Get inspired to visit the great outdoors
New film marks 100th year of U.S. National Park Service with unique, stunning views
The U.S. National Park Service is celebrating its 100th birthday and the U.S. is going all out urging people to visit its parks. Part of the push includes the giant-screen film America Wild: National Parks Adventure, which is now playing at the Ontario Science Centre’s IMAX Dome theatre. I caught a preview screening and came away itching to hit the road.
Here are five spots America Wild — which filmed in more than 30 parks and is narrated by actor Robert Redford — has inspired me to see: Moab area (Utah): In Greg and Shaun MacGillivray’s America Wild, you’ll gawk at professional mountain biker Eric Porter showing the film crew how to jump over mushroom boulders and bike off cliffs at Bartlett Wash near (but not in) Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. Biking is restricted in some parks, but allowed in others. Arches is a “red rock wonderland” with more than 2,000 natural stone arches, and Canyonlands offers a “primitive desert atmosphere” for hikers and those with four-wheel drive. Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming): I don’t think Canadians realize how spectacular the world’s first national park (created in 1872) is. It’s an active volcano with mudpots, multicoloured hot springs, Old Faithful and other geysers and hydrothermal features. There are grizzlies and bison, but keep your distance and don’t be a stupid tourist. I love Yellowstone, and not just because I had one of the best steaks of my life here last summer. The bulk of Yellowstone is in Wyoming, with bits in Montana and Idaho. Katmai National Park & Preserve (Alaska): I’ve got a volcano obsession going on and wild and remote Katmai was created to protect a “volcanically devastated” region in Alaska. But the real draw here is it’s a key habitat for salmon and brown bears. America Wild has a couple of compelling minutes that show a young bear trying repeatedly to master fishcatching skills. Until I make the trip north, I’ll make do with the park’s Bearcam on the Brooks River. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Michigan): To create an ac- tive story line with people and not just places, America Wild follows mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventure photographer Max Lowe and artist Rachel Pohl as they explore. They come here to climb a massive frozen waterfall in the bitter cold, which isn’t going to happen in my lifetime. But they also cross-country ski into a picturesque cave with giant icicles at the entrance.
This lakeshore, on Lake Superior, is full of beaches, sand dunes, water- falls and sandstone cliffs. Devils Tower National Monument (Wyoming): I’m headed to Wyoming this month to commune with dinosaurs and fossils. Inspired by America Wild, I’ll consider taking a detour to the northeastern part of the state so my family can see this odd geologic feature with cracks parallel to each other protruding out of the prairies that Native Americans have long considered a sacred place.