National parks free for Veterans Day!

by Kraig Becker on
Veteran’s Day is next Wednesday, November 11th, and to celebrate the National Park Service has announced that they will once again waive all entry fees to every national park, forest and monument across the U.S., giving travelers the opportunity to experience hundreds of amazing places for free.

This past summer the NPS offered several fee free weekends, which were extremely popular with visitors everywhere. In fact, those weekends were so popular that they helped several parks, such as Yellowstone, to set new attendance records.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar made the official announcement on this Veteran’s Day celebration, saying “The Department of the Interior is honored to offer this fee free day to thank our nation’s service men and women,” He went on to say, “The sacrifices and achievements of the brave men and women of our armed forces can never be understated. We invite all of our visitors to enjoy this fee free day and take time out on this national holiday to remember our service men and women who are currently serving overseas in harms way.”

Join in on the celebration for yourself by finding a park near you. Then head out to enjoy the best natural resources the country has to offer on Wednesday.

Free tours of Mammoth Cave this Saturday

by Kraig Becker on

In honor of National Public Lands Day, the Park Service has announced that it is offering free tours of Mammoth Cave this Saturday, September 26th.

Located in central Kentucky, Mammoth Cave is part of the largest cave system in the world, All told, there are more than 365 miles of twisting passageways that make up the system, with multiple tours available that range in length anywhere from one to six hours in length.

The free tour his weekend is called the Mammoth Passage Tour, and will last roughly an hour and a half, while trekking through about 3/4 of a mile in the cave. To take advantage of this opportunity, you’ll need to stop by the visitor’s center to pick up your tickets. Tours will depart from that location starting at 9:30 AM, with new tours starting every hour until 4:30 PM Central Time.

This is a great opportunity to see an amazing place that is not only a part of the U.S. National Park Service, but is also a World Heritage Site. Mammoth Cave is well known for its striking beauty and massive size, and this is a fantastic chance for anyone to explore it. But with free tours all day on Saturday, it is likely to be very busy. Get there early and grab your tickets while you can.

National Public Lands Day: enter a park for free and volunteer

by Alison Brick on

Maybe you took advantage of one of the fee-free weekends at a national park this summer? That was for 147 parks. Here’s a free day that’s valid at all 391 national parks.

National Public Lands Day is on Saturday, September 26th.

It’s not just a time to get into a park for free, but it’s a time to participate, if you can. Organizers of the event hope to honor the parks with both celebration and service. Volunteer activities and festivities will be specially tailored for each of the parks.

The reward for your troubles if you volunteer? A sneak preview of Ken Burns’ new documentary “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”

A few of the special events of the day:

Minute Man National Historic Park (Massachusetts): Celebrate its 50th anniversary as a national park on the same day. Recently rehabilitated buildings will be open to the public for the first time.

George Washington Carver National Monument (Missouri): Volunteer with others to remove invasive exotic plants in the park’s woodlands and prairie.

Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado): Build a new connector trail along the Continental Divide between the park and U.S. Forest Service lands. Local musicians will perform music from the Ken Burns’ movie.

National Parks host final free weekend of the summer

by Kraig Becker on

As we’ve mentioned a couple of times this summer, the National Park Service has designated several weekends as “fee free”, meaning we can get into any and all national parks and monuments without paying the usual entry fees. This weekend, August 15-16, is the final free weekend of the summer, and your last chance to take advantage of the government’s generosity.

There are a number of amazing parks spread throughout the U.S. and I’ve recommended five of them here and five more here. When writing those lists, I was looking at parks that were a bit off the beaten path, and less crowded in the summer months, when travelers flock to the top parks, resulting in traffic jams and less than ideal conditions. But as the dog days of summer begin to fade, it may be time to visit one of the more iconic parks. Here are five of the best.

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho
Perhaps the most famous and popular of all the national parks, Yellowstone is home to Old Faithful, the geyser that erupts at regular intervals of roughly 90 minutes or so. Yellowstone offers travelers plenty to do year round, with hiking, fishing, camping, and much more. There is spectacular wildlife to be seen as well, including elk, moose, bear, and wolves. But be warned, this popular park can get crowded quickly, and it can definitely impact your experience there.

The Great Smokey Mountain National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina
The most visited of all the national parks, Great Smokey Mountain offers up access to the mountain range that is gives it its name, thanks to more than 800 miles of hiking trails and remote backcountry campsites.There are an estimated 1500 bears living within the park, along with plenty of deer and elk as well, and the plant life is equally diverse, with more than 1660 different kinds of wildflowers alone. The park is celebrating its 75 anniversary this year, with plenty of activities and attractions for everyone that visits.


Glacier National Park, Montana
For sheer beauty, it is difficult to beat Glacier National Park, which has 700 miles of hiking trails that wander through the snow capped Rocky Mountains and past crystal clear lakes. But the major attraction is the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which is 53 miles in length and takes visitors right through the heart of the park’s amazing wilderness, crossing the Continental Divide at Logan’s Pass along the way. But the road is only open from June through October, so go before it is closed for the winter.

Acadia National Park, Maine
Some of the best wilderness found on the East Coast falls within Acadia National Park, the oldest park east of the Mississippi River. Acadia offers adventures both in the mountains and on the sea, with plenty of hiking and biking trails through the wilderness and along the coastline. Campsites on Mount Desert Island are just minutes from the ocean, while Mount Penobscot offers a challenging and scenic climb. Visitors to Acadia truly do get amazing experiences from sea to summit.

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
At more than a mile deep and 18 miles across, the Grand Canyon is as awe inspiring as any landscape on the planet, and no list of top parks in the U.S. would be complete without it. The hike down into the canyon and back is tough, but rewarding, and for many it is an experience of a lifetime. And if you want to visit the North Rim, which is more remote than the typical tourist trails, you’ll want to visit in the summer months, before the snows move in and close the road for the season. The Grand Canyon is the quintessential national park and a must see for anyone.

Honorable Mentions: Denali National Park, Alaksa, Yosemite National Park, California, and Big Bend National Park, Texas.

Enjoy the final free weekend of the summer!

Everglades to be put back on U.N. endangered list?

by Kraig Becker on

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is meeting with a task force charged with overseeing the restoration of the Florida Everglades this week. He intends to tell them that the Obama administration will ask the United Nations World Heritage Committee to put the national park back on its endangered list when the committee meet in Spain this week.

Two years ago, in what has been viewed as a controversial decision, the Bush administration requested that the U.N. remove the Everglades from the list. At the time, the Department of the Interior defended the decision by citing progress being made in protecting the region and the species that lived there, despite the fact that the restoration program had failed to meet milestones, and was billions over budget.

The current administration believes restoring the Everglades National Park to the list of endangered places will send a strong signal to environmentalists that they are committed to the protecting the environment. If restored to the list, the park will join the Galapagos Islands, the Old City of Jerusalem and Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley as the other World Heritage Sites considered to be in danger. The Everglades were originally added to the list back in 1993 when the area was damaged by Hurricane Andrew and the effects of prolonged exposure to water pollution became known.

Despite the issues effecting the park, the Everglades remains a popular tourist destination. There are more than 156 miles of canoe/kayak and hiking trails, with 47 designated campsites, inside the 2500 square miles of subtropical forest that define the parks boundaries. The Park Service reports that over one million visitors experience the Everglades each year.

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