Great Smoky Mountains National Park

National Park Service authorities are investigating a magazine story about a dirt bike ride through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including through a creek, during the government shutdown.

Among the many casualties of the government shutdown are some of the popular webcam views of locations around the National Park System, since NPS and some other government web services have been disabled for the duration of the dispute. If you enjoy the ability to check in on favorite park locations via those cameras, all is not lost, however, and we'll provide some tips about park webcam views provided by non-government sources.

A glance around the National Park System seems to show wine sales can benefit the parks, more and more user fees are being approved despite a five-year-old "moratorium" against them, and Point Reyes National Seashore has had a bumper crop of seals this year.

With the clock, and the calendar, ticking closer to congressional gridlock over the country's debt ceiling, how might the National Park Service react if October 1 arrives without an increase in the ceiling?