There is a dark underside to the National Park System, and it is one of the most wondrous settings you’ll find. It features crystals, walls of “popcorn,” waterfalls, and streams akin to the mythical River Styx. There are chambers that could accommodate an orchestra, walls of dazzling marble, and slabs of “bacon.”
From Kentucky to coastal California, from the Great Lakes to southern New Mexico, caves worm their way beneath the park system. If you believe that the night sky is the “other half,” of the park system, well, then perhaps you should reduce that to a third and give the underbelly a third, too, with the surface landscape claiming the remaining third.
My interest in caves came years ago while squirming on belly, knees, and elbows through Mammoth Cave National Park on a wild cave tour. While I didn’t arrive at the right season to explore Wind Cave National Park or Jewel Cave National Monument on their wild cave adventures when I visited earlier this year, I did get to experience their normal tour route wonders and was not disappointed.
Along with describing those adventures beginning on page 5, we’ve created on pages 10-13 charts of cave systems around the National Park System for use in plotting your own underworld treks. As a bonus for those thinking of visiting the South Dakota cave parks, we’ve outlined a road trip through that state and its national parks beginning on page 33.
There are, of course, more stories to the park system. Erika Zambello brings two to this issue with a look at the amazing wading bird nesting season Everglades National Park witnessed early this year, along with a piece on efforts to preserve a “wildlands corridor” for plant and animal species along the Eastern Seaboard.
Special Projects Editor Patrick Cone found himself in Minnesota this summer, and returned home with a look at efforts to transform the historic Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam system at the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area into a more visitor friendly location.
And, as part of Traveler’s commitment to explore national parks and protected areas the world over, Mark Hendricks explains what you can experience with a self-supported photography safari through some of Tanzania’s national parks. His story begins on page 26.
Sit back travelers, enjoy their stories, and then start planning your own adventures.
You can read the entire issue now, or wait as we roll out the stories on the Traveler in the weeks and months ahead.
Add a digital edition of this 54-page book to your national park library for just $1.99 from this site, or order a hard copy for $12.95 from MagCloud below.
By Kurt Repanshek in National Parks Traveler
54 pages, published 8/21/2018
Caves, wildland corridors, and "supercolonies" of nesting birds at Everglades National Park and other stories to help you enjoy national parks this fall.
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