Hello in Blogosphere. . . :)
Welcome fellow Junior Rangers! This blog is dedicated to
sharing information about the Junior Ranger program offered by the National Park Service (NPS): a program designed to explore and learn about America’s
national parks. It will also be the home to my ramblings about the NPS and my
adventures therein as I try to collect all of the Junior Ranger badges and
Passport Cancellation Stamps.
I first discovered the Junior Ranger program during a
cross-country road trip to California. I was in my early twenties when I got my
first badge (from Petrified Forest NP, by the way) and from then on I was
hooked! What I love about the Junior Ranger program is not just the fact that
you get a badge or a patch (though that is pretty cool ;)), but that as you
complete the activities you actually really learn about the site and explore it
in a way that you never otherwise would have. It brings your attention to the
off-the-beaten-path type of stuff you may miss by just “passing through.” That’s
what makes this program so special and why I really love participating at each
NPS site I visit. As a ranger in DC put it: I am a “Senior” Junior Ranger. ;)
I know that it will take a long, long time to collect all the
badges, patches, certificates and pins from all the NPS sites that offer them,
and perhaps I will never make it to all of them in my lifetime. Visiting 400+
sites is truly a great accomplishment, and kind of a daunting one. But I won’t
let that discourage me from trying—and neither should you. Just take it one
site at a time.
I hope you will come back to read more as we adventure
together to discover Our National Parks—America’s Best Idea.
Explore on, Junior Ranger! :)
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