By Alex Day, Marketing & Communications Director
This summer, in the cool dark of Mammoth Cave National Park, Bruce Tecklenburg, a member of the Washington’s National Park Fund Board of Directors, received a stamp in his national park passport. With that last stamp, he and his wife, Dawn, joined a very small club: travelers who have visited every one of America’s 63 Congressionally designated national parks.
For a milestone that grand, the beginning was wonderfully modest. In July of 2019, standing in a bookstore at Yellowstone’s Canyon Village, the Tecklenburgs picked up a national parks passport book on a whim. They had already been to more than thirty parks by then, so they figured they would go back, revisit the ones they loved, and collect the stamps. Yellowstone became number one. “In every case, we spent time there,” Bruce says. “They’re so amazing that they’re worth going back to a second time, or third, or fourth.”
What started as a fun idea slowly became a mission. “Probably about two and a half years in, it was like, yeah, we’ve got to do this,” he says. By then he had retired, and the road opened up.
Bruce grew up in Cincinnati, and the parks were woven into his childhood from the start. Every summer his family traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park, staying in Estes Park and hitting the trails. Trips to see his grandmother in Seattle meant a visit to Mount Rainier. Great Smoky Mountains was only four hours from home. “My parents always liked the parks,” he says, “so it was always an easy family trip.”
That early love pulled him west. Bruce came to Seattle for the University of Washington, fell for the city, and called his parents to tell them he was not coming home. He learned to ski in college, and the mountains, the water, and the trails cemented a lifelong relationship with the outdoors. He and Dawn would go on to spend forty years in the Pacific Northwest.
His career kept the parks in view, quite literally. Across more than three decades in aviation with Horizon Air, Alaska Airlines, Mead & Hunt Consulting, and Boeing, Bruce was a devoted window-seat flyer. He watched Mount St. Helens change over twenty years from the air, traced Alpine lakes across the Cascades, and came home wondering how to reach the next ridge he had spotted from thirty thousand feet. “That was the beauty of being able to fly so much,” he says, “and see the Northwest from the air.”
Dawn brought her own deep roots to the partnership. She grew up in Alaska, where her father and grandfather worked as big game guides, and she was hiking, fishing, and skiing long before the two of them ever met. Finding the outdoors together was the most natural thing in the world, Bruce shares.
Ask Bruce for his favorite park and he offers a diplomat’s answer: they are all amazing. Press him for a story, though, and the memories come pouring out.
There were the “surprise parks,” the ones he knew little about that turned out to steal the show. Theodore Roosevelt in North Dakota, all green badlands and wild bison, when he had expected to find only flat wheat fields. Big Bend, stunning high desert dropping to the Rio Grande. Pinnacles in California, where a condor buzzed him mid-hike as he crawled along a ridge, close enough that he photographed the tag on its wing.
There were the encounters that remind you the wild is truly wild: a brown bear scaling an eroded riverbank at Lake Clark, a blonde “spirit bear” ambling across a trail at Lassen Volcanic. And there was the glacier hike in Wrangell-St. Elias, the largest national park of them all, when the clouds parted to reveal Mount Blackburn and a guide produced hot chocolate on the ice. “It’s like, okay, this is all right,” Bruce laughs.
The hardest to reach came last. This year’s big undertaking was American Samoa, three-quarters of the way to Australia and roughly six thousand miles from Bruce and Dawn’s home in Florida. After that came what the Tecklenburgs called their “final four,” a loop through Cuyahoga Valley, Indiana Dunes, Gateway Arch, and, finally, Mammoth Cave: stamp 63.
But despite having seen all 63 diverse national parks, Bruce has a special love for the three here in Washington state — they stand alone in his memories.
Having now seen every national park in the country, Bruce speaks about Washington’s three with the authority of someone who has walked the whole system.
“There’s no doubt the Park Service has these absolute flagship parks — Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone,” he says. “Mount Rainier is absolutely in that category. Olympic is in that category, because it’s so big, so diverse, so many ecosystems. And while most people wouldn’t think about North Cascades, its beauty puts it on par with any of the big mountain parks.” Three grand parks, he marvels, in one state.
His advice to anyone chasing the same goal is simple: “Don’t sleep on any of those. If you’re looking at parks to check off, make sure you go and check off the ones in Washington State. They’re gorgeous. You won’t be disappointed.”
Bruce’s philanthropy started as quietly as his 63-park quest. Years ago at Mount Rainier, he spotted a donation flyer for Washington’s National Park Fund and gave twenty-five dollars. “These places are special, these places need to be protected,” he remembers thinking. “They’re always underfunded, no matter who’s in office or in Congress, and the parks do really great work.”
That first small gift grew, over the years, into a deep commitment. Today Bruce and Dawn support the parks they love as active partners, and Bruce brings his professional experience to Washington’s National Park Fund’s Board of Directors, including serving as Treasurer and Campaign Committee Co-Chair.
He is especially energized by what philanthropy is making possible right now at Mount Rainier, from the campaign taking shape at Paradise and the Skyline Trail improvements to the meadow research that will inform the park’s long-term meadow restoration strategy. Further down the line, he looks ahead to the promise of Hurricane Ridge at Olympic with excitement. He points, too, to less glamorous but vital work like staff housing at North Cascades. “Being able to solve the housing issues, that’s just going to make the visitor experience across the entire park so much better,” he says.
When he pictures the next generation walking these trails, his hope is simple: “I hope they walk away with exactly what I walked away with when I was a kid — how special these places are, and how grand the landscapes are. The animals you encounter along the trail. This isn’t the zoo. They’re in the wild, and it’s a pretty special thing.”
As for why he gives so much of his time and energy, Bruce puts it plainly:
This country’s national parks have influenced me from early childhood. Washington’s national parks are amazing treasures, and it is very important to give back to the parks for all the joy they have given to us.
Sixty-three stamps in the book, and the reason still fits on a single page. “They’re amazing places,” he says, “and we’re so proud to support them. It’s not just easy; it’s a lot of fun.”
Washington’s National Park Fund is the official philanthropic partner of Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks. With the generosity of park supporters like Bruce and Dawn, we fund critical park projects that protect wildlife, preserve ecosystems, and enhance visitor experiences. Inspired by Bruce and Dawn’s story? Join them in giving back today at wnpf.org/donate.
Photos courtesy of Bruce Tecklenburg. Cover photo: Bruce and Dawn on the Root Glacier in Wrangell St. Elias National Park & Preserve.