As a regular national park junkie, my family and I have fantastic memories of experiences that are no longer possible.  I’m not talking about watching the scheduled bear feedings that were staged at many of our great national parks in the 1930s; I’m talking about experiences in the last 10 – 20 years that are no longer possible.

 In the early 1990s, we traveled to Sequoia National Park (NP) and Kings Canyon NP for the first time.  My wife booked one of the most charming and spacious cabins we had ever experienced on a vacation.  Sequoia NP advertised it as “sleeping beneath the Giant Sequoias”.  It was a beautiful setting and each morning I rose to the smell of Ponderosa Pine, and walked out into the crisp morning air to look straight up at trees well over 2000 years old branching out high above our cabin.  It was only while at the park that an employee told us we were one of the lucky last ones.  I asked what made us so lucky.  We were told of a plan to relocate the cabins after that very season due to the fear and threat of one of these giant specimens failing on an inhabited cabin.  While these trees are healthy, they have a root system that often does not stretch more than six feet beneath the surface of the ground.  There have been numerous occurrences of a healthy tree, without any notice, falling under the weight of a heavy winter snow.  

Another year, we vacationed at Zion NP and drove our rental vehicle all throughout the park.  A couple of years later, due to continually growing attendance necessitating changes to preserve the expected national park experience and to prevent soil and vegetation damage and erosion, the main section of the park was closed to private vehicle traffic.  Today, you must park in a designated lot and take a shuttle bus into the main interior of the park unless you have proof that you are staying at the park lodge.  Again, a good and necessary move, but one that left us with a great memory from a gone era. 

In 1995, I, along with my wife, son, brother-in-law and his family, traveled to Yosemite NP and stayed in very new and very nice cabins in the heart of the valley adjacent to the Merced River.  I got up first each morning and walked quietly out the door at the urging of the sound of rapidly moving water I could hear from my bed.  As I followed the sound and looked up, I rejoiced in the sight of the 2,425 foot Yosemite Falls cascading down from high above the valley.  The great flood of 1997 destroyed these cabins, and the decision was made by the ever growing preservation minded park authorities to not rebuild these cabins. 

Don’t get me wrong; I support all of these changes.  The national park authorities have the safety of visitors and the preservation of these natural wonders for future generations as their prime objectives.  The decisions to make all of these changes were the absolute right decisions.  However, that does not mean that I do not feel very fortunate and lucky to have these memories that no one else can now acquire.  It’s kind of like knowing someone who saw The Beatles or Elvis in concert.  You either saw them or you never will.  The opportunity has passed and is no longer there. 

Therefore, what are you waiting for?  If you are continually saying you would like to see the great national parks some day, then get out and make it happen.  Who knows what great experiences your family will partake in before growing visitation, Mother Nature, or safety concerns make them a thing of the past.

 

About the Author:

I am a 50 year old former Pharmaceutical sales Representative, Sales Manager, and Director. I have a B.S. in Business from Indiana University and am a Texas licensed CPA. I have lived most of my life in Indiana and Texas.

However, my life took and unexpected turn in 2006 with the diagnosis of incurable Colon Cancer. Having had the fortune of visiting what many would consider every major National Park in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, plus British Columbia and Alberta, I have begun to write about my vast experiences. On August 30th, 2009, my first book, “The Concise Visitors Guide to Yosemite” was published. It is available at amazon.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – National Park Experiences You Can’t Have