Conor Knighton, nature and travel reporter for the CBS Sunday Morning show, published this book in 2020 after traveling to all 59 national parks (at that time— there are now 63) in one year. He began on New Years Day with sunrise at Acadia NP in Maine, and completed with sunset at Point Reyes National Seashore in California (not a NP, but close.) He is a funny, delightful traveling companion in this book, sharing personal stories as well as fun facts, history, and nature he discovered along the way. After his fiancée breaks up with him, heart broken, he decides that this trip will help mend his heart, and hopefully be funded by CBS for a series of reports on the road for Sunday Morning. Both ends were achieved by year’s end.

While this book makes for fun armchair traveling, it can also be used to plan your own series of itineraries. He had to decide not only in what sequence to visit the parks, but the sequence of presentation to the reader. I like his choice of thematically grouping 2-3 parks per chapter. He also discusses various aspects of the parks you may or may not have anticipated: endangered species, climate change impacts, caves, trees, national borders, volcanoes, lack of racial diversity, and many more. Never preachy, always humorous and informative, I really enjoyed his narrative. Did I say he is delightful? Why do I keep coming back to that word? He really is, though.

I encourage you to read this book, then start planning your own national park adventures. The ten most visited parks include, in order, Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, Zion, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Cuyahoga Valley, Acadia, Olympic, and Joshua Tree. While these are absolutely not to be missed, we should try to visit most of our national treasures. Highly recommend.