This beautifully written book, Conor Knighton’s Leave Only Footprints, is subtitled My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park. It manages to be personal, while at the same time an introduction to all the national parks in the United States. At a time when we’re all forced to be armchair travelers, it’s a perfect getaway.

In 2015, Knighton’s fiancee called off their wedding when they had even ordered the “save the date” cards. Months later, while he was still struggling with the pain, he saw an article saying the National Park Service was planning a year-long celebration of its 100th anniversary in 2016. That was the inspiration for Knighton’s own journey, a plan to visit all the national parks. He suggested featured stories to CBS Sunday Morning. He was shocked to learn the park service manages over 400 units. But, he thought he could get to the 59 official parks in 52 weeks. CBS Sunday Morning agreed to take some stories, but they didn’t think they’d take stories about every national park.

Knighton’s fortune cookie read, “As a chapter ends, you will find yourself on a road to discovery.” And, in 2016, he kicks off his quest to see every national park by seeing the first sunrise on the first day of the year in Acadia National Park. He has so much to learn. “There’s no such thing as an average national park.” Some parks are dedicated to trees. Some to volcanoes. There are caves and dark parks. The parks cover deserts and prisons on islands. No matter where he is, Conor Knighton is able to describe the landscape, the parks, with words that bring tears. His book is a monument to what man has saved, and what man still needs to preserve.

While I teared up over a number of descriptions and places, Redwood National Park, with it’s 159,000 moved me because of the age and immensity of the trees themselves, trees so sacred that scientists actually have to keep them secret because man will destroy them. A tree named Hyperion was measured at 579 feet in 2006, and it’s still growing. But tourists could destroy the soil around it, so biologists kept its location secret. California is also the home of the world’s oldest tree, Methuselah. It’s been confirmed to be over five thousand years old. “It started growing before the Pyramids were built. It had already turned two thousand by the time Christ walked the earth.” There are rumors of a tree in the White Mountains that is even older.

Man isn’t always kind to nature. The bison were almost extinct, down to three hundred, when Theodore Roosevelt took office. Due in part to protections he put in place, there are over three hundred thousand in North America today. Light pollution has made dark parks important, places people can see the stars in the sky. Saguaro cactus are stolen from Saguaro National Park in Tucson. Knighton’s book serves as a tribute to the parks, but also as a warning.

I read an ARC, an Advanced Readers’ Copy of Leave Only Footprints. If you appreciate poetic, descriptive writing to go along with your travels, pick up an actual copy of the book. I’m sure there are photos you’ll want to see that will take you to gorgeous locations we cherish as national parks.

Conor Knighton’s website is http://www.conorknighton.com/

Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton. Crown, 2020. ISBN 9781984823540 (hardcover), 322p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a copy from the publisher, in hopes I would review it.