learn/nature/condor-re-introduction.htm
http://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Region_8/NWRS/Zone_1/Hopper_Mountain_Complex/Hopper_Mountain/Sections/News/News_Items/PDFs/_California%20Condor%20Five%20Year%20Review_2013%20Final%20Published.pdf
​http://www.defenders.org/california-condor/basic-facts