Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

Tourism traffic to Alaskan units of the National Park System grew by roughly 2 percent in 2011 to a total of 2.32 million visitors, according to preliminary National Park Service statistics.

"Two" has important meaning in the context of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, and so do many other numbers.

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."

Visitors to historic buildings have said many times, "If only these walls could talk…." Perhaps that was the case for employees at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway, Alaska, when an intriguing discovery was made during restoration of an old building.

A donation of four historic buildings, and a treasure trove of gold-rush era memorabilia, to Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Monument will help the National Park Service better present and interpret that fevered aspect of American history.

Your last trip home from a business meeting may have been a bit wearing, but it was probably lacked the drama of a recent drive by two rangers returning home to Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Alaska.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nomination has put Alaska in the national spotlight, so let’s orient this week’s quiz to the national parks of The Last Frontier. Answers are at the end. If we catch you peeking, we’ll make you write “Alaska’s state fish is the Oncorhynchus tshawytscha” 100 times on the whiteboard.

Even though the world as a whole is getting smaller and smaller, Alaska still manages to cast an image of being that rugged land far, far away to the north. And yet, quite a few folks are managing to head to Alaska to visit the national parks there.