According to the US National Park System, “National Historic Trails paint a colorful picture of our nation’s diverse history . . . and follow past routes of exploration, migration, struggle, trade, and military action.” In this course, we will travel more than 10,000 miles as we follow the Santa Fe, California, Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, Pony Express, Lewis and Clark, and Butterfield Overland National Historic Trails through major landmarks and the parks that tell their stories.

David Kroese left a 25-year career in the corporate world to pursue his personal interests, becoming one of fewer than a hundred people known to have visited all 400+ National Park Service units in December 2017. Over the past decade, David has logged over 1,500 visits and 4,500 trail miles exploring NPS sites across the country. David wrote of his experiences in the first published narrative through all the NPS sites, The Centennial: A Journey through America’s National Park System.