LGBT advocate to finish visiting all 419 national parks in a mission to honor his father.
The death of a loved one carries with it a profound effect: For Mikah Meyer, his father's passing in 2005 inspired a three-year, 75,000-mile journey to visit all 419 U.S. National Park Service sites.
“It was on that trip I realized I could do something really bold,” he said. “I knew I wanted to do something big for my 30th birthday. It seemed like a significant age, like I was young enough to be crazy but old enough to be smart about it.” There had been talks with corporate sponsors, but they’d usually get scared off at the prospect of backing an out gay man with a significant queer following online. One outdoor nonprofit dropped its support, they told him, because he was doing too much LGBT outreach on social media. “Basically I was too gay,” he said. “So I had to decide at different points, ‘I’m not going to tell these folks I have a large LGBT following.
“In the Lutheran church, we have this idea of a vocation. It’s where the greatest need is matched by your greatest talents. And you can’t just decide on your vocation, it has to reveal itself to you,” he said.All along the way — in person and online — people were telling him this was the first time they saw someone who maintained their faith after coming out. “These were people who felt shunned by their families,” he said.
. “We nicknamed him George,” Meyer said. “He just followed us everywhere — swam along our boat, joined us on hikes. He even slept next to our tents.” Beyond the natural beauty of the caldera, just making it there was “a spectacular moment of doing something so few have done,” Meyer said. “So many times I felt like I had an angel watching over me.”
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