Leave Only Footprints
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park
By: Conor Knighton
[Fulfilled ‘Book about nature’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
“Take only memories, leave only footprints.”
This book is part fun-facts-about-National-Parks, part memoir, part conservation commentary.
In 2016, on the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service, Conor Knighton, CBS correspondent, was inspired to take a year of his life to visit all 59 National Parks.
His fiance had also just broken off their engagement and he needed an escape from his life. Nature was his medicine— just like Teddy Roosevelt who said “he immersed himself in nature to heal a broken heart” after losing both his wife and his mother on the same Valentine’s Day.
Conor moved out, sold his stuff, and began life on the road, criss-crossing the road for 52 weeks, exploring both what the country’s national parks and each area’s Tinder pool had to offer.
He begins at the most eastern point of the US to see the first glimpses of light and he ends on the west coast seeing the last light disappear over the horizon. A full year of beauty and contemplation bookended perfectly.
I was actually surprised how much I loved this book.
The book cover doesn’t do much for me. Nick Offerman’s book, Where the Deer and the Antelope Play, left me with a bad taste in my mouth about nature books. And I was worried it would become repetitive to talk about each park.
But Conor is a brilliant writer. This book was informative, entertaining, funny, thought-provoking, and inspiring. Plus he’s not afraid of using a pun and I’m a fan of that.
He does not organize his experience alphabetically or chronologically through the parks, but through deeper threads he reflected on throughout his year. For example, some of the chapters are titled: Love; Travelers; Disconnected; God; Sound; Borders, etc.
Many of his reflections were because of his current life crisis with losing the love of his life and not knowing what direction to take his life. But even though he shares his personal journey it was still insightful as a reader and really makes you realize how good nature is for contemplation, disconnecting with the man-made world, and reconnecting with the Creator.
You’ll read this and explore the parks vicariously through him and/or you’ll start planning your next trip. I’ve only been to 11 national parks but you can bet I’ve added a lot more on my list of must-see places.
Thankfully he includes two sections of color photo pages to give us some visuals to the things he encountered, but I wish there were more. I’m sure the way they did it made the most sense in terms of publishing and cost, but I would have liked to see multiple color photo pages for each chapter!
Though the main point of his book was not discuss a Creator or to debate climate change and conservation, they are mentioned and I’ve included a couple sections in my review about them for those who are interested.
There is also a section with some fun facts about many of the national parks.
Nature and God
You can’t write or read a book about nature without thinking about how the nature got there. Conor has an entire chapter called ‘God’ in which he reflects in awe that it’s hard to see the amazing things in nature and not believe a Creator had a hand in it.
After all, Scripture tells us:
“For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1-2)
He quotes John Muir (John Muir is to nature as Michael Jordan is to basketball) who said that he decided to wander America to “study the inventions of God… and to store my mind with the Lord’s beauty.”
However, though he admits a Creator, based on the rest of the book, Conor definitely believes in evolution and a world that is billions of years old. I personally do not believe this and the book A Biblical Case Against Theistic Evolution provides a pretty compelling case to reject large scale evolution.
One thing Conor talked about that really resonated with me was when he compared nature to cathedrals. The towering trees and filtered light, the majestic beauty of regal mountains. The natural ‘church’ of God— his creation.
He compares that with the intricate cathedrals you’ll find in Europe. He reflects that he looks at the architecture, the gold, the embellishments, the grandiosity of these structures, and just like nature, he thinks about who created them.
A building created for people to worship God that becomes a glorification of man and what people can make instead of the ultimate Creator.
I’ve been to the Vatican in Rome and the Duomo in Florence and can attest to this feeling. Yes, it’s a beautiful and amazing creation. But does it make me think more about God? Not really. Perhaps I praise God for the abilities and gifts he’s given man to create, but more often it makes me think of indulgence and superficial appearances. It makes me think of Babel and the elevation of man and a showing of power.
Nature is complex but simple. Pure, authentic, and humble in its magnificence.
I’d rather worship God in a forest than in a cathedral.
And there are people who do just that. They don’t care for the institutions and prefer to fellowship with God in nature and that’s all they need.
Except it can’t be.
I respect that they feel close to God in nature. I do too. But the mountains and the waterfalls and the canyons were not the pinnacle of God’s creation. People were. He created man in his very image. He created us to reflect his character and that requires relationship. We can’t isolate ourselves in nature and reflect love, kindness, peace, goodness, sacrifice, and gentleness if we’re by ourselves.
God is relational and designed his church to be a place where his people come together to worship and love Him and each other. We miss a huge part of who God is and what he wants us to be if our ‘church’ is solitary and disconnected from people.
Climate Change
I can’t think of many other phrases with more baggage, misunderstandings, and polarization than ‘climate change.’
These days, you also can’t often find a book about nature without a commentary on climate change and the protection of our earth.
We get Conor’s opinion pretty clearly: “the lack of trust surrounding climate science has never made sense to me. I can certainly get why people don’t want to think that climate change is happening—it’s terrifying— but to not believe that it actually is?”
What he is perpetuating is a false dichotomy.
This thinking reminds me a lot of debates surrounding Covid-19:
Fact: Covid-19 is a sickness that is infecting a lot of people.
which led to….The loudest and ‘scientific’ voices tell us that to fix the problem we have to all wear masks and quarantine and lock down for x amount of days, etc.
If we don’t, the effects will be devastating and most people will die. If you don’t agree with and follow our mandates you are anti-science and you don’t care if people die.
Inciting fear led to the response from people that they wanted.
Similarly with climate change:
Fact: The global temperature has risen and glaciers are melting.
which has led to…
The loudest and ‘scientific’ voices tell us that to fix the problem we have to recycle and drive electric cars and stop having cows or burning fossil fuels, etc.
If we don’t, the effects will be devastating and most people will die. If you don’t agree with and follow our plan you are anti-science and you don’t care if people die.
Inciting fear is leading to the response from people that they wanted.
In both scenarios it’s hard to find neutral information. Everything you read feels like it’s pushing an agenda of some sort.
Also in both scenarios, much of the ‘science’ that is used is theory, speculation, and conjecture. Were masks really that effective? Are humans really the primary reason for global warming? There’s a lot of evidence that using fossil fuels is better for the poor. Doesn’t that matter?
I am not a climate scientist. I am not an economist. I don’t know much about the environment. And I can’t predict the future. I’m not very qualified to tell you what the deal is with climate change.
BUT. I think Conor’s confusion on why people don’t “trust the science” is unfounded. Scientists’ track record on global crises recently isn’t super great. There’s reason to wonder if what they say is really exactly what is happening and whether their plan is really going to do what they say it will.
There’s reason to doubt whether their models to predict earth years into the future are that accurate. Can we really project the temperature and weather and ocean levels of the earth that far into the future?
It’s not anti-science to not believe every theory and speculation scientists put forth that they can’t prove.
I’ve gone down rabbit holes of learning more about climate change and such and it’s confusing. This is a vast and complicated topic that can’t be satisfactorily discussed in a book review in which it’s not even the primary premise of the book.
So I’ll just leave you with a few links I found to give you things to think about as I myself continue to read and learn more.
Is There Really a Climate Change Emergency (and other videos)
What Questions Should Christians Ask About Global Warming?
Environment Protection and Conservation
Along the same lines as climate change is the conversation about conservation.
How far do we go to protect our environment?
For example, Conor talks about a cavernous pond in the middle of Death Valley that is home to the only pupfish on the planet. When a nearby farmer discovered that area had water he drilled down to build a well to irrigate his fields. This started to drain the the pupfish pond. A lawsuit followed that went all the way to the Supreme Court ending with them siding with the Park Service, creating a precedent, and allowing the Park Service to regulate water and other such things to preserve plants and wildlife on their grounds.
I think in a lot of cases, it’s good to do this. I think it’s important to preserve forests and certain animals. But is keeping the pupfish alive more important than a farmer being able to water his crops that go to feed tons of people?
A ranger said: “We’re not protecting the pupfish because it makes economic sense— it’s because it’s the right thing to do.”
That sounds noble, but should economic sense really play no part in it? Is it really the most right thing to do?
It seems that behind a lot of the campaigns to preserve nature is an attitude that humans are invading earth. We are intruding and destroying. We are the problem.
In a lot of ways we have done things that have harmed the planet and it’s good to correct those. But earth was created for man, not man for earth.
In Genesis the Creation Mandate tells Adam and Eve to rule the earth and subdue it.
I found it fascinating that Conor says this:
“Humans are by far the planet’s most destructive species, but we’re also the only species that has ever worked together to ensure other life forms don’t go extinct… Our ability to see a value in preserving life that extends beyond our immediate self-interest may be what makes us most human.”
First, I agree that humans are the most destructive. We destroy things physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. BUT humans are also the most creative. Why? Because humans were created in the image of God.
As I said before, trees and mountains and canyons and animals were not the pinnacle of God’s creation—mankind was. Nature reflects God’s character but humans reflect God’s image. Conor recognizes the differences in humans compared to animals (because there’s a lot). Humans create and love in a way nothing else on earth can.
Second, “seeing value in preserving life that extends beyond our immediate self-interest may be what makes us most human.” Isn’t it interesting, then, that so many people saying or agreeing with this sentiment do not apply it to human life? Isn’t making abortion illegal seeing value in preserving life beyond immediate self-interest? So isn’t promoting the preservation of human life humanizing and those who seek to terminate that life, then, de-humanizing?
Conor quotes President LBJ saying in regards to national parks, “For once we have spared what is enduring and ennobling from the hungry and hasty and selfish act of destruction.”
Humans do have a tendency to be hungry, hasty, selfish, and destructive. To both nature and humans.
But I think it’s our responsibility to be wise in our preservation to both take care of and steward God’s creation appropriately, but also not to elevate nature and animals above humanity.
Should pupfish go extinct so more humans can eat? That feels simplistic, but these are questions we need to ponder long and hard before we start preventing humans from working the land to help other humans survive.
If the conclusion ever becomes that there are too many humans on earth and that humans are the problem that need to be eliminated, that is a dangerous ideology.
Other Randoms
“Almost every visitor to a national park carries a camera and goes home with an image of the park. And I’ve often wondered why more people don’t come to parks to make a recording of the park. Because, in some respects, sound evokes memory more powerfully than photos do.” — Kurt Fristrup
I think this is really good! A couple years ago we were at Grand Teton National Park and we hiked around Jenny Lake. At one point we found a place to sit right on the edge of the lake where the water lapped onto the shore. It was so peaceful and serene. I took a video for a minute or so and am glad I did.
He’s right that sound evokes memory in powerful ways and we should utilize our ability to record sound to preserve some of these special moments in nature.
Have you ever heard of the Witness Tree Protection Program? This is a really cool program that identifies trees that are so old that they have been witnesses to great moments in history whether on a battlefield or a political event or a death. It’s really cool to think about trees that are centuries old and all the things they would have ‘seen.’ Especially in eras where cameras weren’t invented yet.
After visiting one of the ‘Dark Sky Parks’ Conor talked about how artificial light sources can cause “massive disruptions” to circadian rhythms, nocturnal animals hunting, mating rituals, or animals who navigate by stars.
I’d never thought about the effects of light pollution. Of course I love when I can star gaze without light affecting what I can see. And there are definitely fewer and fewer places to do this. However, I also recognize the necessity for electricity and light in a productive and functioning society. Is there still a way to stop light pollution and protect our night skies without affecting society in a major way?
“Despite their often painful origin stories, our national parks have become our collective sanctuaries, places that welcome us back through their gates with open arms no matter how long we’ve been away.”
“Any sequoia seed has a one in a billion shot at turning into a mature tree.”
“The Park Service manages more than forty-seven hundred caves across the country.”
“The Las Vegas strip is the brightest spot on our entire planet when viewed from space.”
“Tucson is the astronomy capital of the world.”
“Peak baggers are hikers who specifically seek out high points exclusively for their highness, without any regard to any other attribute.”
Fun Facts
I don’t have something for every national park, but here are things that I thought were interesting about most of them:
Acadia: Supposedly the place in the US where the sun rises first
American Samoa: The only national park that is leased; the US owns this land but the people are not automatically citizens
Badlands: (this isn’t a fun fact but I thought it was entertaining) Conor describes it as “if Mordor and the Shire had a baby”
Biscayne Bay: 95% water; you go scuba diving around shipwrecks
Black Canyon: Is deeper than it is wide
Channel Islands: The Channel Island fox was put on the endangered species list- less than 2% of animals put on the list are ever delisted— but this fox was the fastest delisting of a mammal in the history of Endangered Species
Congaree: Where you can see the mysterious and unexplained synchronous fireflies that all light up at the same time; also home to bald cypress trees whose roots mysteriously grow back up from the water in what are called ‘knobby knees’
Crater Lake: Deepest lake in the country (1949 ft); there is a log that has been floating upright all around the lake for at least a century that they call The Old Man (because it wanders haha)
Death Valley: Largest national park in the contiguous US (3.3 million acres) and is home to the rare pupfish which is trapped in a pond in the driest place on earth
Denali: Rangers use husky dog sled teams to get around and when the dogs retire they adopt them out to families who promise to run them twice a day
Dry Tortugas: One of our most inaccessible national parks; is closer to Cuba than the US; home to Fort Jefferson— the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas and was prison for many people including the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth’s leg after assassinating Lincoln
Everglades: The only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist in the wild
Gates of the Arctic: Seven times larger than the Grand Canyon but receives six hundred times fewer visitors; northernmost park and is completely north of the Arctic Circle
Glacier: Used to have 150 glaciers but now they only have 1/6 of that
Grand Canyon: Second most popular park; one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World
Great Basin: Known as ‘Dark Sky Park’; one of the best places to see the Milky Way because of their regulations on light pollution
Great Sand Dunes: So quiet you can hear your heartbeat. The only two spots where the same level of silence have been measured are Yellowstone in the winter and the volcanic craters of Haleakala, HI
Great Smoky Mountains: Most popular; The Fontana Dam was built for the secret Manhattan Project site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (if you want to know more about this secret project read An Affair of Spies)
Guadalupe Mountains: One of the least visited parks in the Lower 48
Haleakala: People who don’t understand how cold it gets at the top when they go to watch the sunrise take hotel blankets from their room to keep warm; I’ve been in the crater a couple times and it can definitely be cold and rainy but I never go to see the sunrise
Hot Springs: A ranger said, “We are the only national park that is mandated by federal law to give away its primary resource.”
Isle Royale: Largest island in the largest of the Great Lakes; shuts down for 5 1/2 months of the year because winter conditions make it too dangerous to get to
Katmai: To hike here you have to do a training course on the brown bears which are in high population there to eat the salmon in the rivers; to camp you pay $12 to set up a tent within an area that has an electric fence to protect you from the bears; the documentary Grizzly Man is about a bear attack that happened there— there is an audio recording of this incident and it has never been released because of how gruesome it is to hear
Kings Canyon: Home to the widest tree (40 ft) called General Grant
Kobuk Valley: Least visited of all the parks
Laden Volcano: Has an area officially called Fart Gulch because of the sulfuric smell; the volcanoes are dormant but “fart in their sleep”
Lake Clark: Location of Operation Heal Our Patriots where veterans and active duty military personnel who were wounded anytime after 9/11 go and experience healing, rest, and the wilderness
Mammoth Cave: Almost twice as long as the world’s second largest cave
Petrified Forest: People are constantly stealing pieces of petrified wood but then feel guilty about it later and try to return it but since people study geology there they can’t put pieces back in the park unless they know exactly where they were located or studies will be skewed by incorrect dates; the returned pieces end up in the ‘Conscience Pile’ outside the park
Pinnacles: Home of the Condor
Redwood: Home to the tallest tree (379 ft) called Hyperion which was named after the Greek Titan god of heavenly light
Rocky Mountain: One of the most visited parks
Saguaro Park: Rangers implant the most attractive saguaro cacti with microchips to track down any that get stolen; Cacti breathe at night
Sequoia: Home to the largest tree (52, 508 cubic ft, 36 ft wide, 274.9 ft high) called the General Sherman and is also the largest living THING in the world
Virgin Islands: Land was purchased by a member of the Rockefeller family and given to the US to preserve as long as he was able to run a luxury hotel on it (Caneel)— which has no phones or TVs, but eventually acquired wifi
Voyageurs: 40% is water and basically the rest of it is in the water as it includes about 900 islands
Wrangell-St. Elias: Home to the largest system of glaciers in the country
Yellowstone: First national park; in the winter when Old Faithful blows the boiling water freezes instantly in the air which creates a big cloud that snows
Zion: Has jumped in popularity from 2.7 million per year to 4.3 million in 2016; may take you 1 1/2 hours of waiting before getting into the park
If you want some more fun facts, visit HERE
Recommendation
This was a really fun and interesting read!
I would definitely recommend it, even if you’re not one to spend time in nature. I think it may give you a new perspective and inspire you to visit some of the hidden gems the US has to offer.
If you already love nature, this book will remind you why you love it so much! It will probably also resonate with you in terms of some of the deeper life threads woven into the fabric of creation.
The cover is not super eye-catching but don’t let that fool you!
Pick up the book and then go visit one of the parks!
I would also recommend following the National Park Service on social media. They post some really cool pictures and information about the parks from day to day!
AND… if you’re really into this topic, you should buy the board game: Trekking the National Parks!
You can purchase a copy of this book via my affiliate link below.
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