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Article: Grateful in Glacier Bay: a former park ranger muses about the value of preserving open spaces--and what those special places open in each of us.(REFLECTIONS)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- National Parks
- Article date:
- June 22, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Parks Conservation Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The minute I push away from shore, I'm free. The world can't get me now. I'm in my kayak in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska. I begin to paddle, easy at first, then digging in, pushing with one arm while pulling with the other, the long shaft and thin blades extensions of my hands, moving in quiet rhythm, the water falling away in quarter tones that will be my mantra for the next ten days.
For 25 years I've kayaked here, in one of the world's great national parks, first as a park ranger, and more recently as a freelance writer and photographer in a neighboring little town. It still astounds me that in a nation so fiercely dedicated to capitalism and consumption, ...