An inability to hire enough staff for this summer is forcing Blue Ridge Parkway officials to close the Otter Creek Campground for the season on August 24.

As the M/V Ocean Endeavour pushed cautiously through a challenging patch of sea ice on route to clearing customs in Resolute, a couple of harp seals frolicked in the water of Lancaster Sound just off the ship’s bow. Their heads popped straight up so they could playfully stare us down for a few seconds before disappearing briefly and then bobbing to the surface in a never-ending loop.

Dimples in the flatiron reefs of rock deep within Denali National Park tell stories of hundreds of dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Period milling about a large floodplain, heading perhaps to a watering hole.

The Fort St. James National Historic Site in Northern British Columbia is conducting a public survey while it drafts its next management plan.