“I’ll need some time off in November to go to Assateague to band owls.” That remains one of the best excuses for some time off I’ve ever heard, and of course it was legitimate. Who would be creative enough to make up that?

The first-ever management plan for the Blue Ridge Parkway treads a fine line between two forces park managers have juggled for the 76-year history of the high road—the economic development aspirations of adjacent communities and the need to ensure the integrity of a “national park” that’s 469-miles long and a half-mile wide.

A special program that recalls the Japanese invasion of Guam during World War II will be presented at War in the Pacific National Historical Park next month.

One of the popular backcountry winter treks in Yosemite National Park is the 10-mile ski to Ostrander Lake. If that interests you, and you'd like to spend some time near the lake, now's the time to enter the lottery for a night at the Ostrander Ski Hut.