It is interesting what we can find when we keep our eyes and ears open! My intention was to search for Yellowstone moss agates along the Yellowstone River, which is something I have wanted to do for years, and I found the 11,538-acre Makoshika State Park in Glendive, Montana. Leaving North Dakota after spending a day inside because of heavy winds that left the air hazy with topsoil and dirt, I traveled to Glendive, one of the places with public access to the Yellowstone River. I spent hours the next morning along the river searching for agates. You would think…

On the road again! That Willie Nelson song title keeps popping up in my mind when I sit down to write. One part of the song talks about going places and seeing things that I haven’t seen before, and that really fits my National Park hunt. Yes, I am out and about again, and my first stop was Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. The park isn’t totally new to me. I had previously visited the Painted Canyon Visitor Center and driven the 36-mile scenic loop in the South Unit, stopping at the prairie dog villages to watch the…

Did you know the National Park Service manages more than 430 sites? Those include National Parks, National Monuments, National Historical Sites, National Historic Parks, National Seashores, National Lakeshores, National Scenic Rivers/Trails, etc. I had decided years ago that I was going to visit most, if not all, of the National Parks and pretty much dismissed the rest. Well, I have to tell you, since I have been on this journey, I have learned a lot! Nearly half of the 63 National Parks were first protected as National Monuments, including the Grand Canyon National Park, which was first declared a National…

“Going to the woods is going home.” -John Muir, 19th-century naturalist and conservationist That is exactly how I felt as I drove into Yosemite National Park! After spending the previous day traversing the Sierra Nevada Mountains through Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park, I chose the route into Yosemite with the fewest switchbacks and the lowest elevation. One day of high elevation, white knuckle driving was enough. I am so grateful I made that decision! Driving into the west side of the park on 140 followed the beautiful, loud, powerful cascading Merced River. The spring melt thrashed over…

Wow! I mean WOW! The trees in Sequoia and Kings Canyon Natiional Parks are incredible! The sheer volume of the individual sequoia trees, with the majestic heights and incredible girth, drew me to the parks, yet I was less prepared than I expected. I didn’t realize that sequoia trees are larger in volume than redwoods, though coastal redwoods grow taller. Sequoia National Park was established as the nation’s second National Park in 1890, largely due to naturalists and conservationists like John Muir. They were upset by the wholesale logging of the sequoias and other trees throughout the Sierra Nevada and…

Since I started this journey about nine months ago, I have had the privilege to douse my toes in the Atlantic Ocean, swim with sea turtles in the Caribbean Sea, collect shells from a beach at the Gulf of Mexico, dip my hand in the Rio Grande River and ride the waves at the Pacific Ocean. Wow! What a privilege this journey has been, and it’s not over yet! There is something that happens to me when I am on the water. I don’t know how to describe it… Maybe it has something to do with the expanse of the…