When planning a trip to a national park, one may think the best way to travel would be by car or RV, but Spencer McCullough has a different expedition in mind this summer.
Spencer McCullough, a 28-year-old Yardley native now living in Colorado, is on a bicycling journey to all 51 national parks in the lower 48 states. His inspiration comes from reading a New York Times article, “What To Save? Climate Change Forces Brutal Choices at National Parks,” where Zoë Schlanger wrote about how the National Park Service established new guidance for park ecologists and managers — choose what to preserve, and what to let climate change destroy.
McCullough asked himself, “What would future generations read about in books that I had a chance to see?”
“I’ve done three-day bike trips before,” McCullough said, “but I’ve always biked around growing up, I would ride to the Lower Makefield Township pool, Wawa with my friends, I rode my bike around my college to get to my classes and when I moved out West I didn’t have a car so I used my bike to run errands.” The idea of biking to see the national parks started to grow in his head until he opened up RouteXL and plugged in the 51 national parks setting up the perfect route for his over 18,000-mile trip.
In early April, McCullough boarded the Amtrak train in Philadelphia taking him to Miami where he began to bike to his first stop — Biscayne National Park. Since then McCullough has visited 10 of the parks on his list and biked 3,861.96 miles. While traveling, McCullough has been either spending his nights camping, staying with friends and family or boarding with hosts found through Warmshowers — a hospitality exchange service for touring bicyclists.
“A typical day for me usually starts with me getting up, packing up if I camped, and biking a few miles in right away. Then I like to have breakfast while looking at my map and route for the day,” McCullough explains. “The goal has been to bike 65 to 80 miles a day so I’m on the road for about eight to 10 hours.”
At first, his trip was intended to be a wake for the national parks, but now he also hopes that he can inspire others with his love of cycling by sharing his story with others and welcoming them into the transportation advocacy group.
Next, McCullough wants to create incentives to inspire others to bike instead of driving to national parks.
“I want to get people excited about cycling,” he said. “Society doesn’t take biking seriously because they view it as a toy for a kid when it can be a powerful and impactful tool.”
McCullough also wants to help make access to national parks easier for cyclists so they can have a more effective stay.
“It’s frustrating how catered parks are to cars and RVs when a biker’s situation is more unique,” he said. “Not many parks have a ‘no-turn-away policy’ so, if there’s no space, bikers have nowhere to go, and the camping fee for bikers is the same for cars and RVs.”
He’d also like to organize an endurance race along the canal, starting in Yardley.
McCullough took a break this month from his travels to return home for some weddings.
“I knew I had to come home so I could get my nice clothes, but I’m looking forward to taking the second part of my trip slower and being able to make more stops.”
His return gave him the chance to take his bike in to BikeWorks in Newtown for repairs, “they’re really great people over there, they helped me before I left for my trip, too.”
Dan Turner, a partner and service manager there, said the staff was eager to help him figure out what he needed for his adventure.
“It was exciting because we had to think outside of the box for his situation,” Turner said.
While McCullough’s bike has not suffered any major damage, the long trip takes a toll on his champion stead. But a broken bike isn’t his biggest concern.
“We have some pretty bad wildfires during the summers in Colorado,” where the air quality and haze are similar to what residents here faced this month due to Canada’s wildfires. “That was also part of the inspiration for the trip. Moving out West has helped me become more environmentally aware because of how many residents take pride in being eco-friendly.”
Those interested in following McCullough’s trip can follow his Instagram @spencexyz or his website www.OneLongTrip.Bike.
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