De gustibus non disputandum on natural beauty

A couple of weeks ago, while on vacation, I was hiking the Grove of Titans trail at Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. I was coming back to the trailhead, when a young lady, I'm guessing early 20s, perhaps late teens, asked me, "Isn't this the most beautiful spot in the world?" or something very similar.

(My photo from a different spot on the trail.)

It was quite a nice spot. And, since the various state parks in the Redwood State and National were created before the national park, they arguably have the best lands within the system.

That said, per the old Latin phrase, de gustibus non disputandum, this is to some degree a subjective question. Having stared at Lake Louise as well as hiked to one of those tea houses at Banff National Park, I'd offer that as one option off the top of my head. Or Bear Lake and nearby at Rocky Mountain National Park, especially when the lotus pads are in bloom. Or a sunset on the ocean strip of Olympic National Park. Or, outside of national parks entirely, one of the aspen groves and surrounding land on Grand Mesa. Or, speaking of sunsets, one out over the ocean at Big Sur.

Or inland, a sunset at a national wildlife refuge 30 miles away.

Author photo, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge

Those are just off the top of my head.

So, what does constitute the best of natural beauty?

Savannah-like areas are definitely pleasing to the human eye, perhaps in part due to evolutionary heritage. But, none of the places I mentioned above, nor others that flit into my mind like Painted Rocks National Lakeshore, are close to savannah in nature. Well, I'll modify that. Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge is fairly close. 

Is it that they are that much different from savannah that makes them beautiful? What about the presence of water? That redwood grove didn't have it. Bear Lake does, and of course, there are many cataracts and falls in Rocky. Obviously, the Pacific Ocean and Lake Superior are covered. But Grand Mesa is similar to the land of the redwoods. That said, both sites have fairly large meadow areas that intrude into the forest. Neither one is the Black Forest on steroids.

What about deserts? For whatever reason, a place like Artist's Palette at Death Valley didn't spring into mind when I talked to this young lady, and I pondered about it even now.

Artist's Palette, author photo.

There's also the matter of personal background and experience. The young lady was from Los Angeles, where any site with that level of lush greenery would flash "beautiful." Someone from Washington State or British Columbia might have a more subdued, while yet interested, feeling.

That might be even more true in places in Redwood State and National where redwoods don't predominate.  As in, walking along Prairie Creek, in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

One will notice I mentioned one place above that not only is not a U.S. national park, it's not even a part of the National Park Service. That's of course Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Well, others I mentioned aren't part of the national park service. Hagerman NWR is US Fish and Wildlife Service. Grand Mesa, or another great area, land north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is US Forest Service. So is "the Bob," the Bob Marshall Wilderness beloved of Montanans.

Jedidiah Smith isn't US government land at all of course, but California State Parks.

Big Morongo Preserve, beloved West Coast birding Mecca, isn't even state land; it's county-level.

While not denigrating US national parks, or those in other countries, nor trying to get into a philosophical demarcation issue of what should constitute a national park, as well as what should constitute an idea of beauty, I personally don't fetishize national parks.