Death Valley National Park covers much more acreage than just the valley itself. It’s the largest U.S. national park outside of Alaska at 3,422,024 acres. With a park that size, you probably aren’t going to see everything you want in the space of a day or a week, for that matter. But you can still see and do plenty, even if you have no more than three days.

The National Park Service has added eight sites to the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network, which connects sites that provide education, interpretation and research related to the period of Reconstruction. The Reconstruction Era (1861-1900) is one of the most fascinating and misunderstood periods in American History and includes stories of freedom, education and self-determination, according to the National Park Service.

An 80-year-old mountaineer attempting a solo climb of Mount Rainier was found dead five days after he was reported as overdue.

Raise the prospect of expanding the National Park System and you'll like illicit one of two responses, either, "That's great!," or, "Why bother, the National Park Service doesn't have the staffing or funding it needs to properly maintain what it has."