Man to share plans for epic national park exploration
Man visiting 417 national parks in a single, 3-year trip speaks at Chattanooga church Sunday
GATLINBURG, Tenn. — It’s been a most unusual journey for Midwesterner Mikah Meyer, but his father would have wanted it that way.
Meyer, 31, was at Clingman’s Dome recently, walking to the overlook for the best view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park the day’s cloudy skies would allow.
It was national park site No. 248 for Meyer. His plan is to see all of them: all of the national parks, all of the national monuments, all of the national battlefield sites, all 417 places. He would be the youngest person to do that and the only person to see them all on one trip.
He is making the trip in honor of his father, who instilled in him the gifts of travel and adventures, but died in 2005 of cancer.
Having started on April 29, 2016, Meyer expects it to take him three years.
“One park ranger called it the lowercase ‘n’, lowercase ‘p’ national parks tour,” he said.
“Most people think of the 58 national parks when they think of the park service, but I have been to some national monuments and national seashores that are much better than the national parks.
“That has been one of the coolest parts is to go to these places like Dinosaur National Monument or Big Cypress National Preserve or White Sands National Monument — these unknown park service sites that are like hidden gems; they’re way more amazing than some of the more famous national parks.”
He has experienced the sunrise at Acadia National Park and the sunset at Badlands National Park. He’s been to Alaska and has plans to go to Hawaii and American Somoa.
“Last year I got to go to the sites in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands that have been some of my favorite of the whole trip,” he said. “I was fortunate to go when I did (before this year’s hurricanes). Now, I’m telling everyone to go there not only because they’ll like them, but those places can really use the tourism dollars now.”
He said he was surprised to learn that many national sites aren’t about nature at all.
“There are like a dozen sites in Manhattan,” Meyer said. “I visited the Alexander Hamilton home in New York City with a member of the cast of the Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ — that was cool.”
Aside from those jaunts to the Caribbean and Alaska, he has been making the trip in a 2014 Dodge Ram van that he converted to be his home away from home.
He put a bed and shelves in as well as a refrigerator that is powered by solar panels he installed on the roof.
“One of the scariest parts was standing on top of this (van) with a drill and drilling holes into a $35,000 vehicle,” he said.
“The biggest misconception is that everyone thinks someone else is paying for it. They must think pastors make a lot of money,” he said referring to his dad, who was a minister, “but they don’t. I have had to do this on the cheap.”
He said he can’t afford to take a break along the way because the high cost of health and vehicle insurance means he’s wasting money if he’s not moving.
Meyer said he sent out more than 800 requests for sponsorships and got just one — Pilot Flying J has agreed to pay for his gas for the whole trip.
He started the trip knowing he had about a fifth of the financing he would need to complete it. To gain the rest, he has been doing speaking and singing engagements along the way. He also relies on the tax-deductible donations from those who visit his website, mikahmeyer.com.
Meyer is also an accomplished vocalist, a countertenor, who has performed with the Washington National Cathedral Choir and as a soloist for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, NYC’s Rebel Baroque and Canada’s L’Orchestre Symphonique de Longueuil, among others.
His message is mainly one of inspiration, of getting the most out of each day alive. Following in his father’s footsteps, his audiences are often church crowds of various faiths.
He brings to them another message that he is also emphasizing on the trip. He is openly gay and a Christian. In fact, he began a group called Queer For Christ, and now it is the world’s largest such organization of young adult, gay Christians.
“With this national park service journey, I have an opportunity and a platform to be that role model that 10-year-old Mikah never had, not only as a gay man but as a gay Christian,” he said.
Meyer has upcoming engagements in Tennessee. Grace Episcopal Church, 20 Belvoir Ave. in Chattanooga, will host Meyer at two services Sunday. Later this month, he’ll visit two churches in Memphis.
He plans to end the journey back where it started in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Monument on April 29, 2019.
After that, who knows?