Featured Articles on National Parks Traveler

Winter has been easy on Yosemite National Park so far, easy enough that Santa might actually be able to drive the Tioga Road on his deliveries.

It's that time of year again. Yep, time to grab your binoculars and notebook and head out into the national parks for the annual Christmas Bird Count.

Humans are creatures of comfort, so perhaps it should not be a surprise that warming temperatures associated with climate change are altering the seasons slightly when it comes to visiting national parks, according to a study.

The Smokies Trails Forever endowment has paid for the rehabilitation of Forney Ridge Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The formerly muddy and slippery trail is now a beautiful work of trail art.

Western public lands are not only an iconic slice of America's national identity, but also a valuable economic driver if properly protected and managed, according to a group of more than 100 economists and academics who want President Obama to set aside more public lands as national parks, monuments, and wilderness areas.

If you plan to notch your "Big Year," you need to head down to Big Bend National Park to catch a glimpse of the Colima Warbler.

There is a false sense of security in the National Park System surrounding officially designated wilderness. And political actions, or, rather, inaction, demonstrates why there should be concern for the long-term fate of lands with wilderness qualities.

Just because winter is on its way and the weather is turning gray and colder, that doesn't mean there aren't great places to enjoy in the National Park System. Here are some random suggestions.

Nebraska's Homestead National Monument of America is a very special place that contains, among other things, America's oldest homestead and second-oldest restored tallgrass prairie.

The first-ever management plan for the Blue Ridge Parkway treads a fine line between two forces park managers have juggled for the 76-year history of the high road—the economic development aspirations of adjacent communities and the need to ensure the integrity of a “national park” that’s 469-miles long and a half-mile wide.

A plan that would, in part, showcase the National Park Service's commitment to reduce plastic bottle litter was partially derailed when Coca Cola raised its concerns over the plan with Park Service Chief Jon Jarvis, who blocked a ban on disposable water bottles at Grand Canyon National Park.

Do you have the right stuff to hike the Appalachian National Scenic Trail next year? It's not about the right gear but as Grandma Gatewood said, "it takes more heart than heel."

Data being gathered to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decide whether the Kittlitz's murrelet should have Endangered Species Act protection shows an alarming direction in the species' population trend.

Thigh-deep in the strong, bracing currents of the Bechler River was not exactly what I expected when I set out to explore Yellowstone National Park's "Cascade Corner." But at least it was mid-September, and not mid-July, when the torrent surely would have been colder, deeper, and stronger.