Standing atop an approximately 25-foot overhang at Crater Lake National Park, senior Chris Drake turns to face his family, questioning whether or not he should take the leap in front of him. His sister Kate pulls out her phone and records Chris’ scream as he plunges into cool 55-degree water.
For the Drakes, visiting national parks is a family tradition that began as a plan to travel more frequently, alternating trips between park and city 
locations. However, the family quickly realized which of the two they preferred, and they began to focus on checking national parks off their bucket lists.
“It’s all any of us ever want to do,” Chris said. “It’s pretty much just agreed upon that we try to hit up [as many] national parks as we can.”
Chris and Kate, along with parents Jen and Joe, have visited a number of national parks, including Bryce Canyon, Redwood, Crater Lake, Grand Canyon and Great Sand Dunes.
According to Kate, a sophomore, these trips are exactly how a person’s time should be spent.
“The best part about living in this world is all the cool places you can go and all the cool people you can meet,” Kate said. “It’s kind of a waste… if you just sit there doing nothing for your whole life.”
When encouraging others to visit parks as her family does, Kate stresses the importance of taking advantage of all the things the park has to offer.
“It’s always worth the hike,” Kate said. “Our family believes that you don’t really get what you’re meant to out of the park if you just go there to get your book stamped. You have to actually see the park for why it was made into one.”
These views are why Kate believes her family enjoys national parks so much.
“We try to go to the parks because they’re really beautiful,” Kate said. “It’s really humbling to see how vast the world is and feel so small when you look at truly awe-inspiring views.”
For Chris, his favorites of these views are the Grand Canyon and the Redwood Forests due to their sheer size.
“You cannot capture it in a picture,” Chris said. “If you sat there for hours looking at [the Grand Canyon], you’d never stop finding things to look at. It’s the same with the Redwoods. You cannot comprehend them with a picture, and so being there to walk through them gives you complete and total perspective on how vast everything is.”
Being a Girl Scout, Kate supports environmental reform efforts. This experience has only furthered her admiration for the beauty of national parks and pushed her to encourage others to experience the parks as well.
“Most of the time, when you just go to a park, you’re barely scratching the surface of how cool it truly is,” Kate said. “The farther outside of your comfort zone that you go, the more rewarding it will usually be.”
– By Lanna Read
