Giving Thanks For ‘The Best Idea We Ever Had’

By Michael Lanza

From Lookout Point, along the North Rim Trail in Yellowstone National Park, you gaze down hundreds of feet into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, with its crumbling walls of golden, gray, and cream-colored rock and patches of evergreens framing the roaring river. Just upstream, 308-foot-tall Lower Yellowstone Falls explodes through a notch in the cliffs, sending a plume of water and mist shooting into the canyon. Every time I see it, as I did again earlier this fall, I feel the same sense of awe that I felt the first time I saw this view.

Big more than that, I think about the foresight behind the creation of America’s national parks—what the writer Wallace Stegner called “the best idea we ever had”—including the first one, Yellowstone. That’s one of the many things I’m thankful for on this Thanksgiving day.

As you start thinking about your next big adventure—and creating an experience to make yourself thankful next year—see all of my stories about national park adventures and my All Trips page at The Big Outside, as well as these stories that may offer some ideas and inspiration:

“5 Great Adventures to Take in 2016”

“New Year Inspiration: My Top 10 Adventure Trips”

“My Top 10 Family Adventures”

“15 Adventures on Earth That Will Change Your Life”

“Tent Flap With a View: 25 Favorite Backcountry Campsites”

And my ever-popular “10 Tips For Raising Outdoors-Loving Kids.”

Happy Thanksgiving.

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