| Page 1230 | National Parks Traveler

Somebody at Indiana University's Eppley Institute has hit the nail on the head. Whoever you are, well done. The mystery spot is Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark (aka Kennecott Mines or just plain Kennecott), in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve. Partial credit to Anon #2, who identified the park, but not the specific site.

Jun 16th - 11:40am | Anonymous

Wrangell-St. Elias???

Jun 16th - 08:54am | Bob Janiskee

Not New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park.

Jun 16th - 08:52am | Anonymous

New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park??

Jun 16th - 08:38am | Eppley Institute

Kennecott Copper Mine, Wrangell-St. Elias

Jun 16th - 08:00am | Bob Janiskee

Nope, not Glacier Bay National Park.

Jun 16th - 07:57am | Julie S

Glacier Bay National park?

ReserveAmerica Can't Find a National Park Campground It Likes

Jun 16th - 12:47pm | Anonymous

FYI most of the time these "Top ###" lists are purely pay-for-play, or at least "you tell us if you want to be on the list". The listings are not necessarily based upon objective criteria. I'm a marketing professional, and this is a common practice in the industry.

Jun 16th - 12:09pm | y_p_w

Pinnacles Campground was a privately owned location that was previously outside of the boundaries of Pinnacles NM. It's essentially a KOA style family campground with full hookups and amenities like a swimming pool. While the NPS absorbed it, it's not a typical federal campground that has no hookups.

Jun 16th - 09:16am | Anonymous

Wow thanks for the great list. We started visiting National Parks when our boys were 7 and 5 (20 years ago). These campgrounds beat most commercial campgrounds any day. So many favorite list do not use the correct criteria and are misleading. Now that both boys are in California I think I'll try a few of the far west campgrounds you listed. Thanks!

Jun 16th - 08:38am | Anonymous

While I agree with you that Many Glacier campground is an amazing place, I would think ReserveAmerica would want to stick with campgrounds that they take reservations for.

Photo Collage of Florida's Coastal Seabirds Reminds Us of What's At Stake With Deepwater Horizon

Jun 16th - 12:17pm | Scott G - Pensacola

thanks. I don't see an arrow - it's just white space. Our office server may be blocking the video for whatever reason...so I'll check it from the house. thanks again!

Jun 16th - 09:39am | Kurt Repanshek

Seems to work fine, Scott. Silly question: Did you click on the arrow?

Jun 16th - 09:14am | Scott G - Pensacola

Kurt - Hi. I can't get the video to come up -- just a preview of the 1st frame . Is it a problem on my end?

Mountains-to-Sea Trail Weaves Through North Carolina's National Parks

Jun 16th - 10:45am | Joe Veler

Great article, Danny!

Jun 15th - 17:11pm | Danny Bernstein

Hi Eno Hiker: Thank you for your complements. Yes, the Piedmont is interesting and I have walked the Sauratown Trail. But I was conscious that I was writing for **National Parks Traveler** so I wanted to emphasize the national parks units that the MST goes through.

Jun 15th - 16:25pm | Eno Hiker

What a wonderful story on the MST. Thanks for all the great details about the beautiful areas it passes through, the challenges that still lay ahead for completing the trail and some of the history on how it got started. I wish there had been more stated about the middle or "Piedmont" sections of the trail.

Jun 15th - 16:03pm | Anonymous

I am currently section hiking the MST and fully support using more existing trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to avoid walking on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The suggested route goes through the Cataloochee section of the GSMNP, a unique treasure of the caliber of other North Carolina gems linked by the MST.

Still No Resolution In Hunt For Missing Man in Yellowstone National Park

Jun 16th - 09:45am | MikeD

Having just watched the film "Brothers," this story is especially captivating, and haunting. Although this man has seemingly little in common with Chris McCandless, this is also reminds me of the kind of stories that Jon Krakauer recounted in the book "Into the Wild." Prayers go out to Mr. Kastner and his family.

Let's Stay Safe In the National Parks This Summer, Okay?

Jun 16th - 09:11am | Chief Ranger

Thanks for the safety message. In addition to safety tips listed above I'll add the following:

Jun 15th - 18:33pm | justinh

Laborman, It strikes me, too, as an awful "amendment" for the reasons you mention. The first casualty of the new law may have been the grizzly bear shot to death by a backpacker in Denali.

Jun 15th - 18:03pm | Laborman

How about the idiotic amendment to the credit card reform law which took effect last February which allows anyone to carry a loaded weapon, even assault weapon, into any national park if it would otherwise be permitted under state law?

Naked Hikers Let It All Hang Out On the Summer Solstice

Jun 15th - 22:54pm | Random Walker

Anonymous (not verified), We sure can. Sincerely, RW

Jun 15th - 21:02pm | Anonymous

Well I can tell you that today I was hiking along a secluded trail here in the Bishkill, PA area. When I arrived I was the only car in the lot. I went hiking for a couple of miles and went down to one of the rocks by the river, stripped off, and went swimming. Since it was a lovely day and I was alone I decided to hike back down the trail shorts and towl in hand.

Land Deal Closes The Book On the New World Mine Proposed on Yellowstone National Park's Doorstep

Jun 15th - 21:25pm | Anonymous

excellent

Great Strides Being Made in Recovering Island Fox at Channel Islands National Park

Jun 15th - 21:08pm | Anonymous

Has it not occured to everybody that the park line is hogwash, a fabrication meant to bolster the park's agenda? Prior to the onset of Park Service management in 1986, the island fox thrived for the 150-plus years of the ranching era in the presence of large cattle, deer, pig and goat populations.

Seasonal Law-Enforcement Ranger At Glacier Bay National Park Charged with Two Counts of Second-Degree Sexual Assault

Jun 15th - 20:56pm | Anonymous

All of the Charges were dismissed againt Dorian Curry by the District Attorney in Juneau.. This can be verifed with a written request to the Clerk of the Court in Juneau Alaska asking for a copy of the dismissal of charges...

Bluffs Lodge and the Best Coffee Shop in a National Park

Jun 15th - 15:56pm | Joe Veler

Our fall color reports start around the middle of September. They are accessible via the home page just like the wildflower reports are. During the winter... we do winter closing reports so we work on it all year. We've also recently added a road closures and weather page. See the links below. I've also provided some links to fall color reports from last year (2009).

Shock-Synthesized Diamonds Unearthed in Channel Islands Reveal a Death-Dealing Extraterrestrial Impact

Jun 15th - 15:23pm | Dennis Cox

The likelihood of the obvservations of an amateur being taken seriously by the academic comunity is inversely proportional to the significance of those observations. So that a really big idea that changes things has about as much chance of being heard as a mouse breaking wind in a huricane.

The Yosemite Fund and The Yosemite Association Come Together Under The "Yosemite Conservancy"

Jun 15th - 13:03pm | Mark S.

Thank you for epitomizing one of the very reasons no one wants to discuss this issue. It, the quality of the Yosemite visit, is not about me. I will gladly camp elsewhere other than Yosemite Valley, which I have done twice in the past three weeks. I would gladly take a number if it means that the experience can be improved for others.

Overnight in Shenandoah National Park's Skyland Resort

Jun 15th - 11:35am | Benjamin Lord

Looks like great progress is being made on this trip. That Blue Ridge Parkway seems so long you wonder if you'll ever see the end. Shenandoah is a lesser-known crown-jewel, since it requires exploration and time to uncover its secrets. But it has always been my personal favorite. What are you guys going to do now, since you have to travel West?

Jun 15th - 08:17am | Duncan deGraffenreid

Bring back Buckwheat pancakes! Please!

Get to Know What Search and Rescue On Mount McKinley in Denali National Park Is All About

Jun 15th - 10:40am | tahoma

Outstanding photography in difficult conditions!

Jun 15th - 08:30am | Lee Dalton

Impressive! Very impressive . . . .

Off the Blue Ridge Parkway and into Shenandoah National Park

Jun 15th - 08:22am | Duncan deGraffenreid

Thanks! I emailed him.

Jun 14th - 17:25pm | Bob Janiskee

Peter Bizon, ARAMARK's Executive Chef at Shenandoah National Park, is in charge of the menus at Skyland and Big Meadows. You can contact Chef Bizon at [email protected]

Jun 14th - 17:03pm | Duncan deGraffenreid

Skyland and Big Meadows restaurants used to serve the bestest Buckwheat pancakes up until i think last year. I asked about it and was told it filtered off the menu for lack of demand. If you could put in a good word for bringing them back, the park would be a better place :) Loft Mountain is a beautiful place to camp....I love the mostly flat sites on top of the mountain.

National Park Movies of the 1980s

Jun 14th - 21:12pm | y_p_w

Thinking back to National Lampoon's Vacation, there was a reason why Clark Griswold is in such a hurry to take just a glace at the Grand Canyon and hightail it out of there. He'd just had his credit card denied at the El Torvar, with the clerk refusing to take an out of state check. He then just accidentally opened the cash register, took out a wad of cash, and left the check behind.

Jun 14th - 19:12pm | Random Walker

There was the silly "Harry and the Hendersons," parts of which were filmed in my favorite National Park of all, The North Cascades. The underrated sci-fi B-movie "Cherry 2000" was filmed mostly in Death Valley National Park.

Jun 14th - 18:08pm | Kolby

Another bit of trivia: One of the first scenes of Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi has C3PO and R2D2 walking towards Jabba's Palace. Although the palace was a painted addition to the shot, the "road to Jabba's Palace" was filmed in Death Valley National Park, a few miles south of Zabriskie Point.

Jun 14th - 16:19pm | Bob Janiskee

Thanks, ypw; you've added some important content -- especially The Shining. I must have been sound asleep at the wheel on that one. I could have sworn that The Shining came out in the 1970s, but the release date was May 1980, and it definitely belongs there. I'll go back in at some early opportunity and edit the list to include your additions.

Jun 14th - 15:19pm | y_p_w

Parts of The Shining were supposedly filmed at Glacier National Park. The alleged inspiration for the hotel was the Ahwahnee in Yosemite. The 1986 movie Big Trouble in Little China had a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge from Conzelman Road in the Marin Headlands.

Jun 14th - 10:52am | Bob Janiskee

The original typo (title did not match description) was corrected, Ron, thanks to sharp-eyed reader mikeD. The correct title for that 1989 film is Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. BTW, the Star Trek film to which you refer is Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Star Trek VI, which was released in 1991, is subtitled "The Undiscovered Country."

Updated: Phone App Reviews: Chimani's Acadia and Nomad's Great Smoky Mountains

Jun 14th - 20:54pm | Kerry Gallivan

Just wanted to let everyone know that version 1.1 of the Chimani Acadia app was just approved by Apple and is available on the App Store for download. It includes the additional photos mentioned in the article, as well as 13 new trails and updated Ranger Events.

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway: Peaks of Otter Lodge Really Has An Otter

Jun 14th - 14:06pm | grey_lensman

David & Kay, I am enjoying your articles. The Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoah park are beautiful places. Stay safe.

Jun 14th - 13:38pm | Joe Veler

Contrary to what it might seem, the Peaks of Otter are probably not named after the cute furry mammals that swim and crack shellfish with rocks on their bellies. :-)

Reservations Open May 15th for Turtle Watch Program at Canaveral National Seashore

Jun 14th - 12:47pm | Oshiners

I called about 2 weeks ago and again today and left a message. I hope I hear from you soon.

Unexpected Deaths of Two Mountain Goats Halt Study at Glacier National Park

Jun 14th - 11:55am | tahoma

It wasn't 'scientific research', haunted hiker, but Olympic National Park spent much of the 1980's relocating introduced and unwelcome mountain goats. I was told by insiders that the mortality rate was about 25%, mostly due to heat stress during transport. They probably have quite a bit of data about drug reactions as well?

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