Twelve different National Parks over the course of one year, November 2020- October 2021

Like many others, we sought to break up pandemic monotony by social distancing in some of the most beautiful, wide open spaces our tax dollars pay to preserve. Twelve national parks in a year may seem excessive. It was something we did not intend to do, it just sort of fortunately worked out that way. Knowing our days living in Los Angeles were likely waning, we made a serious effort to see as many national parks as we could within driving distance of smoggy Tinseltown. Also, the anticipated arrival of a newborn into our lives at the end of the same year, very likely lit a fire under us. Despite my personal anxiety that we would not see a national park again for years after her arrival, or anything else, she would prove to be an excellent companion while visiting several more national parks only months after she came into this world.

The following hundred or so photographs are sequenced in the order in which we visited each park: Joshua Tree, Saguaro, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, Big Bend, Lassen Volcanic, Redwoods, Mount Rainier, Olympic, Northern Cascades & Death Valley.

Some of the below photographs are also featured in a larger project, Refuge from the Roar: People and Our National Parks.