© 2025 KUNR
Illustration of rolling hills with occasional trees and a radio tower.
Serving Northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
The threat of catastrophic funding cuts for public media looms, and while we don’t know what the U.S. Senate will do, we do know this: We need your help protecting this vital service.
Learn what you can do to support KUNR and public media today ➡️

'Feral' tells story of National Parks travel and finding comfort in solitude

Emily Pennington taking in Crater Lake in Oregon. (Courtesy of Emily Pennington)
Emily Pennington taking in Crater Lake in Oregon. (Courtesy of Emily Pennington)

Emily Pennington set out in early 2020 to travel to all of the 63 national parks in one year. She quit her job, outfitted a mini-van and hit the road. Along the way the pandemic broke out, she broke up with her boyfriend, and anxiety became a near-constant companion on her journey.

In her new book “Feral: Losing Myself and Finding My Way in America’s National Parks,” she writes about how being in nature and the wilderness helped her in the struggle to become comfortable with uncertainty and solitude.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.