I decided to take a couple of days and do some camping at the nearest place where the weather wasn’t going to be scorching, which turns out to be the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It’s a little gem in the National Park System. It has one beautiful campground that is on the banks of the Little Missouri River, as well as a few trails and a scenic drive. My guess is that it’s one of the least visited units in the NPS but the campground is almost full.

National Park campgrounds are a national treasure. They’re usually located within the park boundaries, so you’re ahead of the crowds if you’re staying there. They are also for camping. They were built back in the days when families would car camp at the parks, so the pads are small and there aren’t a lot of amenities. Even today, the campers tend to break into two groups: older campers who have big RVs that they try to squeeze into the not-big-enough campsites, and younger ones in cars or old vans who fit fine. This campground doesn’t have electricity, sewer or water at the sites, so that keeps the really big RVers out.

Trump, of course, has no interest in the outdoors other than his conquest of it to build golf courses. He put his ugly mug on the yearly national park pass, which at $80 is one of the great travel bargains. As soon as I passed 62 1/2, I got the Senior LIfetime pass, which is also $80 but I can use it as long as I live. Plus, Trump’s ugly face isn’t on that pass.

The latest Trump indignity is bulldozers in Big Bend, building his border wall in a place that is so remote that only locals cross the river to tend their cattle. He’s also doing the usual Republican move of shrinking some of the parks and monuments that were expanded by Democratic executive order.

Here’s the thing: people love the National Parks. Unfortunately, like a lot of other recreation activities, they’ve become more expensive to get to (not to visit once you’re there), so I think they’re incorrectly viewed as a luxury good. Also, visitors do skew white, probably because traveling while black was pretty risky until not so long ago, and it’s probably still more risky than this white looking boy knows. Traveling while brown has gotten a lot riskier in the last two years, too. Still, I’d like to see Democrats be loud and proud about our support of National Parks, which are just a wonderful part of this great country that Trump is making less great.