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It all started when...

My dad and I hiked the Grand Canyon after my first year of college in 2011. Crawling down the steep zig-zagging paths of the Bright Angel Trail we descended from the South Rim to the Colorado River. They warn you not to do this trail in one day. They also warn you not to do this trail during the summer. So we hiked the whole thing in 14 hours on one of the hottest summer days in Arizona. 

I loved it.

After then I was hooked, I planned to travel to all the National Parks in the United States someday. There are 59 in all: 2 in Hawaii, 1 in the US Virgin Islands, 8 in Alaska, 1 on the US Channel Islands, and 47 in the contiguous United States. I found an optimized path on the web to visit all forty-seven landlocked parks, but ultimately decided that I would have more fun if I did this in two months across western America. So I set out to do it.

The goal: 50 days, 50 great adventures.