62 Parks Traveler

62 Parks Traveler started with a simple goal: to visit every U.S. national park in one year. Avid backpacker and public lands nerd Emily Pennington saved up, built out a tiny van to travel and live in, and hit the road. The parks as we know them are rapidly changing, and she wanted to see them before it’s too late.

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Emily Pennington is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, California. She’s written for Backpacker Magazine, Adventure Journal, REI, Mountain Life Magazine, and dozens of websites like Lonely Planet, Territory Supply, The Outbound, and Modern Hiker, to name a few. She considers it her mission to get more women and girls into the outdoors. When she’s not hunched over her laptop or touring the country in her van, you can usually find her sleeping in the dirt all over the Sierra Nevada.

Archive

The author hiking Centennial Trail

Visiting Sacred Ground at Wind Cave National Park

Our 62 Parks Traveler explores miles of hiking trails and one of the largest remaining mixed-grass prairie ecosystems in the country at South Dakota's Wind Cave, the 21st stop on her journey to visit every U.S. national park.

Emily Pennington
Oct 12, 2020
Cliff Palace

Travel Back in Time at Mesa Verde

Explore the dwellings and terrain of the Ancestral Pueblo people at this western Colorado park. It's our 62 Parks Traveler's 20th stop on her journey to visit every U.S. national park.

Emily Pennington
Sep 27, 2020
Star Dune, right in the middle of Great Sand Dunes National Park, is the tallest dune in North America. It stands 750 feet from base to summit and is a prized peak for any serious hiker visiting the park.

This Sand Dune Climb Is Not for the Faint of Heart

The diverse landscape of Great Sand Dunes National Park features 700-foot-tall mounds of sand, grasslands, alpine peaks, and a creek to splash in. It's our 62 Parks Traveler's 19th stop on her journey to visit every U.S. national park.

Emily Pennington
Sep 22, 2020
The author with a 3,200-year-old tree

See Some of the Oldest Trees in the World at Great Basin

While most bristlecone pines are between 2,000 and 3,500 years old, a special few can live to be nearly 5,000—and they're easily found in this area of Nevada. It's our 62 Parks Traveler's 17th stop on her journey to visit every U.S. national park in a year.

Emily Pennington
Aug 19, 2020