Though the loss of birding opportunities due to the closure of national parks pales to the economic hardships dealt by the closure, the timing of the government shutdown -- during the fall migration -- will lead to a loss in data.

Though it won't be an immediate help to those Colorado River runners beached at Lees Ferry by the shutdown of the National Park System, the National Park Service will refund their permit fees and give them a choice of launch dates in the years to come.

A search for a hiker missing in the rugged Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho led underground, as cave specialists headed into lava tubes looking for the missing physician.

It's not unusual for find piles of stones marking the way for trails across open terrain in mountains, deserts and terrain otherwise devoid of easily recognizable landmarks, but these "cairns" can evoke a surprising amount of controversy both in an out of national parks. Sometimes, however, what appears to be a cairn is actually instead an item of historic interest.