| Page 1068 | National Parks Traveler

Connie, My husband and I and another couple traveled on the Grand Canyon Railway September of last year and it was WONDERFUL. We upgraded to the next highest level (can't remember the name) fron the base fare and it was well worth it. The food they provide is fresh and there is plenty of it for breakfast on the way to the Grand Canyon and cheese, crackers and fruit on the way back and all the

National Park Service Issues 5-Year "Call To Action" Plan For Moving Toward Its Second Century

Sep 1st - 13:59pm | tomp2

Anon--

Aug 31st - 16:38pm | Anonymous

In reference to the document cover choice, remember The Peter Principle is alive and promoted within the NPS for all kinds of justifications like getting your friend promoted beyond any merit issues. So, surely, somewhere in this document, one of these promoted NPS Bureaucrats will suggest changing

Aug 31st - 16:15pm | Holly M

Mark E:

Aug 31st - 13:44pm | Mark E

Yes, Yosemite is a popular park. I hear people even go swimming there -- might make a nice photograph.

Aug 31st - 13:40pm | Mike Painter

Hiking IS recreation. When I was in Yosemite last month, there were young people all over the place, much younger than 65.

Aug 31st - 11:51am | Mark E

Perhaps the cover is meant to suggest that, since the "traditional" NPS offerings aren't wildly successful in attracting visitors under the age of about 65, the agency is looking to present a more vibrant, youth-friendly approach to recreation. Yes -- gasp -- recreation!

Aug 31st - 11:39am | Mike Painter

Kids are allowed in the national parks, and kids should be encouraged to visit the national parks -- by all means.

Aug 31st - 11:27am | Mark E

Harrumph! Are kids even allowed to jump off NPS docks (more properly known as projecting hydratic access structures, or NPS-PHAS)? Should kids really be allowed in national parks at all? They often seem insufficiently reverent. They certainly don't have the autodidactically aquired biology and environmental qualifications that we'd like to see. I'm

Major Law Enforcement Operation at Mount Rainier National Park Snares a Pair of Car Clouters

Sep 1st - 10:33am | Retired law enf...

Let's just call them what they are: Burglars plain and simple. They need to be tried and convicted and sent to prison. When will people realize that they need to be proactive in taking care of their personal property?

Website Launched To Garner Support For Protection Of Public Lands Around Glacier National Park

Sep 1st - 10:30am | Nancy Coscione

No more mining...period. Alternative, renewable, CLEAN energy development from now on!

Reader Participation Day: How Many National Parks Do You Want To Visit In Your Lifetime?

Sep 1st - 10:02am | Anonymous

It's not so far fetched to think of trying to visit all 395 parks in your lifetime. And I don't think you have to give up quality to do it. Say you really start visiting the parks when you are 20 (although our daughters have been going to parks since they were about 2 years old) and you live to 80 that's 60 years to see almost 400 parks. So, 6 - 7 parks a year?

Sep 1st - 08:07am | Caitlin

So far i've visited 152 of 395, with 6 more planned for a trip this month. Of those, 35 being the 52 National Parks. I'm a professional photographer in her 20's and have photographed all 35 NP's since 2007. I'll get all of them, just a matter of time. :-)

Aug 31st - 20:19pm | CJT

I prefer quality to quantity. A person who goes to a nationall park for only a day or less, has visited it, but has not really experienced it.

Aug 31st - 17:53pm | Anonymous

Wow, I didn't realize I'd visited so many until I added them all up. 27 national parks (and countless monuments and historical sites), most of them for a week or more.

Aug 31st - 16:35pm | jjedit

I have visited 33 units of the National Park System. I have volunteered at one of them. I will spend the winter volunteering at a NPS site. I hope to visit as many NPS sites as possible during the remainder of my lifetime. They are our best gift to ourselves.

Aug 31st - 12:50pm | KC Traveler

I agree with suki, some visits are quick because they're on (or near to) my route of travel. Even during short visits, I find that I've always learned something at each site. I've visited about 115 units, 33 of them national parks. I would like to visit them all during my lifetime. It's good to have goal, even if you never reach it.

Aug 31st - 12:22pm | suki

I would like to see as many as I can before my time on the planet is up. I have seen many NPS sites so far, and though I agree with Aster ptarmicordes that quality is better than quantity, I know for a fact that there are some sites that I visited for just an hour or so because they were on the way to somewhere I was going. Those quick visits, though only scratching the surface of the sites,

Aug 31st - 09:59am | Anonymous

As to visiting all the National Park units....why not? I make a point to at the very least visit the ones near my home(Minnesota) as frequently as possible. And every summer my kids and I plan our vacations with National Parks locations as the destination.

Aug 31st - 09:20am | Jason

My wife and I have a realistic lifetime goal of visting all the actual National Parks and an unrealistic lifetime goal of visiting all of the almost 400 units in the National Park System.

Aug 31st - 08:36am | AnonymousD

I take the opposite approach of wanting to get to know a few parks in depth. But in finding those few parks, I've probably visited about 40.

Aug 31st - 08:10am | Gary

We have been to 29 and 13 Nt. Mounments we hope to get to more. Nt. Parks are our favorite places to vacation. We do as much hiking as possible. That is the only way to really see and enjoy the parks

Aug 31st - 08:08am | Gary

We have visited 29 Nt. Pks. and 12 Nt. Mount. I would love to see all of them, but know that is impossible. They are our favorite places to go for vacations.

Aug 31st - 08:03am | Aster ptarmicordes

I do not think visiting the parks should be a numbers game--trying to get to them all. National Park visitation should be a quality not a quantity experience. Spend the time to get to know and experience a part in-depth, spend days exploring and learning if necessary--the rewards will be greater.

Aug 31st - 07:23am | riverotter1971

my goal is to go to all 52 actual national parks and I am half way there!

Aug 31st - 05:56am | Danny

Only 25 I don't have the time to see them all.

Yosemite National Park Officials Planning To Restore Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias

Sep 1st - 09:51am | Anonymous

Selected references for understanding giant sequoia ecology and management:

Sep 1st - 08:39am | Anonymous

Over 50 years ago, Dr. Richard Hartesveldt of San Jose State University studied the human impacts upon giant sequoias in the Mariposa Grove and discovered among other results that sequoia tree rings widened following historic fires. This result led later to his pioneering the

Sep 1st - 08:24am | Anonymous

This summer my family visited the Mariposa Grove at Yosemite and what a phenomenol sight! Anything that can be done to preserve these giant masterpieces is worth it!

Several Options Under Discussion To Restore Highway Access Down Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Sep 1st - 09:09am | Anonymous

Simple solution is do not restore!! Tear out the rest of the road let nature be nature.

Persistent Pedestrians: Black Bears in Big Bend National Park

Sep 1st - 08:08am | Anonymous

Wonderful article! We spotted a bear during a family hike on the Emory Peak trail in July 1996. Upon reporting the sighting at the ranger station, my children were thrilled at the opportunity to place a pin on the map to indicate the location. On a subsequent trip in 2009, my husband and I encountered another bear on the Window trail, and the thrill of reporting it was no less than it was 13

Congresswoman Bachmann Would Support Drilling For Oil In Everglades National Park

Sep 1st - 07:08am | ed-123

I am no Bachman fan but The Quote was, she wouldn't automatically rule the park off-limits if oil were found beneath it. This is a reasonable statement. Oil dependency is a political hot potato right, now so I would be curious to see what the current President would say, if asked. So now lets talk about religion... Just kidding

Aug 31st - 18:09pm | ecbuck

Well Rick - can you show us where she hasn't? But then its kind of moot, since she hasn't made up her mind in the first place on this issue - unless you know something the rest of us don't.

Aug 31st - 16:15pm | Rick B.

Sorry. I've yet to see a situation where 'MB' changed her mind when given facts.

Aug 31st - 16:10pm | ecbuck

Jim - An interesting list. But for the exception of item 5 those seem like arguments against drilling at all (many of which have equally compelling counter arguments) and have nothing to do with national parks.

Aug 31st - 11:33am | Anonymous

Rather than getting all excited about a hypothetical that will never happen, we national park lovers need to get mad at the 'wind farms' being proposed or developed near pristine areas. A wind farm is going in near the Grand Canyon South Rim. A wind farm is being proposed near the California poppy preserve.

Aug 31st - 09:41am | Jim Burnett

Ecbuck - Here are some arguments I'll offer as "legitimate." While I agree that decreasing our reliance on oil imported from areas such as the Middle East is desirable for many reasons, there are also valid reasons for continuing to keep areas such as national parks off-limits for oil and gas activity.

Aug 31st - 09:21am | justinh

[color=#000000]The more we redefine parks in terms of global commodities--the Everglades as an oil field, the Grand Canyon as a uranium deposit--the harder it becomes to preserve and protect these places. In other words, the more they are revalued as commodities, the less these places appear as parks, and they come to resemble transparent containers for commodities. In that scenario, how coul

Aug 31st - 00:15am | hikertom

The solution to this problem is simple: make it illegal to explore for oil or other mineral resources in national parks. If we don't know what's underground in the parks there won't be presure to drill. In this case, ignorance is bliss.

Aug 30th - 22:04pm | ecbuck

First - Kurt: You think everyone should personally fact check everything they see in the media? Good luck on that one. Have you personally fact checked every report you have cited on this blog? I think not. She repeated information reported in the media and identified it as such. She didn't "go off" on anything.

Mannheim Steamroller Celebrates Glacier National Park in New CD

Sep 1st - 06:38am | Connie Hopkins

Kurt, I didn't mean YOU were misleading in the article. I meant that the CD cover was misleading!

Aug 31st - 19:44pm | Connie Hopkins

I just received my CD and it's somewhat misleading. He has numerous songs from other CD's on here as well. I was under the impression it was all new work.

Bear Watching Mayhem In Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks

Aug 31st - 19:45pm | Suzette

The Darwin Principle at its best!

Updated: Hiker In Yellowstone National Park Died From Grizzly Attack

Aug 31st - 18:33pm | Anonymous

The park service was very careful on this case not to assign blame until after the autopsy, interesting...It would appear from their posturing that they were not sure why Mr. Wallace died or what caused his injury. It would fascinating to see what the autopsy revealed versus what were obvious signs of injury.

Olympic National Park's Mountain Goat Plan Warns Of Dangers of Urinating On Hiking Trails

Aug 31st - 14:31pm | wheepickle

It's silly to think that any animal who lives and thrives in wilderness would not become aggressive when feeling threatened. I mean, HELLO!!?? I don't think we need to do anything different, other than educate the public and accept the fact that the wilderness is still wilderness and we should threat is at such.

Reader Participation Day Bonus: How Many National Park-Designated Units of the National Park System Have You Visited?

Aug 31st - 13:02pm | John and Denise

52 so far. Will visit Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley this week. Hopefully the last 4 within another year. We don't have all the stamps but have really tried to do more than drive thru each park that we have visited. We are looking forward to revisiting several of our favorites.

Mammoth Cave National Park Officials Taking Added Precautions Against White-Nose Syndrome

Aug 31st - 10:48am | Alec Hendrickson

The research and experimentation of this syndrome is our only chance against it

Addition of Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Pushes Number of National Park System Units to 395

Aug 31st - 01:22am | Marc Daniels

The eloquence of this memorial is not in the stone rendition of the man but rather in the inscribed words within the marble. Like very few other individuals, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was able to weed out the hate in a Promised Land infested by weeds.

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