National Parks Traveler

Yosemite National Park, one of the most-visited parks in the system, likely will be even busier this year as attention is drawn to the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Grant that set aside the landscape for protection and which was a prelude to the idea of creating "national parks." As a result, park officials have some tips you might consider for avoiding the crowds as much as possible when you visit Yosemite.

Dogwood. Black Gum. Sassafras. These are just some of the native species seedlings that have been spotted in the forests of Valley Forge National Historical Park, where a significant reduction in the white-tailed deer herds has allowed these trees to recover from overbrowsing.

Though Florida is one of the most populated states in the country, there still are places where you can flee humanity in the Sunshine State. Canaveral National Seashore, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, is one of them. Here on the Atlantic Coast the seashore’s beaches draw surfers, swimmers, surfcasters...and turtles...lots of turtles.

When I was first learning the basic skills of birding, I read a line in Roger Tory Peterson’s famous field guide that almost made me want to give up any aspirations of becoming a good birder. He said something about skilled birders sometimes doing 95 percent of their birding by ear. I was horrified. Here I was, looking through a field guide, imagining all of the pretty birds I would see some day, and Peterson was telling me I’d learn to do 95 percent of it by sound. That’s no fun at all!