In 2015, a grandma, Joy Ryan, and her grandson, Brad Ryan, set out to visit all 63 national parks in the U.S. Last month, almost eight years later, they completed their odyssey when they visited the National Park of American Samoa.
For Joy, now 93, this is a dream come true, and her 42-year-old grandson is happy to have accompanied her in this historic milestone.
“I’m the oldest old lady ever to visit every national park,” she said.
Humble beginnings
The grandma-grandson traveling duo hail from Duncan Falls, Ohio, a small town in Muskingum County with about 1,500 people. Their journey began in 2015 when Brad suggested they visit Smoky Mountains National Park and stay in a tent.
“And I said, ‘Yes, I’ll try it.’ I’d never been in one before,” she remembers.
Grandma Joy, then 85, had never hiked before. Still, they both hiked the two and a half miles to the summit, and at the top, a group of college kids gave her “a rousing cheer!”
After this visit, they were hooked. They had such a great time at the Smoky Mountains that they decided to visit all national parks in the U.S. — and maybe beyond. At the time, she was a minimum-wage worker at a deli in her hometown but craved to see the world.
“She had a huge, adventurous spirit but never really had the means to do much in her life. Her connection to the world was really through watching the Travel Channel,” Brad said.
A journey like no other
Brad created an Instagram account, “Grandma Joy’s Road Trip,” to share their moments with the world. Today, he has over 78,000 followers and many fans worldwide. And through their GoFundMe page, they have raised money for their recent trips.
The 93-year-old has shown the world there is no limit to what a person can do regardless of age. Brad says she had never seen mountains, deserts, and the ocean, but today she’s ticked them all off her list.
She’s been ziplining at New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia, where she holds the record of the oldest person to complete the course.
She rolled down one of the dunes in the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado — even when Brad was against it. “I said you are going to break a hip,” he remembers.
Grandma Joy was even more eager than Brad to go water rafting in a Class 3 river at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska. “It was great,” said Joy. “You just have to hang on, that’s all.”
Building bridges
Not only did this journey bring the two closer, but it also helped them make amends and heal. Brad and his grandmother had been estranged for over a decade after the “ugly divorce” of his parents. Joy supported Brad’s father (her firstborn son), while Brad “felt betrayed equally as my mom felt betrayed.”
However, today the two have forgiven each other, and Joy, who had been very ill, says she has never felt more vibrant. Some followers even point out that she looks even younger than she looked when she started at 85.
“There are many things I’ve gotten wrong in my life,” he says. “The best thing I ever did was to call her that day.”
The crowning moment
In mid-May, the adventurous duo landed at the airport amidst cheers and applause from other passengers, their supporters, and locals.
Brad called their last step of the journey “bittersweet” because they traveled just a week after his father’s death. However, he says it was more “sweet.”
They spent a week in American Samoa and Samoa and even found a favorite spot at the national park — the Pola Island trail. They loved it so much that they returned to see it on their last day.
“Isn’t that magnificent? Oh! It’s so pretty; I love that. It’s like it’s a dream,” Joy said.
They were also awarded certificates and gifts from the National Park Service, commemorating their achievements.
“We defied erroneous assumptions about the limitations of aging,” Brad Ryan wrote on Instagram. “We defied financial and logistical constraints. We even defied a pandemic. And you might have noticed that I accidentally made Grandma Joy the superstar I always knew her to be.”
Brad and Joy say their 63-national park achievement is just the start. They plan to further their travels, including a safari trip to Kenya.
