One trip, 417 parks

HILO — The Big Island marked the 300th stop on one Nebraska native’s hopefully historic three-year odyssey across the country.

Mikah Meyer is almost two years into a three-year road (and plane) trip to visit every National Park Service site in the country. At 32 years old, Meyer hopes to become the youngest person to have ever visited each of the 417 sites.

On Friday, Meyer visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the last of the five national park sites on the Big Island, and the 300th stop on his whirlwind tour. By a singular coincidence, Friday also marked Meyer’s 32nd birthday.

“It’s serendipitous,” Meyer said.

A Volcano resident had heard Meyer’s story on NPR last year and offered Meyer a free Airbnb stay, Meyer explained. Meyer, knowing he would visit Hawaii in March, soon learned that the only week his host would be available was the week of his birthday.

While Meyer’s journey began in 2016, when he was 30, the impetus for it was a tragedy much earlier, when Meyer’s father died of cancer at the age of 58. Meyer was just 19 at the time.

“It really shook the idea I had that we were all guaranteed to make it to 80,” Meyer said. “I realized that if I want to do and see everything I can, I might not have as long as I thought.”

Because Meyer enjoyed going on road trips with his father, Meyer decided to embark on one. This trip, however, would be on a colossal scale.

On April 29, 2016 — the anniversary of his father’s death — Meyer visited the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the first step of his odyssey. Since then, he has traveled, essentially nonstop, throughout the country, cutting a serpentine path back and forth across the states.

Only 37 other people have visited all National Park Service sites. Currently, the youngest to have done so is Alan Hogenauer, who did so at the age of 39 in 1980 – but there were only 320 sites to visit back then.

“I basically have 25 percent more places to go,” Meyer said.

One of the 37 lived, by a stroke of luck, close by to Meyer, allowing the two to discuss the ideal lengths of time to spend at each place.

“Some people have complained online that, ‘You’re not giving these historic places the time they deserve!’” Meyer said. “But that’s not true. I’m trying to really experience each place. I spent nine days in the Grand Canyon.”

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is one of the sites that will occupy several days of Meyer’s meticulously planned itinerary. Meyer planned to hike the park Friday, take a helicopter tour of the park today, then see the lava on Monday and, if possible, take a boat tour of the lava before leaving Tuesday for Maui.

Meyer landed in Honolulu in early March, visiting the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, before flying to visit Kalaupapa on Molokai.

“Some people have told me I’ve been in Hawaii for just three weeks, and I’ve been to more Hawaiian islands than they have even though they grew up here,” Meyer said.

He added that he was impressed by the geographic and ecological diversity of the islands, saying he had experienced a dizzying variety of climates on the Big Island within a relatively tiny area.

Hawaii is the 49th state Meyer has visited. The 50th, Alaska, will be an even greater challenge to traverse than Hawaii, with several sites inaccessible by any transportation other than chartered aircraft.

After leaving Hawaii, Meyer will fly to Phoenix, gradually snaking up the Pacific Northwest before driving to Alaska, in the trusty van he has been living out of for the past two years. Meyer said he has, so far, only had to stop at a laundromat twice — having visited friends and family for laundry — and has avoided getting sick or breaking down, although he punctuated that statement with a sign of the cross.

A Lutheran, Meyer said he has been financing his trip through speaking engagements at churches across the country, having performed one each week for over a year. After each engagement, where he discusses his journey, his faith and experiences as a Lutheran gay man, he leaves a basket for any who wish to donate.

“And the crazy thing is, people do,” Meyer said.

Meyer also makes an effort to take pictures at each site featuring a rainbow flag, the symbol of the LGBT community.

Meyer said the National Park Service had encouraged him to do so, as his social media status made him a visible brand ambassador to link the National Park Service to the underrepresented LGBT community.

“I realized I do need to be that voice for the gay community,” Meyer said, recalling the positive reaction from online LGBT groups to his display of the flag.

When the journey is done, Meyer intends to publish a guidebook, rating all of the nation’s national park sites on a scale of one to 10.

“All I’ll say is, there’s a decent amount of ones,” Meyer said. “We have an awesome national parks system, but people should be honest. If people are spending their money and vacation days to visit a park, they’ll be upset if it’s not what you said it is.”

In addition, Meyer said, the attention some parks receive can overshadow less well-known, but potentially better, parks elsewhere.

“I saw more sea turtles yesterday than I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said, recalling his visit to Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in Kailua-Kona. “But people who are visiting might not know about it.”

Assuming all goes well, Meyer’s journey will conclude next year at the same place it started: in Washington, D.C., at the Lincoln Memorial, 14 years to the date since his father’s death.

“I’ll be taking a day that’s sad for me and associating it with something good, like turning death into life,” Meyer said.

Meyer will speak at the Christ Lutheran Church on Sunday, March 18, at 8: a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com