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

Arriving in Isle Royale by seaplane

Isle Royale Is About as Wild as a Place Can Get

The least visited park in the lower 48 has no roads, no cars, and empty hiking trails, and it’s home to moose, wolves, part of Lake Superior, and beautiful forests. It’s the 29th stop on our 62 Parks Traveler’s quest to visit every park in the U.S.

Emily Pennington
Mar 10, 2021
Cinder Cone's enormous crater in Lassen Volcanic National Park

Teetering on the Edge of Volcanoes

Northern California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park is an undiscovered hiker’s dream, and it’s the 31st stop on our 62 Parks Traveler’s quest to visit every park in the U.S.

Emily Pennington
Mar 3, 2021
It was as if Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks had a baby. A wonderful baby named Kings Canyon.

Standing Up to a Bear in Kings Canyon

Vast mountains, majestic waterfalls, and a hungry bear are some of what our 62 Parks traveler encountered at her 30th park on her quest to visit every park in the U.S.

Emily Pennington
Feb 24, 2021
Find your own island in Voyageurs

Staring Down Fear in Voyageurs National Park

Welcome to Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes and home to the Boundary Waters. Our 62 Parks Traveler found her own private island at her 28th stop on her quest to visit every national park in the U.S.

Emily Pennington
Jan 28, 2021
The author on Lincoln Pass

Nature Is in Charge at Glacier National Park

Despite cold temperatures and rain, our 62 Parks columnist still found plenty of hiking and mountain vistas at the 26th stop on her journey to visit every U.S. national park

Emily Pennington
Dec 18, 2020