I had the exceptional privilege recently to pay a visit to some of America’s greatest landmarks, parks and forests. We are truly blessed to have had leaders with the foresight and understanding that some of these rare and wild places needed protecting.

After living in Montana in the mid-90’s and experiencing Yellowstone National Park, the nation’s first national park, on a very regular basis, it had been quite some time since I’d been back. 22 years to be exact. I know that because my oldest son, soon to be 23, was able to join us on this trip to the state where he was born. I vividly recall and still shiver a bit when I remember the exceptionally cold night my wife and I endured camping in Yellowstone with him as a baby tucked between us for warmth. He was oblivious. I however had chills for days after that experience. I learned my lesson though, the weather in the mountains changes fast and fierce. Be prepared!

We had a great time exploring the geysers of Yellowstone and got to hear the amazing crescendo from the crowd as Old Faithful’s waters danced in the air. If you’ve never had the chance, take the short hike up to the observation point above the geyser basin and enjoy the view from a different vantage point. Well worth the hike.

We also got to experience one of the more unfortunate aspects of our national parks these days. Despite all the warnings, despite the signs, despite the unfortunate well-publicized deaths of individuals from wild animals in the park, people still just don’t “get it.” Maybe it’s because they’re used to seeing animals in a zoo but they absolutely lose their minds when traveling through the park and viewing wildlife.

We unfortunately got caught in about a 30-minute traffic jam because a large number of lookie-loos decided the best place to see the wild bison of Yellowstone was from the road, outside their vehicles, while stopping traffic for miles. Just a few vehicles in front of us, while said bison was wandering the roadway, a whole RV full of young people lunged from the security of their vehicle and ran onto the highway to get a closer look. The saying, “You can’t fix stupid” immediately came to mind. Fortunately, no one was hurt. My wife snapped a very sensible shot of the bison from the safety of our pickup, as traffic finally started to move again.

The trip also included a great visit to Shell Falls in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, a quick swing through Devils Tower National Monument where we watched the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” with the monument as a backdrop. I had forgotten the huge plot element the monument has in that movie. So that was cool. The trip ended at Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where our youngest son sang and played music in the amphitheater underneath the granite likenesses of four of our nation’s greatest leaders.

In the end, the trip was a great reminder of just how absolutely blessed we are to live in the USA. How blessed we are to live in a country that has these amazing places. Ours is a country founded on principles and values that deserve and need protecting. Thankfully, all of us in the shooting sports industry understand and cherish these abundant blessings, and thankfully we’re willing to stand up and fight to protect these rights and blessings. I’m humbled to be a part of this industry with all of you.

It makes me excited to see many of you in the coming months at a whole host of industry events with our partners from NSSF, CSF, ASA, the NRA and of course at our NASGW Expo in Pittsburgh in October. Make sure you make plans to join us and check out the website at www.nasgwexpo.org for all the details.

Until next time,

Kenyon Gleason

NASGW President