Eric Whyte

I dream of visiting Gates of the Arctic national park one day and doing a backpacking trip through the brooks range, winning the $10k would greatly aid in making that dream become a reality. Another one is American Samoa National Park, but finding flights there has been difficult.

Two summers ago after quitting my corporate job I accepted my first seasonal job at a fishing lodge in Alaska. I planned an epic 42 day road trip from Colorado to Alaska where I hit almost every national park in Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington and then had some awesome exploring along the Alaska/Canadian highway and the yellow head/cassiar routes. When in Alaska I was able to visit 4 out of the 8 Parks there, flight-seeing around Denali, boating around Kenai fjords and much more!

The $10k would greatly help me finish the last 4 Alaskan parks and get out to American Samoa. In October I will be visiting Shenandoah & Virgin Islands NPs bringing my total parks visited up 50. It is my dream to visit all 63 parks. I have enjoyed the journey so much, I love our parks and what they stand for. Winning the $10,000 will help me get those last few parks. As a seasonal service industry worker it can often be difficult getting to some of these more remote/expensive parks.