I recently started reading a book called The National Parks, what they mean to you and me, by Freeman Tilden. What is interesting is that this book was published in 1951, but what it discusses is still relevant today- perhaps even more so today than sixty years ago. One of Tilden’s first points is that it is much easier to explain to someone why a resource should have a commercial use instead of being used as merely a beautiful thing to marvel at. As he says, “The first human impulse is always to take the cash and let the credit go.”

You can see this conundrum in the park. For example, in Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park visitors are guided through the grove and are allowed to get quite close to some sequoias- enough to be able to touch them- but are not allowed that same opportunity with others. For instance, one cannot touch the General Sherman tree, the largest tree in the world, but one can touch two of its neighbors. This is an example of a sacrifice. Are these sacrifices worth it? Do they contribute to spreading the parks’ message of conservation to visitors?

The other day while sitting by the General Sherman Tree parking lot, I heard a visitor complain about the 0.7 miles on a paved walkway that he would have to travel to see the tree. Can the parks’ message of conservation be received by someone who comes to a national park and wants to walk as little as possible? It is as if for some people, the joy of the park is not found in the trails that you hike but in the pictures that you take. Can you really experience the freedom and vastness of the parks from inside an RV? Does that even matter to people?

It ultimately comes down to what we are willing to pay for and what we are willing to sacrifice. The problem is that many sacrifices in the national parks go unnoticed by visitors. However, on the tours and park programs I have participated in, I have been very happy to hear the guides lecture visitors on the human impacts on the natural resources found here and what sacrifices have occurred over the years. What’s the youngest thing in Crystal Cave? The human impacts. What do we need to protect the parks from? Human beings. Leave no trace. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.

In Tilden’s book he talks about what he has experienced with the national parks and why he has kept coming back for more. The visual beauty is stunning, but that is only a sliver of what the parks have to offer. He discovered that “behind the visual was the soul of the thing” and that “the deeper meaning of what is seen will come in [its] proper time.” It is that soul and spirit that keep a person coming back for more. I can only hope that the deeper meaning in these places can be discovered in more ways than one, including walking as little as possible or driving in an RV. But more than that I hope that people are looking for that meaning at all.

What is it about the wilderness that keeps me coming back for more? I think back on my own experiences and how I came to love the outdoors and recognize it as a familiar, comforting place. My parents started taking my brother and me on backpacking trips from a young age. I am convinced that I learned things from backpacking that I would not have had the opportunity to learn anywhere else. Most important of all, these trips have instilled the belief in me that not everything that is worthwhile doing is easy. The only instant gratification you find on the trail is the gorgeous view, but even that is not enough sometimes to block out your aching quads or heavy pack. But that is okay. I am comfortable with the uncomfortable. I was taught to climb up a mountain and be okay with the fact that even if you make it to the top, somewhere out there, there is another peak to climb.

Technological advances favor expedience and aim to minimize the effort expended by an individual. I believe that this has begun to affect people’s psyches by teaching them to favor instant gratification over an investment of time and energy. But you cannot speed towards every goal and discovery in life. Sometimes it is the experience that comes with time that allows you to eventually reach your goal.

Our national parks need society to continue cultivating the adventurer in young people, so that they will be more open to taking chances. We encourage adventuring into the unknowns of academic and technological fields. We should do the same for the physical and spiritual adventures a person can take.

The first multi-day hiking trip I took this season was in Kings Canyon National Park. Looking on a map, Kings Canyon has got to have some of the best names for its features. Two that immediately catch your eye are Evolution Valley and the ever-uninspiring Disappointment Peak. For my own trip, I chose to hike along Paradise Valley. The trail begins relatively flat until you start the climb to Mist Falls, a magnificent waterfall 5 miles in from the trailhead. Mist Falls is yet another feature that certainly lives up to its name.

While on this trip I met two young hikers who had come up to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. We ended up hiking a good ways together and spending some time around the campfire that night talking about everything from top five favorite movies to personal philosophies. I asked them what they loved most about being out on the trail. Any hiker you ask will give a slightly different answer but a common thread connects them all: the exhilarating feeling of freedom. It amazed me how comfortable I felt around them, but after thinking more about it, I realized that it was not that extraordinary. For the most part, whomever I have met in the backcountry has been kind, aware, and on a similar quest: to get away from routines for a while and have an adventure.

From these two individuals I not only received suggestions such as: use chicory root to make delicious tea, or a few titles of must-see documentaries to watch, but was reminded of the magic of the outdoors. It can bring people together and slow them down long enough to allow true connections to be formed.