Getting publications out on time requires a lot of advance work. At National Parks Traveler, that means working on our spring Essential Guide in winter, the summer guide in spring, and the fall guide in summer, and the winter guide in fall.

With that sort of timing, we’re always daydreaming months down the road. For much of July and into August the thought of looking for wildlife in October in the National Park System was always on my mind. Rebecca Latson’s piece on page 14 covers some great photo tips to use while you’re stalking park wildlife.

While editing it I was wishing not only that it was already fall, but that Rebecca could guide a group of park travelers on a photo expedition so she could drill her tips into us in the field. That’s so much easier than reading and teaching yourself, no?

To keep you thinking about fall trips, and maybe even some winter ones, we persuaded Rebecca to come up with a three-day itinerary (beginning on page 22) for visiting Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

Along with Special Projects Editor Patrick Cone, I was able to visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument early this year to both get a feel for border security there and to sample this wonderful unit of the park system. Our words and photos just might convince you to head to Organ Pipe Cactus this winter. It’s an incredible destination.

For those thinking a warm, wet break from winter would be nicer, Erika Zambello details her experience scuba diving at Fowl Cays National Park in the Bahamas. The story, which starts on page 36, also touches on the threats posed by coral bleaching, and how that impacts the marine ecosystem.

You can dive right into the digital guide below, order a hard copy for $11.95, or download a digital copy from Traveler's eLibrary for $1.99. Of course, you can also wait and read the stories one at a time as we roll them out on the Traveler in the weeks and months ahead.

Finally, as we announced in the summer guide, National Parks Traveler is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media organization. As such, we hope to grow our quarterly Essential Guides significantly, and so provide you with a greater number of stories from the National Park System every season of the year. Your support is key to helping us achieve that goal, as well as to greatly expand our daily coverage of the parks. You can use Paypal or mail a tax-deductible donation to National Parks Traveler, P.O. Box 980452, Park City, UT 84098. With your ongoing support, we can expand the depth and breadth of our parks coverage significantly.

Essential Park Guide, Fall 2017

By Kurt Repanshek in National Park Advocates, LLC

46 pages, published 8/14/2017

The Essential Park Guide for Fall 2017 offers you an outline for visiting Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, explores Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and takes you diving in one of the Bahamas's national parks.