A two-week search for a missing hiker in Yosemite National Park. A search for a missing snowshoer on Mount Rainier. Recovery of bodies from climbing accidents in Grand Teton National Park. A week-long, and unsuccessful, search for a missing 8-year-old at Crater Lake National Park. Each year, thousands of search-and-rescue missions cost the National Park Service millions of dollars. And each year the agency eats the costs.

It's been quite a while since the Traveler mentioned the national parks documentary that Ken Burns was working on. So what's he been up to since then? Quite a lot, it turns out.

It's not too often that a national park plays a role in a murder investigation, particularly not one out of the "cold file" bin. But authorities think Death Valley National Park just might be holding the remains of victims of the Manson Family.

Here's an update to the Voyageurs National Park boat tours story. There currently are boat tours available, but not on the scale that will be possible thanks to the $1.4 million a congressman from Minnesota has directed to the National Park Service so it can build a 49-seat boat.