It's summertime. The crowds are out at the parks. Can you escape them and find a bit of solitude? Well, not entirely, but with the following suggestions from Traveler's Essential Friends, you can break from the crowd.

Lowepro, which has a long history of making camera bags, just came out with a few more that are designed especially to keep your gear dry in the wettest conditions.

The battle to prevent quagga mussels from establishing a reproducing population in Lake Powell continued earlier this month with an intensive four-day search and destroy dive operation at the two major marinas on the lower end of the lake. Based on the results, officials at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area are optimistic the huge lake can still be kept free of an infestation.

Repeated rockfalls, including one that featured pickup-truck-sized boulders that fell as much as 400 feet, have forced Dinosaur National Monument officials to close a stretch of the popular Jones Hole Trail.