Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks, and author Mike Bezemek for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

We’re reaching the age where retirement is sooner rather than later. We’ve already bought a camper and go camping for more than a month every spring. Our dream is to spend a couple of months out west visiting National Parks, which is why I was excited to read Mysteries of the National Parks. I love all things unexplained and was expecting that from this book.

For the most part, that’s just what it is. Author Mile Bezemek has put together a collection of things that have happened at National Parks in the United States that cannot be explained or just remains a mystery currently. I say “currently” because some of it is about how certain areas were formed. Science can’t explain it all right now, but there’s a possibility of an explanation being figured out in the future as our technology develops. This is the case in regard to Yosemite, where some of the formations defy explanation.

There are plenty of other mysteries to go around. Bezemek brings up UFO sightings, mysterious disappearances, and more. There are great ones, such as a couple who tried to raft the rapids through the Grand Canyon and were never heard from again. During World War II, a reconnaissance blimp was sent out of San Francisco. It eventually drifted back to the city, minus the crew. In Indiana Dunes, a child disappeared beneath dunes that were thought to be solid sand. These sort of mysteries I enjoyed reading.

There were other stories, though, that weren’t really mysteries but more like “interesting facts.” This was especially the case with the blockbuster flop that was the movie Heaven’s Gate. The movie was filmed in and around Glacier National Park. There’s no real mystery or odd happening involved, unless it’s why the movie was greenlighted with little oversight in the first place. The same is true for the story of “Calamity Jane.” It’s an interesting story, but hardly a mystery. Al Capone using the Everglades as a hiding place for his rumrunning? Nothing I haven’t heard about before.

The mysterious stories that are interesting are very interesting. Bezemek has done a great job researching events as best he can at this point. Some stories rely largely on verbal tales passed around. Bezemek tries to present everything that’s known, then weighs in on whether or not he thinks that’s a likely explanation or story about what happened. This was especially the case with the real story of the movie The Revnant, which I recognized right away when reading it. He’s recounting events from nearly 200 years ago in the wilderness. That makes it hard to find any eyewitnesses anymore.

For the most part, I found Mysteries of the National Parks to be interesting. Really, you can pick and choose what you want to read about, especially if you read it while on the road going to visit National Parks. That might be a better way to approach this book rather than reading it straight through. I did enjoy many of the stories he chose, it’s just that some didn’t feel like they belonged in a book that’s supposed to be about mysteries. Those stories might be more compelling when you’re actually visiting the Park, rather than just reading about it from the comfort of your couch.

This wasn’t a bad book, just not all of what I was expecting. I’d think maybe he could have dug up a few more real mysteries rather than regaling the reader with just some interesting stories.