Lodging in the Parks

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.

A stay at Mammoth Cave National Park marked the final stop on David and Kay Scott's legendary tour of parks, and it delivered some interesting lodging news.

Having left Buffalo National River behind, David and Kay Scott discover they couldn't flee the heat and humidity, where they checked in the other day to check out the lodging for an update to their book, The Complete Guide To the National Park Lodges.

Having left their favorite campground at Devils Tower National Monument and the beautiful scenery at Badlands National Park, David and Kay Scott have reached Buffalo National River in Arkansas to work on updating their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

Somewhat despondent over having to leave the cool air of the Rockies behind them, David and Kay Scott have headed into the oven-like temperatures of Badlands National Park to check out the park's lodging options. Along the way they visited Devils Tower National Monument.

Before leaving the Rocky Mountain West, David and Kay Scott made one last swing through Yellowstone National Park to inspect the lodging possibilities at Lake and Grant Village for an update to their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

In part two of their look at lodging options in Grand Teton National Park, David and Kay Scott checked out Jackson Lake Lodge and Jenny Lake Lodge.

After a short stay in Yellowstone National Park, David and Kay Scott headed to Grand Teton National Park to check out some of the lodging options there as they continue to work on an update to their book The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

As the summer wears on, David and Kay Scott find themselves in Yellowstone National Park to tour the park's lodging options for an update to their book, The Complete Guide To the National Park Lodges.

Exploring the many lodging options in and around Glacier National Park can require an excursion into Canada for a night at the Prince of Wales Hotel, which looks south across its namesake lake into Glacier. David and Kay Scott explored that hotel, and the Glacier Park Lodge, before wrapping up their stay in Glacier.

David and Kay Scott, having enjoyed the lodges on the west side of Glacier National Park, now fill you in on the latest with the lodges on the eastern side, including Many Glacier Hotel, as they continue working on an update to their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

Having turned their car back towards the rising sun, David and Kay Scott have been spending time in Glacier National Park while working on an update to their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

With Olympic National Park in their rearview mirror, David and Kay Scott have moved on to North Cascades National Park to check out the lodging possibilities there for their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

Having enjoyed the crashing surf at Kalaloch Lodge in Olympic National Park, David and Kay Scott moved north to Lake Crescent Lodge, the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort, and the Log Cabin Resort to inspect other lodging possibilities in the park for an update to their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

Editor's note: David and Kay Scott have just about reached the end of the road in their westward trek to sample lodgings so they can update their book, The Complete Guide To The National Park Lodges. This dispatch covers two of Olympic National Park's lodging options, the Kalaloch Lodge and Lake Quinault Lodge.

One truly can find Paradise at Mount Rainier National Park, as lodging experts David and Kay Scott, authors of The Complete Guide To the National Park Lodges, discovered when they reached the park on their national park odyssey.

Leaving Oregon Caves National Monument behind, lodging experts David and Kay Scott returned to the snowbelt, heading to Crater Lake National Park which has had a very impressive winter in terms of snowfall.

Having once again fled snow, lodging experts David and Kay Scott headed to The Chateau at Oregon Caves National Monument to work on an update to their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges. Fortunately, they found a roaring fireplace to cozy up next to.

It look a bit of driving, but Traveler's lodging experts, David and Kay Scott, managed to reach Lassen Volcanic National Park to work on updating their book, The Complete Guide To the National Park Lodges. At Lassen they were able to check out the park's new cabins.

From Wawona Hotel near the south entrance of Yosemite National Park the ride to the Yosemite Valley is relatively short, but the scenery is incredible different...and so are the lodging possibilities, as David and Kay Scott relate in the following dispatch.

From Kings Canyon National Park, lodging connoisseurs David and Kay Scott headed north to Yosemite National Park, where they checked into the Wawona Hotel to work on an update to their book, The Complete Guide To The National Park Lodges.

Having crossed the country in four weeks, David and Kay Scott stopped for three nights in Kings Canyon National Park to work on updating their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges. Weighing camping in the snow at Grant Grove vs. divorce, David and Kay wisely headed down in elevation to a much warmer campground at Cedar Grove.

Snow continues to dog David and Kay Scott as they forge across the West to update their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges. But that didn't deter them from enjoying a stay in Sequoia National Park.

Having left most of the cold and snow behind in Bryce Canyon National Park, lodging guidebook writers David and Kay Scott have moved on to Zion National Park and a stay at Zion Lodge.

You can pair lodging with a day of hiking, or learning about black bears, or following historic Native American trails in Rocky Mountain National Park under package deals put together by lodging concessionaire Forever Resorts.

Having fled the snowy North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, our intrepid lodging experts, touring the West to update their book, "The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges," find themselves...at snowy Bryce Canyon National Park.

The payoff in hiking to LeConte Lodge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is, in large part, the journey itself. Let Contributing Writer Randy Johnson lead the way with this video.

As this is the third straight wet, cool May in the Rockies, perhaps it's no surprise that David and Kay Scott were snowed upon during their visit to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The two spent two nights at Grand Canyon Lodge to update their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges.

Having left Canyon de Chelly National Monument behind, our lodging experts, David and Kay Scott, have settled into rooms on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Greetings from Far View Lodge in Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park. It is early in the season and the park’s campground doesn’t open until later in the week. An added bonus of an early visit is a reduced entrance fee; $10 as opposed to $15 during high season.