I don’t travel as much as I used to. The older I get, the more content I am to be close to home. Yet, when we set out on vacation, I enjoy seeing the sights, hearing the sounds and eating the eats.
Over the years, we’ve been to a lot of the amazing National Parks in this country of ours. I’d have to say my favorite is Yellowstone. I’m hoping I like it on its own merits and that I haven’t been influenced by my years of watching Yogi and BooBoo in Jellystone.
Anyway, we are not alone in our love for these parks. Each year, the National Park Service tallies up the number of visits. These days more than 300 million people visit per year.
I have to tell you. There have been times when we’ve been exploring a national park, and I’ve gotten a case of the “woozies.” Either for myself or someone in our group. Those are the times when one of us might be too close to a ledge or the footing on the path is narrow and hazardous.
And, I / we are not alone in this either. It turns out that a family vacation to a National Park can quickly turn into an emergency. This can happen without a moment’s notice, as many of the parks are known for unpredictable weather, rugged terrain, and dangerous wildlife.
The other thing is this — the National Parks often attract tourists who are new to hiking, who are terribly out of shape, or who vastly underestimate the risks of exploring the wilderness.
Each year, data is released by the National Parks Authority. News sources have used this data to compile this list of the parks with the most “search and rescue” incidents between 2018 and 2020.
It is no surprise to me that the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona tops the list. They racked up 785 incidents to win first place. The Grand Canyon isn’t the most-visited park in the system, though. It falls right behind the Great Smoky Mountains. But we all know the hikes can be extremely difficult in and around the Grand Canyon.
People seem to go there blindly after seeing the old Brady Bunch episode when Bob and Carol took the family on donkeys down to the bottom of the canyon. I mean, if whiner Cindy can do it? At any rate, in real life, this often leads to disaster — injury or death.
Sometimes people just go missing. Though the large majority of these cases have been solved, many people who disappear are never found. Just like that.
Here is the list of the most dangerous National Parks. Watch your step as you read through. I’ve been to ten of these. Gulp.
Grand Canyon National Park // Arizona
Yosemite National Park // California
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks // California
Yellowstone National Park // Wyoming, Montana, Idaho
Rocky Mountain National Park // Colorado
Zion National Park // Utah
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area // Utah
Grand Teton National Park // Wyoming
Olympic National Park // Washington
Arches National Park // Utah
Great Smoky Mountains National Park // Tennessee, North Carolina
Glacier National Park // Montana
Mount Rainer National Park // Washington
Jewel Cave National Monument // South Dakota
Buffalo National River // Arkansas
Shenandoah National Park // Virginia
But the truth about me? I don’t have to go on one of these vacations to “have a nice trip, see you next fall.” There’s plenty of klutz in me, right where I’m standing.
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“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
― Primo Levi
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“You see, there are no pretty pink flowers in the woods at night.”
― J.K. Franko, Eye for Eye
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“And I say also this. I do not think the forest would be so bright, nor the water so warm, nor love so sweet, if there were no danger in the lakes.”
― C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet
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Park it right here. But watch your step.
