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11/18/2009 - 7:46amReader Participation Day: Where is Your Favorite National Park Campground?One of many secret spots in the backcountry is my favorite campground. As far as formal campgrounds go, my best experience was at the Cottonwood Campground in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. When strange noises awaken you at dawn and you walk a hundred yards behind your tent down to the ...
11/16/2009 - 5:10pmTraveler's Gear Box: How Do You Cook Your Food in a National Park's Backcountry?[quote]Exothermic reaction to water while in a self contained pouch/box.[/quote] Are they full of calcium chloride pellets? Hmmm. Just looked it up. Magnesium, Sodium, and Iron. Sounds like the same general composition of the self-heating hand-warmers.
11/16/2009 - 5:03pmPadre Island National Seashore: Wintering Grounds For Sandhill CranesWe spend October here in southern Michigan watching the cranes gather before taking off for parts unknown. Several thousand usually gather at an Audubon-owned sanctuary just south of where I live. Last year we went canoeing on the Weeki Wachee River in Florida in February. Around one of the bends ...
11/15/2009 - 7:18pmCollecting National Park T-Shirts: The Passion and the PainI'm in it for the embroidered patches, myself. Have a box of about 60 of them sitting beside me right now. I just haven't had the inspiration to figure out how to display them. I could see myself as an old man wearing a vest covered in gaudy patches...but at ...
11/15/2009 - 9:08amNewspaper Turns Back the Calendar and Calls for "Buffalo Commons National Park" in KansasInteresting idea. I'm trying to picture what the marketing plan would be to get people out to West Kansas. Europeans do love the American West, but they tend to like mountains in the distance and things to do outside the parks. I think a park like this would need to ...
11/15/2009 - 8:58amLawsuit Over Deer Culling At Valley Forge Highlights Troubles Of Squeezed National ParksThe folks complaining about their flower beds might be the voice that gets heard by the politicians, but the real issue re plants is what's going on in the natural areas overpopulated by deer. Species of wildflowers are being extirpated and forest regeneration is greatly impacted if not completely halted. ...
11/11/2009 - 1:11pmWayward Hikers Demonstrate How Easy It Is To Get Lost In Great Smoky Mountains National ParkI grew up hiking every summer in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. You learn to respect Rhododendron thickets real fast. I've become disoriented only a few dozen yards off the trail sometimes. Your faith in your senses of sight and sound quickly disappears.
11/11/2009 - 12:50pmReader Participation Day: What's the Most Important Part of Your National Park Trip?Holly, that's good to hear about Lora, though USFWS's gain is certainly Acadia's loss. I hope all the rookie rangers out there took notes! Owen, I didn't mean to imply I was disappointed in interpretive talks because they were lacking in any way. I just happen to be consumed with ...
11/11/2009 - 8:29amReader Participation Day: What's the Most Important Part of Your National Park Trip?For us the most important thing is, by far, avoiding crowds. We plan trips for times of year when crowds will be minimized, and during the trip we plan any front country sight-seeing, programs, and visitor center browsing to happen on weekdays - preferably rainy ones. Don't care about rooms, ...
11/06/2009 - 8:40pmWolves, Moose, and Nutrient Flows at Isle Royale National ParkThank you!
11/05/2009 - 4:56pmWolves, Moose, and Nutrient Flows at Isle Royale National ParkI'm generally considered odd because this is exactly the kind of thing I'd search for and think about on a hike! I'd love to see the papers, tomp. (I'm partially laid up at the moment and can't get to the library anyway.) The idea that every single minuscule event in ...
10/29/2009 - 3:29pmBison Will Soon Roam Again at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve[quote]I once had to tell a busload of tourists that there are lots of things to see on that stretch of interstate.[/quote] So, you're saying we shouldn't believe anything you say?
10/29/2009 - 7:50amBison Will Soon Roam Again at Tallgrass Prairie National PreserveIt's on my list, too. Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge is right down the road from the Preserve, on the other side of Emporia. The problem is it's a really boring 12 hour drive from my house to Emporia.
10/28/2009 - 7:23pmReader Participation Day: Is Your Guidebook Actually Bound, Or Do You Prefer Pixels?Sharpie, Kurt. It will rub off if you wipe it or get it wet immediately after writing, but after several minutes it's usually permanent unless you wipe it with acetone. And since I rarely fall into acetone-filled streams, it's all good.
10/28/2009 - 9:15amReader Participation Day: Is Your Guidebook Actually Bound, Or Do You Prefer Pixels?I'd say both also. We usually make a small notebook of things we want to see or check out, phone numbers of guides and outfitters, etc. Most of the back-up information is on the computer or books that stay in the car. Once we leave the trailhead it's usually just ...
10/25/2009 - 6:32pmHow Does Your Congressional Representative Rank on Environmental Issues?Mine got a 30 and a 12. I think the 30 is a record high. I often send comments to him, but the comment form on the website has you click which topic you're writing about. I figure every time I click "Environment", it goes right into his spam filter. ...
10/21/2009 - 10:28amThis Third Time Was Anything But Charming – SPOT Misuse At Grand Canyon National ParkThe helicopter should have dropped them at the county jail to spend some time thinking about their decisions. But seriously, the only solution I see for this is stiffer penalties (either civil fines or criminal charges) for frivolous summoning of emergency aide. That's easy to say, but it begs the ...
10/21/2009 - 10:19amReader Participation Day: Winter Park Visits, Snow or Sand?Kicking around the idea of a trip to Everglades or Padre Island....so I guess my answer is "sand."
10/21/2009 - 7:45amNational Park Mystery Spot: Standing Tall in the MiddleFinally, one I would have gotten, and I wasn't first! 6 feet four score and seven years November 19th two minute speech 272 words
10/20/2009 - 8:57amIs It "Elitist" To Try to Visit All 58 National Parks?The idea that people don't get into nature enough or travel enough is close to my heart, so I I was disturbed by the article referenced here enough to write to Mr. Goetzman, and now we've exchanged thoughtful and enlightening emails. If I interpret him correctly, what he wanted to ...
10/20/2009 - 8:40amWilderness Designations And National Parks Don't Cross Paths Often EnoughI still believe the National Parks are there for the enjoyment of [i]all [/i]people, including those who like to venture into pristine wilderness with the knowledge that it is protected for as long as the rule of law lasts. For that reason, I believe most of the bigger parks ought ...
10/19/2009 - 4:15pmWilderness Designations And National Parks Don't Cross Paths Often EnoughYou're absolutely correct, Dottie, that National Parks are for all people to enjoy. As one of the "people", I enjoy hiking into the roadless, structureless, machine-less backcountry. Just because you don't enjoy or are unable to explore the wilderness doesn't mean everyone shares those desires or limitations. The parks are ...
10/19/2009 - 10:06amDr. Gary Machlis Has Ambitious Plans As Science Advisor to National Park Service Director Jarvis[quote]In the months ahead Dr. Machlis plans to travel about the country, visiting units of the park system...[/quote] What a horrible job to have! :-)
10/19/2009 - 10:03amShould A National Park Ranger Countermand a Parent? There is far too little information presented to make even the most general assumptions about the appropriateness of the ranger's behavior. The whole argument is an exercise in fantasy, pending more facts. It should be classified as "observation of an awkward moment" and left at that.
10/19/2009 - 6:55amDr. Gary Machlis Has Ambitious Plans As Science Advisor to National Park Service Director JarvisIt would be encouraging to see collaboration between NPS and any of the various NGO's that have the scientists already in the field and the money to pay them. The Nature Conservancy comes to mind as one example. TNC isn't operating on Park Service ground, but they study and manage ...
10/13/2009 - 5:03amIs It "Elitist" To Try to Visit All 58 National Parks?I am growing weary of hearing that the things I do for fun are things that only wealthy people can do, considering my wife and I have an income that would barely be considered middle-class. Traveling can be very expensive, if that's how you choose to do it. We drove ...
10/13/2009 - 4:26amJon Jarvis Supports More Official Wilderness in National Park SystemNick, You cite Olympic National Park as an example of good access. Olympic is 95% designated wilderness. It's probably one of the most wilderness-heavy parks out there, yet you can still drive right into the middle of the Hoh rainforest. I agree Olympic is a wonderful example of vast areas ...
10/11/2009 - 8:13amMaine North Woods National Park: Has The Time Arrived?Kurt, Oh, you mean the [i]real[/i] New York? Yeah, I've heard of that!
10/10/2009 - 8:49pmMaine North Woods National Park: Has The Time Arrived?The narrator says: [b]"If you're looking for wilderness areas anywhere near the northeast...you're out of luck; there aren't any."[/b] What? Baxter State Park doesn't count? I'm not saying the National Park is a bad idea, but it's quite misleading to imply that only within the NPS do you find wilderness. ...
09/23/2009 - 2:31pmReader Participation Day: What Aspect(s) of the National Park System Do You Want to Read More About?More of all of the above, please! I love the traveler's checklists. Like the one for Acadia, where I could add a few things I'd done there that Kurt hadn't mentioned. By the time the article's been up for a week, the readers have expanded it by hundreds of percent ...
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