National Parks

Thomas Cole: A Distant View of Niagara Falls

The latest Ken Burns documentary is airing on PBS this week (all the past episodes are viewable at pbs.org). The 5th episode is on tonight and I have been glued to my TV set all week. I am amazed and impressed that the unifying argument for creating such areas of the country was "we don't want another Niagara Falls". This was code for anti commercialism and private companies preying on tourists. This is made evident in Thomas Cole's Distant View of Niagara Falls from 1830 (on view at the Art Institute of Chicago: American galleries). He created this painting because as early as 1830 the view was already ruined and wanted to view it as the natives did. The Midwest is really a blessing and a curse as far as the parks are concerned. While located at the center of the country we are relatively close to all of them however none are in our backyard. There are really only 2 National Parks in the Midwest, Isle Royal and Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave being the closest at 6hrs from Chicago and Isle Royal is closer to Canada in the middle of Lake Superior. I consider myself to be well traveled I have been to every region of the lower 48 and Alaska along with 4 of the 7 continents. In my adult life I have only been to 2 of our national parks Y0smite and Denali. However watching this series I feel as though I know all of these parks I've never been to. Last nights episode explained why. There was a chapter called Going Home that stated that these places are where we are from, we live in cities but we came from the wilderness so visiting the parks is like going home. A philosophy that maybe a stretch for some. I refer to Shawnee National Forest as my happy place and while climbing is great, the forest speaks to me on a higher level. Last nights episode also talked about collecting parks. A subject of conflict for me. There is an urge to see these places and see them while young. My first National Park was Denali in Alaska. Candidly speaking to a Ranger I was enthusiastically welcomed and told to enjoy this place "while your young". A closer look around revealed a sea of retirees. At the age of 23 I had a good head start that came to a screeching halt when I returned to the Midwest. The day I left Denver for Chicago, 4 years ago this month, my friends invited me on a trip to Moab I was literally at a crossroads. Had west been the choice versus east many more National Parks would likely have been in my future. This makes the hidden gems of the Midwest all the more pertinent. As an Illinois resident I can't help but feel the National Park Service failed my state. As we were busy saving so many majestic places from logging and private investors we let the namesake of my state disappear. Why did the prairie not have an advocate from the plow? Well at least we saved the remaining Indiana Dunes from the steel mills. I hope to see more of my National Parks but for right now the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore will have to do.