Five years ago today, I completed my quest to visit all the Treasured Places—every national park unit, national monument, and national conservation area in the United States. At the time, 478 important places in all.^1
I’m believed to be the first person to do such a thing. But I did it for myself, not some fleeting celebrity, or as a hook for a career in “🤮 content creation 🤮”.
I didn’t make a big deal around it, beyond posting to my own network of friends on social media. But word got around, and I started to get calls and messages from various outlets, from network morning shows to travel magazine writers. I wasn’t looking for celebrity, and I didn’t trust the outlets to not make this about me (as opposed to my message that nearly anyone could do it, if they wanted to). So I decided to only grant interviews to people I had existing relationships with—something I would have done whether or won’t I had completed the quest.
Anyway, it’s been five years. I’m still proud of the effort and focus it took to complete the quest. But hey, I’m focused on a bunch of new quests these days. Not because they’ll earn me some minor celebrity, but because I love the new experiences they help inspire me to have.
Here are some photos from my last objective, Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana. I had intentionally saved it for the last one, but couldn’t quite pull off the rafting trip that I had hoped (and will definitely do in the coming years). So I did a “travel camping” trip and flew up there for a few days. I got a cheap flight on a regional airline, brought only a few select items in a daypack that counted as my “personal item,” and then bought some supplies and a cheap $15 sleeping bag at Walmart, sleeping in my rental SUV for a few nights. I celebrated at a local brewery before flying home.
[^1]: The total is now 491—and yes, I’ve been to all of them.