Springtime in the Rockies is never a particularly easy time. In Yellowstone National Park, the freeze-thaw cycle at this time of year plays havoc with the roads, as evidenced by the slumping of a short section of the Grand Loop Road near Canyon.

A two-week search for a missing hiker in Yosemite National Park. A search for a missing snowshoer on Mount Rainier. Recovery of bodies from climbing accidents in Grand Teton National Park. A week-long, and unsuccessful, search for a missing 8-year-old at Crater Lake National Park. Each year, thousands of search-and-rescue missions cost the National Park Service millions of dollars. And each year the agency eats the costs.

The red-throated loon is the smallest, most widely distributed, and most distinctive of the world’s five loon species. Annually migrating from summer nesting sites in the Arctic reaches of North America and Eurasia to wintering grounds in the Lower 48, Mexico, Europe, and Asia, this bird can really move.

It's been quite a while since the Traveler mentioned the national parks documentary that Ken Burns was working on. So what's he been up to since then? Quite a lot, it turns out.