As the fall color season winds down in the Arizona high country, there's another sure sign winter is on the way: Most facilities on the North Rim at Grand Canyon National Park will close for the season on October 15. The area remains open for visitors for another month or so, depending upon the weather, and all operations continue as normal at the park's busy South Rim.

With the calendar quickly running out on the short fall season in some parts of the National Park System, some concessionaires are responding with lodging specials that might intrigue you.

How did you spend your summer? David and Kay Scott traveled nearly 11,000 miles, visited 29 units of the National Park System, and toured 62 lodges. Here's a recap of what they found.

An Indiana man was in court Thursday to face charges of endangering the health and safety of his three young grandsons by allegedly abusing them physically and verbally and denying them water and rests on a 19-mile hike into the Inner Gorge of Grand Canyon National Park during one of the hottest days of the summer, according to a sworn complaint filed in U.S. District Court