Many national parks preserve aspects of the past, and in the case of Fossil Butte National Monument, that past goes back 55 million years ago, a time when the landscape of western Wyoming was very different from the windswept plains we see today.

A coastal brown bear doomed to death by a snare around her neck was saved by Katmai National Park and Preserve rangers and biologists who were able to remove the snare, and tatoo her for future identification, in a quickly performed procedure.

The Western Banded Gecko, or Coleonyx variegatus, is no stranger to beating the heat. Their nocturnal lifestyle is ideal for the sizzling desert climate. You are more likely to encounter them on a night stroll under the stars than in the mid-day sun. Though many confuse the Western Banded Gecko with young Gila monsters, they are much smaller and lack venomous characteristics.

As big as Yellowstone National Park is -- 63 miles north to south and 54 miles east to west -- perhaps it's not too surprising that someone not interested in driving to a trailhead in the park decided to make their own on the edge of the park. But by this fall, that trail should be erased as park crews finish the second of two years' work in removing signs of the illegal trail.