Recently, The Wall Street Journal set out to rank all of the National Parks in the United States. With 63 national parks containing many large and beautifully scenic environments across the country, the park topping the chart is actually right here in Michigan. In the article, The Wall Street Journal ranked Lake Superior’s own Isle Royale National Park as the best of the parks.
Co-author Emily Pennington talked with us about the list and what made this Michigan State park number one.
“You know, one thing that I really like about Isle Royale is that for how few visitors it receives every year, because you have to get there by seaplane or private boat or ferry. It’s actually quite developed there, quite a lot of trails there, quite a lot of backcountry campsites," Pennington said. "There are some front country campsites. There’s even a lodge with a restaurant, if that’s more your scene.”
Now, you may be wondering what factors contributed to the decision-making process on which is the best national park. In order to rank the parks, Emily and her co-author Tom Corrigan considered four main criteria when they collected data from every Congress-designated national park. The criteria consisted of density of crowds, the quality and quantity of hiking routes, the availability to various campsites, and lastly, accessibility to recreational activities such as bird watching, fishing, and horseback riding. The idea was to find parks that made it easy for anyone to enjoy the environment and scenery with activities that didn’t just involve camping and hiking.
“And I think that for me, as someone who writes about the parks full time for a living and works as a travel journalist, I think that I am very conscious of things like free campsites, dispersed camping, sharing tips that maybe beginners," she said. "Like maybe beginners shouldn't have because it could damage. It could damage a fragile landscape. And I don't think that's what we were doing here. I think that what we were trying to do is showcase things that are developed and are accessible, of course. “
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GUESTS ON TODAY’S SHOW:
- Emily Pennington, co-wrote and co-ranked U.S. national parks for The Wall Street Journal
