OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Mikah Meyer is on the road trip of a lifetime.
Meyer, who is on a three-year trip to visit all 417 National Park Service units, has punched Olympic National Park — the 188th unit he has visited since April 2016 — off his list.
The 31-year-old left Washington, D.C., over a year ago on a journey he says would make him the youngest person ever to visit all park units. He dubs the project “Travel Beyond Convention.”
“I didn’t actually get in the van and drive away from the D.C. area until exactly a year ago,” he said last week. “It’s surreal being here.”
To prove he actually visits every park, he is collecting stamps in two National Park Service passports, one of which he will turn over to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., when he finishes.
He stopped at Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent, the Hoh Rain Forest and the Washington coast last week, earning a stamp in his National Park Service passport.
While looking over the peaks in the Olympic Mountains from the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center, Meyer said one of the highlights of his trip so far has been visiting the “hidden gems” of the national park system.
“Most people think the entire national park system only consists of these 59 sites, Olympic National Park, Grand Canyon, Everglades, and they ignore the other 300 and something that are national monuments, national lake shores and national seashore,” he said.
“I haven’t been to a single national seashore yet that wasn’t stunning, whether it’s the views or the pristine nature of the beach.”
Though the less-known units in the Park Service have been among the highlights of the trip, it was the Grand Canyon that reminded him of why he loves national parks.
During an eight-day rafting trip, he spent time away from cellphones and TV.
“It was a time to commune with nature and friends unobstructed,” he said. “Something about the Grand Canyon, because of its sheer isolation, is magical in a way that no other park has produced from me yet.”
When Meyer visits a park, he said, his first stop is always the visitor center.
There, he learns from rangers and volunteers about the park and builds his visit of the park around their advice.
“Rangers are amazing resources,” he said, adding that rangers and volunteers are usually passionate about the park they where work.
For Olympic National Park, the advice they provided sent him to Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crescent, the Hoh Rain Forest and the Pacific coast.
It wasn’t his first time at Olympic National Park, but he was eager to be back, he said.
Meyer said that two years ago, he worked with a mentor to film a video at Olympic National Park announcing his road trip. He used that video to find sponsors and explain his project.
When he was first starting, the National Park Service asked him if while he was on his trip he could raise awareness for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community and share his story.
He said the park officials told him the park system had struggled to make make the LGBT community feel comfortable and safe during their visits to parks.
“I took that to heart and took my own personal experiences with feeling unwanted and like I didn’t have a future as a young gay kid in the closet and have really tried to use this journey to help,” he said.
His visit to Olympic National Park came on the heels of Seattle Pride and Pride Month.
Meyer said he worked through his 20s to save for the trip but came short of what he needed to fully fund the adventure.
He has been living in a van to cut costs and is fundraising as he goes.
For more information about his trip, visit www.tbcmikah.com.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsula dailynews.com.
Mikah Meyer looks over a map of Olympic National Park while at the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center on Wednesday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
Mikah Meyer takes a picture during a short ranger-led hike at Hurricane Ridge on Wednesday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
