Filed under: Activism, Learning, Blogs, North America, United States

National Parks Conservation Association launches official blog originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today is the 11th day of the 11th month of the 21st century's 11th year.

It's 11-11-11. Eleven is supposed to be a lucky number. As Schoolhouse Rock described it back in the day, "Eleven will always be a friend of mine."

It's a good day to be upbeat and put out a list of 11 great examples of America's natural and historic heritage. These are places to put on a bucket list. And please, this list is subjective. Feel free to disagree and develop your own list of 11. There are plenty of examples to choose from.

Such as:

1. Yosemite. It's where the national park idea germinated, when in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln granted Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California for "public use, resort, and recreation." Lincoln's action set a precedent for establishing national parks, which have been described as America's best idea. Yosemite's roaring waterfalls, towering sequoias, stunning mountain vistas, spectacular trail views, granite fastnesses, and quiet back country make up a dreamscape for inspiration. Upon awakening at a snow-covered campsite atop Glacier Point in 1903, Theodore Roosevelt exclaimed, "I never felt better in my life!" And so will you, after a trip to Yosemite.

2. Yellowstone. America's first national park was established in 1872 to protect its "curiosities and wonders." They include the geological—bubbling mud pots, steaming hot springs, and bellowing geysers, a greater concentration of hydrothermal features than anywhere else in the world and signs of Yellowstone's explosive past as the caldera of a volcanic supereruption. They include the biological—grizzly bears,wolves, bison, elk, pronghorn, moose, cougars, lynx, bighorn sheep, a greater concentration of mammals than anywhere else in the lower 48 states. Curiosities and wonders, indeed.

3. The Grand Canyon. From rim to bottom, nature has left a geological memory album stretching back 2 billion years, in the form of nearly 40 rock layers exposed by the Colorado River's remorseless carving of the great chasm. From top to bottom, the ecological zones shift dramatically, from lowland desert scrub to high-elevation spruce-fir forest. Theodore Roosevelt said at the canyon's rim in 1903, "Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been work on it and man can only mar it … Keep it for your children, your children's children, and for all who come after you." Good thing we listened.