change of underwear and a tooth- brush. Upon arrival the host greets you and checks you in. If you’d been traveling solo you could opt for a bunk bed in one of the co-ed rooms. That would be an even cheaper ac- commodation. But you arrive with your family so you take one of the small rooms with four beds. Your room is not luxurious, there’s no Basic mattresses, a small pillow, it’s clean, simple, but welcoming. There are bathroom facilities and showers down the hall and dinner will be served at the main gathering simple, hearty, made with local ingre- dients, highlighting the region’s spe- cialties. It’s cooked by people on-site, not pre-frozen fast food. The fellow travelers you meet are all here for the same reason: vacation from the daily grind, looking for an adventure. The communal area after dinner turns into a causal space for gather- ing, sharing trip reports, and a beer or two, but everyone turns in early, for tomorrow the adventure begins. The only sleeping gear you need to bring is a light sleeping bag liner, which is two sheets sown together, to help the clean- Let’s hold here for a moment and
breathe. Consider this: you have just a good meal, and you sleep in a real bed, in the backcountry. Let me tell you, this is as close to perfect as it gets, trust me.
The next morning when you wake up. The hut is buzzing already and people are up to catch the sunrise on the nearby peaks. Hiking boots are put on, backpacks repacked. Breakfast is simple and you can buy all the ingre- dients you need to make sandwiches bottles. Some folks are heading out to the trails that connect this hut, your basecamp to other huts just like that. Other folks stay for a few more days and scale the surrounding peaks.
A big dream
Yes, this is a dream, and logistically, politically, and historically perhaps it
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Alpine hiker hut on the way to the Rappenseehütte. These huts, which can be found all over the Alps, provide refreshments for hikers rather than overnight accomodations. (photo by Mathias Eichler)
is more of a nightmare than a dream. But, I live now in the land of endless possibilities and NASA just sent us Why shouldn’t I dream big? Is it truly impossible?
Certainly not. This scenario I described is an average mountain vacation in the Alps, and I experienced many of them throughout the last few decades. I grew up in the southern part of Germany, in the foothills of the Alps. Many of my summer vacations were spend roaming the valleys and hills, playing in the streams as a kid, and scaling peaks as a teenager. It’s a showed me that it’s possible.
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I’ve watched and greatly enjoyed Ken Burns’ epic PBS Special on the National Parks, but I would never con- sider myself an expert in the history of National Parks and other Federal and State regulated recreational areas. The way I see it, there are currently two main experiences for visitors to National Parks. The classic, traditional approach, the way National Parks have been enjoyed by Americans for many decades: You take your car, drive through to the gate and stop at every scenic view point on the way to the main Visitor Center and Lodge. There you park the car, grab you cam- era, take a few shots of the surround- ing area. Perhaps you hike a simple
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