Subpar Parks: America’s Most Extraordinary National Parks & Their Least Impressed Visitors by Amber Share

Reviewed by Kristin

The title expresses it well. Unbelievably, some tourists are not impressed by the Grand Canyon. One star review here: “A hole. A very, very large hole.” Well, if that doesn’t impress you, buddy, I’m not sure what will. Amber Share covers dozens of funny and underwhelming reviews about locations in the United States National Park Service (NPS). It’s surprising how many people complain about the lack of WiFi and cell signal when they are in the middle of nature.

The NPS was established over a century ago in 1916 and became responsible for the management of federal lands already being protected under the presidential leadership of President Woodrow Wilson. Since that time, the NPS has grown to include more than 420 parks, recreation areas, seashores, rivers, and much more. The land mass included is over 84 million acres. These areas are of enormous national and cultural significance. Wouldn’t you think that most people appreciate that? Not everyone. Not even close.

Denali National Park in Alaska was established in 1980. The mountain lending its name to the park had a previous name: Mount McKinley (no thanks to President William McKinley, who never visited) but the peak was officially returned to its Native name by the state of Alaska in 1975 before the formation of the park. The park encompasses six million acres with an abundance of flora and fauna, but one reviewer tagged it a “barren wasteland of tundra.” Takes all kinds, I guess.

Moving on to warmer climes, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park features the very volcanoes which formed the Hawaiian islands. Beautiful and rare plants fill the park, as well as sea turtles and many bird species. Unfortunately, one reviewer was extremely upset by the fact that they “didn’t even get to touch lava.” Ouch.

In my home state of Indiana, Hoosiers are pretty much impressed by anything that interrupts the monotony of cornfields. Okay, that might be a personal opinion, but as a teenager I was always excited to go to the kettle hole lakes dotting the landscape of northern Indiana, formed by glaciers about 14,000 years ago. Going all the way up to Lake Michigan to Indiana Dunes (established as a national park in 2019) was even better. Being in the heartland of the U.S., crashing waves and rolling dunes felt like the ocean. One recent visitor to the new park had the rather negative comment that the “dunes are not that high.”

Author Share expresses her love for the parks, as well as her love of art. She makes a career as an artist and illustrator, and was inspired by these subpar reviews to make funny social media posts including her artwork. Fortunately, the project caught the attention of other national park fans, as well as rangers and other employees of the parks. This online project turned into this book, currently available on Tennessee READS as an ebook.

The Rope by Nevada Barr

Reviewed by Kristin

Anna Pigeon is a national park ranger who Nevada Barr has been writing about since 1993, beginning with Track of the Cat.  After adventures in a variety of locations, including the Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, Ellis Island, the Nachez Trace Parkway, Yosemite and more, Barr takes Anna back in time to her very first job within the national park system.  After the sudden death of her young husband, a broken-hearted Anna takes a seasonal job at the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area in Page, Arizona.  New York City’s sidewalks were the closest to wilderness Anna had experienced to that point.  So, when Anna goes missing ten days after her arrival, her co-workers think she has just gotten spooked and run back to the big city.

But Anna didn’t run back to New York.  On her day off, she takes a hike, ill-prepared as she is.  After borrowing a hat from a co-worker, Anna sets off with less than a liter of water, a map, and a plant identification pamphlet.  Wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt and thin black tennis shoes, Anna is soon overheated and wondering how in the world what looks like a mile walk up a canyon could be so much more difficult than tramping all over Manhattan.  Sunburned, out of water and without any food, Anna is soon lured into a trap.

Anna wakes and finds herself down a hole, naked and defenseless.  As she tries to recall how she got there, she realizes that someone is working against her.  Someone is providing food and water to keep her alive but helpless in isolated captivity.  Anna eventually does escape (we had to know that up front, since we know there have been many other adventures written, didn’t we?) and then goes on a quest to figure out who did this to her, as well as to figure out how to be successful in her new life as a national park service seasonal worker.

This latest book in the Anna Pigeon series was very enjoyable as it provided a look back into how she began working in the national park system.  Seeing a younger Anna closer to the pain that drove her away from big city life showed me more of what formed her character.

I always enjoy reading about the variety of landscapes as Anna moves from one national park setting to another.  The constantly changing background keeps the series feeling fresh, as Anna meets new people in new locations.  Barr is a compelling author who moves the story along seemingly effortlessly.  Her next book in the series, Destroyer Angel, is set in the northern Minnesota woods, and due out in April 2014.