Sometimes a short, easy hike is just what you need for a nice change of pace during a park visit. Here's a suggestion for a visit to Rocky Mountain National Park—and an alternative to the justly-popular Bear Lake Trail.

At San Francisco's Presidio, a bold adaptive reuse project clipped the two ungainly wings protruding from the Public Health Service Hospital. Rechristened the Presidio Landmark, the renovated historic structure now houses luxury apartments.

Here we go again, only along a different route. This time we are headed east instead of west, and along the Lewis & Clark Historic Trail rather than the Oregon Trail. We would have preferred to follow the Corps of Discovery on its outbound journey to the Pacific, but we need to get back to our home in South Georgia.

Sometimes a short, easy hike is just what you need for a nice change of pace during a park visit. Here's a suggestion for a trip to Glacier Bay National Park.

What would it take, and be like, to follow the Oregon National Historic Trail from Missouri to the coast of Oregon? David and Kay Scott look back on their three-week odyssey.

Old McDonald had his farm, but Grant's Farm, owned by the Busch family of brewing fame, puts him to shame. Their place near St. Louis is home to some 100 species of animals, including zebras, elephants and farm animals, and it's recently been studied as a possible addition to the National Park System. Is this a bona fide prospect for the NPS—or another bailout?

At South Carolina's Ninety Six National Historic Site, where Americans fought and died in two Revolutionary War battles, the Park Service has been locked in a different sort of struggle. Although critical preservation and interpretation issues must be resolved, the resources available allow for little more than a holding action. It's awfully difficult to serve steak on a mac-and-cheese budget.

Here we are at the end of the Oregon Trail following a three-week drive of 2,600 miles from Independence, Missouri. This represents 500 more miles compared to the route taken by most of the pioneers, but the two of us were unable to follow many of the cross-country shortcuts favored by the emigrants.

Greetings from Oregon City, the western terminus of the Oregon Trail. This is the promised land for hundreds of thousands of pioneers who set out from Independence and St. Joseph, Missouri.

Noting that the younger generations are "taking on the mantle of the outdoors," National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis and other officials solicited suggestions on how to connect people with the outdoors during a North Carolina stop on the nationwide tour of America's Great Outdoor Initiative.

Greetings from The Dalles, Oregon, located on the Columbia River at a point where pioneers following the Oregon Trail were required to make a major decision. Some chose to rent, make, or buy rafts on which they placed their wagons and possessions to float west on the Columbia River.

Back in the 1950s, environmentally responsible behavior was not a basic requirement for filming on location in a national park. If you don't believe it, watch the 1956 film "Forever, Darling." OMG!

Some ideas are good ones. Others are not so hot.

Greetings from Whitman Mission National Historic Site, a relatively small NPS unit located a few miles west of Walla Walla, Washington. One of the rangers estimated the site welcomes about 50,000 visitors annually.

Three days might not qualify for official "vacation" status, but the First Family's trip this weekend to Acadia National Park should provide enough time for President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their kids to sample some of the highlights of this Down East treasure.

Despite the towering walls of granite that rim the Yosemite Valley in the heart of Yosemite National Park, the place is decidedly not static. Rather, it's a constantly evolving geologic entity that is both deadly and mesmerizing.

Greetings from Baker City, Oregon, a small town with a rich history. Baker City, formerly just Baker, was (and may still be) a town of wealth, as gold was discovered nearby

At the National World War II Memorial, the numbers speak of effort, achievement, and sacrifice on a monumental scale.

There’s a new structure showing up this summer in campgrounds bordering national parks, one that offers a higher level of comfort than the family camper or pop-up tent. More and more campgrounds are adding cabins to their available accommodations, for while more people are heading to the parks, not all want to sleep on the ground in a tent.

As with so many of the footpaths in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Anthony Creek Trail doesn’t hesitate much before pulling you up into that landscape.