National Parks Traveler Episode 76: Great Smoky Mountains Institute At Tremont

By Kurt Repanshek - July 26th, 2020

We continue our look at residential environmental learning centers in this week's podcast. These nonprofit facilities connect people to nature. But they are tasked with serving a greater good -- to foster the development of better global citizens.

Lynn Riddick speaks with Catey McClary of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont to better understand this organization whose roots in outdoor learning go back some 50 years. Throughout those years, the institute has always looked for ways to expand to a broader audience through partnerships with the park, the community, schools and colleges.

We leave you this week with a short glimpse of visiting Crater Lake National Park during these days of Covid-19. Traveler’s Becky Latson visited the park this past week, and talks about what she saw … including the comet Neowise.

02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode introduction with Kurt Repanshek
1:24 Amaranth - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
2:09 Lynn Riddick interviews the CEO of the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont
31:00 Shenandoah - Randy Petersen - The Sounds of Shenandoah
31:12 National Parks Traveler promotion
31:24 Washington’s National Park Fund promotion
31:59 Friends of Acadia promotion
32:32 The interview with the CEO of Great Smoky Mountains at Tremont continues
40:06 The Offering - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
40:25 North Cascades Institute promotion
40:44 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation promotion
41:08 Grand Teton National Park Foundation promotion
41:45 Traveler's Becky Latson discusses her recent visit to Crater Lake National Park
49:48 Escalante - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks, Plateaus and Canyons
50:02 Episode Closing
50:24 Orange Tree Productions promotion
50:58 National Parks Traveler footer

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 272 | Fossilized Parks

Have you ever closely inspected the landscape when you’re touring the National Park System, particularly in the West? You never know what you might find.
Back in 2010 a 7-year-old attending a Junior Ranger program at Badlands National Park spied a partially exposed fossil that turned out to be the skull of a 32-million-year-old saber-toothed cat.
If you’ve ever visited Petrified Forest National Park you’ve no doubt marveled over the colorful fossilized tree trunks. There are also fossilized trees on the northern range of Yellowstone National Park, but nowhere near as colorful.

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 271 | Wolverine Recovery in Colorado

Wolverines, the largest land-dwelling members of the weasel family, once roamed across the northern tier of the United States, and as far south as New Mexico in the Rockies and southern California in the Sierra Nevada range. But after more than a century of trapping and habitat loss, wolverines in the lower 48 today exist only as small, fragmented populations in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Wyoming, and northeast Oregon.

April 21st, 2024 - Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 270 | Cultural Resource Challenge

Spur a discussion about traveling to a national park for a vacation and odds are that it will revolve around getting out into nature, looking for wildlife, perhaps honing your photography skills, or marveling at incredible vistas.
Will the discussion include destinations that portray aspects of the country’s history, or cultural melting pot?

April 14th, 2024 - Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 269 | Total Solar Eclipse of the Parks

Tens of millions of people in the United States will be able to witness a Total Solar Eclipse on Monday as the rare astronomical event cuts a path from Texas to Maine, up to 122 miles wide in some spots. This is a great opportunity to see the exact moment when the moon fully blocks the sun, creating a blazing corona visible to those observing from the center line of totality.

April 7th, 2024 - Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 268 | Music Inspired By The Parks

With March madness down to the Sweet 16, and Opening Day of Major League Baseball having arrived, we’re going to take a break this week and dive into our podcast archives for this week’s show.

This is Kurt Repanshek, your host at the National Parks Traveler. My NCAA bracket was busted the very first day, and while the Yankees won their opening day game against the Houston Astros, I don’t think they’ll go undefeated this year.

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The Essential RVing Guide

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.