National Parks

If you haven’t already heard, the fees to enter any of the five Utah National Parks will be waived from April 17th through April 25th this year. If you’ve never been to Canyonlands, Zion, Arches, Bryce Canyon or Capitol Reef, now would be a great time to see what thousands of tourists come to Utah for every year (other than to check out the beautiful people). If you have been to any of Utah’s National Parks, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind going back to revisit the beauty and splendor of some of the coolest National Parks around. Sure, Yellowstone’s got bubbling pits of death and the Grand Canyon has trails that a donkey can barely fit on, but the fees at Zion’s next week are free!
Sadly enough, of the five parks I have only been to Bryce Canyon. It’s true what they say about your own backyard: it’s not as interesting as someone else’s. I’ve been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, I’ve strolled the castles of Bavaria, I’ve enjoyed the white sands of the Bahamas, I’ve even driven through miles and miles and miles of corn in Nebraska, but I’ve never seen the awesome landscapes of Southern Utah. As a native Utahn, shame on me. I am committed one way or another to visit one or more of the National Parks next week, mostly because I don’t have to pay any entrance fees, but also because it just keeps snowing up here and I really want to go on a good hike.
When I visited Bryce Canyon four years ago, it was a fairly uneventful excursion. Don’t get me wrong; I loved the scenery. The orange-red rocks with the stark contrast of the green fir trees growing on them was very cool to witness, but nothing really exciting happened. There wasn’t any threat of death as I wandered the many wonders of the park. Isn’t that what exploring nature is all about? Whether it’s sliding down the face of a mountain, or evading the attacking wildlife, or keeping ahead of a raging flash flood, exploration is about man’s struggle with the natural elements. As humans, we need to show nature that we are not so easily defeated, and we will continue to pit ourselves against nature because we do not realize how easily we can be defeated until we’re falling off a cliff or finding ourselves buried in quicksand or in the middle of a shark feeding frenzy. That’s what it’s all about: the unknown.
Maybe you’ll come in contact with the unknown next week as you’re hiking Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. The unknown would scare a lot of people who end up staying home watching television because they can’t face it. But not you. You’re enticed just as much as I am to go have an adventure, especially one that’s a little less expensive because of the waived fees. Beware, though; if you want to live life to the fullest as you visit the National Parks, you will still need to pay for camping, tunnel escorts, and backcountry permit fees. It’s easy to make a day trip out of one of the parks and spend a minimal amount of dough, though. If you can get yourself out of bed early enough in the morning, you could drive down, enjoy a National Park for 5 or 6 hours and get home in time for the 10 o’clock news, where you may see stories about people who pitted themselves against nature and lost.
Remember how 2010 is going to be remembered as the Year of the Outdoors? (If you missed that column, it was a good one.) Well, the Utah National Parks people are really making it easy on you to go explore and discover heaven on earth. Make sure you don’t discover hell on earth, though, because you forgot the bug spray or maps. Always go prepared into battle with nature. You may not realize it’s a fight when you’re looking at a cute little chipmunk eating the cracker you just threw it, but when you’re stuck on the ledge of a cliff with no idea how you got there, you’ll realize how dirty nature fights. Man vs. Nature: a never-ending, epic battle. Unfortunately, nature seems to be immortal; man, not so much. Check the Utah National Parks website at www.utah.com/nationalparks/ for any information that may help you get prepared for your adventures. Have fun appreciating your own backyard!