Leave Only Footprints

February 10, 2020
In this lackluster memoir, Knighton, a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning’s “On the Trail” segment, tells of his mission to visit all 59 National Parks in the U.S. in 2016. Post-breakup with his fiancée, Knighton found solace in the writings of John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt and decided to experience firsthand the lands they helped protect and conserve. (The book is an offshoot from his CBS segment). Knighton began his travels in Acadia, where he watched the first sunrise over the U.S. on New Year’s Day, then drove across the country, talking to rangers and guides at each park—including Oregon’s Crater Lake, where an ecologist helped him locate the Old Man tree stump, which had been floating on the lake since the late 19th century. His descriptions of his adventures and the local practices—such as visiting the century-old bathhouse in Hot Springs, Ark., or sled dog races in Denali—are intriguing but get lost in digressions into reflections on his childhood and personal life. Nature lovers will find his story to be self-serving, and dedicated fans of his segment may find it lacking in new material.

February 15, 2020
A chronicle of the author's year exploring all 59 national parks located in the United States and its territories. Nursing a recent breakup with his fiancee, Emmy-winning CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Knighton hit upon an adventurous plan to take his mind off his troubles. He decided to visit every one of the country's national parks, occasionally producing segments for CBS. Noting that the National Park Service manages more than 400 "units," the author "decided to focus on the 'official' national parks. I knew I'd be excluding some amazing places, but it seemed like a more manageable list." Knighton is a companionable guide, light on his feet, with a steady store of hit-or-miss jokes--during a visit with ancient trees in California's White Mountains, he remarks, "Age on the inside isn't always apparent on the outside. Just ask Keanu Reeves"--some excellent descriptive passages, good background material, and a few sweeping insights as to why national parks are so essential. The author groups a few parks together for each chapter according to a defining feature, which may be literal--trees, water, ice, volcanoes, caves, mountains--or something more abstract, such as God, forgiveness, love, or disconnection. Too infrequently, he tackles wider subjects with particular zest, especially so in the case of the lack of diversity in both visitors to and employees of the national parks. Knighton examines climate change through the disintegration of glaciers and then ponders the immensity of time through the cutting of a deep canyon. Every park presents him with some unique feature for him to celebrate: a synchronous display of firefly blinking, the knees of cypress trees, the uncanny blueness of Crater Lake. Then there is the elemental brilliance of the national park system. "Each one," writes the author "is an example of how we have fought against our selfish, destructive impulses." A fine tour d'horizon of our national grandeur.

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