Craig Thompson enjoys making bucket list challenges.
First, the 53-year-old Carmel resident completed a marathon in each of the 50 states, then he made it through 100 full marathons. His latest quest was to visit all 63 national parks.
He finished that in June, nine years after he started. The journey began right after he completed his 50th state in Hawaii in June 2015.
“The next day we finished this adventure of doing marathons and we went to Hawaii Volcano National Park,” he said. “Unknown to me at the time, but that started a new thing. I didn’t really intend it to be that way. I kept running marathons, and when I did that, I would see if I could tie it into visiting a national park.”
Thompson’s family began joining him for many of his national park visits.
His final of the 63 parks came from June 15-20 at Glacier Bay National Park outside of Juneau, Alaska. He was joined by his family.
He took many of the trips with his friends and other members of the Carmel Runners Club.
The American Samoa National Park is the most difficult to visit, Thompson said. He made that trip in December 2023, his 62nd visit.
“You have to fly to Honolulu, and that’s the halfway point,” he said. “Then you have to go to Pago Pago, which is an eight-hour flight from Honolulu. It’s a fascinating place. The people are different. It’s a very different culture. It’s slower times. It’s a tropical rainforest.”
Thompson said many people attempting to visit all the national parks make American Samoa their final destination because it’s the hardest to get to, but he didn’t want it to be his last one.
“It’s not the most enticing one,” he said. “If there are dog lovers, you wouldn’t like it. There are 50 stray dogs, all underfed. Some dogs are fine, and some wanted to bite your head off. There was a McDonald’s there, and I went and bought 100 chicken nuggets to feed these dogs. I felt terrible for them.”
There are eight national parks in Alaska. Thompson led a group of 18 Carmel Runners Club members to the Mayor’s Marathon, and then they went to Denali National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park. Two of the harder ones to visit are Kobuk Valley National Park and Gates of the Arctic in Alaska.
“You have to basically hire somebody with a bush plane to take you up there,” he said. “There’s no roads or trails. You fly in for a day, and they come pick you up a day later. You throw a backpack on and you don’t know what you are going to run into, (such as) polar bears.”
Picking his favorite national park is easy.
“It’s the Grand Canyon, because every November I take a group out from the Carmel Runners Club and we hike rim to rim,” he said. “It’s not easy. “Hiking can take eight to 14 hours depending who you are.”
Thompson has owned a small mortgage business in Henry County for 20 years, so he often works at home. Sometimes he has to answer work emails and texts on the trips, and travel can be expensive.
“There’s a load off my shoulders, it’s finally done,” he said. “It accidentally timed out perfectly meaning my youngest daughter, Makenna, who just graduated from Carmel High School is going to Purdue. My kids have been able to go along on the adventures with me. They’ve been to all 50 states.”
Thompson and wife Ann’s older daughter Ella is a senior at Purdue University.
“My wife thinks I’m crazy, there’s no doubt,” Thompson said. “I have a hard time sitting still. When I go to these national parks, I like to experience them (fully).”
Makenna has a hiking limit of 3 miles.
“If we go over that, she gets really mad at me,” he said. “My older daughter will go to American Samoa, she’ll finish (visiting every park).”
Thompson said he knows he has inspired several people to visit the national parks.
Steve Hollander, a Carmel Runners Club member and Westfield resident, had talked with Thompson about visiting all the parks at the start of Thompson’s quest.
“He accelerated and beat me to it,” Hollander said. “I’ve been to 44 of them. We’re always bouncing tips and ideas off one another. We’ve gone on a few big trips together. I’m proud of all Craig’s accomplishments. One of the things people don’t realize is how good a guy he is and how good a family man he is.”
What’s next?
Craig Thompson would like to hike the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
It’s an ambitious undertaking, which starts at Springer Mountain in Georgia and ends at Mount Katahdin in Maine.
“I’m an impatient hiker or runner,” he said. “It takes the average person six months. I envision it taking me four months. Every night you set up a tent or they have shelters. There will be a river or a lake and you’ll have to filter your water. You have to plan out your food.”
Thompson said he would likely have to do it when he stops working in the mortgage business.
“I don’t put it past him, he’ll do it,” fellow Carmel Runners Club member Steve Hollander said,.
In the meantime, Thompson will keep challenging himself. At the end of July, Thompson hiked the Wonderland Trail, the 93 miles around Mount Rainier in the state of Washington, with two other Carmel Runners Club members.
