On a wonderful Fall day here (or make that the most beautiful of summer days in Seattle – the weather is just beginning to be bearable!) we set out for another Civil War Battlefield and Catoctin Mountain Park.

Where parks in the NW are pristine, never before settled lands that have been protected, there are a couple of national parks on this side of the country, Catoctin and Prince William Parks specifically, that have been reclaimed and returned to nature.  After settlers logged, mined, farmed and hunted the grounds almost to depletion, the National Parks took over in the 1930’s and began a reclamation project to return the lands to their natural environment.  It was done to preserve the land and see if the natural wildlife and the lush forests would return.  Eighty years later there are beautiful parks that invite city dwellers to return to nature and take advantage of the quiet and the beauty.

We could just appreciate the beauty and the wonder of nature without destroying it first!  But thanks to the National Parks system, we do have lovely lands to explore and places where we can go back to nature.  We have to start thinking about how to preserve the beauty of our land for future generations and not wait for someone else to demand it of us.

Find that place of beauty that you love and  are willing to protect and recover a quiet and peaceful moment!  Our days would be filled with grace if we could visit that place more often.