As an enticement to get folks back into the mountains after recent storms tour through the mid-Atlantic states, the lodging concessionaire at Shenandoah National Park is offering a $25 voucher for folks who book a room there.

Yellowstone National Park, which attracted national attention in 1988 when wildfires burned nearly half the 2.2-million-acre park that hot and dry summer, so far has managed to avoid any fires this summer.

Yellowstone National Park's many thermal features have captured the imagination of visitors for centuries. But Yellowstone geologists and other researchers are using an array of high-tech tools and techniques for the first time to get a much more revealing look at the park's large-scale hydrothermal systems in action.

Any of these three parks is a great place to meet the Southern Mountains—but a visit to each or all is an even better way to meet the diverse and distinctive resident wildlife that populates the dense forests of the Southern Appalachians.