Fourteen years after visiting her first national park, Krista Muscarella completed a goal she once thought impossible: visiting all 63 designated U.S. National Parks. Her final journey - a 43-mile backpack across Isle Royale National Park from Windigo to Rock Harbor alongside two fellow Wilderness Travel Course (WTC) graduates - was more than the completion of a bucket-list dream. It was the culmination of years of adventure made possible by the skills, confidence, and friendships she gained through the Sierra Club's Wilderness Travel Course.
Growing up in Buffalo, New York, Krista developed a love for the outdoors through family camping trips. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2016, she quickly discovered Southern California's mountains and began exploring local trails. While she loved hiking, she knew there was still much to learn about traveling safely and responsibly in the backcountry.
One day, while browsing the community bulletin board at a local outdoor retailer, an employee mentioned the Wilderness Travel Course. Intrigued by the opportunity to finally learn how to backpack, she immediately researched the program. With encouragement from her parents - who even split the modest course fee with her - she enrolled in the 2017 Long Beach South Bay course.
Over the course of ten weeks, WTC introduced Krista to the fundamentals of safe wilderness travel. Weekly classroom sessions covered map and compass navigation, layering systems, backcountry nutrition, basic wilderness first aid, and travel techniques for environments ranging from desert landscapes to snowy alpine terrain. Field outings reinforced those lessons through hands-on experience, including hikes on Mt. Wilson, a weekend in Joshua Tree National Park, a snow hike, and the memorable Snow Camp in the Eastern Sierra. Despite growing up in snowy Buffalo, Snow Camp was the outing she anticipated the least and ultimately became one of the experiences she remembers most fondly.
While WTC taught her the technical skills to explore with confidence, it also introduced her to a welcoming community of outdoor enthusiasts. The friendships formed during those ten weeks extended well beyond the classroom and trails, with many of those friends becoming lifelong adventure partners.
Equipped with the knowledge and confidence she gained through WTC, Krista's adventures quickly expanded. That first summer alone, she backpacked the Trans-Catalina Trail, hiked Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, explored Havasupai, and visited Banff and Jasper National Parks. It was only the beginning.
Over the next nine years, she continued seeking new adventures across North America. She backpacked rim-to-rim through the Grand Canyon, summited Mount Whitney, Cloudripper and many more Sierra peaks, watched grizzly bears feast on salmon in Katmai National Park and Preserve, experienced the unique culture of the National Park of American Samoa, camped among the Channel Islands, and explored countless other remarkable public lands. Each new destination built upon the foundation WTC had provided.
Inspired by her own experience, Krista returned to WTC the following year as a volunteer instructor with Long Beach South Bay Group 1. Since then, she has enjoyed helping new students build the same skills and confidence that transformed her own outdoor experiences. Giving back to the course has become just as rewarding as the adventures themselves.
In July 2026, Krista reached the final milestone of her journey by backpacking across Isle Royale National Park - her 63rd and final national park. Sharing that accomplishment with two fellow WTC graduates made the moment especially meaningful and served as a reminder that while the parks themselves are unforgettable, it is often the people we meet along the way who leave the greatest impact.
Looking back, Krista realizes that visiting all 63 national parks was never simply about checking destinations off a list. It was about discovering wild places, learning to recreate responsibly, challenging herself, inspiring others, and building lifelong friendships through a shared passion for the outdoors. For that, she will always be grateful to the Wilderness Travel Course.
Registration for the 2027 Wilderness Travel Course opens September 15. Courses begin in January in West Los Angeles, San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach South Bay, and Orange County. To learn more, visit wildernesstravelcourse.org.