What is Parks Quest?
My first Parks Quest began in fall 2020. With Covid shutting down most of the activities my best friend and I wanted to do during college, she and I started taking roadtrips to any national park we could drive to. This was not Parks Quest (though I will talk about the national parks I've been to on this site).
My first Parks Quest actually began later that same fall, when my friend left for the end of the semester a month and a half early, made possible by all her classes being online. Suddenly, my calendar got a lot more clear, and I needed to be outside, so one day I decided to go on a long walk. Needing some kind of destination to be walking towards, I picked a nearby park, and then when I wanted to walk some more, I picked another park. After a day spent going to five different parks in the area, I began to wonder... how many parks does Iowa City even have?
I found a pdf of a map of the parks in Iowa City on the city gov's website, and the answer was 56 parks. I had a few years before I'd graduate... could I walk to all 56? I suddenly wanted to. I could go on walks, and have destinations that didn't cost money to be at. I printted out the pdf map at the library and made walking to every park my goal. And it had to be walking, I decided. Skating, biking, busing, or driving didn't count. I had to walk to the park and had to walk back home. With the terms set... Iowa City Parks Quest began!
Why the hell did I continue?
I walked to every single park in Iowa City. All 56. It took 3 years. The shortest walks were short, on my way to other things I was already walking to. The furthest parks were 3 hours round-trip. Days when I walked to multiple parks could get up to 5 or 6 hours of walking. Why'd I do all that? What for? Completionism?
As I went, I kept gaining reasons for going. Walking was good for my mental health. I liked seeing new parts of my city. The more I went, the more I noticed. I liked seeing the sky around sunset, and taking naps in parks, and hiking at the parks that had hiking. When I went to empty parks in the winter, I made snow angels and swung on swingsets. In the summer, I found the best parks to skate at later. I liked walking in the rain, and running into random events, and listening to new music as I walked.
I became a little obsessed about it. Even though there were sometimes months-long gaps between parks, it quickly became the favorite thing I was doing with my life. I was working towards a pointless goal the slowest method possible for no reason other than my own enjoyment, and I was enjoying it a lot. Three years passed, and suddenly it was the night before I was moving out of Iowa City. I had two parks left, and they were 3-hours round trip each. Could I do it? With help from a lot of caffeine, I could. My friend walked with me to the first that night, through backroads to an out-of-the-way soccer park south of the main city. Then, hours later, I walked to the final park alone. The park itself, Camp Cardinal Park, was underwhelming. Just a lot of trees shoved between a residential area. No where to explore or sit down. But I'd done it. I'd walked to all 56 parks in Iowa City! I'd changed as a person! I'd accomplished my goal! I'd done the thing!