Not only did September's visitation count in Yellowstone National Park set a record, but it also pushed the park's year-to-date visitation to a record high, according to park officials.

Like most desert locales, Lake Mead National Recreation Area south of Las Vegas doesn't receive a lot of rain, and there's no question the area is in the midst of a serious drought, but when rain does fall, it can sometimes be too much of a good thing. A flash flood on Monday afternoon caused nearly $1 million of damage at Callville Bay, and that area and the Callville Bay Access Road have been temporarily closed to all park visitors while clean-up and repairs are underway.

The arrival of October at Denali National Park and Preserve brings both flexibility and changes for visitors who want to drive the Denali Park Road on their own. The famous drive is open to private vehicles as far as the Teklanika River Rest Area at Mile 30 through Friday, October 8, but after that it's a day-to-day thing, depending upon the weather and a road construction project

Baked by time like some multi-layer geologic tort, Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah features a landscape cut by canyons, rumpled by upthrusts, dimpled by grabens, and even pockmarked, some believe, by asteroids.