An Ode to National Parks

The past two nights I have been watching the lovely new documentary by Ken Burns, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" and I've fallen in love. Not that I didn't love nature or parks or national things before, but I'm just enamored with the history of how they were founded. What's so crazy is that at the time they were no big deal, just another day a the office for law makers when they passed the bills handing over thousands of acres to the federal government for protection.

What has also been facinating in these first two episodes is the part John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt played in creating these parks. John Muir is the man. Let's just get that out there. He was an American transplant from his native Scotland who had so much love and respect for the natural world it's almost impossibe to put into words. Nature was to him a cathedral of sorts, a celebration of God, and thus something inherently sacred that was to be protected. It was upon seeing the Sierra Nevada that he experienced the power of nature on the human soul and was transformed into it's most vocal and eloquent protector.

And it is perhaps thanks to Muir that we have Teddy Roosevelt to thank for creating so many parks during his time in office. They spent 3 nights camping together in Yosemite where they talked, argued, and created a lasting bond that we can celebrate with abandon. Roosevelt even saved the Grand Canyon from most certain overuse and destruction due to mining and building, something that locals were not too happy about at the time, but I'd say ended up working out okay.

So here's a toast to two great men and all the others who were instrumental in the creation of these parks to preserve the beauty we all need and perhaps don't give enough thought to in our daily lives.