National Parks Traveler

A congressman from North Carolina is making a second bid to force the National Park Service to reverse itself on managing people, birds, and sea turtles at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

While Hurricane Sandy walloped a good section of the Eastern Seaboard, it was a snowstorm dubbed Nemo by some that did substantial damage to Cape Cod National Seashore.

Under a proposal open for public comment at Everglades National Park, you would pay more than four times as much to explore the park's backcountry for a week by canoe or kayak than you would to drive into the park over that same period of time.

Photographic slides paper-clipped to strings to dry out. Officer's Row at Fort Hancock propped up with two-by-fours. Multi-use paths ripped out in places and buried in sand elsewhwere. That was part of the aftermath from Hurricane Sandy at Gateway National Recreation Area.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a great destination for cross country skiers—especially right now as the latest storm dumps more snow on the AT from North Carolina to New England. The AT only seems to be about summer. Backcountry ski enthusiasts—get out there!

Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky is being hit twice by the federal budget sequestration -- first by having to cut 5 percent from its budget, and again by lost revenues from cave tours that have been canceled due to lack of staff.

Yale University environmental historian, Dr. Robin Winks, once termed America’s National Parks as “The greatest university in the world with hundreds of branch campuses." While Oxford and Cambridge might take issue in a tweedy British manner with Professor Winks’ hyperbole, his point is well taken: The units of the National Park System are indeed educational.

Yellowstone National Park was a wild and remote place in the late 1800s, and in winter it beckoned only the heartiest, most adventurous souls. Renowned photographer Frank Jay Haynes was certainly one of those adventuresome explorers.

Using a telephoto lens for a national park landscape sounds kind of odd, right? Most people think of a telephoto or zoom-telephoto lens as good for wildlife and sports images, not landscapes, per se. But it's time to rethink that.

While Hurricane Sandy brought torrential rains and heavy surf to Assateague Island National Seashore, the park greatly avoided staggering damage thanks to its relative lack of infrastructure when compared to Gateway National Recreation Area farther up the Eastern Seaboard.