Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey was a ranger in Arches National Park in Utah, in an essay titled Industrial Tourism and the National Parks, he offers up his thoughts on how people affect the parks and how the parks affect people. He speaks people doing what they love and being satisfied and happy, I hope to someday find something I am so passionate about that I could perform it on a day in and day out basis and be happy, as of now I am just working on not losing my mind. I think being in nature is the key to most peoples mental sanity. I wholeheartedly agree with Abbey when he says “wilderness is a necessary part of civilization and that it is the primary responsibility of the national park system to preserve intact and undiminished what little still remains. National parks should not have paved roads through them and be modernized, let people test themselves against nature in unblemished rawness. If less people visit them so be it. Even with the park system as it is I have found it to still be possible to get away from crowds without a problem just by walking a few miles. My friends dad once told me 98% of the people use 2% of the park and 2% of the people use 98% of the park. So when I want to experience disconnectedness I just walk to it, often, I find the most beautiful parts of a park are found  on the journey, not the main attractions, though they are always spectacular, and I have never been to any of the grand places out west. Like Abbey I believe that the parks should remain unblemished by manmade structures, without much true wilderness left we should leave what we still have alone.