Acadia National Park

How do you collect your national park memories?

What's Jim Vekasi been doing the past 20 years at Acadia National Park? The short answer is, a lot!

Humans weren't the only ones stocking up for a feast this month. Flying squirrels, which call a number of national parks home, have been busy with their own meals with winter coming.

If National Parks Traveler’s blue whale creature feature got you in the mood to do some whale watching, we’ve put together a guide of the best national parks for just that. From coast to coast and throughout the year, each park provides the opportunity to enjoy these majestic creatures.

From snowsports to whale watching, America’s national parks have it all come winter. Check out our five-pack of parks where winter gives you the entire country's worth of geographical getaways.

Earlier this year National Parks Traveler broke ground with Essential Friends, an initiative created to celebrate the great work of national park friends groups. While the publication has been available in PDF format, we now offer it to you as a flip book. Enjoy!

Nearly 70 National Park System units along the Eastern Seaboard were either fully or partially closed due to impacts from "superstorm Sandy," and it could be days before some reopen.

Come month's end they'll be moving to winter hours at Acadia National Park, where the Hulls Cove Visitor Center and Sand Beach Entrance Station will both close on Halloween.

National parks along the Eastern Seaboard from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to coastal Maine were preparing Saturday to withstand the brunt of Hurricane Sandy, a slowly evolving storm that meteorologists were predicting would be historic for its devastating impact.

Unless Congress averts a staggering budget "sequestration" early next year the National Park System will be devastated by underfunding that could force the Park Service to shutter more than 100 parks, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

While most people think of the four seasons we all know so well, birders have a different calendar with more descriptive headings than “spring” and “winter.” And right now we are at the peak of hawk season.

With autumn in the offing, the question for leaf lookers heading to Eastern national parks is—what’s the foliage forecast for fall 2012? Howard S. Neufeld has some good news for you—but the reasons why aren’t simple.

Throughout the summer we've been celebrating the work of national park friends groups. While the summer is coming to an end, their good work continues throughout the year. And with that in mind, they could use your support to fund that work. Here's a look back at some of the park system's "essential friends" and how you can support them.

Pledge to Fledge: Take a friend birding in a national park of your choice.

Tell us, Travelers, where would you prefer to spend your fall vacation in the National Park System?

If you’re in mood to travel, September and October are wonderful months to spend in the national parks. The crowds have departed, the animals are busy, and the fall color beckons. Now is the time park friends also host an array of workshops tailor-made for life-long learners.

It’s hard to argue that Acadia, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smokies, and Shenandoah don’t represent the cream of what the National Park Service offers in Eastern America. There are a lot of great experiences in these top East Coast national parks, but for the truly discriminating explorer, the friends groups for these parks have truly awesome best-kept-secret suggestions.

Does your congressperson understand where you stand when it comes to America's national parks? Perhaps more to the point, do they care where you stand?

Friends of Acadia has its annual benefit auction scheduled for Saturday. If you can't make it to Bar Harbor, consider bidding on-line for great items such as a natural seaglass necklace or a 7-night stay in Southwest Harbor at the Harbor Ridge Resort.

America's national parks, places such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, and Everglades, face problems both small and large due to poor federal funding, according to a survey of voters released today.

With so many organizations clamoring for your charitable dollars, how can you decide which group to give to in support of the national parks? Do your homework, urges Jacqueline Vaughn.

Denali National Park and Preserve seems to be quite popular this August with congressional staffers, though a number of other parks also are destinations for politicians and their staff during the August recess.

The National Park Service recently issued a prospectus for ten years of seasonal retail and food service operations in Maine’s Acadia National Park. The concession consists of a large food service establishment and retail operations at Jordan Pond House plus smaller retail operations at Cadillac Mountain and Thunder Hole.

A University of Maine student working her way up a section of the Precipice Trail in Acadia National Park was killed when she slipped and fell about 60 feet.

During your visit to Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island, don't miss this side-trip to Southwest Harbor and the Wendell Gilley Bird Carving Museum, where delicately and intricately carved bird and waterfowl species seem ready to take flight.

Planning to visit Acadia National Park? Here are some insider tips from Friends of Acadia on how to get the most out of your visit.

Acadia in 1919 became the first national park east of the Mississippi. Thanks to people with a passionate love for the beauty of Mount Desert Island— and its cool summers (at least compared to inner-city Boston and New York City)— the jewel dubbed “MDI” was spared from rampant development.