Visiting the Parks

Where's the most romantic place in the National Park System to spend the most romantic day of the year?

Winter and spring are popular seasons for visiting Saguaro National Park, and for good reason. It's a great time of the year to enjoy the Arizona desert, and two "roads less traveled" and a variety of trails offer access to fine desert scenery.

With nearly 400 units of the National Park System, one probably is close enough for you to visit in a day. But how should you organize those visits? Karen Beck-Herzog, the management assistant at Shenandoah National Park, put together the following primer for exploring her park.

While some areas of the country are struggling with scant snowfall, enough has fallen at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan to open more than 22 miles of classic cross-country ski trails to the public.

Wondering what you might encounter during a winter visit to Yellowstone National Park? Check out this short video for a smorgasbord of what awaits you in the park.

If you live close to Glacier National Park, or are thinking of heading there this winter, consider joining a snowshoe or cross-country ski outing sponsored by the Glacier National Park Fund.

Grand Canyon National Park is now accepting applications for private river trip permits to float the Colorado River through the park during calendar year 2013.

Here's one recipe for an outstanding tour of a historic ranch: take a century's worth of Old West history, add generous measures of compelling personal stories and classic southern Arizona scenery, and stir well by a talented interpreter. The result, at Chiricahua National Monument's Faraway Ranch, earned five stars during my recent visit to the park.

If you're lucky enough to be in Hawaii next week, swing by Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on Tuesday to learn about "natural" air pollution, the volcanic gases and other volcanic air pollution spewed from Kīlauea.

With winter breaks arriving for many school systems in February, it's not too early to begin mapping out ways to keep your kids occupied. If you live in Massachusetts or nearby, one solution is to head to Springfield Armory National Historic Site.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a globally recognized icon of the American landscape. Stretches of road elsewhere in the United States may indeed be spectacular, but nothing matches this manicured, uniquely uncommercialized, half a thousand mile thoroughfare through the lofty heart of America’s first frontier.

Tell us about a particularly memorable thing, person, or situation you've come upon or met up with while using a national park trail or walkway.

With nearly 400 units of the National Park System, one probably is close enough for you to visit in a day. But how should you organize those visits? Laura Henning, the chief of interpretation at Canaveral National Seashore in Florida, put together the following primer for exploring her park.

The fiddle, a key instrument for entertainment on the American frontier of the mid-1800s, will be featured in May when the 2012 Monumental Fiddling Championships are held at Homestead National Monument of America in southeastern Nebraska.

For 25 years the North Cascades Institute has been providing insights into the ecosystems of North Cascades National Park through educational programming. Sit back and take a look back over the years.

An historic two-bedroom cabin that dates to 1890 and is considered the oldest structure on the South Rim at Grand Canyon National Park has been fully restored and is being rented out by Xanterra Parks & Resorts.

Acadia National Park is surrounded by water and much of its history and resources relate to its maritime location. It should be no surprise, then, that there are many shipwrecks in the waters around the park.

Fort Caroline in Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve commemorates a short-lived French community in North Florida. The reconstructed fort will fulfills a child's dream of long-ago adventure.

The winter months are some of the best for visiting Death Valley National Park thanks to the cooler temperatures and the wildflower bloom that arrives as early as February. But if you're planning to pitch a tent at the Furnace Creek Campground in the coming months, you'll need to alter your plans.

Whiskey Bend Road, the 4.5-mile road that connects Olympic Hot Springs Road to the Whiskey Bend trailhead in Olympic National Park, has reopened to public vehicle access.

What’s better than a camping trip to Isle Royale National Park? How about a camping trip to Isle Royale with a renowned North Woods botanist?

Big Bend National Park is a land of borders. Situated on the boundary with Mexico along the Rio Grande, it's a place where countries and cultures meet. It's also a place that merges natural environments from desert to mountains, where south meets north, and east meets west, creating a great diversity of plant and animal life.

With another holiday weekend on tap, the folks at Mammoth Cave National Park are planning to offer some free cave tours on January 14, 15, and 16th.

De Soto National Monument is the park unit that commemorates the earliest event in American history. Though the site is only 30 acres, there's a lot to do for every member of the family.

While the best way to tour Manassas National Battlefield is with a park interpreter, a second option is with the "Bull Run Battle App" developed for Android smartphones by the Civil War Trust.

If you find yourself in South Dakota during the long Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday weekend, swing by Wind Cave National Park to take one of the free cave tours being offered then.

Rangers are ready to lead you into the landscape of Denali National Park and Preserve on weekends this winter.

While most impacts of the diminished snowfall so far this winter across the Rockies have been negative, one positive is that the Harpers Corner Road at Dinosaur National Monument has remained open.

Not all stories have to have a hard edge to them to be considered nicely done. What follows are some stories from, or revolving around, the National Park System that we liked for what they had to say, or how they had to say it, or what we learned from them. We hope you enjoyed them, too.

Lake Shore Loop in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a great winter hike. It offers history, a visit to a cemetery and reminders that the area still makes news today.