At every National Park we have been to, there has been a Park Ranger set up to answer the children’s questions and hand out the badges for the Junior Ranger program. I have always been a bit of a collector – rocks, stamps, coins, disney videos (back when videos were a thing). When I see those little kids with their badge-ladened vests stroll into the visitor centre, a twinge of envy creeps up on me. Why can’t I get the little booklet that requires me to go around the park, participating in activities and answering questionnaires?? Why cant I get a little badge??  It didn’t take long for me to find something I could collect – Passport Stamps!

With my National Parks Passport, I can march right into that visitor centre (pushing past the little know-it-all whipper-snappers with their fancy vests) and find the stamp to mark my page!  It has become a bit of an obsession. The upside is that we are now actively looking for National Parks along our route. 

Some of the parks are obvious destinations – the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite. Others are smaller, lesser known, unheralded parks and word of mouth has been critical to us finding some of these hidden gems.

One of the parks we hadn’t heard of before we began our travels is the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

It is in Colorado, not far from Colorado Springs (it would make a great day trip from that location). After someone mentioned it to us in passing, we took a look at the map and decided to take a route through the park when we were travelling from Colorado to New Mexico. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we assumed we would be back into the desert. As we drove, we seemed to be heading back into the forest. We waited for the landscape to change, to become more arid, but that didn’t happen.  We turned down a road and first we saw mountains with snow topped peaks. A little further up, the dunes came into focus – they we not in the middle of a desert, but right in front of the mountains, surrounded by fields of green grass, it was so bizarre! It felt like a giant had dumped out a super-sized sandbox in the middle of a swiss mountain village.

Given this was an impromptu detour, we had not done much research into camping in the area. When we arrived, the signs read campgrounds full, but we decided to drive through and take a look. Lo and behold, we found a site open! The camp host said it must have been our lucky day! It was perfect and we settled in for a beautiful sunset over the dunes.

 

In the morning we went to the creek that runs in front of the dunes. It exists for only 2 months of the year and then dries – it is caused by the snow melt from the mountains. The creek carries the sand and sediment from the hills and the winds blow the sand into the dune formations. Pippa was allow on the dunes and in the creek and she had a blast! She has become quite a water baby on this trip, maybe not all the way in, but she does love to dip her little paws in the cool water!

Another of the lesser known parks we came across is Lassen Volcano National Park in Northern California.  Lassen was recommended to us by a National Monument docent in New Mexico. He said everyone is drawn to Yosemite, but just around the corner is Lassen, and it is much more quiet and peaceful.

Lassen is a testament to one man’s efforts. Mr. Loomis was a amateur photographer who documented the Lassen Volcano when it erupted in 1915. He personally financed a seismography station and published a book of his photos to share the story of the Lassen Volcano (which was the most recent U.S. mainland volcano to erupt, until Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980). He felt so strongly that this beautiful little corner of the State be acknowledged and preserved. His home is now the ranger station and his small museum where he sold his books and photos is now the visitor information station. 

Even though we visited the park at the end of June, much of the park was closed due to the amount of snow still on the ground, but the parks of the park that were open were just as described. The campground was about half full. The lakes and streams were peaceful and the scenery was beautiful.

We ended up extending our stay to 4 days and caught up on our reading and writing and enjoyed a bit of a slower pace after our whirlwind pace through the first part of the month.

All this to say, while the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite are must sees, sometimes the lesser known parks create the time and space to breathe the air a bit deeper and listen to the bird song. I think Mr. Loomis would be proud.