Surrounded by southern Utah’s rugged wilderness, I’m confronted by, of all things, butterscotch. In a landscape of warm kaleidoscopic colors that change with the swinging of the sun, butterscotch currently is the color of the limestone ramparts that brought fame to Bryce Canyon National Park. And, I find as I plant my nose against the rough and rumpled bark of a 100-foot-tall Ponderosa pine, butterscotch is the unmistakable scent wafting from the tree.

It's only a snapshot, but I'm told that visitation in Yosemite, Glacier, and Yellowstone national parks is on the upswing this year. Exactly why, as usual, is a good question.

Slender as a reed with dainty yellow flowers, the plant was first spied in Yosemite back in 1923. It then seemingly vanished, as its habitat wasn't rediscovered until 1993. However, it wasn't until just recently that botanists knew exactly what they had.

Warming temperatures are remaking the Alaskan landscape. Sea ice is shrinking, permafrost is melting, glaciers are retreating, polar bears are changing their habits. In Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the warming trend is opening a window into the past, as melting glaciers are revealing artifacts from both the somewhat recent past and prehistoric cultures.