Let me also suggest a visit to the largest park in the Lower 48, which has quite substantial wilderness areas with the strongest legal protection anywhere in the US. To make any change to the line would require a supermajority of both houses in two consecutive sessions of the state legislature, with a general election intervening - just to get the measure on the ballot for a popular referendum. I once spent two weeks on a solo trek about 2/3 of the way across it. It mightn’t have been the most “efficient” way to see it, but I had a blast (and came out with some great stories to tell in the local bar).
I’m blessed to live in a state that doesn’t have any national parks because it manages to do very well at wildland protection without them. There’s a lot less bureaucracy, too. For most of my state’s forest lands, I don’t need to enter a lottery for a permit or anything of the sort. I can just pack up my gear and go. (That will likely not last if it gets too popular, so stay away!)
