Part One of Two: America's Best Idea and My Greatest Trip!
Patrick EdmondsThis past fall, PBS aired a program, National Parks: America’s Best Idea, a documentary from the highly accomplished Ken Burns. The documentary, like all Ken Burns’ documentaries, is a thoroughly detailed, extremely long series of installments, six to be exact. The series is a brilliant compellation of astounding images, fascinating political storylines, and endearing personal narratives of the different national parks’ origins and present day functions.
At the heart of the documentary is the effort of Burns’ and PBS to bring to light “…the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical…” That idea was, and still is, the belief the American public, not just simply the wealthiest, should own, maintain, and cherish its greatest natural treasures. The six-part endeavor, it is safe to say, achieves its goal, and exposes the brilliant wonders of America, their greatest advocates and patrons, and contentious battles fought to bring them to the American people.
For me, the documentary resonated a great deal. When learning about this unique crumb of American history, I was enthralled with the language and writing of the parks’ greatest defenders, John Muir especially. The enthusiastic eloquence of Muir’s passionate words achieved more for our national park system than any other man’s thoughts and deeds combined, which is saying a lot since many others fought very hard with words, politics, money, and time. But beyond the unexpected literary nature of these historical efforts, I was also captured by the amazing beauty of the gems of our country. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to visit a few of these majestic parks and would like to share my original thoughts and some personal images from these experiences with you.
Yellowstone National Park
By the time we had arrived at Yellowstone, we had been driving 25 hrs. You would imagine that all we wanted to do is pass out. However, the grand majesty of Yellowstone convinced us all to remain awake with our eyes peeled on the car-stopping views. It was evident to all of us very quickly that we were entering a world unto itself. While there are borders, once you are inside the park, you feel that there are no restrictions and that this place is completely boundless. It is due to this sheer size that my recording of our experiences here will receive their own entries, since each one seemed as large as the Yellowstone itself.
…Sean and Becky woke Ryan and I at 6:30 after a mediocre sleep. The only thing that prevents sleep worse than hail on a tent is the constant reminder that we might be attacked by a 700 lb. grizzly bear. So, every noise outside caused the greatest panic I’ve experienced since my brothers made me watch Stephen King’s It. It’s safe to say that I was perfectly prepared for the most strenuous hike in Yellowstone, Avalanche Peak. Aren’t avalanches a bad thing? The trek entailed a 2000+ ft. hike up the side of the largest mountain in Yellowstone. Since we were already 10,000 ft. above sea, our ascent to the top would bring us to almost 13,000 ft. in the air.
Awake and ready, Sean cooked a hearty breakfast. We all packed into the truck again and headed to meet our hiking group and Yellowstone Ranger, who would lead us on this strenuous expedition. We arrived at 8:00 A.M. all looking like professional hikers with our exorbitantly expensive EMS hiking gear. As we observed the other members of the hiking party, which was made up of 14 people (15 is the max), we felt a sense of relief and maybe even a little bit of arrogance. You see our group was made up of a very unusual group, a number of people who you would not expect to be on such a demanding hike. There were a number of later middle-aged people. Also, there were two young boys, Colin, 10, and Kyle, 8, who were brothers. The other men on the trek, while they were younger, did not look as well prepared as the four of us with our top dollar hiking attire. This feeling of relief and confidence would be the first of many poor assumptions I would make during my three days in the Wild.
Our ranger, a seemingly frail old man, who would later become the embodiment of the cliché maxim of not judging a book by its cover, quickly took role and then gave us a few simple instructions. He emphasized that this was not a race or competition, rather it was meant to be a journey. He reiterated this point a number of times, stating that we would take our time up the mountainside to stop and appreciate the mountain and all of its brilliant organisms growing and dying right before our eyes. We crossed the road, which our ranger said would be the most dangerous part of the hike. It was good to know he had a sense of humor.
About 20 feet up the mountainside, our ranger stopped to ask a few questions of his hiking party. It was here that I realized I was in for a long day. The elevation immediately took its toll as I started to feel short of breath and severe pain in my calves. Our ranger asked if there was anyone who had been below 500 ft. in the past five days. There were only four people who raised their hands. I let you take a guess who they were.. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t just at sea level, but I was actually below it swimming in the Atlantic Ocean five days ago. However, I thought this would show weakness, which the mountain would not tolerate. Well, only 2080 ft. left.
As we continued our climb, our ranger would stop every 15-20 minutes to show us some interesting biological development and allow us to catch our breath. He, of course, never seemed to be fatigued at all.
With each pause, our ranger provided us with a wealth of information. His erudite knowledge of the Yellowstone Mountains, and all its wondrous life forms, was a quality to be admired.
The first 400 ft. was a windy, narrow, dirt path swarming with flies and mosquitoes. The temperature changed dramatically within the first 30 minutes and layers of clothes quickly came off for more comfort. We finally reached a quiet, level meadow where our guide allowed for our first official snack break. Here we had a clear view of the peak we would attempt to ascend. It was a shocking revelation to the entire group for we all looked incredulously at each other wondering how this would be achieved.
Our guide realized the group’s apprehension and provided us with a little pep talk. He started oddly by telling us that we were the weirdoes of Yellowstone taking on this challenge. He told us that over 3 million tourists come to Yellowstone each summer and roughly 1 in 10,000 take this hike. He told us that we were taking the road less traveled rather than the same beaten path. I reflected on Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken, and realized I would not have any regrets by the end of the day unless I couldn’t complete the climb. It was nice to hear these inspiring words, and I think they had the desired effect on most of the hikers. As for me, I needed no more motivation than the thought of being shamed by a 10 and 8 yr. old. I refused to let two kids the size of my legs make it up the mountain without me.
The hike did become more bearable as our bodies slightly acclimated to the high altitude, but it was still no walk in the park. Sorry, I hate puns, but it was too easy. The astounding scenery that was promised in the brochure started to be fulfilled the higher we climbed. Eventually, after treading over the most brutal terrain of precarious rocks we reached our last small ledge to climb. This final effort would be the most grueling, but if we made it, also the most rewarding. Over loose rocks and up a sixty degree angle, the group scrambled the final 30 ft. to the top of Avalanche Peak 12,500 ft. in the air!
On top, we enjoyed our hard earned lunches, beautiful vistas, and a few great stories from our guide. The descent, while challenging, was such a relief that I will not bore you with the details. We all left with a great sense of accomplishment and headed back to our campsite completely fatigued and ready for a rest. That night we simply sat around another great campfire after dinner and drank a few more beers. Day two was complete, but there was still a lot to see and experience.
Reader Comments (2)
This is brilliant. A candid look of a natural treasure in Ken Burns and a national park. Both of these entities exist unexplored for me. I will withhold my main comments for the end of the second part and mostly because I am overwhelemed by the PBS site and pictures. It is hard to imagine things of such vastness, even though I have explored some of the west. It is great idea for a post and why I think the lunch break is a vital and essential place to be a part of.
Thanks for the lunch -- but if it was a work day, I would have been docked about an hour.
Good stuff. I'd love to read more about the stories the ranger told. I'm sure he's seen some crazy stuff being at Yellowstone for so long. I also thought it was funny that shame motivated you to reach the top just as much as anything else. I remember a climb up a hill at the PA World's End State Park which was a measly 1100 some feet above sea level. About halfway through, I kept wanting to take a break but felt too ashamed as I watched my younger brother ambling on up ahead of me. So I pressed on and in the end, the scenic outlook was definitely worth it. Thanks for the thoughts. The post brought back a lot of good memories of camping trips past.