If you're planning to visit Mount Rainier National Park in Washington this summer, you'll likely need a reservation to enter the park through the Nisqually, Stevens Canyon or Sunrise/White River entrance stations during peak hours.

Two hikers rescued from the upper reaches of Mauna Loa in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park never would have been there had they checked in to get a backcountry permit, as the summit area had been closed to travel due to severe weather days earlier.

A clutch of fossilized grasshopper eggs, believed to be the first ever found, has been discovered in John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon.

A snowy weekend with the prospect of two or three feet of fresh snow had me house-bound to a certain extent with plenty of time to wonder what the coming year will bring to the National Park System and related topics.