National Parks Traveler Episode 152: Exploring Big Bend, And Chuck Sams

By Kurt Repanshek - January 9th, 2022

Last week the National Parks Traveler took you to Big Bend National Park in far west Texas. Lynn Riddick sat down with the park’s Chief of Interpretation Tom Vandenberg to learn about the park’s history and its geological and botanical treasures. This week, in part two, Lynn gives us a first-hand, more personal glimpse into this vast remote park with her companion Mary Muenster as they clock nearly 1,100 miles to the park, through the park, and back home again.

Following Lynn and Mary’s great adventure, Traveler Editor Kurt Repanshek shares a short conversation he had with Charles Sams, the new director of the National Park Service.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Introduction with Kurt Repanshek
:37 Escalante - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks Plateaus and Canyons
:57 Nova Scotia Tourism
1:26 Yosemite Conservancy
1:47 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:21 Friends of Acadia
2:51 Lynn Riddick continues her exploration of Big Bend National Park with traveling companion Mary Muenster.
28:20 The Road Scholar - Bill Mize - The Spirit of South Dakota
28:30 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
28:51 Interior Federal Credit Union
29:27 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
29:54 Wild Tribute
30:24 Potrero Group
30:52 Traveler Editor Kurt Repanshek shares a conversation he had with National Park Service Director Charles Sams.
34:37 No’Easter - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
34:51 Episode Closing
35:44 Orange Tree Productions
36:17 Splitbeard Productions
36:29 National Parks Traveler footer

Big Bend National Park

National Parks Traveler Podcast

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 272 | Fossilized Parks

Have you ever closely inspected the landscape when you’re touring the National Park System, particularly in the West? You never know what you might find.
Back in 2010 a 7-year-old attending a Junior Ranger program at Badlands National Park spied a partially exposed fossil that turned out to be the skull of a 32-million-year-old saber-toothed cat.
If you’ve ever visited Petrified Forest National Park you’ve no doubt marveled over the colorful fossilized tree trunks. There are also fossilized trees on the northern range of Yellowstone National Park, but nowhere near as colorful.

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Wolverines, the largest land-dwelling members of the weasel family, once roamed across the northern tier of the United States, and as far south as New Mexico in the Rockies and southern California in the Sierra Nevada range. But after more than a century of trapping and habitat loss, wolverines in the lower 48 today exist only as small, fragmented populations in Idaho, Montana, Washington, Wyoming, and northeast Oregon.

April 21st, 2024 - Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 270 | Cultural Resource Challenge

Spur a discussion about traveling to a national park for a vacation and odds are that it will revolve around getting out into nature, looking for wildlife, perhaps honing your photography skills, or marveling at incredible vistas.
Will the discussion include destinations that portray aspects of the country’s history, or cultural melting pot?

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National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 269 | Total Solar Eclipse of the Parks

Tens of millions of people in the United States will be able to witness a Total Solar Eclipse on Monday as the rare astronomical event cuts a path from Texas to Maine, up to 122 miles wide in some spots. This is a great opportunity to see the exact moment when the moon fully blocks the sun, creating a blazing corona visible to those observing from the center line of totality.

April 7th, 2024 - Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 268 | Music Inspired By The Parks

With March madness down to the Sweet 16, and Opening Day of Major League Baseball having arrived, we’re going to take a break this week and dive into our podcast archives for this week’s show.

This is Kurt Repanshek, your host at the National Parks Traveler. My NCAA bracket was busted the very first day, and while the Yankees won their opening day game against the Houston Astros, I don’t think they’ll go undefeated this year.

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The Essential RVing Guide

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.