National Parks

Alaska, Climate Change, Commentary, Denali, Destinations, Essays, National Geographic, National Parks, Public Land, The Arctic, Uncategorized, We are the Arctic / 24.07.2023

Just over 10 years since my first trip to Alaska’s Denali National Park, I stood near the Mountain Vista Trailhead searching through the clouds. I knew that somewhere in the distance stood a snow-covered peak whose summit stands as the highest point in North America. The horizon line loomed as a field of pale grey light behind a vast expanse of a deep green alpine tundra. The landscape was dotted with a few tall spruce trees scattered sporadically in a low-elevation taiga forest. Beautiful, but not what I...

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Destinations, Diversity, Essays, Latino Conservation Week, Latino Outdoors, National Geographic, National Parks, Public Land, The Arctic, The Joy Trip Reading Project / 19.07.2023

After several days of exploring Alaska’s Denali National Park, we’re heading south toward Kenai Fjords. As the resident National Park Expert, I have the great privilege of accompanying a group of environmentally conscious travelers for National Geographic Expeditions. Over the last decade, I’ve enjoyed many other trips to this remarkable place in hopes of encouraging others to follow. By sharing ourtransformational experiences in nature, we aim to build a more diverse constituency of park advocates. Throughout this same period, a wonderful organization called Latino Outdoors has proven to...

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Books, National Parks, Short Story, The Joy Trip Reading Project / 23.05.2023

On Thursday May 18th, 2023, at 5PM Central Time the Joy Trip Reading Project hosted an online discussion with Dave and Ilyssa Kyu, editors of "Campfire Stories Vol. II. Inspired by America’s beloved national parks, Campfire Stories Volume II is a collection of modern prose, poetry, and folklore, featuring commissioned, new, and existing works from a diverse group of writers who share a deep appreciation of the natural world. While the original Campfire Stories captured many historic tales reflecting the first 100 years of the National Park Service,...

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#BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter, Buffalo Soldiers, Diversity, National Parks, Podcast, Public Land, Yellowstone / 18.04.2023

For those of us who really love bicycles, I think what we enjoy most is the sense of freedom we get from travel on the open road under our own power. This mechanical device allows us to engage both our minds and bodies to pedal long distances on just two wheels so that we can explore the landscape of the modern world. But through our journeys over lightly trafficked rural roads, as we roll past obscure old towns and villages, we can also reveal the compelling memories of...

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#BlackLivesMatter, Black Lives Matter, Diversity, Essays, National Monuments, National Parks, Outdoor Recreation / 10.04.2023

On April 3, 2023, the National Park Service formally announced two groundbreaking reports that detail the history and progress of equitable access to public land from 1916 to 1965. Spanning the time from the creation of the NPS through the height of the Civil Rights movement, these studies offer great insight into the “tragedy and resilience of Black recreation”. https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/national-park-service-publishes-two-historical-studies-surfacing-tragedy-and-resilience-in-black-recreation.htm As I’m pouring though these remarkable documents on this beautiful Easter Sunday Morning, I was reminded by historian Christina Pronenza Coles that on this day, April 9, 1939, contralto Marian...

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Black Lives Matter, Essays, National Geographic, National Monuments, National Parks, Unhidden / 06.04.2023

Our journey through American history is often an exploration that reveals not just the cultural artifacts of the past that have been hidden, but those that have been taken away. On our way to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Site, we decided to make a stop in Easton, Maryland. My friend National Geographic photographer Kris Graves and I went searching for the space that was once occupied by the state’s last Confederate Civil War memorial. Our drive from Washington D.C. to this little town north of the...

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