For 364 days a year, the brain trust here at the Traveler tries to come up with thoughtful, occasionally thought-provoking, entertaining, and informative posts on the National Park System. Today we turn the editorial keys over to you.
Tell us what you want to read about, which units of the National Park System need a shout out or two. Do you want more wildlife copy, more "things to do," more of Professor Bob's quizzes or Ranger Jim's anecdotes, or more travel-planning posts? More hard news, more advocacy items, more Mystery Photos?
Give us a list and we'll post it on our monitors and see how many items we can check off in the weeks and months to come.
Comments
Anon, here at Traveler we just don''t have the resources to track a lot of different events for our readers. But you can track the events schedule for particular parks yourself without too much difficulty. Grand Canyon National Park is an example of a park with readily accessible information about events scheduled weeks of months from now. To see for yourself, go to www.nps.gov/grca click on Plan Your Visit, then click on Things to Do, then click on Schedule of Events ("Calendar of Events" is yet another listing). Note that you can specify inclusive dates well in the future. Smaller parks with less sophisticated websites can still provide the info you want; you just have to dig a little harder for it -- generally by beginning with Things to Do. If you phone your "local" (closest) national parks, you may find that you can receive, via snailmail or e-mail, newsletters or other publications that provide schedules of coming events. Good luck, and have fun.
Thanks, Steve. We're always glad to get suggestions for Reader Participation topics. If you've got more ideas, be sure to send 'em along and we'll see what we can do with them.
DG, you need to dig back through "back issues" of Traveler (of which there are several years worth -- see Browse Content by Date). If you do that you'll see that we're already doing many of the things you've suggested. Reader comments provide much of the "inside view" you'd like to see, so don't ignore the comments following articles. Some of the more in-depth reporting you'd like to see is simply not feasible at the present time, given our limited resources, but is out there on the horizon.
Tom, are you sure you didn't mean more lightweight material? Because if that's what you want, we can sure provide it! In a more serious vein, we here at Traveler do try to balance the serious stuff with lighter fair. At least, Jim and I do. As you may have noticed, Kurt is as serious as a heart attack.
Tomp, I will admit this much: If there are no lagers available, it's OK to drink ale. Newcastle Brown Ale, if they have it. As for the final design of the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) Hwy 601 bridge/causeway project on the Congaree River floodplain, well, your guess is as good as mine. SCDOT seems bent on doing the job on the cheap (surprise, surprise!), which essentially means replacing the river bridge and rebuilding the existing floodplain causeway (which in many ways acts like a dam). Congaree National Park wants a project that has nice scenic turnouts, park access spurs, and a design that will permit water (and wildlife) to flow under the lengthy structure with a minimum of interference.
Anon, we can only include articles and thought pieces about poets, artists, and writers once in a while because, quite frankly, reader interest in these themes is very limited. Personally, I wish that weren't so, but there it is.
More of all of the above, please!
I love the traveler's checklists. Like the one for Acadia, where I could add a few things I'd done there that Kurt hadn't mentioned. By the time the article's been up for a week, the readers have expanded it by hundreds of percent and you have a pretty thorough treatment of the stuff to do at a given place.
I think more travelogue-type articles on specific places and activities would be cool. Rafting the Rio Grande in Big Bend, bird watching on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic, kayaking around Cumberland Island...
You could get some in-depth articles on somewhat obscure activities that reveal the spirit of some of these places.
I'd like to hear from readers about Fourth of July memories in the national parks. One year at the Grand Canyon, North Rim Lodge, the staff organized a parade and water gun fight, since fireworks were not allowed. We tourists could participate in the wet zone or stay in the dry zone. Our son had a blast, as did we, watching him!
Or perhaps it could be framed as "extras" that staffs at the parks have done. In addition to the above example, during a visit to Many Glacier Lodge in Glacier National Park, we once discovered a delightful musical of "golden oldies" put on by the young summer staff members. It was enthusiastic, well-done, and enjoyed by all generations.
Maybe a section on "little known facts" about our great parks.
Also discussions/infomration on great places for retired travelers to set down for a few months and volunteer. I think DG hit a good spot in looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the various parks. There are those of us out here who are retired or, like me, soon to retire, who would gladly give our right arm to work in our beloved parks and have a positive impact. JKP
Digging out little known facts about our national parks is a Traveler specialty, Jolene. I think you'll find a lot to like along those lines if you browse through "back issues." Do that and let us know what you think.
I live in metro NY and this is my favorite blog. It is the one cyber-stop I make each day that lifts my spirits and reminds me about all that is wonderous in the United States.
I love hearing about the wildlife. And maybe I'm part sadist but that story about the European visitor on the payphone in Yellowstone getting some air thanks to a Bison was hilarious. I'm sure the Rangers out there have some funny stories to share.
Why not do stories about the unusual Parks (i.e. I bet most people don't know there's a NPS facility on Wall St where Obama spoke from last week).
I especially like hearing about the parks in the Rockies. And I am always interested in stories about people having accidents or getting lost (and hopefully found). But I think that comes from having lived in the Colorado wildnerness for years and I know how easy it is for something to go wrong in the backcountry. There's valuable lessons in each of these stories.
But I also want to stay current on the NPS and Dept of the Interior politics. How is Salazar doing so far?
Most of all thank you for doing such a great job! I look forward to seeing your daily headline feed on myYahoo each morning.
I'm a huge fan of the parks and I have learned so much from your articles. It's a selfless public service you do, please accept my thanks! I'm glad you welcome comments; sometimes I get the sense of being out of my depth, but have enjoyed participating when I have something relevant/intelligent to say. I check in with you guys at least every other day to read the latest & greatest, good and bad. I enjoy the quizzes, even though I've failed nearly all of them. (Shhh. Don't tell Prof. Bob) If I had a request, I'd like to hear more about what working in the parks is like. Is a job in the NPS worth pursuing? Bet that would generate some comments.