I’ve been interested in Zero Waste living for a while. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Zero Waste is a movement of drastically reducing the amount of trash you generate through composting, recycling, reusing as much as possible and making more package free purchasing choices. Basically it’s being aware and taking action to reduce the amount of garbage in your life.
After reading the book Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste by Bea Johnson, I made several changes in our daily life to reduce the amount of trash we generate. I now bring reusable produce and grocery bags to the grocery store, shop in the bulk section and cloth diaper Baby L. But camping? That’s a whole different beast.
Think of your last camp out. Paper plates, propane containers, plastic water bottles – all that rubbish has to go somewhere. Yes single use items are super convenient, but once they’re used the remains are shipped away to rot in a landfill, and in the case of plastic items they’ll stay there long after we’re gone.
Mountain Dad and Baby L picking up garbage on our local trail.
Think of how much trash you generated then multiply that by the 300 million – the number of visitors the National Park Service had last year. In Grand Teton National Park alone 1800 TONS of garbage is generated every season.
Subaru’s National Park Zero Landfill Initiative
As a sponsor for the 100 anniversary of the National Park Service and an industry leader in Zero Waste practices, Subaru has partnered with Grand Teton, Denali and Yosemite National Parks to reduce their garbage footprint. These three parks are part of a pilot program aimed to curb the amount of trash visitors produce in the parks each year.
This video from the Subaru website was really interesting:
What’ll make our Grand Teton visit easier is staying with our trip sponsor at Togwotee Mountain Lodge. Their cabins have mini kitchettes, meaning preparing food will be as easy as it would be at home. Plus access to laundry facilities and flush toilets will make cloth diapering so much easier. That may be more than you want to know, but we’re doing everything we can to reduce the amount of trash we use. What about you?
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Zion National Park Zion National Park was part of the original National Park to Park Highway. The 1920 road followed the Arrowhead Trail from southern California into Utah. Unfortunately the 1920 Auto Tour group never made it to Zion National Park because of poor road conditions.
Utah Parks Company In 1923 the Union Pacific Railroad formed a subsidiary, The Utah Parks Company, in order to promote tourist travel to Zion, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks National Monuments. The railroad built a spur line from Lund to Cedar City, Utah and from there employed white touring buses to take tourists to these remote locations.
The Utah Parks Company built lodges and cabins in Zion National Park, the then Bryce Canyon National Monument and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in the 1920s. Their financial investment in the parks was substantial. Some sources report the Utah Parks Company discriminated against private automobile travel to these parks because of the large stake they held there. Luckily that is not an issue today. With the popularization of automobile travel and improved roads now more people than ever can visit these uniquely beautiful places.
Our Utah Parks Company Tour Visiting Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument seemed like the perfect “dry run” camping trip to test our sage brushing (1920s term for car camping) skills. Although this tour technically came after the 1920 National Park to Park Highway tour, it included some major sites that we did not want to miss on our adventure.
We’d love to have you along for the ride on our National Park to Park Highway Tour. We want your input on what adventures we should include. Do you have a favorite hike or bike ride in one of the National Parks on our route? What adventures do you recommend? Leave a comment or contact me on instagram, twitter or facebook. We’d love to hear from you!
We’ve got BIG news for you today, the first day of National Park Week 2016. I mean blow your mind, I wish I were you, experience of a lifetime BIG. Are you ready for it?
Good. Here we go.
Did you know that 2016 is the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service? 100 years is no small feat. It deserves a celebration of epic proportions which is exactly why Mountain Dad and I have spent the last several months planning something HUGE.
I’m talking 5,000 miles, 7 weeks on the road, 15 National Parks and 3 National Monuments huge. That’s right. This summer, we’re taking our Mountain Family on an epic road trip visiting some of the greatest outdoor wonders of the world. Using the National Park to Park Highway as our guide we will be hiking, biking and camping our way through 15 iconic National Parks (and 3 National Monuments) of the West and you’re invited to come along for the ride!
The Original National Park to Park Highway Tour
Spearheaded by Stephen Mather, our nation’s first National Park Service Director, the National Park to Park Highway was created in 1920 to link 12 National Parks on a loop of mostly dirt roads spanning over 5,000 miles.
The goal was to promote the National Parks by capitalizing on the country’s booming automobile craze. In August of 1920, 12 vehicles set out on a 76 day tour to see the Parks as no others before them had. Roads were rough and cars were not very reliable 100 years ago, so not everyone finished the journey, but the publicity from the tour helped increase tourism to the National Parks.
Almost 100 years later, we have decided to drive the National Park to Park Highway in honor of the National Park Service’s Centennial celebration.In addition to the 12 original parks pictured here we will also include 3 new National Parks (Great Sand Dunes, Olympic, and Grand Teton) as well as 3 new National Monuments (Hovenweep, Canyons of the Ancients, and Devil’s Postpile) on our tour.
Mountain Mom and Tots National Park to Park Highway Tour
If you’ve read this blog you know we’re no stranger to family camping, but this project is a whole different level of camping commitment. To accomplish the lofty goal of sagebrushing (the 1920s term for car camping) through the wild lands of the west we’ll be turning our Chevy pickup into the ultimate camping vehicle. No RVs or tents for us. We’ll be sleeping our family of five in a full sized pick up for weeks on end. Even as I write that it sounds crazy, but that’s the plan and if anyone can pull it off it’s me and Mountain Dad.
For seven weeks we will be hiking and biking through some of the most beautiful spaces in the United States, dragging our 7, 4 and 1 year old with us. Literally. Baby L will be riding in the bike trailer or the hiking pack most of the time.
Join Us
Have you ever had a hair-brained idea that you’re so excited about you want to tell the whole world? That’s how I feel about our National Park to Park Highway Adventure. I want to share all the experiences we have along the way with as many people as will listen.
If you’re one of those people, sign up for the Mountain Mom and Tots newsletter for exclusive info on our explorations and discoveries. I promise I won’t bombard your inbox or sell your email address. I just want you to come with me on this exciting adventure and I don’t think anymore people will fit in our pickup truck.
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This National Park to Park Highway Tour wouldn’t be possible without some amazing gear sponsors. Throughout the trip we will be highlighting the gear that makes this undertaking possible. You can check out all the awesome companies in one place on our Sponsors page, but I have to give a special shout out thank you to Burley and Woom Bikes. Without their elite sponsorships of gear this trip wouldn’t be possible.
So buckle up, hang on and join us for an adventure of epic proportions! Woohoo!
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact me at susan@mountainmomandtots.com.
Over spring break, my Mountain Fam had a mix of outdoor experiences. We played at a park, biked on a local trail and camped in a beautiful, forgotten corner of the Utah desert. It brought to mind the question, What’s my kind of wilderness?
Urban Jungle
For some people getting outdoors just means a stroll to the neighborhood park. A chunk of manicured green cut out from concrete streets and brick buildings may be all the outdoor love you need.
When Little G was first born, before we moved to the mountains, this was the extent of my outdoor experience. I walked to the park around the corner to push my two tots on swings and spend hours watching Big E dig in the sandbox in our backyard.
A backyard sandbox, herb garden or hammock might be just enough wilderness to get all the benefits of being outdoors without leaving home. It was nice. But it wasn’t enough for me.
Suburban Wilderness
After moving to the mountains near Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, my daily outdoor experience changed. I live with a forest right outside my front door and a ski hill just down the road. We live far enough out of town to be surrounded by trees but close enough that grocery shopping isn’t an all day ordeal.
In the canyon near my home is my favorite Go To Outdoor Space – the Provo River Trail. I love it because the flat paved trail runs along a river on one side and mountains on the other. It’s nothing if not beautiful.
Since one of my goals this year is to teach my kids to ride bikes, we hit this trail last week on a balance bike from WOOM (pronounced VOOM). Technically its Little G’s WOOM 3 with the pedals removed but since Big E has yet to learn to ride a bike even though he’s in first grade, I put it to use like a balance bike. Big E loved it.
I’m grateful for locations like this suburban wilderness bike trail. It’s only a 15 minute drive from town, easily accessible at multiple parks and it even passes Bridal Veil Falls, a 200 foot tall waterfall. Many hikers and bikers enjoy this trail all year long and sometimes the trail heads and parks can be overly crowded, especially on weekends.
Outdoor Destination Think of the outdoor spaces within an hour or two of your home. Those places you could drive to for a day activity – beach, mountain, river. People go there for a day or two to enjoy the outdoors and relax.
Most of my camping adventures fall into this category. We live in the vast Wasatch Uinta National Forest where there are loads of hiking, mountain biking, and camping all within an hour drive. These destinations are great for day or overnight trips, to really get out of the norm. I could camp if I want but I usually don’t since it’s close enough to get back home fairly quickly.
These kinds of spaces are usually more remote than the local park or Suburban wilderness. They allude to vast wild spaces before man walked the earth, but the trail heads are still full of people. I like these places because it puts me in a vacation mentality when I go there. They’re far enough away that you take the day off work and do something out of the norm. But they’re not what calls to Mountain Dad.
Utter Isolation
Last weekend we took our first camp out of the year in the San Rafael Swell desert area of Utah. We explored sandstone rock spires, hoodoos, a gypsum sinkhole and desert washes and canyons. We camped on BLM land without seeing another person for more than 24 hours.
This remote kind of wilderness is what Mountain Dad craves. The vast natural beauty and utter lack of people is exactly up his alley. As we explored Cathedral Valley and the Buckhorn Wash pictographs he said, “Any other state, this would be a National Park.” He might have something there.
Although beautiful, the remoteness of this destination makes it difficult. You must feel comfortable providing for your own needs. Water, bathrooms, lodging, food – there’s no resources nearby. You have to take care of that on your own. The closest ‘town’ to our adventure in Cathedral Valley had two gas stations and no stoplights. Not exactly a destination location.
Yet Mountain Dad was effusive in his praise. Something about getting away from people and enjoying beautiful scenery is like magic for him. I agree it was beautiful and fun to feel like we found something special that few people experience. But when the thought, “What would happen if we got a flat tire?” popped into my head, I wondered if I needed THAT much isolation.
What’s Your Kind of Wilderness?
For me, I prefer the adventure of getting away from home for several days, but I don’t mind sharing my outdoor space with other nature lovers either. For Mountain Dad, the more remote and beautiful (and crowdless) the better.
So what is it for you? Are you content with a stroll in the local park or do you crave to leave the crowds (of whatever size) and find that untouched wild space? Leave a comment and let me know. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I contacted the companies above to ask for items to review unless otherwise noted. I chose those companies because I thought their products were uniquely designed for outdoor families and relevant for you, my readers. My opinions of their products are my own. I received no compensation other than the product to review.
