Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (Fodor's) - Fodor's [59]
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UNDERSTANDING THE NATIONAL PARKS
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With their bigger-than-life panoramas, the National Parks of the west are on many travelers’ must-see lists. For a better understanding of these national treasures, here are snapshots of the parks’ history, the Roosevelt influence, park wildlife, and geology.
FROM THE EDITORS
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately," wrote Henry David Thoreau, "…to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived… I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."
For many, a trip to the national parks is just that: a deliberate departure from measured daily life; an escape to a place where one can breathe life in deeply—a "seize the day," if you will. In a society overwrought with constant man-made stimulation—billboards, sound bites, a flood of unsolicited mail—something deep within the human spirit cries out for tranquility, for a place where the stimulation is not an intrusion that distracts and drains us, but a delightful diversion that invigorates us and fills us with wonder.
With their bigger-than-life panoramas, the more than three-dozen western national parks covered in this guide are particularly good at awakening the senses and igniting the imagination. Whether it’s the bubbling mud pots and steaming fumaroles at Yellowstone, the raging Colorado River pushing through the Grand Canyon, or the quiet nibblings and ambulations of mule deer, black bears, and bighorn sheep at Yosemite, the stirrings of creation remind us that there is a refreshing alternate reality outside our brick-and-mortar-confined existences.
A visit to a western national park is more than a retreat. It is a great adventure. You can explore new terrain, encounter creatures great and small—think hungry grizzly, scrappy marmot—and add more knowledge to your noggin through naturalist talks and ranger walks.
At a national park, children may see their first snake or bald eagle, have their first romp through sand dunes, and experience their first night of camping, complete with marshmallows toasted over the fire and a sky above studded with stars.
If you, or your family, want mega action, the parks offer that, too. Float the Rio Grande at Big Bend, rock climb at Joshua Tree, wheel around in your 4X4 at Capitol Reef, or strap on some snowshoes or cross-country skis and tackle the powder at Grand Teton.
Any way you look at it, you can definitely live deliberately.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE THEN AND NOW
GO WEST, YOUNG MAN
A romantic image of the West has gripped the American psyche since the nation’s birth. As the frontier shifted from the Ohio River Valley to the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains and finally to the Pacific, the land just over the horizon promised freedom, open space, self-sufficiency, and adventure. Manifest Destiny, gold rushes, and the Homestead Act of 1862—which offered 160-acre parcels of land to anyone 21 years or older with $18—spurred settlers, prospectors, soldiers, and laborers to tame the American West.
VOCAL PIONEERS
During this unprecedented landgrab, interest in preserving scenic western lands and archaeological sites emerged, as well as a national sense of responsibility for the wilderness. While exploring the Dakotas in 1832, painter George Catlin noted the potential for loss of wildlife and wilderness. He wrote that it could be preserved "by some great protecting policy of government…in a magnificent park."
The tipping point came three decades later. In 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias as a public trust to preserve the land for future generations. This revolutionary federal preservation concept