{"id":98891161,"date":"2017-10-17T16:32:38","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T20:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/?p=98891161"},"modified":"2023-05-23T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T19:06:12","slug":"vik-from-i-am-vagabond-fall-in-love-with-u-s-national-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/vik-from-i-am-vagabond-fall-in-love-with-u-s-national-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"Vik from \u2018I Am Vagabond\u2019 Wants You to Fall in Love with the U.S. National Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the world of travel blogging, advocating on behalf of America\u2019s National Parks isn\u2019t exactly unusual. You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a travel blogger who hasn\u2019t written a detailed screed about their hiking adventure through a place like the Grand Teton in Wyoming (complete with photos of themselves pensively looking out to the horizon) or a backpacking social media influencer who hasn\u2019t posted on Instagram with a selfie in front of icons like Old Faithful or Zion Canyon.<\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s Vik from <\/span>I Am Vagabond<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout the<\/span> I Am Vagabond<\/span><\/i> blog and social media posts, there are countless pictures and photos taken from U.S. national parks, but none feature Vik in front of the camera. In fact, it seems that Vik prefers to keep most everything about himself…to himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

An article like this one should use the person\u2019s full name, but when asked over email <\/span>I Am Vagabond<\/span><\/i>\u2019s proprietor gave his name as just \u201cVik\u201d. And the only personal information he shared, both publically and in private communication, is that he\u2019s a local of Los Angeles who\u2019s passionate about travel and photography.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Yosemite\"<\/p>\n

Such a selfless approach to content seems almost unconscious. There\u2019s no overt or direct reason given for why Vik doesn\u2019t show himself (both literally and figuratively) to his audience. But it does seem fundamental to his style. When asked what he would say to convince someone to visit a national park, Vik replied: \u201cI won’t say a thing, rather I would just show them those wonderful pics from our parks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And if there\u2019s anyone with plenty of \u201cwonderful pics\u201d from national parks, it\u2019s Vik — who also runs the website <\/span>NationalParksImages.org<\/span><\/a> and claims to have been to nearly 40 national parks. And while that might seem like a lot — the National Parks Service currently operates 59 areas that are designated as national parks — they span more than 84.4 million acres. So even if someone were to visit every single national park in the U.S., they\u2019d likely only scratch the surface of what began when Abraham Lincoln signed a bill requiring California\u2019s Yosemite Valley in 1864 \u201cbe held for public use, resort, and recreation\u2026inalienable for all time\u201d and has now grown into, as documentarian Ken Burns called it in the title his 2009 PBS series, \u201cAmerica\u2019s best idea.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Great
\nVik says the first national park he visited (and where he fell in love with U.S. parks system) was Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Stretching from east-central Tennessee to southwest North Carolina, the park is famous for its hiking (about 70 miles of the Appalachian Trail runs through it) and attracting millions of visitors every year. \u201cWhile there I realized how blessed we are to be in a country where we have such wonderful treasures of nature being preserved and protected,\u201d Vik said.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Vik, heading into the wilderness can be akin to a religious experience. \u201cJust to get there, close to nature and feel the power and beauty…makes you realize how very small humans are and that feeling makes us humble,\u201d he said. \u00a0And for him the preserved wild of America\u2019s national parks is perfect for experiencing that cosmic connection. \u201cFrom Grand Canyon to tall Sequoias to Yosemite Rocks,\u201d Vik said, \u201cthey are all such powerful symbols of nature at work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are great places to reflect and look beyond our day-to-day lives,\u201d he added later.<\/p>\n

\"Arches<\/p>\n

Still, even Vik will admit that not all visits to national parks are awe-inspiring experiences. During one trip, early in his travels, to Arches National Park in Utah, he learned the hard way about coming properly prepared for staying outdoors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still remember that day like it was yesterday,\u201d Vik said. \u201cSomehow I forgot any bedding or rain cover\u201d — camping equipment that would have been essential when it began raining during the night. \u201cAnd it was not a drizzle, but full-blown rain that soaked the ground wet and my camp was filled with water….I was totally wet along with all my gear.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite any negative experience, Vik is still adamant that those looking for unique travel experiences should make a national park their next destination. He bemoans the fact that so many travelers set their sites on famous American cities and don\u2019t really consider the national park alternative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they don’t realize is all our national parks are gorgeous and breathtaking with numerous activities for individuals or families,\u201d Vik said. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the world of travel blogging, advocating on behalf of America\u2019s National Parks isn\u2019t exactly unusual. You\u2019d be hard-pressed to find a travel blogger who hasn\u2019t written a detailed screed about their hiking adventure through a place like the Grand Teton in Wyoming (complete with photos of themselves pensively looking out to the horizon) or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":98913560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141],"tags":[627,859,1317],"class_list":["post-98891161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-inspiration","tag-national-parks","tag-outdoors","tag-travel-blogger"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98891161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98891161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98891161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98913564,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98891161\/revisions\/98913564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98913560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98891161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98891161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98891161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}