National Parks Traveler

"It has been more than 700 years since Walnut Canyon echoed with the voices and sounds of a robust pueblo community. Today, the Island Trail leads you back in time, and welcomes you into the world of the Native people archeologists call Sinagua. You'll experience 25 cliff dwelling rooms along the trail; and gaze at others visible across the canyon."

Microorganisms play a large part in coloring hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. According to the National Park Service, "The color of Emerald Spring comes from the inherent blue of the water combined with the yellow of the sulfur-coated pool. The water in this 27-foot deep pool is so hot (close to boiling) that only the most heat-tolerant thermophiles can survive. In sulfur-rich hot springs, such as Emerald Spring, some microorganisms use sulfur as their energy source. Byproducts from these reactions can be used by other microbes. This kind of “recycling” ties the various microorganisms into diverse functioning communities."

According to the National Park Service, "Capitan Reef is now recognized as one of the most well-preserved fossil reefs in the world ... Movement of faults over the last 20 million years caused a long-buried portion of the Capitan Reef to rise several thousand feet above its original position. This uplifted block was then exposed to wind and rain causing the softer overlying sediments to erode, uncovering the more resistant fossil reef and forming the modern Guadalupe Mountains. Today the reef towers above the desert floor as it once loomed over the floor of the Delaware Sea 260 to 265 million years ago."

According to the National Park Service, "Desert bighorn sheep roam some of the most inhospitable land in canyon country. Their diet consists of the same spiny shrubs that scrape the shins of hikers. Once feared to be nearing extinction, the desert bighorn is making a tentative comeback in southeast Utah due to reintroduction efforts by the National Park Service. With one of the few remaining native herds, Canyonlands has been a vital source of animals for this program."

According to the National Park Service:

Nearly 150 species of fossil plants from Yellowstone have been found, spanning 500 million years, from the Cambrian to the Holocene. Most petrified wood and other plant fossils come from Eocene deposits about 50 million years old, which occur in many northern parts of the park. Best known are the fossil forests of Specimen Ridge, where the remains of hundreds of these 50-million-year old trees stand exposed on a steep hillside, with trunks up to eight feet in diameter and some more than 20 feet tall. The specimens include sequoia, fir, and numerous deciduous species.

You can hike to this "stone forest" using the Specimen Ridge Day Hike Trail.

One of 250 bird species found in the park, More than 20,000 sandhill cranes will spend 6 - 7 weeks each year in the San Luis Valley during their annual migration to southern New Mexico. Look for them in early February through late March, then again in late September through late March.

Perhaps the most iconic of the park's viewpoints, Bryce Point provides a soaring view of the Bryce Amphitheater from the south. Southern Paiutes call this place Unka Tumpi Wun-nux Tungwatsini Xoopakichu Anax, which means "Red Rock Standing Like a Man in a Hole".

To read more about Bryce Point, click here.

Johns Hopkins Glacier is found at the end of Johns Hopkins Inlet, in the farthest northwest of the Glacier Bay fjord. The glacier fills the end of the fjord, stretching about 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, and reaching 250 feet (76 m) high above the waterline. The ice front extends under sea level, to a depth of approximately 200 feet (61 m), where an underwater moraine protects the deepest extent of the glacial ice like armor against the warm ocean water.

The Chesapeake Bay is home to some special animals. Some are rarely seen, some are downright strange and others have been on the earth for millions of years!

Celebrate July 4th in a unit of the National Park System! You may not see any man-made fireworks, but if it's a clear night, then stay up past your bedtime and enjoy the sparkling stars.

Built by the Spanish in St. Augustine to defend Florida and the Atlantic trade route, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument preserves the oldest masonry fortification in the continental United States and interprets more than 450 years of cultural intersections.