On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service this summer, Ken Burns talked to us about his 2009 documentary “The National Park Service: Our Greatest Idea." Roma Torre reports on our continuing Find Your Park series continues.

As a documentary maker, Ken Burns has chronicled some of this country’s darkest moments as well as its most endearing legacies. Now, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, aside from the breathtaking views, Burns is most in awe of the access afforded park goers.

The Brooklyn-born filmmaker called national parks “the most spectacular scenery in our continent in our country.” He added, “the most historical sights are all owned by us as a way to preserve not just natural beauty, but now historical facts about the United States. “

Making his documentary series on our National Parks unearthed a sea of memories of the filmmaker's earliest park visit.

“For many of us of a certain age, the visit to the national park was a huge part a defining part defining part of our childhood and they're just not about the places we go and see, they're spectacular,” he lauded. “They're wonderful, you can't go wrong, they're inexpensive, is in the United States, your dollars stay here, but it also re-cements your memories with your family.”

The buzz around the National Parks centennial and lower gas prices around the country will swell attendance at the over 400 parks, battlefields and monuments across the nation, but Burns says don't be deterred.

“A lot of people will say I don't want to go to Yosemite because there are crowds, but that's good, that's good, people are going, we're all co-owners. We ought to go and inspect our property, and kick the tires, make sure it’s being taken care of,” he exhorted. “I was heartened by the fact that when our series came out on the National Parks at the end of 2009, it got something like 33 or 34 million viewers in its first run, 15 of them got off their butts and went out to the national parks the next year, so the attendance had been a little bit steady and suddenly climbed, upwards of 300 million people a year visit these parks, they gotta have something.”