One Year… One Quest – America’s 428 National Parks, by Tom Wright

Tom Wright is an avid enthusiast of America’s national parks, having embarked on journeys to these cultural and natural treasures since the 1960s. His early explorations were rooted in family vacations, marked by stops at iconic sites like Mount Rushmore, Independence Hall, and the Grand Canyon. After earning a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1986, Tom began his solo treks to various parks, propelled by his passion for exploration.

His involvement with the National Park Travelers Club, comprising over 3,000 park enthusiasts striving for the prestigious Platinum Award, became a driving force in his quest to visit and experience all NPS parks. Tom reached the coveted Platinum level on December 4, 2017, upon visiting his 417th park, the Cumberland Island National Seashore. The National Park Service honored his achievement with a Recognition Award. Subsequently, Tom continued to add to his repertoire by visiting the eleven other units added to the NPS since.

Comparing his devotion to the Church of National Parks akin to Annie Savoy’s belief in the Church of Baseball from the movie Bull Durham, Tom finds joy in visiting parks of all sizes and distances, whether 20 miles away or across the Pacific Ocean in Guam, relishing both solitude and the company of fellow visitors.

Upon retiring in 2022 after 40 years of service with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Tom dedicated himself to planning his ambitious undertaking for 2023: visiting and experiencing all 428 national parks in just one year, a quest he aptly named ‘The Quest.’ Currently, he is actively working on his book, ‘One Year… One Quest,’ commemorating this feat, which stands unrivaled in the Guinness World Records database as no other applicant has achieved this in less than a year.

Tom’s prior venture, ‘100 Parks for 100 Years: A National Parks Odyssey,’ penned in 2019, celebrated the NPS’s Centennial, reflecting his deep-seated connection to these natural wonders. While he wishes to witness the second Centennial, he leaves the celebration to future generations of park enthusiasts.

Despite his love for traversing America’s highways and byways, Tom continues to call Northeast Ohio home, with Cuyahoga Valley National Park serving as his anchor within the national park system