I stumbled across a video the other day that further convinced me that I need to move Gates of the Arctic National Park higher on my to-do list. In it, two septuagenarians set off on a three-week canoe trip down the Noatak River, a river the park staff tells us "drains the largest mountain-ringed river basin in America that is still virtually unaffected by human activities."

A hiker in Saguaro National Park evidently can thank his pants for avoiding a painful series of rabies vaccines following an encounter with a fox on the Miller Creek Trail near the park's boundary with Coronado National Forest.

As beautiful as Mount Rainier National Park is during warm, calm weather, it can be extremely dangerous when a snowstorm rolls in with rangers or researchers on the mountain or in its forests without cell coverage. Thanks to a seven-figure gift from the estate of a Washington woman, it soon will be easier to track those individuals even at the height of a storm.

Each year, more than 250,000 visitors make a stop at Moses H. Cone Memorial Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina. They stroll the nearly 25 miles of carriage trails on the 3,500-acre estate, travel back in time with a ranger-led tour of Flat Top Manor, or simply sit on the porch and enjoy the view of Bass Lake in the distance below. And while they might notice construction, they probably don't know who's paying for it.