It's a given: national parks are great places to take photographs. And yet, there are some parks that seem to produce better photos from my camera than others. Which national parks do you find the most photogenic?

Arches and Canyonlands national parks are colorful siblings that are great to visit any time of year, but to spare yourself the high heat of summer one of the best seasons to visit is Spring. Here are some keys to accomplishing such a trip.

Can you tell by looking at a wildflower in Yellowstone National Park what the underlying geology is? Or, while hiking through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, can you identify a bird simply by its song? Do you want to get relatively up close to the elephant seals at Point Reyes National Seashore? Here's how you can do all those things and more.

We posted Traveler’s Checklists for 19 different national parks in 2009. Check ‘em out. You’re sure to find helpful advice and useful tips a-plenty.

Contrasting views on how public lands should be managed and enjoyed collided in a congressional committee hearing Thursday as distinct lines were drawn over whether more than 9 million acres of red-rock landscape in Utah's outback should be protected as official wilderness or left open for off-road vehicles, mountain bikes, and energy development.

Most of us go out of our way to avoid a "fiery furnace" situation, but many visitors to Arches National Park are the exception. Ranger-guided hikes into the park's version of the Fiery Furnace often fill in advance, so the park is experimenting with online reservations through the end of October.

Slipping from the top of the arch into the abyss below was a difficult move that rattled my psyche. Even though the sandstone band I was perched on was not much more than 4 feet wide, it was stable. Putting my faith into the rope cinched to my climbing harness and dropping into the 100-foot void went completely against my desire for self-preservation.

Canyonlands National Park is one of the most rugged national parks, with a harsh summer sun that bakes the dry, canyon-riddled landscape. But those deep canyons’ steep rocky slopes, which offer ample grasses and shrubs, and an openness that puts predators at a disadvantage, are an optimal environment for bighorn sheep. In fact, Canyonlands’ bighorn population has been so stable that Utah’s wildlife biologists long relied on it for stock to re-establish herds elsewhere in the state.

Yesterday’s Mystery Photo featured Double Arch, an Arches National Park favorite that has appeared in several movies. Here’s how to learn more about how Hollywood uses -- and messes around with -- natural arches.

National parks can, and do, provide an economic lifeline to their surrounding communities. In its latest report, the National Parks Conservation Association points out just how valuable southeastern Utah's parks are to their nearby communities.

This week’s quiz will find out if you are as well-read as you think. Answers are at the end. If we catch you peeking, we’ll make you write a ten-page essay explaining, with appropriate illustrations and citations, the difference between an author and a writer.

It's purely personal opinion, but I believe May to be one of the best months of the year to visit Arches National Park. It's not too hot, the spring rebirth is evident in the vegetation, and the crowds haven't yet arrived.

A coming infusion of $330,000 will help five units of the National Park System improve their trail networks.