The two of us have enjoyed a half century of travel, much of it devoted to visiting America’s national parks. The initial three decades involved travel in a series of four Volkswagen campers, a vehicle we loved, but that disappeared in 2004 from VW dealers in the United States. If only the company would export its California van to the U.S. More recently we tented and stayed in national park lodges. The many national park visits offered some wonderful surprises including these ten that we seem to remember best.

When I took a post-college job as a seasonal ranger at Grand Teton National Park 23 years ago, I noticed right away that my “Smokey Bear” hat carried some serious emotional baggage. As I later wrote in my book, “Reclaiming Nostalgia: Longing for Nature in American Literature,” park visitors saw the hat as an icon of tradition and romance, a symbol of a simpler era long gone.

The National Park Service is asking for your thoughts on a proposal to raise entrance fees at several units, including Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah.

At Golden Spike National Historic Site in northwestern Utah, the last few days of each year are time for the annual Steam Fest. It's a time when one of the site's two replica steam locomotives are fired up to thrill visitors who are tough enough to brave the cold.