Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park

by Conor Knighton

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A delightful sampler plate of our national parks, written with charisma and erudition.”—Nick Offerman, author of  Paddle Your Own Canoe

From  CBS Sunday Morning  correspondent Conor Knighton, a behind-the-scenery look at his year traveling to each of America's National Parks, discovering the most beautiful places and most interesting people our country has to offer

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY OUTSIDE

When Conor Knighton set off to explore America's "best idea," he worried the whole thing could end up being his  worst  idea. A broken engagement and a broken heart had left him longing for a change of scenery, but the plan he'd cooked up in response had gone a bit overboard in that Over the course of a single year, Knighton would visit every national park in the country, from Acadia to Zion.
 
In  Leave Only Footprints,  Knighton shares informative and entertaining dispatches from what turned out to be the road trip of a lifetime. Whether he's waking up early for a naked scrub in a historic bathhouse in Arkansas or staying up late to stargaze along our loneliest highway in Nevada, Knighton weaves together the type of stories you're not likely to find in any guidebook. Through his unique lens, America the Beautiful becomes America the Captivating, the Hilarious, and the Inspiring. Along the way, he identifies the threads that tie these wildly different places together—and that tie us to nature—and reveals how his trip ended up changing his views on everything from God and love to politics and technology.
 
Filled with fascinating tidbits about our parks' past and reflections on their fragile future, this book is both a celebration of and a passionate case for the natural wonders that all Americans share.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Nature, Memoir, Audiobook, Adventure, Biography

323 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2020

About the author

Conor Knighton is an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, America's #1 Sunday morning news program. Depending on your cable package, you may have also seen him hosting shows on Current TV, AMC, and Bio Channel or providing commentary for the likes of MTV, E!, and CNN. He has been to all of our national parks and what feels like 40% of our Hampton Inns.

Reviews

[Carmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked reading about the parks, but this weird break up story narrative he chose to frame it with wasn’t interesting and took up too many pages that were then not about the parks. If you were looking for interesting travel writing about our great national treasure, the NPS, just know you are going to have to slog through a lot of Tinder swiping, descriptions of his Tinder photos and cute girls he meets on his travels. I need a rewrite of this book by a middle age woman who has no Fs left to give for that sort of thing and who likes to geek out on NPS history and hiking (and botany, geology, zoology, etc.)

[Books with Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basically took my breath away at the end

[Mark Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Conor Knighton’s fiancée left him, he wasn’t sure quite what to do until he saw a promotion talking about the National Park’s 100th anniversary. Soon, he was making plans to visit all of the official National Parks in 2016, reporting on some of them for CBS Sunday Morning. After experiencing sunrise on New Year’s Day in Acadia, he crisscrossed the country numerous times in his quest to experience all of them.

When I first heard about this book, I was intrigued. I’ve long wanted to visit all of the parks myself, not that I’ve done much more than think about it. When this book focuses on the parks and some of their history, it is fascinating. The writing is excellent, and it is easy to feel you are right next to him as he experiences the parks. However, at times he gets distracted trying to push an agenda on us, and when that happens, the parks get shafted. A few of the parks he barely describes, focusing instead on the bad he feels needs to be fixed or pointing out the bad in the past that has been fixed. Even when I agreed with his point, I found this frustrating because it’s not what I wanted to read about when I picked up the book. He definitely made me want to visit several of the parks as soon as I can. His brief stories about his life and his stories about the people he met along the way were fun and fascinating. There are two inserts of pictures from his journey; I would have loved more, but I enjoyed what we got. I wish the book had focused more on the parks themselves. Then it would have been fantastic.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Rachel Reece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend!!! Oh my gosh it left me energized and excited to adventure and jealous of his nomadic lifestyle and career. Left me wanting to read more about every one of the 56 parks he went to -- and experience them myself. Definitely not the kind of hard-core adventure book I was expecting; it's more in the vein of A Walk in the Woods and reads like a series of short articles. Knighton is a romantic and an engaging storyteller.

[Jquick99 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would have preferred If the author told us/mentioned just once, about his break up.

Don’t care about his love life...his Tinder dates, his serendipitous meetings with beautiful women.

Don’t care what vacations he took as a 10 yo.

I wanna hear about his National Park experiences, and the history behind the parks. As I reflect back on the book, I realize that I don’t think I learned anything, or anything much. The author really doesn’t write much about a park. He mentions some just in passing (Olympic), but really just mentions the name. Tetons...what did he do there (besides, hunting down a beautiful woman)?

I already know all about TR (and if he’s going to tell TR outdoorsy stories, wish he’d have told my favorite), know about Dr. Mudd, about Muir...and know or have been to most all (that are accessible) in the western half the the US.

I don’t mean that as a brag, but my point is...this book is for people who aren’t outdoorsy, who haven’t traveled to Parks and/or people who don’t know history.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

We forget, but there are lots of ways to read a book.

I read a book last week. It was an immersive experience.

The book is Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park. It was written by Conor Knighton who undertook the journey to visit all fifty-nine* American national parks in a year. He filmed segments for CBS Sunday Morning along the way.

Happily, I found all twenty-four of the segments available online: On the Trail: CBS Sunday Morning.

I'd read a chapter, and then I'd watch a segment.

National parks I've visited, like Yosemite and Yellowstone and Bryce Canyon and Crater Lake and Big Bend. Many more I wanted to visit and hadn't yet, like Smokey Mountain and Everglades and Glacier and Arches. Even more that I'd never heard of and didn't realize I wanted to visit, like Congaree and Dry Tortugas and Indiana Dunes.

What a great way to read a book. What a great way to visit all the national parks. I didn't even leave any footprints.

*Note: There are now sixty-two national parks, with the addition of three new parks since 2016 when this book was written and the segments filmed.

[Neil Capper · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book as an avid Parks fan. Although I spent a fair bit of time in the parks growing up, I fell back in love with them myself during the 2016 centennial and have visited over 200 park units in the last 5 years. I was excited to learn someone made a trip like this in a single year and wrote a book about the experience, but it quickly became apparent the story was more about the author's attempt at rebuilding his own personal life and finding a relationship. The story just happens to take place against the backdrop of the National Parks rather than one dedicated to the Parks themselves or the centennial of the Park Service.

There are a lot of quick stories and facts included about the parks the author visits, which I found captivating when they were discussed, but as the book progressed this narrative was regularly interrupted by his descriptions of Tinder swiping and serial dating. These thoughts sometimes were a lone sentence but at times consumed paragraphs detailing the swiping, the dates, and his thoughts about pursuing them all, but also his dissatisfaction with all of those things. For whatever reason, he continued pursuing them for most of the trip and then felt to include the details in this book. This reached peak creepy for me when he tracked down a woman in Jackson Hole on his last park of the year, ostensibly to thank her for helping him get his car pulled out of a snowbank, but really to ask her on a date. When he found out she was engaged he writes about his hopes being dashed because it would have been a great love story, but ultimately decides to stop being distracted and to get back on track with his park journey.

Many parks aren't discussed in detail at all, such as the Grand Tetons (which has an uplifting creation story in itself), because while he was at the Tetons he spent pages describing trying to get there and then pursuing a woman once he arrived. The park itself was never discussed.

Had the author focused on the parks and telling their stories during his entire trip, this would have been a 5 star book.

[Julie Durnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed traveling along with Conor Knighton to all the National Parks he visited in a year for CBS. The book is not laid out alphabetical or by region and while this is different I had no problem criss crossing the country (and even out of the country in American Samoa) and meeting the interesting people that he interviewed. Although he was in the process of healing from a broken relationship ending almost at the alter and wrote quite a bit about that, I did not find it distracting. It seemed to help know him better and empathize with his broken heart. Included are beautiful pictures that bring perspective to the places he visited. Recommended!

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, even if it just made my wanderlust and claustrophobia from being stuck at home that much worse. There are tons of interesting stories and tidbits I picked up, like the pioneering parkitecture of Mary Colter at the Grand Canyon or the mysterious"Old Man" of Crater Lake. And of course, like any American outdoorsy book, it is peppered with plenty of John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt quotes. Some of the stories are quite funny too, especially the bears at Katmai.

But I didn't love the book. Some parks got interesting stories (whether historical, ecological, or Knighton's personal), but many parks received short shrift. Acadia is mentioned for its claim as the "first sunrise of the year", but otherwise nothing. Olympic is only discussed in relation to a story about needing a cell phone, which turns into a longer piece on cell service and connectedness throughout the parks. Interesting, but I still wanted to hear about Olympic itself. With 56 parks to go through in one year and one book, it's understandable that there just isn't enough time/ room to go into every park in detail. But disappointing nonetheless.

Overall, the humor and writing style had more misses than hits for me, filled with pat jokes and bad lines (like "America's parks really do shine from sea to sea"). After every section, I can almost hear him saying "Now back to you, Tom!", like the TV reporter he is. Knighton is definitely not the next Bill Bryson. His writing at times feels heavily influencing by blogging and on-air TV personalities, in that carefully calculated confessional style that makes you think they're being open and honest about their lives, but feels like another mask. It's the "trying to appeal and seem relatable to the largest audience possible" that makes him feel a little fake and, honestly, boring. Travel books like this one that are centered around the person traveling, rather than the destination, needs a narrator who isn't afraid to be unlikable, foolish, and neurotic at times. It makes for better stories. Otherwise, it feels like watching your friend's vacation photos and hearing their anecdotes, fun for a bit, but not riveting.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the lucky chance to pick up an advance copy at work. It was on our shelf, and something about it called out to me.

It was the perfect book for me to read right now. I'm currently going through a challenging part of my life, and have set a goal for myself- travel the country and see many of our amazing national parks. I will admit, I'm not aiming for EVERY one in a year, like Conor achieved, but I do have 19 stops on my list (and counting.)

This book is not what I expected. I thought it would be more of a guide- here's each park, and what I did there! If you're looking for that, there are other books. No, this book is a story- both of Conor's personal and physical journey, but also of some history of the parks, and the different elements that connects them. It was unexpected, but incredibly moving. Conor perfectly weaves a beautiful narrative, that was motivational, and moving to read. I could hardly put it down.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little bit about the parks, a lot about the author’s navel-gazing reflections on his own love life and his left-wing, white privileged angst.

He laments, “even when you take income and geography into consideration, the parks still aren’t as [racially] diverse as they could be or should be.” Who is this bozo to say how things “should” be? What if minorities are less interested in going to the parks? What if some people prefer the indoors to the outdoors? What if Korean-Americans are less interested in lacrosse and ice hockey than Native Americans and Russian-Americans? Is that okay with this guy, or can it only mean that some pernicious form of discrimination is at play?

Isn’t it actually racist to suggest that minorities should have the same interests and with the same degree of intensity as the white author of this book? Can he not imagine that others might be different from him based on their cultural values and interests?

He puts the cherry on the self-loathing sundae by saying, “Inclusivity is a moral imperative.” No one I know has wasted any time trying to exclude minorities from the national parks, so where is the crisis? How is this a moral issue? It’s not, it’s just an opportunity for this guy to find some value in pretending to hold the moral high ground. We’re all impressed, man. You are so very virtuous for noticing this terrible injustice and taking action to bring about justice by writing about it. We are all in your debt.

Now I just have to find a book about the national parks that’s actually about the national parks.

[Leo Mccarthy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Saw this book in our library's new issues section and thought it sounded like a worth while read. I am a huge fan of our National Parks having visited 21 to date. Peaked my interest for sure.

On the very first page, three paragraphs in, "four dead presidents carved into granite" describing Mt Rushmore, should have been the canary in the coal mine.

The tone of the book was odd. It morphed into a series of rants rather than focusing on the parks themselves. I was expecting history, a little geography and hopefully some interesting and fun facts about each park.
Instead, the book digresses into immigration issues in Big Bend, global warming in Glacier and women's rights in the Grand Canyon.
Yosemite is certainly one of the jewels of the NP system. Yosemite was summed up in a page and a half of not so interesting info.

What I thought would be an excellent read turned out to be essentially the authors rants. Once I read his bio and journalism experience, I understood why.

Pulled the plug on this dismal effort after the chapter on women's rights in the grand canyon.

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew I would like this going into it. I didn't know it would end up being one of very favorite books I've read this year.
.
I took my time wandering through this trip through National Parks, learning so much about each one. I have many trips tentatively planned in my head. First, I need to visit Zion and Canyonlands to finish The Mighty 5.
.
"Moses didn't go to a building in the middle of a city when he wanted to talk to God, he went to the top of a mountain."
.
"I don't know what, if anything, comes after this life. But I can tell you this: if there is a heaven, I bet it looks a lot like Yosemite."
.
"Parks are the homes we've taken off the market. Despite their often painful origin stories, our national parks have become our collective sanctuaries, places that welcome us back through their gates with open arms no matter how long we've been away."

3/20/25: I think about this book all the time, so it was time to read it again. Loved it just as much the second time.

[Cindy Burnett (Thoughts from a Page) · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this non-fiction gem, Knighton chronicles the year he spent traveling to every national park in the United States. The parks are grouped by theme instead of location which works surprisingly well, and the book is interspersed with humor and intriguing details about each of the parks. Knighton highlights the importance of our national parks, how various parks received their designations, and how climate change and over-visiting is impacting many of these beautiful places. In the Epilogue, Knighton discusses how the National Park System continues to expand and quickly reviews the three parks that have achieved the designation after 2016 (the year Knighton made his journey). Most importantly, Knighton demonstrates that “national parks have become our collective sanctuaries”; this book is such a fascinating and beautiful read and will certainly make my top ten list for 2020.

Listen to my podcast at https://www.thoughtsfromapage.com for fun author interviews. For more book reviews, check out my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/thoughtsfro....

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this but it wasn't quite what I was expecting . . . there's little depth here but since this was a one year speed trip through 60+ parks, that's understandable. It's as much a story about a young journalist's life (project's catalyst was a broken engagement) as it is about the parks themselves. Also a bit about American culture/attitudes to the parks; it isn't the travelogue that I probably would have preferred.

I've been to 20 of the national parks; stayed overnight in 16 of them but I didn't see that our visits to the same parks resonated with me in any way. Most memorable parks in the book were Acadia, Olympic, Isle Royale, and the Alaskan parks (and I think were the ones he spent the most time in, also). Most frightening thing from the book was how park attendance is skyrocketing (with no funding increases); the descriptions of Zion's crowded trails was frightening and a very different experience than what I had on my visit there decades ago.

3.5 rating; glad I read this.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. I’ve always been a huge National Parks fan and truly believe they’re right when they say the National Parks were America’s best idea.

Teddy Roosevelt found himself in American wilderness when it seemed as though everything was lost. So many of us go to nature to help us persevere when we feel like we cannot go on. I certainly do.

Knighton provides a beautiful look into American National Parks. He interweaves his own outlooks and experiences, such as grieving the breakup with his fiancé and staring down the barrel of unemployment. He is definitely a hopeless romantic and it brings an unexpected element to the storytelling.

We all wish the moments of nature could be a little bit longer and Knighton allows us to revel in them through his eyes.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely perfect way to spend an evening. Knighton visited 59 national parks in a year and wrote about the experience. I loved the way he structured it - not in the order he visited them or their geographic location, but by themes that connected them. Mystery, God, Sound, People, etc -- it was a really effective way to highlight how connected places that might seem dissimilar can be. For the parks I have already visited, it brought back wonderful memories. For the ones that I haven't, I got to do a little armchair travel as I added them to my bucket list.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author continually strikes out with women and gives few pages to the parks themselves. The parks will always love you back, Conor. You owed them more with this book.

[Kelly K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had the strongest sense of wanderlust while reading this book. Absolutely loved it. 10/10 would recommend.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conor Knighton offers unique stories about visiting all of the National Parks (at least all that were in existence at the time of publication) in a single year. He groups the Parks together based on themes such as Ice, Light, and Canyons as well as ones you wouldn't necessarily think of such as Forgiveness or Food. I found myself wanting more in depth stories about many of the parks as several barely got a mention in their chapters. However, I understand that to do each park justice would require a much heftier book.
Recommended for Park lovers.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to spend a year visiting all of the National Parks, as this CBS correspondent did. I like how he chose to group them in categories, like Caves, Ice and Volcanoes. I learned some interesting tidbits about a lot of the parks.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
I just really enjoyed this book—such a delight! I had the opportunity to visit a couple of the national parks Conor talks about, and his stories reignited my desire to visit as many as possible. I think that desire is fueled by the lack of traveling we’re able to do right now in this pandemic! There was/is such a level of peace found, being in nature, and this makes me excited for when I’m able to do that again! I loved that he shared his own personal journey, and found all the historical facts he included so interesting!

[Frosty61 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up.
To the author: Thank you for including a rudimentary map for those of us who might not know the locations of each park - very useful and much appreciated.

For someone who believes strongly in nature therapy, this one is an enjoyable read. It inspires the reader to get outside and explore in order to truly value and respect the treasures that are our National Parks. Instead of a linear timeline, the author grouped the parks by physical or emotional characteristics that resonated with him into chapters such as volcanoes, water, love, forgiveness, etc. It's a very personal story filled with self-deprecation, humor, and awe. A bit heavy on philosophy in some parts and maybe a little light on park descriptions in others, it whets the appetite for further investigation of each park.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes history, travel, nature and personal narratives.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are picking up this book for inspiration to seek out our National Parks or want to learn more...this is not the book for you. Why would the author tells us about his time spent on Tinder scrolling left and right? How does that fit in with a National Park book? So much was painful to get through. It was a strange blend of a few interesting park facts, mixed in with Tinder and boring details that added nothing. Well I can say this, I was inspired to write my own damn National Park book.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

What does one do when your fiancée calls off the wedding the day you receive your “save the date” cards? Author Conor Knighton’s answer was to set out to visit every U. S. National Park in a year. “Leave Only Footprints” is the chronicle of that journey. Whether defined as “Acadia-to-Zion” as in the subtitle, or New Year’s Day sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine to New Ear’s Eve sunset at Point Reyes Lighthouse in California, it is a fascinating itinerary. Knighton covered them all, even traveling to the National Park of American Samoa. It is a tale of breath-taking scenes, chance encounters and wilderness challenges.

The chapters are organized by topic, waters, borders, caves, for example. Knighton’s writing style holds the reader’s interest. Notes are well documented, but an index would be helpful.

I appreciate this work from several perspectives. I enjoyed reading about parks we have visited, such as Acadia. I am inspired to seek others, such as Sequoia, and wonder if the remote, Big Bend or Dry Tortugas, for example, are really unreachable? You can pick your favorites and your trips of the future. I am confident you will enjoy “Leave Only Footprints as much as I did.

[Terris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so enjoyable! I feel like I just travelled all over America! Conor does such a nice job of giving history and facts about the national parks, along with some of his own personal information, plus a dash of humor.

If you are interested in travelling or learning more about America's national parks, I highly recommend this one!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

A memoir of a man touring all the US national parks in a year. He interviews people along the way and tells some history and personal stories in each chapter. Some parts of the book were interesting, others were dull. I like that the author interviewed a Black American about the lack of representation in our outdoor spaces (however, once again it’s one of those, “Hey person-of-color it’s time to speak for everyone of your race about this issue”) and a couple of Natives about their take on some history.

Overall though, I didn’t like this one. He mostly whitewashed his history, goes on about how great Theodore Roosevelt was, (without telling how much harm he was doing to the indigenous population) and conveniently omits the history of forced removal and seizure of the park land by the government.

At one point, the author gave Roosevelt credit for saving the bison population from extinction without a word about WHY the American bison was endangered. It was too much omission, a bit boring, and I didn’t love his inner monologues or writing style. Ending on a positive: I liked hearing about the parks and could visualize where he was in some of them, which was fun.

[Jacque Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! :) it’s the perfect way to highlight some of the most underrated nationals parks (& the main stream ones) but in a personal way. Conor Knighton is a cutie so I hope he finds his person if he hasn’t already. 🫶🏼 this was the perfect blend of personal story & educating. I’m itching to go to a national park soon.

[B · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not surprised Conor Knighton's unnamed fiance left him. I want to leave him too.

Conor Knighton was planning a wedding when his future wife said "JK lol I'm gonna date someone else this is over and I'm moving out." Bereft and adrift, Knighton, a freelance correspondent, decided to pitch an idea to the various networks that sporadically employ him. That idea was simple: 2016 was the 100th anniversary of the National Parks system; why not have someone visit all of the parks in a single calendar year ?

The networks were, understandably, tepid in their response. Hitting all of those parks in a single year? Why? He begged, telling them he'd do it and they only need pay him for the segments they liked. He got a grudging deal, and embarked on a poorly planned, quite frankly offense trip across the country again and again.

Knighton preaches conservation, but flew on countless planes and drove countless miles to get to parks which he doesn't even bother to really explore. He's a hypocrite.

For a book that claims to be about the parks, I see very little of them between these pages. Knighton spends most of the book talking about the people he met and not the places he saw.

He didn't plan this at all so he doesn't get to see a lot and often arrives in poor weather. He also isn't a hiker and doesn't understand basics like packing appropriate food or turning off your headlamp at night. He's an idiot. He's an acapella boy, though, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

How do I know he's an acapella boy? Because Knighton won't shut up about himself. He moans about how his ex fiance probably threw out a stuffed animal he got her when they first started dating. He compares his broken heart to the petrified forest. He hits on girls just trying to hike, and tells us about his Tinder profile. He goes over his childhood and nauseum. Does Knighton think anyone except his mother cares about this ? I know I'm being harsh but this book billed itself to be about parks and I know almost nothing new about the parks but I know all about how he grew up in CT and lived in CA for 10 years. I shouldn't know anything about Knighton. A correspondent is supposed to observe and report, but I guess Knighton can't even do his primary job correctly.

I kinda sorta hated this book.

[Carrie Knight · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 10%. just not what i was expecting. the author loosely weaves together stories, only some of which relate to national parks, sometimes it seems that just mentioning the name of the park ticks it off the list as being discussed. i really wanted to like this, and maybe it would come together more cohesively upon reading the whole thing, but i couldn’t get past the “GOD” chapter, which is supposed to cover yosemite, among other parks, but barely even mentions it by name.