The NPS Wellness Challenge, part of the National Park Service’s “Healthy Parks Healthy People” initiative, will kick off during National Park Week, beginning Saturday, April 16 and will run indefinitely.
The National Park Service (NPS) has introduced a new way to experience Missouri’s beloved treasures – our national parks – with the National Park Service Wellness Challenge. The NPS Wellness Challenge promotes the unique health resources that are found in national park sites across the country, and asks visitors to participate in physical, mental, and learning wellness activities unique to each park. Missouri is the pilot state for this program.
In southwest Missouri, participants can take part in the NPS Wellness Challenge at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield and George Washington Carver National Monument. The challenge was created with leadership and support from Gateway Arch National Park, Healthy Parks Healthy People and community partners.
HOW IT WORKS
Each national park site will offer nine Wellness Challenge activities, organized within three categories: physical wellness, learning wellness and mental wellness. To get started, participants can pick up a National Park Service Wellness Challenge Guide at any Missouri national park site.
When an activity in each category is completed, participants can get their guide stamped by an NPS ranger or download a digital badge to mark their achievement at go.nps.gov/NPSWellnessChallenge. More information about the NPS Wellness Challenge, including the full list of park activities, can be found online at go.nps.gov/NPSWellnessChallenge.
Missouri’s seven national park sites are:
- Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis
- George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond
- Harry S Truman National Historic Site in Independence
- Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Van Buren
- Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park in Ste. Geneviève
- Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis
- Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Republic
At Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield:
- Physical Wellness
- Walk, run, roll, bike or drive along the five miles of the park’s tour road
- Explore the site with your animal companion and choose from over 10 miles of trails
- Hike in the footsteps of Federal and Southern soldiers on one of the site’s five walking trails, such as the Bloody Hill Trail or Manley Uplands Trail
- Learning Wellness
- At the Battlefield Museum, watch the park film, peruse interactive exhibits and view displays including medical artifacts, diary entries, artillery and thousands of images of soldiers
- Observe plant and animal species on the park grounds
- Earn a Junior Ranger badge
- Mental Wellness
- Relax and reflect by the waters of Wilson’s Creek, which flows through the entire park
- Journal about the nature you find at Wilson’s Creek
- Visit the Ray House and imagine how their family home was transformed by battle into a field hospital
- Physical Wellness
- Pack a picnic, choose a table on the park grounds and enjoy a healthy meal
- Take a self-guided tour and search for wildlife in the woodlands
- Take your furry friend for a walk along the 1-mile Carver Trail
- Learning Wellness
- Explore the impactful life of Carver at the museum and watch the park film
- Join a park ranger on a guided tour along the Carver Trail
- Earn a Junior Ranger badge
- Mental Wellness
- With a camera or cell phone, capture a moment in nature on the park grounds
- Read the quote stones along the quarter-mile Contemplative Loop Trail
- Journal, sketch or write poetry on the park grounds
Administered by the National Park Service, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield preserves the site of the first major battle of the Civil War in the West. The Confederate victory on August 10, 1861 focused greater national attention on the war in Missouri, leading to greater federal military action. Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield is located 10 miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri at the intersection of Highway ZZ and Farm Road 182.
Original source can be found here.
