Featured Articles on National Parks Traveler

If you want outdoor adventure in a Utah national park, but feel you don't have the necessary skills or local knowledge, it's time to call in a guide. Here's what you need to know to make the right choice.

These ten cultural-historical parks deserve a darn sight more attention than they've been getting.

One-thirteenth of 1 percent of the federal budget gets you funding for the entire National Park System and the agency that oversees it. Yet that miniscule sliver hasn't stopped Congress from eyeing the National Park Service for cuts to help rein-in the federal deficit.

A cooperating association that has been developing educational and interpretive materials for units of the National Park System since 1947 and an outfitter that can take you down rivers in some of the West's most iconic national parks are the latest organizations and businesses to help keep the Traveler on-line.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has taken on a somewhat dark connotation since park Ranger Kris Eggle was killed by drug runners in August 2002. While some parts of the park remain off-limits to casual tourists, and researchers are suggested to go into the field accompanied by security, guest writer Lee Dalton found the park fascinating during a February visit.

The Great Garlic Mustard Gathering challenges volunteers to remove and use invasive plants from the Appalachian Trail. And how can we use Chinese silvergrass, multiflora rose and other invasives?

What could possibly inspire someone to circumnavigate Alaska, traveling 4,678.8 miles by foot, ski, and inflatable raft? For Andrew Skurka, the challenge was both physical and mental and an underlying desire to "take advantage of the 70, 80 years that I've got on this planet."

With word last week that the Eastern cougar has been declared extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it leaves just one native panther species alive in the East -- the Florida panther that resides in Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park.

The National Park Service uses exhibits, programs, and special events to help celebrate Women's History Month in the national parks, and not just ones that were established to honor women.

How many times have you headed off on a national park trip and conveniently forgotten your Passport to Your National Parks? Have you ever run out of space for cancellations more quickly than you would have thought? Well, the folks at Eastern National have tackled those problems while celebrating the Passport's 25th anniversary.

Climbing at high elevations is a highly specialized sport, and the support network for those who aspire to summit Mount McKinley in Denali National Park is a million-dollar proposition. While park officials believe climbers should bear more of that cost, the climbing community is pushing back.

Armed with photos from an old roll of film and the location of some of Virgin Islands National Park's best-known petroglyphs, park archaeologist Ken Wild set out with volunteers to solve a mystery.

We love our national parks. We love the wildlife they hold, the seashores with their sparkling sands, the forests with their wildlife and hiking trails, the soaring red-rock cliffs and plunging canyons. But please, don't ask us to abide by their regulations.

Have you ever wondered what's real, and what's not, in those reality TV shows that take you into the backcountry to explore survival? Well, read on.