Call them what you like — outhouses, pit privies, vault toilets, washrooms, bathrooms or just plain old public toilets. When you spend the year touring Parks Canada's national historic sites and national parks for stories — like I just did — you'll need to use the facilities on a regular basis. And by facilities, I don't mean the "facilitrees" when you're desparate and have to go in the great outdoors, and I don't mean the cush indoor ones with flush toilets found in heated/air-conditioned visitor centers. I mean the standalone ones that aren't always as clean and fragant as you'd like and where you consider yourself lucky if there's a good supply of toilet paper and sanitizer.

Campground fee increases will take effect for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in California on January 1. This is the first of two increases, with the second set to take effect in 2024, according to a park release. This phased increase brings the two parks' campground fees in line with prices of similar campgrounds in the area and follows a public comment period that was announced in August 2022.

Beginning next month you'll be able to buy one annual pass that gains you entrance into Crater Lake National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Lava Beds National Monument, and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area.

Thirty-one species of cacti live in the starkly beautiful Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in the Sonoran Desert, along with bighorn sheep, pronghorns, javelinas, kangaroo rats, rare pupfish and all kinds of reptiles and birds. But the green desert is also home to a 30-mile stretch of America’s steel border wall and warning signs had this traveler anxious that “smuggling and illegal immigration may be encountered in this area.”