It's just too hot to enjoy camping in some parks during the summer, but fall and winter are prime times for outdoor activity in those areas. Here's a sampling of NPS sites where the "off season" in the rest of the country can be the best season for camping.
It's one thing to have your throat go dry and your fingers clench the steering wheel when you're driving Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, but even my Honda Shadow seemed a bit reluctant to go higher and higher on the road towards the park's Alpine Visitor Center.
When you think of the beach, do you think of winter? You should! Winter means fewer crowds, cooler temperatures, and different wildlife species out and about for viewing. Follow us through six national seashore sites to visit during the cooler months to plan your next adventure.
A chill is in the air, leaves are changing, and people are looking towards the holidays. Autumn also is the perfect time of year to soak in some of the country's history along with the fall colors at historic sites and historical parks in the National Park System.
Take a trip to the Delaware and Leigh Navigation National Heritage Corridor in eastern Pennsylvania and you'll find a bucolic landscape with quaint towns and rich history that delves into the nation's industrial past.
Our intrepid correspondent, having following the Santa Fe National Historic Trail from Santa Fe, New Mexico, east to Franklin, Missouri, now reverses course and heads back west on the stretch of trail known as the Mountain Route.
Two threads from the same fabric, the Santa Fe National Historic Trail actually is two trails separated at times by hundreds of miles. While pioneers used oxen to pull their wagons, our correspondent turned to the couple hundred horses under her vehicle's hood to traverse the trail.
Do octopuses walk? Or do they swim? Perhaps they just scoot along. Whatever, Caroline Rogers, a marine ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, spotted this one while snorkeling at Virgin Islands National Park.