National Parks Traveler

A quick turn of the weather forced rangers into rescue mode at Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as high winds and waves left dozens of boaters seeking help. The final tally: 70 distress calls at Lake Mead, 11 rescues performed, including of one woman who spent three hours treading water and praying, and the rescue of five young sea kayakers at Sleeping Bear.

For mind-blowing scenery, vast vistas of eroded stone, and rugged topography, Utah is the place. The Beehive State is home to five national parks (Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Zion) and five national monuments (Cedar Breaks, Grand Staircase-Escalante (managed by the BLM), Rainbow Bridge, Natural Bridges, and Hovenweep) for good reason. It’s the greatest earth on show.

Life can be hard for the integrity of a wolf pack, particularly when one of the alpha animals dies, according to studies at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

Just last week I learned that there was a Williamson's Sapsucker nest in the park, something that is apparently rare, according to another photographer, and that we could get photos of the adult bringing food into the nest. Last year, while photographing a Flicker nest, I saw the same bird and assumed that it was a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Well, I got the sapsucker part right.