It's going on three decades since you last could drive your rig to the old Olympic Hot Springs Resort and automobile campground in Olympic National Park. And now park officials are proposing to erase the last vestiges of that asphalt road.

In light of the weak economy, should it be any surprise that lodging deals are starting to materialize in the national parks? At Glacier National Park, for instance, you can find lodging discounts up to 40 percent per night for visits this coming June.

Yellowstone National Park entered the new year shaking and rattling. Fortunately, there hasn’t been any real rolling just yet. But over at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Redoubt Volcano has been going through its own gyrations, and volcanologists suspect it just might erupt any time now. Against that backdrop, if you want to see volcanics in action, or signs thereof, the National Park System has many opportunities for you.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in a move that repudiates the Bush administration's energy policies, on Wednesday scuttled a series of controversial oil and gas leases near national parks in Utah.