Browse Through the Traveler Content

Here's hoping for clear skies Saturday night in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Mount Rainier National Park, where rangers will be leading stargazing programs.

Pay attention, national park managers and staff. If there's nothing else you do well, be sure to keep the restrooms clean and stocked.

Many national park scenic drives offer fall colors as a seasonal bonus. Here are some picks and tips for following the crowd or taking the road less traveled in the eastern states.

A male elk ambles through the field checking his harem. He sidles up to each cow and sniffs her rump. Raising his massive rack of antlers, he sees two young bucks, chases them out of the field, and resumes his inspection. He lifts his face to the sky and bugles – a loud, mournful sound that resounds throughout the area. Bugling tells females he’s here and warns other males to stay away.

A podcast about water safety might sound like a project from a park located on the beach rather than in the mountains, but there are good reasons for a new free video offered by the Great Smoky Mountains Association. Here's where you can view "Water Safety and Day Hiking"—and why everyone who enjoys the out-of-doors should see it.

One of the great aspects about being a youngster in the national parks is becoming a Junior Ranger. Watching my granddaughter, Hannah, become a Junior Ranger in GreatSmoky Mountains National Park was as much a treat for me as it was for her!

Looking for an excuse to take a hike? Then head to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and help rangers identify the locations of ash trees in the park.

It's long been said that you should take only photographs and leave only footprints when you visit a national park. Well, a dispute over whether Native Americans can legally collect plants in the parks has prompted a group to call for a federal investigation into whether the National Park Service is looking the other way.

In an ironic development considering its role in tracking the nation's history and its efforts to preserve civility in national parks, the National Park Service's practice of requiring permits for public gatherings, demonstrations, or "expressions of views" has been found unconstitutional by an appellate court.

A North Carolina man who poached one of the grandest bulls in Great Smoky Mountains National Park's elk herd has been handed jail time and ordered to pay more than $8,300 in restitution to the park.

As we bring an end to our week-long fund-raising drive to keep the Traveler on-line, we'd like to thank the many readers who responded with donations, and make a final request to those sitting on the fence.

Incidents with multiple injuries can present a test for emergency services even in cities, but such situations can be especially challenging in the rural or remote areas found in many parks. Teamwork and advance planning paid off when Great Smoky Mountains National Park experienced three mass casualty incidents during a recent span of five days.