Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Golden Gate National Recreation Area officials say that sometime late in June they will have to close Muir Beach through November while the parking lot and pedestrian access are realigned.

In light of recent stories on the Traveler about dogs in national parks, it's pertinent to note that unleashed dogs recently killed two Canada goose goslings at Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California.

A week after a campaign was mounted to encourage the National Park Service to phase bottled water out of the parks, the bottled water industry pushed back a bit, saying to do so would encourage visitors to turn to unhealthy alternatives to quench their thirsts.

It's been more than a year since bottled water and corporate America collided at Grand Canyon National Park, and the push continues to get more national parks to phase out packaged water in favor of fresh tap water and refillable bottles.

Museum collections in National Park Service sites across the country include an amazing variety and mind-boggling number of items. Thanks to an expanding Web Catalog on the NPS Museum Collections website, it's now possible to search for and view thousands of images and records from those collections.

In the years leading up to—and during—World War II, the technology and techniques for "homeland security" were much different than those used today. The recent arrival of a giant naval gun at Golden Gate National Recreation Area will help tell the story of coastal naval defenses during a key period in our nation's history.

In a move to help the National Park System become more fuel efficient, the National Park Service and U.S. Department of Energy are partnering to bring alternative fuel vehicles to the parks.

Visitors to Golden Gate National Recreation Area have a new facility they can head to to orient themselves on the NRA and what there is to do.

People seem to like numbers, and hierarchy, so here's a rundown of the leading units of the National Park System in terms of 2011 visitation. The first list combs through all 397 units in the system, while the second looks only at "national parks."

Millions of dollars are flowing to the National Park System for work on aging roads and multiple-use trails in need of some TLC, and transportation systems thanks to the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in the Parks program overseen by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area has grown by nearly 4,000 acres, and taxpayers got a bargain, with the transfer of a prime tract known as the Rancho Corral de Tierra from the Peninsula Open Space Trust to the National Park Service.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area, one of the world's largest urban-oriented parks, generates some impressive statistics. Take a look at these numbers.

"The Rock" is heading east. Through mid-January a traveling exhibit on the hard times prisoners faced at Alcatraz Island when it housed a high security federal prison will explore daily life faced by the inmates.

Budget shortfalls are expected to result in the closure of up to 70 of the 278 California state parks, but thanks to help from the National Park Service, three of those sites will get at least a one-year reprieve. Projects in a fourth state site will also receive some additional NPS support.

"On the road again." That's what David and Kay Scott soon will be singing, as our lodging experts are heading out on a swing through the National Park System to update their book on national park lodges. And you're invited to tag along.

The only NPS area in the country that currently allows off-leash dog walking has found that efforts to impose new limits on canines is a lot harder than one might expect. After years of litigation and meetings, the park has released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for a dog management plan for public comments, and it's sparked plenty of additional debate.

The National Park Service's CRGIS facility produced maps of significant Buffalo Soldier sites using data supplied by African American and Indian college students working with the Warriors Project to document the "shared history" of black soldiers and American Indians in the frontier West.

What's in a name? Apparently a lot when the name includes "national park."

Can you imagine what would be missing in the national parks if not for partnerships forged with non-profit groups?

Beach fires long have flickered at night on Ocean Beach in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. But now park officials are trying to rein-in some of the behavior that has flared up around some of these night-time activities.

At San Francisco's Presidio, a bold adaptive reuse project clipped the two ungainly wings protruding from the Public Health Service Hospital. Rechristened the Presidio Landmark, the renovated historic structure now houses luxury apartments.

Lodging in America’s national parks ranges from barebones tent cabins to fashionable lodges with upscale amenities. Choose the former and you may well end up with an evening meal of grilled hot dogs, pork and beans, a bag of Fritos, and a six-pack of Bud Light. Splurge on the latter and you could enjoy an evening with a gourmet meal accompanied by fine wine.

Spring is a fantastic time to be outdoors. Along with the beauty of plants in bloom, a trip to a national park can reveal mammals emerging from their hibernation and frogs singing up a storm. But the one spring event that brings countless new and life-long nature lovers to our nation’s parks is the return of migratory songbirds.

As this is written, we are at the start of our third day at Cavallo Point, located in California’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This is our country’s newest national park lodging facility, although a qualifier is required because the lodge is in a century-old U.S. Army post located just north of the famed Golden Gate Bridget.

Favorable contracts on some of the major construction projects the National Park Service has funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment dollars means the agency will be able to afford more projects this year.

Jim Bunning, Kentucky's contrary U.S. senator, singlehandedly has shut down road construction projects across the nation, including many in national parks, because he doesn't want to help middle-class families weather the economic storm, U.S. Department of Transportation officials said Monday.

Gap founder Donald Fisher is dead, and so is his proposal to build an art museum at the Presidio. Fisher’s magnificent collection of contemporary art will instead go to San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art.