National Parks Traveler

The search for a climber reported missing on Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park has continued into a third day, with the effort being hampered by extreme winter weather conditions on the mountain. Peter Jeffris, 25, from Broomfield, Colorado, was reported overdue on the afternoon of Monday, Monday, November 17.

Yet another wayward soul intent on making their illegal mark on a national park has been done in by their need to promote their vandalism.

Winter wonderlands come in many shapes, forms, and temperatures in the National Park System. They can be pine forests shrouded in snow, or turquoise waters swimming with green parrotfish, blue tangs, and silvery barracudas. You can climb ice walls at Acadia National Park, kick-and-glide or skate to an overlook of Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley, or find your way to the 13,159-foot summit of Wheeler Peak atop Great Basin National Park.

I’m presuming no one needs me to tell them that Florida is a good travel and birding destination in the winter. Looking out my window at the first sticking snow of the winter is making me think about the Everglades. Winter is the dry season there, and the dwindling seasonal wetlands concentrate birds and wildlife for easier viewing.