Apr 10th, 2012 at 3:30PM: Memorial Day is fast approaching, kicking off the beginning of the busiest time for America's national parks – the summer season. Budget Travel has just published some confessions from a national park ranger (stationed at the Grand Canyon, judging from his anecdotes). Think Americans are the most reverent about our national treasures? Think again. It's more likely to be a foreigner who knows ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
nationalpark posts
A US National Park Ranger Tells All
Apr 10th, 2012 at 3:30PM: Memorial Day is fast approaching, kicking off the beginning of the busiest time for America's national parks – the summer season. Budget Travel has just published some confessions from a national park ranger (stationed at the Grand Canyon, judging from his anecdotes). Think Americans are the most reverent about our national treasures? Think again. It's more likely to be a foreigner who knows ...New Civil War museum at Appomattox features General Lee's sword and uniform
Mar 26th, 2012 at 10:00AM: As we reported a year ago, a new Civil War museum has been under construction at Appomattox, Virginia. It is a branch of Richmond's Museum of the Confederacy and will commemorate the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and the aftermath of the Civil War.
Now the Museum of the Confederacy-Appomattox is almost complete and will open March 31. Among the displays are ...Civil War Battle of Glorieta Pass to be reenacted in New Mexico
Mar 21st, 2012 at 2:30PM:
The Battle of Glorieta Pass, the most important battle of the Civil War in the Southwest, will be reenacted this weekend in New Mexico.
This important battle took place on March 26 and 28, 1862, but the reenactment will take place on the weekend of March 24 and 25. A Confederate army under General Henry Hopkins Sibley had marched out of Texas to take what was then the New Mexico Territory. ...Photo of the Day: Horse in Torres del Paine
Feb 26th, 2012 at 8:00PM:
Chile's Torres del Paine National Park, located at the southern end of South America, is the kind of place you romanticize when you think of wild, unspoiled nature. I've never been, but I have a vision in my head of towering pinnacles of rock, windswept fields of grass, and serene babbling brooks. It turns out the real thing is just as beautiful - Flickr user LeaningLeft snapped this ...Oklahoma's largest Civil War battlefield may become National Park
Nov 7th, 2011 at 2:30PM:
The Honey Springs Battlefield Park in Oklahoma may become a new addition to the National Park Service, the Tulsa World reports.
The U.S. Department of the Interior said in a report that there's "potential action" for "support designation of Honey Springs as a National Battlefield Park." Now Oklahoma history buffs are scratching their heads over just what that means. The Tulsa World couldn't ...Wildlife refuge on island of Sanibel, Florida, introduces iNature Trail for smartphone users
Oct 13th, 2011 at 3:00PM: The J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge has introduced a new interactive smartphone capability for visitors. Called iNature Trail, the program utilizes QR (Quick Response) codes that are located around the refuge, which can be scanned by your smartphone using free downloadable applications like Neoscan and QR Scan. Once scanned, the codes will bring up YouTube videos and other informative ...
Revolutionary War battlefield of Saratoga to be excavated
Oct 3rd, 2011 at 3:00PM:
One of the most important battlefields of the Revolutionary War is going to be excavated by archaeologists ahead of an EPA cleanup.
Back in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, General Electric dumped polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River near Saratoga, New York. The dumping was banned in 1977 due to risks to public health, and the EPA has ordered GE to dredge up the affected silt from ...Petrified Forest National Park expands by 26,000 acres
Sep 9th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona just got bigger to the tune of 26,000 acres.
After years of negotiation, the National Park Service bought the land from a ranching family, the Daily Democrat reports. This land had been enveloped by the park when it expanded from 93,500 acres to 218,500 acres in 2004.
The park is famous for its colorful petrified trees scattered across the ...Shenandoah National Park celebrates 75 years
Jun 14th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
I'm currently sitting in a rocking chair in Big Meadows Lodge at Shenandoah National Park listening to a young man talk about his day to what I presume to be his girlfriend back home. "We just spent two hours laying in the grass," he says, adding "it felt good to just be really, ridiculously lazy." I don't know who this guy is or where he is from, but I think many of us can relate to his ...Video of the Day - Make your travel photos Hollywood-worthy
Jun 7th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
Vacation photos can sometimes be disappointing, or at very least, a little less 'epic' than how you remembered them. But as Youtube user postjhb shows us in today's Video of the Day, all it takes to turn those summer vacation stills into moving masterpieces is a Photoshop tutorial and a little creative energy.
If you need some inspiration for this summer's big getaway, hit play & ...
Elephants break out of Tsavo West National Park, locals go into hiding
May 6th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
More than 500 elephants strayed out of Tsavo West National Park in Kenya, destroying crops and scaring villagers before being herded back onto park property, the Nairobi Star reports.
The elephants were simply grazing and looking for water, park officials say, but that doesn't reassure villagers who saw their fields trampled. The elephants wandered through five villages and there are reports ...Photo of the Day - Canyon hiking
Apr 17th, 2011 at 10:15PM:
Nature is all around us, but we don't often stop to admire it. A sudden rainstorm is more of an inconvenience than a wondrous thing when you're on your way to work and your clothes get soaked. That said, a hiking trip is a great way for travelers to rediscover that sense of wonder about the natural world. Today's photo, courtesy of Flickr user AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker, reminds me of that ...Reminder: National Parks Week begins today
Apr 16th, 2011 at 8:30AM:
Despite the fact that it was nearly shut down by the budget crisis, National Parks Week kicks off today and will run through next Sunday, April 24th. In celebration, many parks in the system will host great events all week long, and all admission fees will be waived to the parks, and dozens of national monuments as well. To find a fee-free destination near you, click here.
Some of the ...New apps available for National Park Week and beyond
Apr 13th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
We have been talking about National Park Week here at Gadling recently, offering information about free admission during the week, Nat Geo bringing national park maps to iPhone and iPad and even a story about a photographer who visited all the parks and lived to tell about it. Today, we have a couple other apps for you to add to your collection.
Chimani, LLC announced today that all iPhone ...Photo of the Day - Wildlife in Yellowstone
Mar 20th, 2011 at 6:00PM:
It's easy to clutter your travel photos with all kinds of random visual information. But sometimes the best shot is also the simplest. For instance today's snap from Photo of the Day regular fiznatty. While exploring the famous Yellowstone National Park, our photographer spotted this elusive Red Fox trotting through the pristine white snow. Your eye is drawn immediately to the fox's ...Nation gears up for Civil War sesquicentennial: reenactments, exhibitions mark the 150th anniversary of America's bloodiest conflict
Feb 17th, 2011 at 10:30AM: A hundred and fifty years ago, the United States descended into a bloody Civil War. Young men on both sides eagerly signed up for what they thought would be a short and glorious conflict. A typical example is this private from the Fourth Michigan Infantry, pictured here courtesy of the Library of Congress. He poses, way too young and unconvincingly cocky, in the early days of the war in 1861. It's ...National parks announce fee free days for 2011
Jan 27th, 2011 at 8:00AM: Over the past few years, it has become a tradition for the National Park Service to waive entry fees into the national parks several times a year. Those fee free days have become extremely popular with frugal travelers, who take advantage of the lack of an entry fee to enjoy some of the best natural wonders that America has to offer.
Earlier this month the Park Service announced their fee free ...Winter in Whitefish, Montana: where extreme snow sports and radical serenity meet
Jan 26th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
Northwestern Montana just doesn't get the credit it deserves. When most tourists ponder Big Sky Country, they think of big lakes, outback hunting and skiing at Big Sky Resort. Truth is, all of those things are most definitely found in the Treasure State, but there's a slice of this place that manages to package a raft of winter sporting activities with a slice of natural beauty that'll burn a ...Shootouts kill five rhino poachers in South Africa
Jan 16th, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Five rhino poachers were killed in two shootouts with South African police this week, the BBC reports. Three were killed in Kruger National Park, one of the most popular game reserves for safaris in South Africa. Two others were killed near the border with Mozambique. Poachers often cross borders in an attempt to evade the law.
Two rhino horns were found among the poachers' belongings.
...Ten great things to do in Yellowstone during the winter
Jan 14th, 2011 at 8:00AM: As many travelers know, Yellowstone National Park is one of the most spectacular natural wonders in the entire world. It deftly blends beautiful landscapes, fascinating geothermal activity, and an amazing abundance of wildlife to give a unique experience that has to be seen to be believed. During the summer months, the park is warm, lush, and green but overrun with tourists. Last year the park set ...
