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Visiting all, or almost all, of the nearly 400 units of the National Park System is a feat that several dozen people have accomplished or are on the brink of accomplishing.
What drives people to pursue this goal? What are the main benefits and drawbacks?
Is 'bagging all of the national parks' a goal you've set for yourself?
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Comments
I would like to see as many as I can before my time on the planet is up. I have seen many NPS sites so far, and though I agree with Aster ptarmicordes that quality is better than quantity, I know for a fact that there are some sites that I visited for just an hour or so because they were on the way to somewhere I was going. Those quick visits, though only scratching the surface of the sites, were still experiences I wouldn't wanted to have missed because I thought I didn't have enough time. It has just given me the desire to visit those sites again when I can make them a focus of a trip.
I agree with suki, some visits are quick because they're on (or near to) my route of travel. Even during short visits, I find that I've always learned something at each site. I've visited about 115 units, 33 of them national parks. I would like to visit them all during my lifetime. It's good to have goal, even if you never reach it.
I have visited 33 units of the National Park System. I have volunteered at one of them. I will spend the winter volunteering at a NPS site. I hope to visit as many NPS sites as possible during the remainder of my lifetime. They are our best gift to ourselves.
Wow, I didn't realize I'd visited so many until I added them all up. 27 national parks (and countless monuments and historical sites), most of them for a week or more. There are at least a dozen I'd REALLY like to visit that I haven't, but mostly I'd like to spend some more time in some of my favorite ones. When we retire, we'll spend a lot of time travelling to national parks and wilderness areas - I can't wait!
I prefer quality to quantity. A person who goes to a nationall park for only a day or less, has visited it, but has not really experienced it.
So far i've visited 152 of 395, with 6 more planned for a trip this month. Of those, 35 being the 52 National Parks. I'm a professional photographer in her 20's and have photographed all 35 NP's since 2007. I'll get all of them, just a matter of time. :-)
It's not so far fetched to think of trying to visit all 395 parks in your lifetime. And I don't think you have to give up quality to do it. Say you really start visiting the parks when you are 20 (although our daughters have been going to parks since they were about 2 years old) and you live to 80 that's 60 years to see almost 400 parks. So, 6 - 7 parks a year? Pick one or two major sites that you can really spend that quality time and then 5-6 smaller sites that really don't require much more than an afternoon. It's not all that impossible over a lifetime. I'm almost at the half way point (my family has visited 186) and hope that in the next 30 years I can see the other half! No matter if I spend an hour or two weeks, each and every experience has been incredible. I agree with many of the comments on here and Suki, your comments are right on track!
I'm not setting any goals OTHER THAN the goal of visiting every year. We usually go west [from TX] ....because the beauty just captivates us ... repeating the AZ & UT ones at least once a year, this year included. But if I have to guess, it's about 10-20 per year. I have no desire to hit them all, like some people who search for all the park stamps. I'm more interested in just getting to the parks to hike and explore before my knees take me down!