National Park Disservice

A different way to explore National Park history, these tongue in cheek posters cover the weird, controversial, and often hysterical aspects of our National Parks that we so love and enjoy.

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If you wish Death Valley wasn’t so hot and dry, as many German tourists have certainly concluded over the years, then file your complaint with the terrible Queen of Death Valley. According to ancient tradition of the first peoples of Death Valley, the region was once wet and lush. But it was under bad management. The vain and tyrannical Queen of Death Valley ruled the land with a heavy hand, forcing the population, and even her own family, to be her slaves and build her a grand palace in her honor.

The Queen wasn’t always like this. Apparently, she used to be a very chill and ethical ruler. But as the cautionary tale goes, she became corrupted by her own power over the years, to the point that she flogged her own daughter for laziness. Her daughter cursed the Queen and her kingdom right before dying, setting off a chain reaction of the air getting hotter, the water evaporating, plants dying and animals fleeing. You could say it was the first PSA for climate change. Only the cause wasn’t carbon emissions, but instead, tyranny and narcissism. Naturally the people fled too, leaving the Queen all alone to reflect on her poor choices. When she got sick, there was no one to take care of her and alas, she died alone. The moral of the story kids, is to be careful not to become too self-absorbed and greedy for power, because you may end up enslaving your own family, ruining the land you live on and dying alone.   Want a poster? Check out: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/55977157

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The Jurassic Park franchise is largely filmed in the lush Hawaiian Islands. But there is one iconic scene from the Lost World film that was shot in the northern forests of California. When Vince Vaughn. Jeff Goldbloom, and that bald guy that is in a lot of movies but whose name you’d never know, stumble upon a herd of Stegosaurus, they were walking in Prairie Creek, which is part of Redwoods National and State Parks. And though it may seem odd to transition to a redwood forest for a film that supposedly takes place on a tropical island off of Costa Rica, the choice to use a redwood forest has a more psychological effect on making you, the viewer, feel as though the characters are in an ancient landscape from another time. A... Lost… World… if you will.

The obvious factor are the large redwood trees with massive trunks which can live for 2,000 years. When you see the characters walking through this landscape you recognize that they’re in an ancient forest with over-sized trees, which feels appropriate to harbor ancient over-sized animals. But there is another layer to the onion that is less obvious. If you open up any school textbook containing dinosaurs, chances are that you’ll find a few artistic renderings of dinosaurs as they supposedly appeared millions of years ago. And do you know what is almost always missing from those pictures? Flowers. Or better put, angiosperms. The common view among scientists is that angiosperms (flowering plants) were rare during the time of the dinosaurs. Instead, the landscape was dominated gymnosperms, like ferns, conifers and cycads. So, artists creating images of dinosaurs primarily put gymnosperm plants in their illustrations. And the vegetation that dominates the landscape our characters are walking through when they see the Stegosaurus are redwood trees and under-story ferns, both gymnosperms. For people like me, who nerded out over dinosaurs as a kid, the landscape at Redwood National and State Parks just “feels” perfect for dinosaurs. And it is because we’ve been indoctrinated as kids to associate dinosaurs with gymnosperm dominated landscapes.

The only other lesson to learn here is to stay away from baby stegosaurus. Their herd is fiercely protective of their young. If you’d like to purchase a poster, go to: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/55497421

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The year was 1897 when a professor named Edgar McClure summited Mount Rainier along with a group of 58 other climbers. While on top he ran some weather experiments and calculated the summit’s height above sea level with some instruments he brought. The measurement he calculated, 14,528 feet, became the official height for Rainier until the USGS took a more precise measurement 17 years later. McClure decided to descend after dark along with a few other climbers from the large party. Finding their way in the dark, they mistakenly walked onto a rocky outcropping. McClure warned the others to turn around right before losing his balance and falling down the side. He would be the first recorded death on the slopes of Rainier. And he would be followed by hundreds more.

Climbers on Rainier risk avalanches, freezing storms, rock falls, ice falls, and simply put, falling, as McClure had. After a few more fatalities and missing climbers, the park superintendent instituted an official guide system in 1909, where experienced guides would take you to the summit and back. In 1912, Charlot Hunt tumbled down Rainier’s rock and ice covered slopes to become the first woman to perish on the mountain. In 1931 a climber slid to their death for over a mile and 2,000 feet down the icy slopes near the summit. In 2014 a group of six disappeared, and three months later three bodies from the group were located 3,000’ below the route they were supposed to be on. But nothing compares to the tragedy that occurred in 1981 when an avalanche 100 yards wide and 75 feet deep swept over a large climbing party, killing 11 of the group. To this day it remains the worst mountaineering incident in the United States.

But not all fatalities are from climbing.  In 1972 a small plane carrying three people vanished on its way to Seattle, it’s wreckage and passengers only to be discovered 30 years later on Mt. Rainier.  In the late winter of 1946 a C-47 transport loaded with Marines got caught in a storm and blown off course, causing it to fly in zero visibility directly into the side of Mt. Rainier. The storm dumped so much snow that the wreckage was not discovered until mid-summer the next year. In 1965 a DC-6 flying in similar storm conditions also got blown onto a collision course with Mt. Rainier, killing all on board. In fact, at least eight planes have flown into Mt. Rainier tragically claiming the lives of 55 people.

Needless to say, Mt. Rainier has claimed many lives. But a look at the bigger pictures is always warranted. The first recorded attempt to climb Rainier was in 1852. That year only four people tried. In 2018, ten thousand tried and five thousand were successful in reaching the summit. In fact, since 2008, over ten thousand people have attempted to summit Rainier every year. For over a century hundreds of thousands of people have climbed up the icy slopes. So though 400+ casualties may seem high, it is relatively very low. And I have no doubt that is due to the safety regulations imposed by the NPS, the supervision of experienced climbing guides, and the dedicated search and rescue teams from combined government agencies to rescue those who might have otherwise died up there.   Want a poster? Check out: https://www.redbubble.com/i/poster/A-Summit-to-Die-For-Mount-Rainier-National-Park-by-mp2262/54733331.LVTDI

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If you want to read about a person who lived life to the fullest, then check out a biography on Theodore Roosevelt. He went to Harvard, lived as a cowboy in the Dakota territory, wrote multiple books on hunting and ranching, was a New York State Assemblyman, served in the New York National Guard, was Governor of New York, was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, created and commanded the 1st US Volunteer Calvary “Rough Riders” in battle, served as Vice President, served two terms as President, created the US Forest Service and 150 national forests, was instrumental in creating the Panama Canal, was shot in the chest in 1912 and didn’t go to the hospital until after delivering that day’s speech, and is the only man in history to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and Medal of Honor. Teddy Roosevelt did not squander his short time on this earth. But that isn’t why his name appears on the only National Park in the US today to be named after a person.  When Roosevelt was President he signed into effect five National Parks and eighteen National Monuments. No President has done more for the Park Service than Teddy Roosevelt. So, it seems appropriate that if any National Park were to have a man’s name, it should be him.

Now, I am sure some of you are probably screaming John Muir’s name at me right now. Muir, among other greats like Mather, Ickes, Udall, Wright and Albright, was pivotal in the history of our park system. I’m just saying that out of everyone, Roosevelt accomplished the most. And if the competitive and outspoken Roosevelt were alive today he would certainly agree with me!

And as much as the most left leaning conservationist and environmentalist might love what Teddy Roosevelt did, they certainly don’t like who he was. Which was an avid hunter. One of the big differences between Muir and Roosevelt, is Roosevelt adorned his rooms with taxidermized animals, many of which he taxidermized himself! Whether bison, bear, rhino, leopard or elephant, many large mammals were taken down by Teddy. The man who loved nature. By today’s standards this seems contradictory based off our country’s ever-increasing polarization of guns and hunting against animal cruelty and nature conservation. But in the late 18th century and early 19th century, many sportsmen in our nation were extremely influential about conserving animal populations. Yes, naturalists like Muir were influential too, but in different ways, within different social circles, and with different degrees of success. This was, after all, long before scientific disciplines gained momentum and power in arguing for nature conservation for environmental reasons that remain popular today. What isn’t popular today, are the sportsmen who carry on Roosevelt’s legacy by being very instrumental in the conservation of our wildlands and game animals. Today around $800 million dollars in revenue is annually generated by hunting licenses and fees that go to conservation efforts with many hunting clubs and organizations donating an addition $400 million dollars on top of that. And as the activity of hunting becomes less and less popular in our country, less and less money is available to fund conservation efforts, which get 60% of their funds from hunters. Which leads many to fear that with the demise of hunting will come the demise of our conservation programs. Which is why it is important to acknowledge that wildlife conservation is a big part of the hunting community. And Roosevelt serves as the greatest example of this different perspective of conservation that seems so foreign to people in the more progressive urban regions of our country.   But history is full of great ironies. And though you can legally hunt in many national park units, you CANNOT hunt in the one national park named after one of the most famous hunters of all -Theodore Roosevelt. Want a poster? Go to: https://www.redbubble.com/i/poster/Full-of-Animals-Teddy-Would-Love-to-Kill-Theodore-Roosevelt-National-Park-Poster-by-mp2262/54404526.LVTDI

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Sometimes you don’t even need a much of a story. You just need to copy and paste the actual verbiage of penal code 7.67 subsection E

“Public nudity, including public nude bathing, by any person on Federal land or water within the boundaries of Cape Cod National Seashore is prohibited. Public nudity is a person’s intentional failure to cover with a fully opaque covering that person’s own genitals, pubic areas, rectal area, or female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola when in a public place. Public place is any area of Federal land or water within the Seashore, except the enclosed portions of bathhouses, restrooms, public showers, or other public structures designed for similar purposes or private structures permitted within the Seashore, such as trailers or tents. This regulation shall not apply to a person under 10 years of age.”

For those of you 10 years of age and older, you have my deepest sympathies. But these rules don’t just magically appear out of thin air. Nor did it come about from the conservative prudes in Footloose. It was a response to parking congestion, trespassing, litter and environmental damage.

It was the 70s and hippy counter-culture was in full swing maaaan. And these free-spirits loved to go to a little secluded spot called Brush Hollow to go full monty. But secluded meant there were no trash cans, bathrooms and parking. And when the handful of exhibitionists turned into hundreds by 1973, plus the non-nudists who just wanted to spy from a distance and get a free show, things got ugly. As in, roads inundated with parked cars, people marching in from far off cutting through people’s private property, defecating and littering as they went, kind of ugly. Those who weren’t flaunting it on the beach, spied from the sand dunes, which heavily degraded the plant life trying to grow there. Remember, this was before abundantly accessible online porn.

Needless to say, nearby residents were understandably losing their minds. They pushed for banning nudity along the seashore and it wasn’t long before the issue made it into national headlines. Which, ironically, only made Brush Hollow and other adjacent locations even more popular, adding fuel to the fire. Alas, in 1975, the law you read above went into effect.

But the skinny dippers would not go quietly into the night. The Massachusetts Civil Liberties Union and 12 local plaintiffs filed a lawsuit claiming that, “the ban denied personal liberties and freedoms of expression and association.” One plantiff remarked that banning the nudity was unnecessary, and that better facilities and parking control would solve all the problems. The example given, if black people were congregating at a beach you wouldn’t ban black people, you’d just improve the facilities.

The counter-argument was that Cape Cod National Sea Shore is not intended to be a heavily developed and heavily used shoreline, but instead preserved in a protected natural state as much as possible. Which is essentially the develop vs. preserve paradox that has haunted the Park Service for ages. Instead of taking on the much more complicated and expensive task of trying to improve roads, add parking, build restrooms, provide trashcans and then budget maintenance to take care of all these things all while trying to be as minimally intrusive to the sea shore as possible… the much easier path was to simply ban public nudity. And furthermore, that references to black people aren’t fair, not only because it is comparing a racial demographic to an extra-curricular activity, but also because black people on a beach isn’t a crowd drawing spectacle. In other words, you can still access the beach and take part in a multitude of recreational activities, but if any of those recreational activities degrade the environment and violate existing laws, the activity will be banned. Think of it this way, if Burning Man was moved to Death Valley National Park and led to the deterioration of plant habitat, litter and traffic congestion, would you expect the NPS to develop in Death Valley to facilitate the large party? Or just ban the party? So, the court case lost. Additional protests and petitions followed in the years to come but none would succeed. And to this day, Cape Cod National Seashore is only one of three federal park units with an official anti-nudity policy. Sharing the honor with Gateway NRA and Kaloko-Honokohau NHP. However, this doesn’t mean you can cruise around other National Parks units nude. Each individual park can enforce state and county laws at its discretion. In addition, National Park rangers could always claim your nudity falls under “Disorderly Conduct.” So, a ranger has many justifications at his or her disposal to make you put your clothes back on.   If you’d like a poster, check out: https://www.redbubble.com/i/poster/Cover-Your-Genitals-Cape-Cod-National-Seashore-Poster-by-mp2262/54249731.LVTDI

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In the thrilling epic in which he searches for a sacred bat to save two African tribes from war, a great man by the name of Ace Ventura was the first to teach me that guano is an excellent source of nitrate. And nitrate is a critical fertilizing chemical for agriculture. It should be no surprise then to learn that guano, AKA “flying animal poop,” is mined all over the world for its precious chemical properties. Chemical properties that America needed in a big way.

At the turn of the 19th century, farmers on the east side of the US had farmed long enough to deplete the nutrients in their soil. Simultaneously, homesteading out west was bringing more competition to the market. This led to a huge guano boom as the miracle manure to save farming in the east. The demand and price of guano sharply increased, as did the search for guano sources. Since guano comes from both bats and birds, many islands throughout the world with large bird populations were sought after by the US. But the bird guano mining on these islands was difficult and very expensive to transport. Not to mention dangerous. Some guano ships spontaneously exploded and sank in transit. Insert your own guano pun about how bad that job was. Needless to say, another source (preferably domestic) of guano was desperately needed as America entered the 20th century. And thus begins our story about Carlsbad Caverns.

Now, for years small bat caves had yielded a little guano that could be used locally in America. But everything would change in 1903, when a Carlsbad local, Abijah Long, investigated a cave entrance reported by a cowboy a few years prior. He found guano inside. The Fort Knox of guano. Long lay claim to the land and began immediately developing it for guano mining. At its peak, Long’s mining operation was pulling 40 tons of guano out of the caverns each day! Which just goes to show you how much bat poop had accumulated in the cave system, as well as how large the cave system is, how many bats are in it and how long they’ve been there!

Unlike Long, the cowboy to first report the cave, Jim White, began exploring the cave for its other treasures; scientific, cultural and aesthetic. Getting involved with various government officials, White was able to demonstrate that there was much more to this cave than just bat poop. And in 1923, the entire area, minus Long’s 40 acre claim, were designated a National Monument. Later to be re-designated a National Park in 1930.

But by this time the need for guano was in decline. The advent of mining Potash for fertilizer was cheaper and easier, as was the extraction of fertilizing chemicals during oil production. Furthermore, farmers were forced to adopt new techniques and strategies to ensure future farming wouldn’t deplete the nutrients in the soil. Though there were some small niche industries for guano, Carlsbad guano mining scaled down and stopped altogether in the 1950s.

But unlike visiting the caverns in the past, when you visit today you will not be taken to see the bats inside the caverns. Those portions of the caverns are not accessible to the public to protect the bat population. But you can see the bats during their dawn return entry into the caves or their dusk exit out of the caves. If you want a bat poop poster on your wall, check out:

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Why buy an expensive washer and dryer when nature can do it all for free? For travelers visiting Yellowstone National Park in the latter half of the 19th century, it was not lost on them that all the scrubbing, hot water and drying required to clean clothes were all components conveniently inherent in a geyser eruption. Visitors noted that by stuffing your dirty clothing into a dormant geyser, the eventual blast of hot boiling water followed by the tumbling fall back down to earth did, in fact, clean the laundry. Though some guests noticed that wools didn’t take well to such natural organic cleaning.

But this story is more than just using geothermal power to do your chores. This story is ultimately about human curiosity. The same curiosity that drives people to pour salt on a snail, pour gasoline into a campfire or swallow a detergent ball, also drives people to throw crap into Yellowstone’s geothermal features. Other than laundry, people used to throw stones, trees, tree stumps, bottles, and coins into the geothermal features. Not only to see what would happen to things submerged in boiling water, but also to see if they could clog them. Usually the items would get blown out, but for one unlucky geyser the tom foolery succeeded. Handkerchief Pool, once one of the most famous features in the park, became so clogged it stopped functioning normally by the 1930s. Another geyser known for erupting 50 feet high every 60 seconds, hardly erupts at all now. And another location originally called the Morning Glory Pool became so filled with junk it earned the nickname “Fading Glory,” and “Garbage Pool.” Someone eventually realized that by throwing in soap you could literally induce an explosive chemical reaction in some cases, or at least create an odd sudsy film over the water in other cases. Lye also had some fun chemical reactions. And since so many guests suddenly became Bill Nye the Science Guy while in Yellowstone, soap instantly became one of the best-selling items in the park.

But before you naively think that we humans have evolved a lot since then, I must regretfully inform you that human behavior is still more or less the same. Though access to geothermal features is more controlled and regulated, making it slightly more difficult to lob junk into nature’s stinky tea kettles in the name of science, stuff still “falls” into the pools all the time. A recent case being a drone that fell into Grand Prismatic Spring in 2014. The drone was never found, but the guest was fined thousands of dollars.

But let us go back to laundry to close this story, and add in a dash of natural revenge. Long ago, someone thought it’d be a good idea to start a laundry service in one of the hot springs, not recognizing the potential of a geyser lying dormant there. One day the geyser went off!  Essentially blowing up his little operation. Not every business venture pans out… Want this poster? Check out: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/53773213

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There are many National Park units that preserve tragic histories within our country. But of all locations of death and disaster that the NPS manages, none are as heartbreaking as the cinematic massacre that occurred in back in 2012 in Canyon De Chelly National Monument. It was here that millions of dollars lost their life in the production of a film about a lone ranger and his indigenous side-kick. I personally witnessed the film myself. I saw and marveled at the sublime southwest scenery appearing on screen, but knew that even the majestic sandstone spires and mesas of Canyon de Chelly were no match for the onslaught of over the top action sequences and a terrible script. Not even Johnny Depp playing Jack Sparrow dressed as a Camanche, or Armie Hammer playing Armie Hammer wearing a cowboy hat could save all the dollars.  In the end, somewhere around 250 million dollars from the production expedition and 150 million dollars form the marketing expedition would perish and disappear just as mysteriously as the Ancient Puebloans who once lived in the canyon. Legend has it that Disney took a 190 million dollar write down at the end of the day.

It is important that we preserve this history. To learn from it. To grow from it. To hold its lesson’s in our hearts so that we as Americans may never again witness such meaningless waste of life. Remember what happened here in Canyon De Chelly. Remember… to never spend 400 million dollars on a western movie. If you’d like to honor the fallen, be sure to purchase a postcard or poster from: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/53513902

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When people think of Mt. Rainier, they think of epic summit climbs to the highest point in the Cascade range, stunning alpine wildflowers and inspirational John Muir quotes. What people tend to overlook is that Mt. Rainier is a giant beast of a volcano. A bottled-up nightmare that the United States Geological Survey considers a “very high” threat and is ranked under “highest priority.” And if you don’t believe me, drive around the region and look for the blue “Volcano Evacuation Route” signs posted everywhere.

A stratovolcano that they think erupted in a major way as recent as one thousand years ago, Mount Rainier has the potential to devastate Washington communities like Tacoma and Yakima. Which, if you’ve been to either place, wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to them. But most notably, the Utopian metropolis paradise known as CHAZ, cough, I mean… Seattle, also lies also within the destruction range.

But other than the shaking earth, pyroclastic blast, lava flows or ash fallout you may be thinking of as the tool used to rid us of Seattle, the biggest risk comes from Lahars. It may sound like an enchanted kingdom from Lord of the Rings, but a Lahar is a giant river of debris, like a tsunami of concrete, traveling at about 100 mph up slope and slowing to about 25 mph in the lowlands. Whether caused by an eruption induced landslide or rapid snow melt, Rainier is capable of both, and it is the lahars that will cause the most damage.

So, what are the risks? It is believed that these events happen every 500 to 1,000 years. Or better put, if you live in the region, you have a 1 in 10 chance of living through one of these events during your lifetime. Though the last big eruption is believed to have occurred 1,000 years ago, small eruptions were experienced in the late 19th century. When the next eruption occurs is anyone’s guess. Even under the close monitoring of the USGS, they admit that a sudden eruption with no warning is possible.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t blow its top the next time you’re up sight-seeing with your family. But if you are, don’t worry, just follow the blue signs and avoid any 100 mph lahars.

*Joking aside, Seattle is a great place. I mean, Starbucks came from there, how bad could it be? And the NPS and USGS closely monitor the mountain and ensure the environment is safe for visitors. The threat is real, but the risk is low. If you’d like to purchase this poster, feel free to check out:  https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/52664321

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What if I told you there was a place in Utah with hundreds of miles of narrow winding canyons of pink, tan and gold rock, with giant arches, mind bending slots, ancient cave dwellings, and… OK, this doesn’t sound like anything unique for Utah. Or Arizona, for that matter. But Glen Canyon is still a spectacular canyon to rival many other National Park units. But there is just one small problem. Glen Canyon is full of water. Glen Canyon is Lake Powell.

But how can this be? Today we see the National Park Service as tree hugging stewards of environmental conservation. How could they have sold out and been OK with such pristine desert ecology and scenery being submerged in water? Well, the answer in not so simple.

First, Glen Canyon was not a National Park unit years after the dam was built. Though it was proposed that some of Glen Canyon would one day in the future be a part of the park service as wilderness, nothing came of it before the dam was built. That said, the Echo Park dam proposal, from years prior in Dinosaur National Monument, was opposed by the NPS and other environmental groups, and the project was scrapped. So, the NPS could fight reclamation projects within their boundaries, but outside of their park units, the NPS had no say.

Second, during this period of time in NPS history, recreation within parks was still highly valued and often at odds with environmental conservation ideals. The NPS believed that large impressive reservoirs served as recreational assets to the park system. So though building a dam within a National Park would be frowned upon in the most pish posh of ways, the service would gladly take over management of a reservoir for recreation purposes after the Bureau of Reclamation built the dam and created the reservoir someplace else. The same thing happened with Lake Mead NRA, Lake Chelan NRA, and Bighorn Canyon NRA. All are reservoirs managed by the NPS after the Bureau of Reclamation created them with dam projects.  

But I’ll close with an inconvenient truth: The American west is hot and dry with frequent droughts. Some years the Colorado River is a flooding torrent, and other years a metaphorical trickle, relatively speaking. And in order for communities in the area to thrive in such an inhospitable region, they needed a reliable water source to carry them through droughts. Thus, a reservoir is born. And as a bonus, the dam generates electricity for Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska, New Mexico and Nevada. With very low carbon emissions I might add. So, the dam isn’t all that bad. In fact, one could say the dam is critical to the well-being of people living in the region. But like all things in this world, there is a price to pay for a reliable water source and clean energy. In this case, it was the flooding of the spectacular Glen Canyon. After all, a dam was going to need to be built somewhere and Glen Canyon was the runner up after Echo Park got shut down. If you’d like to purchase this poster, go to: 

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It is widely known that Yellowstone was the first National Park. Less widely known is that Sequoia National Park was the second. But only the most nerdiest of National Park nerds know that Sequoia was technically the third park, not the second. The honor of second National Park goes to a little island called Mackinac.  

Mackinac Island is a small 4+ square mile island off the coast of Michigan in Lake Huron. A heavily forested island with beautiful limestone rock formations and cliffs that the British would use to build Fort Mackinac. After the American Revolution the US took over the fort, which the British promptly took back during the War of 1812. When that war ended the fort was again back in the hands of US soldiers, thus ending the UK/USA flip flopping. For the next eight decades the little island would remain in control of the US military.

After Yellowstone National Park was established, congress set its eyes on establishing another National Park for the “health, comfort and pleasure” of the public, which is code for “revenue generating tourist hot spot.” And Mackinac was the perfect choice. One thousand acres of the island’s west side was already owned by the federal government. And, since National Parks were managed by the US military prior to the establishment of the National Park Service, what better park location than one already swarming with soldiers? So in 1875 Mackinac National Park was born. Our second National Park!

Naturally you’re wondering why you’ve never heard of this place and why Sequoia is considered our second park. Well, with the Civil War now in the rear view mirror and the fort no longer serving any real purpose other than managing tourists, it no longer made sense to keep the fort in operation. Which meant there would be no troops to manage the park. So in 1895, Mackinac was handed over to the state of Michigan, effectively losing its National Park designation. In essence, the park was created because of convenience, and abandoned when it became convenient no longer.

However, during those brief two decades when it was a National Park, heavy resort development exploded as summer homes, cottages and hotels sprang up all over the island, which became a popular vacation destination. Today, Mackinac Island is still a popular resort destination within the Michigan State Park system. And because of its rich history and multitude of historic 19th century buildings, the island has been declared a National Historic Landmark. Just not one managed by the National Park Service. To check out awesome products for this poster, visit: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/52403621

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Today if you mention the Firefall in Yosemite, people will probably think you’re referring to the natural phenomenon that occurs for a few weeks in mid-February when the setting sun illuminates Horsetail Falls. In those few days, the waterfall shimmers bright gold and the horde around you clicks away with their cameras like a White House press conference. Having personally seen this event, I must humbly admit, that the original Firefall in Yosemite was probably way better. Instead of happening during sunset, the original Firefall happened at night. And instead of water, it was literally fire! Fire, thrown off a three-thousand-foot-high cliff face! So, yeah, it was probably a little more spectacular than a waterfall bathed in golden sunlight.

The tradition started in the 1870s when Yosemite was still just a state park. One fourth of July, the guests at Mountain House Hotel atop Glacier Point requested fireworks. James McCauley, the owner of the hotel, proposed a different approach. Build a huge bonfire on the cliff’s edge, and when night fell, push the glowing hot embers off the side. It became such a hit that McCauley began to charge for guests to watch it.

In the early 1900s, the owner of Camp Curry in the valley floor wanted an attraction to entertain his guests. He decided to revive McCauley’s old Fourth of July show, making it a nightly occurrence. Each event starting with a call from the valley floor to workers on Glacier Point to “Let the Fire Fall!” And guests would look and be delighted by the sight of burning hot embers being slowly pushed off the cliff.

This seemingly dangerous fire hazard of a show would go on for decades. But people change. And by the 60s both guests and the service were more “environmentally conscious.” In 1968, George Hartzog, then the Director of the NPS, sent a letter to Camp Curry calling for an end to the Firefall. He emphasized that the park’s emphasis should be on the natural resources of the valley, not man-made spectacle. Later that same month, the last Firefall was performed, without public notice and during winter, to avoid the mob that would have flooded the park had they known it was the last one. But a retired NPS employee personally gave me a different perspective on the end of the Firefall. The 1960’s contained not just environmentally conscious guests, but also drug-using counter culture guests. Hippies that liked to take psychedelics and listen to Hendrix before watching the Firefall to have an insane trip. The visiting conservative nuclear family and the Park Service itself was not fond of these derelict long-haired youths loitering around the park tripping out on drugs. So when it became clear that the Firefall was a major draw for the hippies, it only bolstered the motivation to get rid of the spectacle. Ultimately there were plenty of reasons to end the Firefall. But despite all of my environmental inclinations, I admit, with no shame, that I wish I could have seen this perversion of nature at least one time with my own eyes. To shop products, check out my Red Bubble page: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/52296052

[nationalparkdisservice]

Like many origin stories in American culture, we prefer romantic tradition over the complex and controversial truth. And when it comes to the motivator behind establishing the first National Park in Yellowstone, we lean towards romanticized notions of preserving beauty and nature for the democratic benefit and enjoyment of the people. It is said that the Washburn-Doane Expedition made camp at Madison Junction in September of 1870, and over the glow of the evening campfire, mused over all the geysers, wildlife and scenic splendor they had witnessed in the region. They agreed that private enterprises exploiting the land would be detrimental, and that the land should instead be federally protected and set aside for public use. Thus, from this Hallmark original campfire discussion, the political phenomenon of a congress established national park was born.

But the truth isn’t nearly as romantic. First, the idea of a scenic area being put aside for the public had already been accomplished six years earlier with Yosemite State Park. As for the Washburn-Doane Expedition, it did indeed exist, but their purpose for exploring the lands that would later be called Yellowstone National Park, wasn’t altruistic at all. The Northern Pacific Railroad was looking to expand its rails westward from Dakota Territory into Montana Territory, and they put together the Washburn-Doane Expedition to find the most scenic route for the rails. The natural wonders of Yellowstone was a no-brainer and so Northern Pacific urgently tried to prevent anyone else from laying claim to the land, as dealing with numerous private land owners would require more money and legal paperwork to secure a route through the land. However, if they only had to deal with a single land owner, the federal government, instead of a plethora of private land owners, they could save themselves a lot of money and legal paperwork. Not to mention, rid themselves of competition.

Another expedition, the Hayden expedition, was launched with artists to sketch the scenery of Yellowstone to take back to congress. Using these landscape sketches and playing up the importance of preserving scenic beauty for lucrative tourism to bolster the American economy, the powerful railroad lobbyists pushed the Yellowstone bill through congress in 1871.

But acknowledging that the first national park was spearheaded by motivations of corporate profit doesn’t make for good tradition. We love our parks so much for the values they embody that we feel they deserve a “virgin birth” of pure American ideals. The problem with this contemporary notion is that in the latter half of the 19th century, exploitation of land for profit was very much a normal and proper American ideal. In this case, the desire for Northern Pacific to have a monopoly in the Yellowstone region via government managed land preventing haphazard tourist development inadvertently leads to its preservation. And inadvertently initiated our cherished National Park system.

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