Glacier Bay National Park

I lowered my binoculars and muttered, “Oh, it’s just another eagle.” With that statement I recognized a few years ago that I officially had started taking Bald Eagles for granted.

Despite the impending doom that pixels were expected to hand the printed word, we're happy to report that publishers are still turning out books, and more than a few that crossed our desks this year are worth your attention.

This past year we started a bimonthly column on birding in the national parks, which is a great way to enjoy the parks while learning more about the hundreds of species that flit about the National Park System. Here's a look back at those columns.

A year's worth of family vacations to national parks led to the following list of top family adventures in the national parks.

It was a familiar sound, and yet unfamiliar. I was out of place: heading into the woods at Bartlett Cove along the coast of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, not the Rocky Mountains, and the whooshing sound startled me.

If you haven't been checking the Visit Your Park section recently, know that two more parks have been added to the archives: Glacier Bay National Park and Shenandoah National Park.

Glacier Bay National Park officials are proposed to hold the line on cruise ship quotas in 2012 at 2011 levels.

When was the last time you had to reroute your hike because of a whale carcass? That's the situation at Glacier Bay National Park, where the remains of a humpback whale have come ashore and turned into a magnet for bears and other scavengers.

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."

Across the National Park System many changes are expected from climate change, from more wildfires and vanishing glaciers to invasions of non-native species and flight of long-term residents. Writer/photographer Michael Lanza, concerned that today's park landscapes will change significantly by the time his young kids are his age, has been touring the park system with his family to show his children what they might miss later in life.

This year we posted 16 Traveler's Checklists to help you plan your park visits. Did you miss any? Here's a list with handy links.

How's the salmon population doing in Glacier Bay National Park? With increasing fishing pressure, it's an important question, and the park is proposing a high-tech, low-impact method to gather some key information. The study site is located in designated wilderness, and the park is inviting public input on the idea.

Two hikers who were exploring the backcountry of Glacier Bay National Park are recovering today from injuries sustained when ice from a calving glacier struck them.

For many, the most popular way to arrive and visit Glacier Bay National Park is via cruise ship. But how many cruise ships are enough in the park's waters, where humpback whales frequently swim?

If you had to pick a gateway town to live in -- not because of its associated national park, but because of its atmosphere -- which would you choose?

Rangers in Glacier Bay National Park respond not only to human visitors in trouble, but also to marine life that need help. A recent case of a humpback whale that became entangled in a polyester line demonstrates not only the quick response of park rangers, but also how satellite technology can play a role in saving whales.

If you've landed a spot in the annual Gustavus Bull Moose Hunt, be careful you don't stray into Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. And if the moose you've shot heads into the park, contact a ranger.

National Park Service officials are working to terminate a seasonal law-enforcement ranger at Glacier Bay National Park who has been charged with two counts of sexual assault in the second degree.

A search for a woman who was reported missing from a cruise ship in Glacier Bay National Park on Monday morning has ended. Searchers have recovered a body believed to be that of the missing woman, many miles from the park

Two recent bear incidents in national parks in Alaska should send a message to all visitors that they have to be particularly vigilant when traveling in bear country.

More humpback whales and their calves are showing up in the waters of Glacier Bay National Park, and that has prompted park officials to extend speed restrictions on vessels cruising through those waters.

Most people who visit Glacier Bay National Park never touch a glacier, but – with an icy breath – the glaciers reach out and touch them.

Officials at Glacier Bay National Park have signed off on a small set of 10-year contracts for cruise ship operations. Is that a good thing?