Yosemite National Park

Spring brings raging waterfalls, wildflower blooms, and a renewed landscape to Yosemite National Park. This year it also will bring road work near the park's south entrance that will snarl traffic for most of the year.

Would you have put Half Dome, Yosemite Fall, or El Capitan on a commemorative 25-cent piece honoring Yosemite National Park?

What do the CCC, YCC, SCA and Junior Ranger programs have in common? They all provide great opportunities for young people to gain hands-on experience in national parks. In the process, some of them will develop a life-long appreciation of parks—and the values that make them special. An ambitious project by the Yosemite Fund will help make those experiences possible.

Less than a month after a conservation group expressed its displeasure with the Obama administration for not providing Endangered Species Act protection to the American pika due to the plight it might face due to climate change, a new study suggests the tiny mammals are more widespread than thought and seem to thrive in a temperature range greater than long thought possible.

A variety of visitor services are provided in many NPS areas by private businesses under a concession contract. The oldest family-owned and-operated concession in the National Park System features a famous name, and was recently awarded a new 10-year contract. Do you know where it's located?

What can you glean from glancing at a map? If it's a road map, folks will look for routes to their destinations, interesting sidetrips, population centers. Topographical maps can provide rich details of landscapes and help us navigate through them. In this episode from Yosemite Nature Notes, Producer Steven M. Bumgardner introduces us to the map wonders of Yosemite National Park. There's even a cameo appearance by Ken Burns!

Late in 2008 a thunderous rockfall from the cliff that holds up Glacier Point slammed down on Curry Village in Yosemite Valley. In the aftermath of that incident, Yosemite National Park officials permanently closed 233 tent cabins, cabins with bath, cabins without bath, or roughly one-third of the village's overnight capacity, due to the threat of more rock peeling off from the cliff. Now they're wondering what to do with those facilities.

A diminutive creature that struggles with warmer temperatures brought on by climate change will not receive Endangered Species Act protection for its predicament, the Obama administration has decided in a move that brought quick condemnation from some corners.

My first visit to Yosemite National Park back in June 1999 coincided with a rockfall that forced me out of a tent cabin in Curry Village and into one in Tuolumne Meadows. Ever since, I've been intrigued by rockfalls in the park's iconic valley. While the frequency of rockfalls in recent years might be alarming to park visitors, they are calling cards evidencing the active geology that's ongoing in Yosemite.

If you've traveled Tioga Road through Yosemite National Park at the height of summer, you no doubt have been struck by the grandeur of the high-country scenery. And, you've no doubt noticed the car-clogged trailheads that dot the two-lane road. And the crumbling road shoulders. Well, so have Yosemite officials, who are now beginning work on a plan to rehabilitate 27 miles of the road.

Don Neubacher, a 28-year veteran of the National Park Service who has spent the past 15 as superintendent of Point Reyes National Seashore, is moving over to take the helm at Yosemite National Park.

Climbers are expressing concern over how a renewed effort to craft a plan that controls development along the Merced River in the Yosemite Valley could impact their access to certain routes. At the same time, others are urging park officials not to turn Yosemite Valley into a "Popcorn Playground."

With hopes of increasing the safety of those who hike up Half Dome, Yosemite National Park officials will limit numbers of weekend and holiday hikers through a permit system this year.

Yosemite National Park has been battered by winter, buried under feet of snow that felled trees and closed the park's iconic valley for a day last week. Well, the good news is this snowfall makes for an idyllic setting in the park, and you can experience it at a savings thanks to a lodging sale in the park.

Can you tell by looking at a wildflower in Yellowstone National Park what the underlying geology is? Or, while hiking through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, can you identify a bird simply by its song? Do you want to get relatively up close to the elephant seals at Point Reyes National Seashore? Here's how you can do all those things and more.

Going to Yosemite National Park this weekend? You need to check ahead for a road update. All roads into and out of Yosemite Valley were closed on Friday due to snow, ice and fallen trees.

Great gray owls are not only an endangered species, they're also the largest North American owl. Yosemite National Park is home to about 75% of California's population of these impressive birds, and new research suggests they're even more unique that previously believed.

Winter is a great time for planning national park vacations. These suggestions will help you get started in the right direction, whether your interests are mainstream or nontraditional.

Traveler's creature features have proved very popular. Here’s the list, with the links.

Finicky bears, addled boaters, a cannon that was, a cannonball that wasn’t. In 2009, these and other outside-the-box stories reminded us that you just never know what you’re going to run into – or what might run into you -- in America’s national parks.

Earlier this week we touched on the national parks mentioned in the book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. Somehow, Mammoth Cave National Park didn't make the cut, and if you've been there, you know it should have. Help us compile a list of the top 100 national park locations to see before you die. We'll start the list.

The National Park Service and xRez Studio have created one of the world’s largest photographic images, an amazingly detailed photographic map of the rock faces rimming Yosemite Valley. Believe me, you won’t need to squint!

When "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" was published in 2003, it quickly rose up the New York Times bestseller list. If you've managed to visit a good number of national parks since 2003, more than likely you've made some pretty good inroads on Patricia Schultz' checklist.

Wintry backcountry treks. Capturing sunset in the Yosemite Valley on your camera. Learning more about the history of the iconic valley. These are some of the programs the Yosemite Association is offering from January through March for park visitors.

In today's world, non-profit "partner" groups play an increasingly important role in providing funding for a variety of activities in many national parks. Two key players at Yosemite National Park have announced they are joining forces and merging into a single organization.

Yosemite National Park is an incredibly beautiful and stunning place. It also attracts a lot of people, as this video shows.

'Tis the season for quiet and peace, snowy woods, frosty starry nights, time with loved ones, festive activities, and eating way too much food. What better way to accomplish all that than to spend the holidays at a national park?