NPS Travel Planning Love

I am currently listening to the book The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin and I am an “Upholder” personality (with a healthy dose of Obliger on the side). Only 12% of people are lucky, or cursed, to have this title. I was raised by two Type A personalities, and one is a former Navy Officer that runs a super tight ship, so I am on the chill end of this spectrum. But nonetheless, you gotta call a spade a spade.

Because of my love of lists, discovering the opportunity to adventure to all 424+ NPS Units, as I heal in nature was the obvious path for me. Yes, it is a big undertaking, but one that excites me to more core everyday. I love all of the details that go into the planning of the experience, the drive-time, the visitor center hours of operation and the NPS stamp locations. It is like a big fun scavenger hunt and I am hooked.

I profess not to be a National Park Geek as I do not overly research my destinations before I travel. I like to be surprised and be given the opportunity to stand in awe. I use alltrails.com to find good hikes and then always ask the Park Rangers what is their favorite part of the park to explore. And each recommendation has been awesome!

My Florida trip planning documents from March 2022.

As a planner, I of course, have a folder system to keep me focused. My blue binder is for my NEXT NPS trip and will include all of my drive times and the details on each park; address, hours of operation, visitor centers, etc. My red binder is for NPS PLANNING and I keep all of the research I’ve done here and utilize it to store future adventure information. As is in the life of a park chaser, there are many journeys that have been planned but however were not able to become a reality. Those dreams like in the red binder.

I then have everything in my Hotel Jackson tote bag to take with me out and about to explore. This includes my beloved NPS Passport book full of my beloved Travel Stamps, my sticker kit with passport stamp stickers, scissors, extra paper for speciality stamps, and glue. Then I have my newly acquired Yosemite National Park pouch to hold all of my park maps, some postcards to send from the road and a Field Note booklet for my notes (the place for my many new lists, like the list of best burgers in Chelan, Washington from my recent trip).