It’s Time to Get Outdoors: 9 Ways to Celebrate National Park Week

Being outdoors is good for you. Not just in the “you need to breathe fresh air now and then” way, but in terms of your physical health. In fact, just recently a study was presented at the American National Association for the Advancement of Science on the real health benefits of nature. Elderly people live longer if they’re close to a park, college students do better on tests when their dorm rooms look out over a natural space, and children with ADHD have less symptoms after spending some time in the great outdoors. In other words: go outside!

And there’s no better place to get outside than in one of the 391 areas run by the National Park Service. Created in 1916 by an Act signed by Woodrow Wilson, the National Park Service has led to the protection of some of the United States’ most incredible spaces. Next week marks the official National Park Week. Held this year from April 18-26, you have a whole week to celebrate your love for your favorite National Parks. An excellent excuse to get outdoors.

So here’s your quick list for enjoying the outdoors and celebrating National Park Week; it will be good for your health and some of America’s best spaces:

1. Lose your iPhone and its various outdoor apps and spend some time really enjoying Mother Nature, Twitter, sms, Facebook and email free. It’s the only way, you can tweet about it when you get back.
2. Go Sasquatch hunting. We recommend Glacier, Denali, Mount Rainier, Great Smoky Mountains and Yellowstone as optimal Sasquatch sighting spots.
3. Go to one of the many scheduled events hosted by parks all over the country, in fact, bring the whole family. The earlier children have an appreciation for natural spaces the better.
4. Pack a picnic and enjoy an outdoor lunch. No matter what, it will better than your regular mid-day burrito joint.
5. Take a couple days off work (trust us, it will do you a world of good) and camp out under the stars. Turn it into an eco-romantic excursion if you so please.
6. Tell other people about National Park Week and force them to go and enjoy it; it’s one thing to talk about loving the outdoors, it’s another to spend time in it.
7. Volunteer. What’s better than giving back and taking care of a place that you love?
8. Donate to the National Park Foundation, the official national charitable organization for America’s National Parks. You have to put that tax return to good use at some point.
9. Ditch your SUV and turn a trip to your local National Park into an epic bike ride; memorable and carbon emission-free!