100th Post Contest....My National Park Contest

I've reached a 100 posts, so I am going to have a small contest. I don't have a huge collection, so the prize for my first contest will be small.

I have been collecting the ATB quarters and since I have spent a lot of time in the National Parks, here is my contest.

Post a photo from a National Park, or tell me your favorite park and why, or your best National Park tip, or your best National Park Story.

I will use a random number generator to select the winning post #, then the winner will PM me and I'll send out the prize (if the post is not really an entry but more like a comment, etc then I"ll generate a new number)
The Deadline for entry is May 20, 2012

Anyone may enter

The prize is...$1.00 in Circulated ATB quarters...the winner can select from
2010 Hot Springs (2) Grand Canyon (1), Yellowstone (2)
2011 Gettysburg (1), Vicksburg (1) or Glacier (1)
All are from Circulation and all are from the Denver Mint

 

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My favorite trip was to the Grand Canyon. I am 15 right now, and about 5 years ago my family went there for a trip and the views were unbelievable. I have never seen anything ever like it in my entire life and i wish that i can go back to visit again. One day we rented quads and drove around all day along other sight seeing locations. This is by far my best national park trip.
-Thanks for the contest!!!

 

The grand canyon, I have been there 10+ times. My last trip was with a rock climbing group (AMC Arizona Mountaineering Club) and we rappel off the different points along the "rim trail" to collect the debris people left, dropped or blew away by mistake. The coolest part is that we collect the coins that people throw into the canyon because birds see the shiny metal and eat them and occasionally die. We can keep all the foreign coins but the us currency goes back to the park. Its an amazing place and who gets to say they rappelled off Mather Point in the Grand Canyon!

Thanks for the contest as well.

 

I would have to say the Grand Canyon as well, I have the privilege of living in the great state of Arizona and it is always a treat to head up north for the weekend. I have included a pic from my last trip:

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p516/stryker154/IMG_3742.jpg

Thanks for the contest, great idea!

 

Of all the Nat'l Parks I have been to, Yosemite in California is the closest to my heart.
We started going there in the mid-1950's when they had the original FIREFALLS, which was when the ranger would push lit fire ashes over the cliffs from Glacier Point. It was pretty neat when the ranger's would call out "Elmer, Let the fire's fall". In those days you didn't need reservations to camp and we would spend two weeks there on the river. We went back most every year with the kids taking pictures of the same spots each year. We gave it up in the 1980's when the park became too crowded and required reservations a year in advance. The last time we were there, other people would encrouch on our campsites and we would find people laying all over the campgrown in their sleeping bags. I am glad I took a lot of pictures of the sites, so I can at least enjoy the views now, even if I don't return for an actual visit again.

 

My favorite memory was visiting Jellystone park back in the 1960s. Mother had made a nice lunch for the whole family and we were getting ready to eat when a bear, wearing a slouch hat and a tie came out of nowhere with a smaller bear.

The really funny thing was that the bears could talk, the larger bear called the smaller one boo boo and the little bear called the bigger one Yogi.

I think they were trying to steal our food but fortunately a park ranger foiled all their schemes to get our pickanick basket.

 

When I was a little kid my dad took me to Yosemite. It was pretty cool and since I was like 4 feet tall at the time and all the trees where like 300 feet tall the place seemed MASSIVE.

If you guys have little kids be a good dad and take them camping, its a awesome experience for lil kids and big kids alike .

 

Although I can see a National Park from my living room window, my favorite National Park is in the state bordering mine. Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on the planet. With water the deepest blue, the view from above is only exceeded by the spectacular 360-degree circular panorama of the lake walls rising above you on all sides as you explore Wizard Island and the surrounding expanse.

Southwest Oregon is my summer playground, from the spectacular mountain vistas to its beautiful rocky coastline, it truly is a special place.

-thecointrader

 

I'd also have to say Grand Canyon. We took the helicopter tour and it was very cool. It is just so massive and an amazing geologic site. After taking Earth Science I appreciate it more. I hope to go back eventually.

 

San Juan Island National Historical Park is my favorite. My family used to have a place just down the the road from it. Beach, trees, grass, fishing, whales, fox, eagles, mountain views, the pig war, etc. Just beautiful. I have many photos but none handy right now.

 

Yellowstone National Park! My is my favorite!!!

 

Zions National Park is by far my favorite! The hikes are the most breathtaking that I have ever been on!

For my birthday last year my wife took me to hike Angel's landing, here are a few pics-

 

I've been to a couple of National Parks, but the two trips I remember most were both to the Grand Canyon. I went in 1984 with my family, when I was small child. We travelled along the north rim. The thing I remember most about the trip was that I had to go #1, and my dad finally pulled the station wagon over, we walked over to the rim ( up to the guard rail), and we both took care of business. My father passed away less than two years later, so even though its a story about bodily function, it's one I will always remember.
The second trip to the Grand Canyon was 16 years later. By time time, I was in college, and got to throw snowballs into the canyon from the south rim.

 

Growing up in Northern California and being a Boy Scout allowed me a few great trips to National Parks including both Yosemite and Redwood National Park. Instead of telling of one of my memorable trips from my youth I thought I would take the time to tell a story about a person I admire.

Here is a little information about the man known as the "Father of the National Parks", co-founder of the Sierra Club and the guy who's house was a simple 5 minute walk from mine in Martinez, California....John Muir.

Born in Dunbar, Scotland on April 21st 1838, John Muir emigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1849 who started a farm near Portage, Wisconsin. At 22 he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Madison where he studied Botany, Geology and Chemistry but never graduated. In 1867 he nearly lost his eyesight when a tool slipped out of his hands and struck him in the eye. This experience seemed to have inspired Muir to find his calling in getting out and exploring nature. While walking nearly 1,000 miles to Florida in hopes of finding a boat ride to South America he got Malaria. Instead of making his way south he instead caught a boat to New York and booked passage to California.

Upon arriving in San Francisco in 1868 he immediately made his way to Yosemite where he would etch out his place in history over the next 40+ years. Through his travels, writings and activism as a preservationist and lover of the wilderness and nature this Scottish born lad would become known world wide, would eventually accompany then President Theodore Roosevelt on a tour of Yosemite in 1903 largely by themselves and eventually have his image and name shown on the California State Quarter in 2005.

 

I'd have to go with my last one I visited which was the Pacific Rim National Park
Overnighted in the Broken Islands Group, were I explored caves and tidal pools. Being a temperate rainforest though there was a fair bit of fog around.

 

i've been to the carlsbad caverns more times than i can count. here's from my last trip (went with my fiancée. she'd never been before)

me at the entrance


the hall of giants... they are over 80 feet tall!


how they toured the caverns "back in the day"... uh, i'll pass on that tour...


from somewhere deep inside the earth...


this one is called "chinese theater"... i don't know why.

 

Thanks for all the entries...I have been to a lot of the places (ie, Zion, Crater Lake, Grand Canyon) and I learned of a few new parks that look great. It was nice for me to reminisce of all trips and to dig out some old photos, it might be a few years before I get back on the trails in a National Park again.

Again thanks for the entries....

Ok....I put entries #2-#16 in to an online random number generator and the winner is .....

#11....jbyers23


PM me with your address and pick 4 quarters from the following list

2010 Hot Springs (2) Grand Canyon (1), Yellowstone (2)
2011 Gettysburg (1), Vicksburg (1) or Glacier (1)
All are from Circulation and all are from the Denver Mint
I'll put them in the mail on Friday (sorry for the short delay)

 

congrats jbyers23!! and thanks for the contest LFCfan!!!

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! =D


This is my first contest win ever!!!! So happy!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the fun contest! Really loved reading all the stories!!!!

 

I made it to the first set of chains at Angles Landing, but being 6'4, 230lbs, i was comfortable with my accomplishment not to continue on the narrow path lol

Yosemite was my favorite....an amazing place of grandeur!