National pride, National Contentment, National Health

National Parks again…so important, our national jewels, I must write more!

If you have not been to a national park, national monument, wildlife preserve, national forest or any other public lands in a while, get going.  These lands are this country's greatest treasures and   are stunning examples of beauty and splendor and peace.   They represent the best of "government of the people, by the people, for the people," and stand in sharp contrast to what's happening for-profit on our land.  Cities and towns and  highways are clogged with ugly development.  This spirit-killing growth is brought to us, all too frequently, by corporate power, the same power the Republicans want to turn our public lands over to for private exploitation.    

We had traveled too many miles along roads showcasing ugly to be tranquil.  Yet, as we stood on the edge looking deep into Bryce Canyon, the splendor erased our travel weariness and political unease.  To our right was a Japanese family on vacation.  Their darling little girl was delightedly jumping around as only a small child can do.  Her parents were snapping photo after photo, first of the canyon and then of the family.  On our left  were teenagers on a school field trip, stunned into a few moments of silence by the canyon's sheer beauty before  leaping into a photo-taking frenzy.  A young family from Canada asked me to take their picture.   They posed in such a proper manner I asked them to do something silly for a second photo.  They were at first embarrassed by this unknown woman, asking them to do something silly, but then they sprung into action.  I'll never see the "silly" photo but I'm willing to bet it's a favorite -- all four of them flung their hands in crazy directions and put their bodies into crooked crazy angles and giggled with delight.

Bryce Canyon

Happy people from all over  the world gather on our nation's public lands.  They bond over the beauty and majesty.  All through the land, with cameras clicking and folks oohing and awing, friendships are forming.  The Grand Canyon, Arches, Mesa Verde, the Statue of Liberty, Glacier, Crater Lake, Big Bend, Denali, Everglades, and more are high on vacation destination dreams.   Often the dream is to see all 59 national parks, 121 national monuments or to hike as many national forests as can be squeezed into a life time.

Big Bend, Texas

Everglades, Florida

Empire State Building,  New York

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Cascade Mountains,  Washington

If our Washington DC cocooned politicians would travel this country, outside their chauffeur driven black cars, with a walking stick and walking shoes, exploring the nooks and crannies like we do, there would be no talk of  public land swaps, giveaways or privatization.  If they allowed themselves to get down and dirty -- camp, hike, swim, fish, build sand castles, observe wildlife, talk with park visitors -- they too would "fall in love with this land".   Fortunately, our dear President Barack Obama  did just that when he and his family visited Yosemite this year.  It inspired these words:

"I think that the way a place like this imprints itself in you, especially when you're young, and carries on the rest of your life, is remarkable.  I do believe that when we get kids,  families, out in the open spaces, it changes them.  It roots you.  It gives you a sense that there's something bigger and grander than you.  It gives you a sense of order."

I find it ironic that in this centennial year of our national parks, the Republican Party platform would have them struck dead, or at the very least turned over to profiteers for ruin and squander, as if squeezing the life out of them with draconian budget cuts has not been severe enough. 

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"The parks do not belong to one state or to one section… The Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has vested interest; they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan, of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona.  Who will gainsay that the parks contain the highest potentialities of national pride, national contentment, and national health?  A visit inspires love of country; begets contentment; engenders pride of possession; contains the antidote for national restlessness… He is a better citizen with a keener appreciation of the privilege of living here who has toured the national parks."

~ Stephen T. Mather
 NPS Director, 1917 - 1929

Desecration in the Air

If you've been reading my blog these past many months, you will know the high value I place on public land.  Without a doubt, I consider these words of Wallace Stegner, 1983, to be absolutely true.

"National parks are the best idea we ever had.  Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."

Just look at a few of the treasures we love right here in Western Washington.  Can you imagine any one of them spoiled with mining or oil drilling; the wildlife hunted to extinction; used for private enterprises such as casinos, golf courses, theme parks; or covered with private homes, with all the roads and power lines and clearing of the land that entails?

North Cascade National Park

Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve

Rainier National Park

Snoqualmie National Forest

Olympic National Park

How would it feel if you suddenly came across this sign on your favorite hike in a national forest?

So imagine my shock when I find myself needing to defend our public lands, lands I hold sacrosanct.  To hear utterings from certain powers to "sell the land" or, horrifyingly, "turn them over to private enterprise".  I cringe.

Remember Reagan saying, "If you've seen one redwood tree, you've seen them all"?  We all laughed, calling him a fool and disrespectful of the most beautiful forest imaginable.

Redwood National Forest

Yet, I just read the 2016 Republican Party's platform which includes language threatening our public lands.

"Congress shall immediately pass universal legislation providing a timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to the states."

The provision calls for the immediate disposal of unspecified public lands leaving national forests, wilderness areas, national parks and wildlife refuges ripe for privatization, development or transfer of ownership.  But it doesn't stop there.  The Antiquities Act of 1906, protecting national monuments, is not safe either.  Repealing or gutting this act would put  such things as the Grand Canyon, Natural Bridges, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the Statue of Liberty at risk.  As I continue to read, letting the words sink in, I feel alarm -- hard and bleak.  The Republican Party platform proposal is for desecration of our treasured public lands.

This is not how Republicans have always seen conservation.  In fact, how disappointed Teddy Roosevelt would be with his party's intended gutting of his greatest legacies.  During his administration he  was responsible for protecting  230 million acres -- 150 national forests, 51 federal bird preserves, 4 federal wildlife preserves, 18 national monuments, and 5 national parks.  Included in his mission to protect our lands from exploitation were the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Gila Cliff Dwelling in New Mexico and Muir Woods in California.   

To my mind, when we have park lands  and  historic treasures we protect and care for them, as was intended when they were set aside.       These natural wonders are our heritage.   Our sense of ourselves, our pride in our country, and our  spiritual wonder are all wrapped up in our nation's most beautiful, dramatic and historic places. 

I find it mind-boggling that there are anti-park folks or anti-government extremists who are unwilling to be good stewards of our nation's most special places.    As Terry Tempest Williams says, "If you know wilderness in the way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go." 

~~~

"Wilderness is an anchor to windward.  Knowing it is there, we can also know that we are still a rich nation, tending our resources as we should -- not a people in despair searching every last nook and cranny of our land for a board of lumber, a barrel of oil, a blade of grass, or a tank of water."

~  Clinton P. Anderson

    Senator, New Mexico

The Center of the Universe

Josie Bassett Morris in 1914 was a 40 year old divorced woman, with two grown boys, wanting a home of her own. She looked for a good pasture, plentiful water, and a place suitable for growing fruits and vegetables. An 80 acre homestead on Cub Creek in Utah became the dream. She built her cabin, covered the dirt floors with braided rag rugs and covered the beds with hand made quilts. The cabin had a fireplace for heat. Josie settled in, planted fruit trees, raised chickens and lived her life.

Cub Creek was Josie's home for 50 years until she died in 1964 at the age of 90.

That's the official story posted at the site by the National Monument. Remember Paul Harvey and the "Rest of the Story"? Well, here's the rest of Josie's story:

Josie actually had four spouses, the 4th being Morris, plus she had romances with Etzy Lay and Will "News" Carver. She and her sister, "Queen" Ann Bassett were known for their associations and love affairs with well-known outlaws, in particular Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch.

Indeed, I am sure Josie held body and soul together homemaking, gardening and ranching but she was also a noted cattle rustler and bootlegger.

I love homesteading history and I have fun seeking out "the rest of the story". It's easy to envy the lives of some of these old homesteaders, until the lack of indoor plumbing creeps into the fantasy.

The land of Josie's homestead is now within the boundaries of the Dinosaur National Monument.  This photo shows the road we drove to reach the cabin. No doubt Josie would consider this "improved" road more like a freeway than the washboarded, rutted track she used...

Fireplace, braided rugs and quilts on the beds aside, it must have been cold in the winter. I'd guess there was a wood-burning cook stove in the kitchen, in addition to the fireplace, but none of the furnishings remain in the cabin so I can only guess. But I can also guess at the cold--wind blowing through the cracks, huddling under quilts to keep warm.

Josie's Chicken coop...

Gates didn't seem to be a favored feature because all five entries into Josie's fenced homestead area were ingenious zig-zag designs that worked for a human but not a cow or horse.

The remainder of our day was spent visiting Echo Park, The Center of the Universe, up, up, up to 7,625, from the 5.000 feet we were camped at.

So this is it, the center of the universe...

Benton totally agreed with the center of the universe concept...

We had planned to camp at Echo Park Campground but it was beginning to rain and the road warning sign said "Unpassable in wet weather. 4-wheel drive vehicles recommended." See that dirt road that goes for miles and miles down into that valley in the photo below. That's the road to Echo Park Campground. 

If you want the crowds to be gone; quiet you can almost hear; peace oozing from the land; beauty beyond description; and complete and wonderous isolation; then Dinosaur National Monument  is the place for you! And then there are the bones!

Exclamation marks on the wonder of another day!

~~~

"Think and wonder; wonder and think."

~ Dr. Seuss

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Dinosaur National Monument

We're visiting the Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado, no wait, Utah. First we went to the Colorado entry, but it was closed for the winter so then we came to the Utah entry and it was open. Now we're camped at Split Mountain Campground, Utah. We're loving this place. The beauty, peace, quiet, hikes, wildlife, Green River. All of it!

Between our camp site, and some amazing white cliffs, is the Green River...

One of our first campground visitors, high up on the cliffs, was this guy...

With me in rapture, watching the Big Horn Sheep, Benton seems uninterested...

The park drive to the campground wowed us with beauty. The rock cliffs, huge stormy sky, muted colors, river and wide open spaces were captivating. We're planning on more days here with more hiking and some biking too.

First thing on arrival we visited the Dinosaur Display, a powerful look at both dinosaurs and architecture...

In 1909 fossils were discovered by Paleontologist Earl Douglass and excavation was begun for the Carnegie Museum. In 1915 the 80-acre Dinosaur National Monument was established. Today the park is a 210,000-acre monument straddling the Utah and Colorado borders and includes the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers.

The "Wall of Bones" located within the Dinosaur Quarry building consists of a steeply tilted (67° from horizontal) rock layer which contains hundreds of dinosaur fossils. The enclosing rock has been chipped away to reveal the fossil bones intact for public viewing.

This first photo shows the percentage of the fossil quarry now protected under cover...

This morning we hiked a couple miles into a canyon on a trail leaving from the campground, loving
every step...

Yep, we're staying a couple more days, including returning to the Colorado entry to explore and probably camp. Some neighbor campers said the road is open and the campground too, despite a contrary sign on the Colorado visitor center's door.

~~~

"I hope that the Government for the benefit of science and the people, will uncover a large area, leave the bones and skeletons in relief and house them in. It would make one of the most astounding and instructive sights imaginable."

~ Earl Douglass

 1923 letter to Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

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