Thursday, July 19, 2007

The Epilogue

As I was driving alone over the last few days of the trip, I began listening to an audiobook by John Hodgman entitled The Areas of My Expertise. In it, he describes what it takes to become a professional writer, saying that one must first learn to believe that other people care about what you have to say. “This is very difficult for some people,” he explains. “But for some, it comes very easily… These people are assholes.” I’ll leave it to all of you to decide which part of that applies to me and you should feel free to keep all conclusions to yourself.

Moving across the country, leaving behind my friends and starting a new career, this trip largely was meant to serve as a way to close one chapter of my life and begin a new one. But, as many people have noted, the trip took on greater meaning as it evolved. Seeing the inspiration people seemed to draw from the very notion of such an adventure, it quickly became clear that this trip was less about the changes in my own life and more about finding Man’s place in the world and discovering the true meaning of America.

With that in mind, the first topic I shall discuss is what I have named “surprise places.” Obviously, when I planned the trip, I had some idea about what destinations interested me; but, in covering so much distance, there’s a lot of in-between space that couldn’t really be planned for. This, of course, is one of the great appeals of a road trip. I’ll give a couple examples:

1. Leaving Portland and driving along the Columbia River Gorge, where the wind blows off the river and bounces off the steep rock walls so that the river moves like an ocean and the car was at times nearly buffeted off the road.
2. If you’ve ever been to Seattle, you know that Northwestern Washington is full of giant, rocky mountains. Southern Washington, however, is full of rolling, treeless hills where you can see so far that it feels like you’re looking down from an airplane.

Also, we were surprised by a number of towns. We ended up staying in Jackson, WY just because it was too expensive to stay in Grand Teton National Park and Jackson was the closest thing. This turned out to be a happy accident as Jackson is a great little resort town that I hope I can visit again someday. In South Dakota, we spent some time in Rapid City, which is known as the City of Presidents. For one reason or another, they have a statue of a different U.S. president at nearly every street corner in their downtown. Sometimes I surprised myself at the places that made me say, “I could live here.” Rapid City, SD might sound like the kind of place you’d get sick of quickly; but I grew up in a small town, so it doesn’t seem that bad to me. In fact, this trip sort of re-framed the way I look at Santee, the town where I grew up. It’s the kind of place that, if you were on a road trip and you needed to stop somewhere for the night, it’d be perfect. It is a great 12-hour town.

Now, let me talk about some of the parks. I only hope that my experiences, dear readers, might serve you if you are fortunate enough to be in the position to visit any of these amazing places. So, let me share some of my vast expertise.

Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park – Never heard of it, you say? Well, it’s an amazing park that you can see in a day and could easily spend a weekend in if you want to do some hiking. If you want to see big trees, this is the place to do it. The sequoias are so huge and, in these lush forests surrounded by mountain vistas, this first day excursion was one of the best spots of the entire trip.

Yosemite – This was my favorite park and it really has it all. If you want to see the park from the car, driving through Yosemite Valley and up to Glacier Point will be enough to make the trip absolutely worthwhile. I nearly skipped the drive up to Glacier Point, but I’m so glad I didn’t. The views from this spot are perhaps the most amazing I’ve seen, possibly second only to the Grand Canyon. Also, there are tons of great hikes here. If I ever get back, I’ve got a few ideas of other hikes I want to take. Again, I can’t overstate how great this place is. All of you in L.A. , it’s only six hours away. If you need an idea for a short vacation, seeing Yosemite and Sequoia would be a great trip and would only take you a few days. These are definitely two places you will always remember.

Redwoods – This is another great place to see big trees, but in a slightly different setting. Instead of the mountainous terrain of Sequoia N.P., Redwoods N.P. is situated on the coast. I found these trees to be slightly less striking than the Sequoias. This forest was once much larger and, in fact, is older than the Rocky Mountains. If that doesn’t amaze you, read it again.

A drawback of this park is that it is a mishmash of National Park land, State Park land, and privately owned land. Halfway through the park is a little town that is completely Disneyified. While it’s still fun there, I felt it kind of cheapened the experience in a way.

Crater Lake – As a single scenic moment, Crater Lake is one of the best you could hope for. The dark blue water surrounded by gray, snow-capped peaks and lush evergreen forests gives the sensation of an extra-terrestrial landscape. Unfortunately, I’m not sure when the park is totally open. We were there in mid-June and it was still 70% closed due to snow. I guess July is the right time to visit; but, really, any time you can see the lake is a good time.

Glacier – This is probably the most rugged park. First of all, it’s in Montana, which is pretty much the most rugged place in America. It’s so rugged, they don’t even pay sales tax. Going-to-the-Sun Road is definitely a great thing to see and lets you see much of what’s great about the park on a scenic drive. However, of all the parks we visited, I think this is the one that most appeals to the adventurous. There are tons of places to hike in a drastic setting, with jagged peaks rising above peaceful lakes or grass meadows. Plus, this is Grizzly country, so that kind of ups the excitement.

Yellowstone – With its volcanic legacy, the landscape of Yellowstone is certainly impressive: especially its vents and geysers. But, my favorite part of this park was the wildlife. If you bring binoculars or a camera with a powerful zoom, you are going to get to experience bears, bison and loads of other animals in a way you probably won’t anywhere else. And all you have to do is drive along a loop road. I’m sure there are plenty of opportunities for backpacking and other active pursuits here, but it seems to be less of the focus than in places like Yosemite and Glacier. This is a very accessible park, so if you’re getting up in years or have young children, this is the perfect spot for a vacation. I’ve heard that it’s also great in winter, but I’m not really a winter animal.

Grand Teton – If you’re going to Yellowstone, G.T. is so close that it would be a foolish, foolish mistake not to visit it. While it’s mostly a scenic drive looking out at a prominent mountain ridge, there are also plenty of spots to view wildlife and some interesting exhibits on early life on the frontier. In fact, some show I watched on the Travel Channel named it as the best park to watch wildlife. I’d have to disagree and say Yellowstone takes that prize; but I could be convinced that maybe we just caught Grand Teton on the wrong day. It’s in the National Elk Refuge, and in winter there are loads of elk roaming about. Also, it’s supposed to be a great place to spot a moose.

Mt. Rushmore – Finally see in person what you’ve seen so many times in pictures. I don’t know; I thought it’d be bigger.

Devils Tower – This is such a strange formation that seeing it in person gives the sense of stumbling onto some alien monolith. However, I wish that they had kept the original Native American name, “Bear Lodge.”

Badlands – A great park to drive through. Actually, I think this would also be a nice place to get into the backcountry because there are no bears, you can camp basically anywhere, and the scenery is great everywhere you look. Also, if you have a motorcycle, this is probably the park for you.

Mammoth Cave – If you’ve ever been to Carlsbad, you can skip this one. Also, Luray Caverns in Virginia is much more impressive. This was probably my least favorite stop on the trip. I’d love to try spelunking though, and this park offers at least two guided introductions to that practice.

Great Smoky Mountains –By the time I made it to this park, I just wasn’t quite in the mood to expend the energy to get out away from the crowds, and I really think that’s the only way to enjoy this park. Still, the Smoky Mountains are absolutely beautiful and it gives you the feel of almost being in a rain forest. I really hope I get to do a substantial hike up there in the near future.

The opportunity to see wildlife up close in their natural habitat is one of the big draws of these parks and it’s easy to understand why. Being close to another animal in the wild is one of those experiences that makes you feel truly alive. There’s a sense of shared space that makes you realize that we, as humans, don’t really own the world. I know that sounds over-the-top, but I really do believe that standing on face-to-face with a wild animal forces you, at least momentarily, to alter your perception of your place in the world.

On this trip, I didn’t have any encounters that were quite as intense as seeing a black bear while I was alone on San Gorgonio, but we did have an interesting encounter with a deer who was grazing along the trail in Glacier. He just stayed there eating and wouldn’t move despite the fact that we were probably only about 10 yards away. Eventually, we had to take a longer way around him, at which point he finally decided to walk away.

Obviously, seeing a bear and a deer are too very different experiences; but they both give you a feeling of being on a sort of equal footing with the animals. Most of the time, our encounters with animals are through a fence or across a crevasse at the zoo. Standing face to face with one in the wilderness is entirely different.

While I am on the subject of wildness, I should also talk about my beard. The last time I was clean-shaven was January 22. Since then, I have let my beard grow with very infrequent trimming. In fact, I had not groomed my facial hair in any sense for probably 8 full weeks before leaving for the trip. At this point, it is impossible to eat or drink without finding a thick deposit of whatever it is one is consuming lodged in one’s beard. Also, beards are magic. I’m convinced that when I got free passage into the historic entrance of Mammoth Cave it was entirely because the ranger was intimidated/seduced by the power of my beard. Also, at the blackjack tables in Deadwood, mere strokes of my beard often caused the dealer to bust. Recognizing that this magic is too dangerous to be used back in the domestic world, I have finally shaved my beard. Once again, like all of you, I will have to rely solely on my wits and charm, without further recourse to magical twirls of unkempt facial hair.

So, that just about does it for the Epilogue. I hope it was all you hoped it would be. I’m sure many of you are very disappointed, because you know I am capable of such great things. All I can say to you is that I offer my humblest apologies and my deepest thanks for reading what I have to say.

1 comment:

Leaking Moonlight said...

Thank you for sharing your journey, and for affirming the joy of perception altered. Godspeed.