Summary: Show Notes: Episode 083<br> Today on the First 40 Miles, fathers play such a critical role in helping their children discover and love the outdoors. Today we celebrate and honor Fathers for their role in family adventures! Then, today’s Top 5 List, we spotlight the “Father of Our National Parks”. Next, on Ready for Adventure, we plan a backpacking trip along the Batona Trail in New Jersey. For Today’s Backpack Hack of the Week, we’ll share a hack that is totally gross, but hey, it works. And we’ll wrap up the show with a little trail wisdom from, well, not John Muir. He already got a turn.<br> Opening<br> <br> * Conversation with Hiking Dad (Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/dadhikes">@dadhikes</a>)<br> * Getting outside with kids<br> * Birdwatching, plant identification<br> * Memories of time at Mount Rainier with Dad<br> <br> Top 5 Gems from the Father of the National Parks from his book, <a href="https://archive.org/details/nationalparksour00muirrich">Our National Parks</a><br> From this book comes John Muir’s well-loved and oft-quoted line “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity”<br> This is the 100 year Anniversary of our National Parks.<br> Bear Encounter<br> Probably best to not ask WWJMD?<br> “When I discovered him, he was standing in a narrow strip of meadow, and I was concealed behind a tree on the side of it. After studying this appearance as he stood at rest, I rushed toward him to frighten him, that I might study his gait in running. But, contrary to all I had heard about the shyness of bears, he did not run at all; and when I stopped short within a few steps of him, as he held his ground in a fighting attitude, my mistake was monstrously plain. I was then put on my good behavior, and never afterward forgot the right manners of the wilderness.”<br> Wildness<br> “None of Nature’s landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild; But the continent’s outer beauty is fast passing away, especially the plant part of it, the most destructible and most universally charming of all.”<br> Force of Nature<br> “We see Nature working with enthusiasm like a man, blowing her volcanic forges like a blacksmith blowing his smithy fires, shoving glaciers over the landscapes like a carpenter shoving his planes, clearing, ploughing, harrowing, irrigating, planting, and sowing broadcast like a farmer and gardener, doing rough work and fine work, planting sequoias and pines, rosebushes and daisies; working in gems, filling every crack and hollow with them; distilling fine essences; painting plants and shells, clouds, mountains, all the earth and heavens, like an artist,–ever working toward beauty higher and higher.”<br> The Sierras<br> Classic Muir Prose…so enlightening, uplifting, and inspiring<br> “Benevolent, solemn, fateful, pervaded with divine light, every landscape glows like a countenance hallowed in eternal repose;”<br> Being Stealth<br> “The trees,” they say, “are fine, but the empty stillness is deadly; there are no animals to be seen, no birds. We have not heard a song in all the woods.” And no wonder! They go in large parties with mules and horses; they make a great noise; they are dressed in outlandish unnatural colors; every animal shuns them. Even the frightened pines would run away if they could. But Nature-lovers, devout, silent, open-eyed, looking and listening with love, find no lack of inhabitants in these mountain mansions, and they come to them gladly.<br> Read <a href="https://archive.org/details/nationalparksour00muirrich">Our National Parks</a><br> Ready for Adventure: Batona Trail<br> BATONA stands for BAck TO NAture<br> 53.5 Mile trail in New Jersey<br> What intrigued you about this trail? What was the draw?<br> <br> * Great for beginners because it’s so flat, yet so long,
