Home Page           Screen Saver            Aransas NWR            Arches Natl Park             Black Canyon Natl Park             Bryce Canyon Natl Park             Colorado Region            Garden of the Gods             Grand Canyon Natl Park             Grand Teton Natl Park             Great Smokey Mt NP             Great Sand Dunes NP             Joshua Tree NP            National Mounuments            Pike's Peak            Rocky Mtn Natl Park            Shenandoah Natl Park            Voyageurs Natl Park            Yellowstone Natl Park            Zion Natl Park            Travel Chat              Published Photos Customer Service Free Samples! About Us Further Info

Where do mountain bikers find mountains in Texas? Read my latest travel article in D Magazine online! Welcome!   Our national parks are fascinating places  - their pasts, presents and futures are chock full of interesting facts, people, challenges met and challenges yet to be faced.  My hope is that this part of the web site will be an engaging and entertaining place to visit - full of things that, as I travel thorough and read about the parks, have stirred my emotions.   Expect a rather free form here - that's just the way I am!  I'll have everything from travel hints to book reviews to gear opinions - whatever has lately struck my fancy.  It is my real hope that you'll find some information here that is useful to you.  This section will change often so make sure and visit again in the near future! I'm also very interested in hearing from you.  What's about the National Parks gets you excited?  Send email to willwoodard@excite.com Quote of the Month "In n the administration of the parks the greatest good to the greatest number is always the most important factor determining the policy of the service." Stephen T. Mather, first head of the National Park System Travel - Another One of the Newest Parks, Great Sand Dunes National Park Great Sand Dunes National Park is one of the most bizzare parks in the entire system. Imagine you are winding your way through the maze of two lane roads in the southern Rockies, taking in the craggy views of the tallest mountain chain in the US. Then suddenly, between Walsenberg and Alamosa you see a strange sign - "Great Sand Dune National Park", along with an arrow pointing north. The phrase "Sand Dune", you think, must refer to the shape of a mountain, or perhaps the temperate climate - surely there aren't any real sand dunes here! But as you approach, off in the distance you see a set of gray hills, nestled up against the base of the Sangre de Christo range you've been traveling through. And as you arrive at the park you realize, with a sudden shock, "These mountains really are made of sand!" That's right, sand. In the middle of the southern central Rocky Mountains. 39 square miles of them, the tallest topping out at 700 feet. These are the highest dunes in North America. Beautiful and strange. So how did they get there? Well, the wind did it. Sand particles from the Rio Grande river are blown westward over the plains of the San Luis Valley until they hit the wall at the Sangre de Christos. At that point the wind, being lighter, moves up and over the mountain chain and the sand, being heavier, stays behind at the base adding itself to the sand party that's already been going on for 1000s of years. Hiking the park is like nothing you've done before. The sand is slippery and constantly moves in the opposite direction of each step. But making it to the top of one of the dunes is a real accomplishment. And the foot prints you make in the sand will be completely gone the next morning, as though you were never there. History - How the National Parks Came Into Being Part One - The Legacy of Hansel and Gretel In the beginning, nobody liked it. It's true. As hard as it is for us to imagine, for most of recorded history wilderness has been seen as something to be resisted, to be torn down and domesticated. And understandably so. Wooded areas were non-productive, and in societies that were fueled by self sufficient farmers and cattle and sheep ranchers, any area that was not good for grazing and growing land was just in the way, of no use to a society that needed food. You can see the legacy of this attitude in the European landscape. Traveling through the countryside of, for example, Germany or Sweden or England, it becomes evident that there is a distinct lack of areas that have not been developed either into cities or farms. Even in the children's stories of the time, the deep woods were where the bad things lived, ghosts and goblins and the Witch in the story of Hansel and Gretel. The idea of setting aside areas of land in their original, pristine state was a distinctly American idea, but one that has caught on and is now used around the world (in some areas in far superior ways to our own!) Next Time: How and why the National Park idea started, and how it didn't start... Zion National Park - The Wet Trail I have hiked up mountains and down canyons, on trails long and short, but the there's a part of Zion National Park takes the prize as the path with the strangest terrain. You see, the Narrows trail in Zion is completely under water. For 16 miles through a canyon gorge that is at times 2000 feet deep and thins to 20 to 30 feet wide you follow a trail that really wants to be a stream. If you want to follow this trail you will walk in the Virgin River, slipping, as the trail's official site states, on bowling balls all the way. Needless to say you need to wear good hiking boots that are waterproof and have good, grippy soles. A walking stick - a good idea at any time - becomes an essential piece of gear here. But the work is worth it. Whether you are day-hiking, or backpacking for an extended length of time, the scenery here is strange and spectacular. The sun is visible only a small portion of time during the day (when it is directly overhead, and not blocked to the right or left by the high canyon walls) and you cannot escape the feeling that you are in another world, a place (if you travel any length down the gorge) where very few people have traveled. Gear - How I Came to Fall Deeply in Love With My Shoes To this day I feel sorry for the poor REI salesman who helped me buy my first (and so far only) pair of hiking boots. He was a friend (thanks Arrian!) and, after trying on literally every pair of shoes in the entire store I believe he's still my friend. But just barely. But all that work paid off. I found a pair of hiking boots that, from the instant I put them on, I knew would be mine forever. My Vasque Skywalk II boots have been with me ever since, as I traveled around the world, down the Grand Canyon and up into the Wiemenuche Wilderness. And that's how you really find boots - the same way you find a friend or wife. Not by reading the magazines (10 Questions to Your Perfect Mate! 10 Best Shoes for Overpronating Fast Hikers!) but by getting to know them, by taking them out, wooing them, and seeing if there is a "Love Connection". My Vasques and I are a match made in heaven...  Chat - Talk to me! I'd love to hear from you! Have a special National Park story you want to share? Let us know! Fill in the boxes below and push the Submit button. Your message will be emailed directly to me. I'll put the most fascinating on the web site! Your Name: Your Email: Your Message: How did you find the page? Search Engine Friend's Reference Web Site Reference Other Please the Information Trivia Question Answer: Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited, with 10,283,598 visits in 1999!