The rich cobalt blue waters of Crater Lake are the centerpiece for this national park in southern Oregon. Its geologic birth has left an enormous volcanic caldera, in which the lake rests today. The story of the lake’s birth is as fascinating and striking as the park itself.

Summer's official kickoff is this coming Memorial Day Weekend, and with crowds expected across the National Park System, be sure to pay attention to your surroundings and others in the parks. A Texas woman hoping to photograph a bald eagle near the West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park apparently took her eyes off the road and was hit and killed by oncoming traffic, according to park authorities.

Ray Russell is in the middle of the monthlong Relay With Ray, a run that will “explore and celebrate every twist, turn, nook, and cranny of the Blue Ridge Parkway” – all 469 miles of it – and raise awareness for the scenic parkway that offers stunning views of the Appalachian highlands.

For the second time in a year biologists at Great Smoky Mountains National Park killed a bear they wrongly thought had attacked a sleeping hiker.