Kayakers at Apostle Islands National Lakeshore have gained more tools to gauge water conditions before they leave shore and head to the park's sea caves.

Bighorn sheep were once common in Southern California and Nevada, but by the 1960s their numbers had been sharply reduced by disease, unregulated hunting, and habitat loss. Forty years of cooperative efforts to rebuild the herds were paying off, but now a major disease outbreak poses a major threat to the majestic animals.

Fisher recovery programs at North Cascades and Mount Rainier national parks, youth programs at Yosemite National Park, and the Glacier National Park Conservancy are among the news items from around the National Park System this week.

Five days paddling around Shoshone Lake in the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park. Warm, mostly sunny, days and cool nights with occasional passing showers. No bugs of any significance. It was, as you might assume, sublime. Best of all, it was time spent with my two sons and an old friend, untethered from the grid.