Winter is one of the best times to enjoy our parks! With majestic, snow-capped mountains and ice-covered lakes, winter provides scenic splendors with an array of exciting activities. While visitation peaks in the summer, national parks receive millions of visitors throughout the winter months, who come to enjoy such activities as skiing, snowshoeing, camping, and hiking in the backcountry, and attending ranger-led programs.

For some park travelers, winter trips conjure up images of snow-covered landscapes, but for others the season means sun and sand. Here are some suggestions for NPS sites where milder winter weather offers a fine time to enjoy parks that are just too toasty or buggy for most of us during the summer.

If you're planning a drive through Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park this week, you might want to postpone it, as park crews are planning to burn about 700 acres of fields in the cove.

Winter long has been regarded as the slow season for national park visits, and that's a good thing if you prefer to have the parks to yourself. With most travelers confined by school schedules to the summer months, and many convinced winter is a bad time to be outdoors, you can savor the best of the parks from coast to coast in winter. Here are some snapshots of wintry fun in the parks that bear that out.