My Funky Hiking Boots Lead The Way

A guest post BY SHAWN BOLKER

Shawn Bolker is a member of California State Parks Foundation. He completed the Defend What’s Yours Challenge in 2012 to show his support for California state parks.

Henry Cowell © Shawn Bolker

Ever since I was two years old, my family and I have had the tradition of spending time outdoors and of also volunteering to protect our natural surroundings.  The outdoors must be preserved for future generations.  It is important to have a natural place to ground people when they are  moving all around, to stay in touch with the earth and just to mellow down.

I really like to hike, backpack, and photograph waterfalls.  Now that I am a teenager, my dirty old hiking boots and I often head out to explore nature.  My hiking boots lead the way and my camera is in my hand to capture and reflect what is around me.

I also enjoy researching an area before I take off to explore.  My comfortable, warm and funky hiking boots remind me of where I have been and all that I would like to discover.

California’s State Parks: Recreation for Everyone

California’s richly diverse state parks give us all the chance to step back from our frenzied modern lives to refresh and restore ourselves in some of the most beautiful places on earth.

Henry Coe State Park is one such park that offers a spectacular recreational playground for people of all ages. With its vast and rugged landscape stretching across 90,000 acres, it is the second-largest state park in CA. A park so close to large metropolitan areas, one can escape to Henry Coe for horseback riding, mountain biking, exploring trails, hiking, connecting with nature and more.

Henry Coe is one of 70 California state parks on the park closure list. Though it will be kept open for now with a temporary operating agreement, it and 69 other parks are threatened to be lost to Californians for good.

To learn more about how you can help save California state parks like Henry Coe, visit calparks.org/defend.

This video is part of The Magnificent 70 project. See more at mag70.calparks.org.

Produced by Doug McConnell and Convergence Media. Music by Jenny Lloyd.