Dispatches from a Wild Mind is a weekly Precipitate feature that explores the wild in place, nature, history, and art.
The Temples and the Towers of the Virgin in Zion National Park. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.
Has spring’s arrival got you feeling anxious to get outside and out of town? Not sure what to do or where to go with family, friends, or by yourself? I’ve got a thought. How about visiting the national park nearest you? There are 397 national park sites to choose from. And this week, April 21–29, is National Park Week. That means admission to all 397 of them is free (entrance fees are waived), even at Arches and Zion National Parks in Utah. (You can check out the full list of parks with waived entrances fees here.)
Why go now, in April? Because 280 million people visit national parks annually and the bulk of visitation occurs in the summer months. Go now, and you’ll not only save entrance fees but also avoid the summer crowds.
Before you pack up the car, check out the National Park Service’s National Park Week event calendar. You can search by park and date. Here’s just one of a plethora of examples: On Friday, 4/27, Agate Fossil Beds and Scotts Bluff National Monuments in western Nebraska are, in partnership with the Midwest Theater and Panhandle Astronomy Club, hosting a free night sky program in Scottsbluff. The evening begins at 7:30 p.m. with “The City Dark,” a film about the effects of light pollution and what the disappearance of darkness might mean; afterward, visitors carpool in vans to the summit of Scotts Bluff to observe stars, planets, and the effects of light pollution on the area once crossed by hundreds of thousands of west-bound Oregon Trail emigrants.
Can’t make it to western Nebraska? Don’t worry. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan has its own April star party on Friday as well.
Have kids? Perhaps you’ll want to wait until Saturday, April 28: National Junior Ranger Day. Parks around the country have events planned for this special day to celebrate the NPS’s year-round program for children. In “Don’t Bust the Crust!”, Arches National Park rangers will teach kids about the desert’s living soil and how to protect it. At Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, meanwhile, rangers have planned games for children, including sack races, jumping rope, Baggo, flying hoops, and more. For children in San Francisco more interested in arts activities, especially maritime crafts, don’t miss out on the crafts for kids at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
Kids on the beach at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in California. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.
Wherever you go, if you go, have a blast, and remember this: national parks really are America’s Best Idea, a gift given to us and the world.
Fred MacVaugh, Staff Blogger