The Grand Idea – The National Parks

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

America The Beautiful

These are the lyrics penned by Katharine Lee Bates in 1913, inspired by the 14,115-foot Colorado mountain – Pikes Peak – while teaching English at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Later she remembered:

“One day some of the other teachers and I decided to go on a trip to 14,000-foot Pikes Peak. We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the way on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy. All the wonder of America seemed displayed there, with the sea-like expanse.”

Although not a National Park, the uppermost portion of Pikes Peak, above 14,000 feet (4,300 m) elevation, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

Stay In The Parks

Today there are 58 national parks in the National Park Service. From Acadia National Park in Maine to Zion National Park in Utah, they provide outdoor recreation activities from A-Z.

Here are the Top 10 most visited National Parks in 2015-

1. Great Smokey Mountains National Park, North Carolina/Tennessee (10 million)
2. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona (4.8 million)
3. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (4.1 million)
4. Yosemite National Park, California (4.1 million)
5. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana (4.0 million)
6. Zion National Park, Utah (3.6 million)
7. Olympic National Park, Washington (3.2 million)
8. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (3.1 million)
9. Acadia National Park, Maine (2.8 million)
10. Glacier National Park, Montana (2.3 million)

Play In The Parks

Don’t let the summer crowds scare you away. These parks offer many off-the-beaten-path adventures for your summer play making.

Here are some of our top recreational activities. We’ve done them all except… Sandboarding? Any Sandboarders out there in the Summit Surprise Nation? We’d love to hear from you about your Sandboarding Adventures!

1. Camping
2. Climbing
3. Fishing
4. Horseback Riding
5. Rafting
6. Sandboarding
7. Spelunking
8. Wildlife Viewing