Featured Articles on National Parks Traveler

Did the National Park Service bend over too far to accommodate Sarah Palin and her family during their East Coast tour, which had more than a few political overtones? That's what at least one congressman wants to know, and he's asked Park Service Director Jon Jarvis for an explanation.

Backpacker magazine has devoted its June issue to the national parks, and the 112-page mag packs quite a lot of information -- including some great features on park destinations and a discussion-spurring list of parks the editor-in-chief would do away with in favor of new units -- between the covers.

Looking for information to help you plan your national park vacation? Today the Traveler is rolling out the first in a series of "park profile" pages to help you with your homework.

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.

With the summer travel season officially here, millions of folks will be heading out into the National Park System in the coming months. If you're one of them, just remember to be mindful of your safety, and that of your family and friends.

How do you interpret a National Park Service site when there's really not much, historically, to see? That's the challenge at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, home of The Lost Colony. But and enthusiastic staff makes the history exciting and mysterious.

From time to time we get asked by readers what can they do to help the National Park Service out? Well, today you can sign a petition being circulated by the National Parks Conservation Association urging Congress to safeguard national park funding.

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.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hill, North Carolina interprets a fascinating story of the best of American ingenuity, grit and perseverance. Through talks, exhibits, a movie and just walking, visitors can feel the elation felt by Wilbur and Orville Wright when their plane first stayed in the air for 12 seconds.

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.

True, May might be a bit early to visit Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, but David and Kay Scott, on the road to update their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges, found the month perfect for a stop there.

Efforts to gain approval for a four-lane bridge over the St. Croix River not only represent a significant threat to the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, but if successful would set a dangerous precedent for Wild and Scenic rivers nationwide, according to a national rivers advocacy group.