Donna C’s Favorite National Parks series – Most Adventurous Park

Over the next few weeks, Girl Scouts of Nassau County will be doing a blog series on some of our CEO’s favorite parks to visit. We hope this inspires our Girl Scouts to set goals, plan trips, and explore the natural wonders that can be seen across our beautiful country. So Girl Scouts, get out your maps, consult the web, set your goals and create a plan to visit some of our national treasures.  As you explore, don’t forget to create memories, take pictures and share with us! #gsoutdoors

Now that Girl Scouts of the USA is partnering with the National Park Service for the “Girl Scout Ranger Program”, I can’t wait to… tell you about some of the more adventurous National Parks I have visited. I’ve been to over a dozen National Parks and every single one of them has made me appreciate the great outdoors.

Here are what I consider to be some of the more adventurous national parks I have visited…

• There are alligators, crocodiles, mosquitos and who knows what else in the Everglades.  As soon as you enter the Park, they have insect repellant for sale, and signs telling you to keep back from the wildlife.

• Volcanoes National Park, on the Big Island - The lava is always flowing from the Volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii and it is VERY hot as it moves toward ocean.  Some of it cools before it gets there, and some of it falls in to the sea. At some of the volcanoes they let people get pretty close to the burning floes, close enough to feel the heat as you walk out over the older, dried lava to get there.

• Imagine how the people survived at Dry Tortugas, a fort on a tiny island off the coast of Key West Florida. It was a fort and then a prison. People from the Park Service still live there year-round.  

• Death Valley in Nevada. The heat was like a furnace. How did settlers ever make it to the other side? Even though the scenery was eerie, it had one very happy place: The. Best. Swimming Pool. Ever.

Yes, some of these were a little bit scary. But completely worth it!

For the 2015-2016 school year, President Obama’s Every Kid in a Park initiative provides every 4^th grader and her/his family with FREE Admission at National Parks, National Forests, National Monuments and other federal lands, waters and recreation sites. So 4^th grade Troops, get out your maps, consult the web, set your goals and create a plan to visit some National Parks!

Note: The United States National Park Service offers a terrific website that covers all of the National Parks, National Monuments and National Historic Sites.  This is wonderful resources for kids and adults, even if you are not planning a trip, it will make you wish you were.