A12 I can't access the #ParkChat Discord channel anymore, or whatever it's called. I don't know how this Discord stuff works.😩

Thank you @audreypete.bsky.social for hosting, and thank you to all the participants for keeping all hands on deck! And thanks to Bluesky for behaving! 😅 #ParkChat

A9 I get out for a walk every day. I live right near downtown, but there's still nature close at hand. I remind myself that I have something my persecutors can never have: joy. The joy that comes from hearing the voice of nature both within and without. #ParkChat

A8 Transgender Americans have been erased from Stonewall National Monument, despite playing a key role in that indispensable moment in LGBTQ history. From that I resolve not to hide, but to be visible and proud! #ParkChat

A5 Bluesky, of course, where people post all kinds of Park-related news with the hashtag #ParkChat

A4 I'm hopeful that the Parks will continue to bring us together. I can't imagine getting in a political argument with another visitor in such beautiful places. Then again, maybe some of my fellow #ParkChat participants have had that experience.

A3 I'm hoping to get to Cape Cod National Seashore again. I've been there twice in the last 4 years, but not with my partner. P'town is on the bucket list for every Sapphic couple! #ParkChat

A2 I didn't get to a lot of parks last year, but I did get to Shenandoah during mountain laurel season! #ParkChat

A1 I bet we could fund all the deferred maintenance by fining the bison petters. #ParkChat

Thank you @adamsowards.net for hosting #ParkChat tonight, and thanks to all the participants for giving me some reading material!

A9 I'd write a travelogue, about finding communion with my fellow citizens, and finding safety, in our parks, at a time when not every place in the country is safe or friendly to me. #ParkChat

A7 This book convinced me that the NPS needs to be expanded. 😉 #ParkChat

A4 I live in a 600 square foot apartment, so I have to be judicious about what books I buy. But I would certainly want to buy 3 or 4 at all those gift shops! #ParkChat

A3 Probably not in my daypack, but in my suitcase you'd find my book of Emily Dickinson poetry, as I read 5 of her poems every morning. There's always something that rings true about them, no matter where in the world I am. #ParkChat

A2 I remember those little "Story behind the Scenery" books with fondness. #ParkChat

A1 I don't read many books that are less than 150 years old, so I'll go with Cape Cod, by Henry David Thoreau, by one of the most influential authors on my own writing, about one of my favorite NPS units. #ParkChat

A4 Shenandoah is a park I've been visiting on a nearly annual basis recently, so I've gotten to know it more intimately than most visitors. Many people think of it as just a scenic drive, but it's also OK to stop and walk around. #ParkChat

Thank you to @59nationalparks.bsky.social, @naturetechfam.bsky.social, and everybody for keeping this together for another year. I'm grateful for every week we have this chat! #ParkChat

A11 I think I've mentioned this before. I'd like to see a #ParkChat about minorities and the parks. It would be team hosted, with someone from a different minority group taking each question. This trans lesbian Jew could take 3 questions. 😆

A9 Shenandoah is my old friend almost by accident, simply because I have family in the area. But it's one of those parks where you can pick a trailhead at random and be rewarded every time. #ParkChat

A10 I think maybe @camarowrx.bsky.social and I should start a Facebook group for discussing and lobbying for new NPS units! 😉 #ParkChat

A8 No new parks, as I don't have the energy to travel that I used to. But I got back to Shenandoah, and I made a point to go there when the mountain laurel was in bloom. #ParkChat

A5 Pretty sure I'll be making a Northeast trip this summer. Mostly old haunts, as it is my companion's first trip to my home region! #ParkChat

A3 I met some #ParkChat folks at MVB back in 2019, but I believe only @naturetechfam.bsky.social has met the real me!

A2 Good: that rich guy in North Carolina who bought up a bunch of land to donate as public wilderness land. Bad: the fact that we need to rely on the benevolence of the wealthy to protect our public lands Ugly: the new America the Beautiful Pass #ParkChat

Thank you @btarrington.bsky.social for hosting. I have mixed feelings about the country's 250th anniversary, but nothing but wonderful happy feelings about #ParkChat!

A11 Hot Springs, obviously! Since that's where #ParkChat was born. And it's the closest NP to me. 😏

A10 Cape Cod National Seashore brings back happy memories from both my boyhood and my womanhood! Traveling to a place where I'm welcomed every time is a feeling that I can't take for granted. #ParkChat

A9 Since some of our parks are now as busy as big cities during peak season, a modern and sustainable public transit system would be nice. #ParkChat

A8 I think Gettysburg is the best answer here. No place better shows how hard it's been to make a country, and keep it together, and how hard it is to figure out how to commemorate that history appropriately. #ParkChat

A7 Honestly, I've put much more time into thinking about how I'm going to celebrate Jane Austen's 250th birthday on December 16! #ParkChat

A6 The only president with a Ph.D. We need a reminder that it's OK to elect smart presidents. #ParkChat

A4 I'd like to see fireworks back in my old hometown, since we're celebrating origins. I'd like to watch them from the top of the mountains above the village. #ParkChat

A3 A good deal of the idea of American Union came from the Haudenasaunee Confederacy, the native inhabitants of upstate New York. Tragically, American union would come at the expense of their own. #ParkChat

A2 I was born in 1978, so no. I just hope this commemoration has a diversity of voices. #ParkChat

A1 Wherever another #ParkChat person is going to be (within reasonable travel distance, that is). I haven't seen enough of them in person yet!

A6 How about Apple Pie Hill, in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, or Breadloaf Wilderness, in Green Mountain National Forest. #ParkChat

A5 I remember how hiking in Shenandoah helped me recover from my wife's death. #ParkChat

A4 My favorite book. I have to carry it with me when I travel, to fulfill my practice of reading 5 Dickinson poems every morning. My day is uninspired without it! #ParkChat

A1 Mississippi Mud Pie! My late wife made one for me one year, and she said, "I'm never doing that again." 😅 #ParkChat

Thank you for hosting @cnhamoab.bsky.social. I really had to dig deep in my memory banks for this #ParkChat!

A11 Sorry to say I haven't climbed to the highest point in my native state, but that will change next summer. Mount Marcy better be ready for me! #ParkChat

A10 John Boyd Thacher State Park, near Albany, NY. I grew up just a few miles from one of the greatest geologic treasure troves in North America. And I wonder how many other people have such a unique natural place near them and don't even know it. #ParkChat

A9 I remember seeing a snake crawling back into its hole in the Grand Canyon on the hike to Plateau Point. It's like another world down there. Does the snake even know it's in a canyon? #ParkChat

A8 Oases and other isolated bodies of water in desert lands, like Salt Creek in Death Valley. It's like a world unto itself. #ParkChat

A7 Some place not accessible by road, especially Alaskan tundra. Makes me sorry my park-bagging quest was cut short. #ParkChat

A6 My late wife and I were walking back from dinner at Big Bend. My wife said, "Hey! Look up!" I looked up and I saw more stars than I ever thought there were. #ParkChat

A5 Seeing the big sequoias made me feel both very small and very new to Earth. #ParkChat

Bonus A4: A bartender asking me, "Would you like another, ma'am?" #ParkChat

A4 The sound of rushing water. I will seek out trails that go along creeks and rivers, even if the scenery isn't that interesting. #ParkChat