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Visiting Georgia’s national parks
By Charles Sea brook
Some 50 years ago, I set an ambitious
lifetime goal for myself— to visit every
unit of the National Park Service, 423
of them by the latest count. I wouldn’t
just drive through them to gaze at their
waterfalls, mountain peaks and other
features, but I’d also walk their trails,
canoe their streams, explore their historic
structures — even ramble through their
visitors’ centers.
The park units, of course, are a
diverse lot. They range from a few
acres to millions of acres in size. They
include our familiar national parks such
as Yellowstone and the Everglades, but
also encompass national monuments,
national historic sites, national
battlefields, national seashores, national
recreation areas and on and on. No
matter their title or purpose, though,
they’re all referred to as “national parks.”
So far, I’ve made it to 336 of them
— and, even though I’m now in my
late 70s, I still hope to visit all 423.
It’s questionable, though, if I ever will
ever get to some of the remotest, most
far-flung parks still on my bucket list —
such as Wrangell — St. Elias National
Park in Alaska or the American Samoa
National Park.
Why go? Mystery writer Nevada
Barr, a former park ranger whose novels
are set in national parks, summed up
the feelings of many park lovers in
Sierra Club Magazine: “Our parks are
the home of our wildness, our pioneer
spirit. Seeing them we know we can do
much, go far, withstand the harshest
punishment. We know we can make it;
we can survive and thrive and flourish.”
Not surprisingly, I long ago achieved
a part of my ultimate goal — visiting
all of the national parks in Georgia.
Actually, I’ve visited them several times,
but never get tired of them.
In addition, an important section of
the park service’s Appalachian National
Scenic Trail lies in North Georgia. Also
running through the state is part of
another unit, the Trail of Tears National
Elistorical Trail, which commemorates
the Cherokee people who were forcibly
removed from Georgia. 03
Chickamauga and Chattanooga
National Military Park, where in
1863 Union and Confederate forces
fought for control of Chattanooga, the
“Gateway to the Deep South.”
Kennesaw National
Battlefield Park, which
preserves a Civil War
battlefield of Sherman’s
1864 Atlanta campaign.
Chattahoochee River National
Recreation Area, whose 14 units stretch
like an emerald necklace 48 miles
downriver from Buford Dam.
56 AUGUST 2021 | DU
AtlantalntownPaper.com