Parks Adventure History

• The California Parks Adventure was the first ride created in what is now called the California Adventures Series in 2008 by the Ride Chair Mitch Friedman.
  • This ride was added to list of the American Motorcycling Association’s Grand Tour Events.
  • It was designed to be a year-long event consisting of many trips to California’s Parks during the year.
  • The concept of a Park’s Passport/Book in order to collect stamps at each park’s visitor center became the standard method, in addition to collecting photos of your motorcycle in front of the entrance, the visitor’s center, or some landmark within the park that is unique to it.

• California Adventures Series Milestones:
  • 2008 – California Parks Adventure to ride 24 parks was created by Mitch Friedman.
  • 2011 – California Missions Tour was added by the California Parks Adventure Chairs at the time Logan and Cheryl Olds, and they became the Chair for both rides called California Adventures.
  • 2012 – Riders could include either Parks or Missions in the Triple Crown award given to riders who complete three of the SCMA major rides in one year.  The name changed to California Adventures Series including the California Parks Adventure and the California Missions Tour.
  • 2018 - California Roads Challenge was added to the series in 2018.  The California Triple Crown award was created for riders who completed all three tours in one year.

Parks Adventure Rules

In order to complete the Parks Adventure, you will need to prepare to submit your records for certification when you are done:

Visit each of the 24 National Parks listed, in one calendar year.

• You may visit the parks in any order and follow any route you desire.
• The Parks Adventure includes riding your motorcycle from your home to the park(s) being visited and back to your home.
• At each park, document your visit with a selfie.  Ideally, each selfie would show you, your bike and the park landmark.  If that becomes problematic, a photo of your bike with the park landmark will suffice.
• Ensure all photos have a time stamp providing the time and date the photo was taken.  All phones embed this data directly within the photo, usually including location, so nothing special need be done when using your phone camera.
• Optionally, you can obtain a stamp from the park. Many folks collect these stamps as souvenirs in either a SCMA Parks Adventure Book (details below), or a NPS Passport Book.
• There are no time extensions for any reason, including weather, mechanical failures, accidents, illness, etc.

NOTE:  A number of these parks may be partially or fully closed during winter. It is strongly suggested to check park hours and road conditions via the NPS website www.nps.gov prior to your visit.

We suggest riders contact the Ride Chair via the email below, (particularly first time CAS riders), as you are planning your ride.  The Ride Chair will have tips and current information regarding park access and can address any other questions you have.

There are several options for collecting and submitting your records which indicate you visited all of the parks in one calendar year:

• If using SpotWalla to track your rides, you may document each park visit by attaching your selfie(s) to waypoints recorded in SpotWalla.  Upon completion, the Ride Chair will be able to view the track(s) of the ride and all the embedded pictures so that they need neither be printed nor emailed.  Refer to the Electronic Journaling page for more information about documenting your ride using SpotWalla.
• If you prefer to work with hardcopy, you might choose to purchase an SCMA Parks Adventure Book to collect and organize your hardcopy photos and/or stamps. SCMA members can login to this site to purchase our Parks Adventure Book for $50 at the bottom of this page.  There are a Login button and a Join button in the upper right corner of the menu visible on each page if you are not currently a member.  There is also a Click Here to Join button available on the Membership page. If you’ve chosen to complete the Parks Adventure Book, mail the completed book (with all selfie pictures) to the Ride Chair for review. The Ride Chair will mail it back to you upon completion of their review.
• You may also create a ride log document showing the parks visited and the date of each visit. Upon completion, you may submit your documentation using either of the following methods:
  • Print the ride log document and all your park selfie photos, then mail them to the Ride Chair.
  • Email the ride log document and a cloud link of your collected park selfie photos to the Ride Chair.  Please do not email the 24 individual selfie images.

When your ride and related documentation have been completed, visit Certification Request – CAS Parks Adventure and request your ride be certified.  Ride swag may be ordered as part of your Certification Request.

Certified Finishers will be invited to attend Finishers’ celebrations.

Log in to purchase the Parks Adventure Book.

Certify the CAS Parks Adventure

Congratulations!

Follow this link to request certification of your California Adventures Series:  Parks Adventure Tour.