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Trails I’ve Hiked: Bristlecone Grove Trail

There are living things on this planet which defy the passage of time, surviving harsh winters, burning dry summers, and altering climate. These hardy, gnarly lifeforms are the bristlecone pines, trees that can live for thousands of years. At Great Basin National Park, you can hike the Bristlecone Grove Trail to pay your respects to these “elders.”

Mount Rainier National Park Considering Timed-Entry Reservations

It's no secret that the public's desire to head to the National Park System is creating logjams and congestion. So it should be no surprise that Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state is the latest unit of the system to consider implementing a timed-entry system for visitors during the busiest months of the year.

Fireside Read | Guardians of the Valley: John Muir And The Friendship That Saved Yosemite

A library of books has been written about John Muir, many of which mention Robert Underwood Johnson, but not many adequately describe his long collaboration with Muir. In this book, Dean King remedies that oversight. Muir’s life story and his contributions to the preservation of what is now Yosemite National Park have often been chronicled and King presents the highlights of that story. What King adds to the Muir story is who Robert Underwood Johnson was and what his role and contributions were in helping Muir in his many battles for protection of Yosemite.

UPDATE | Republicans Question Distribution Of Funds For National Park Maintenance Backlog

While in the past fiscal year the National Park Service has spent Great American Outdoors Act funds on backlogged maintenance projects at parks as diverse as San Juan National Park Historic Site, Colonial National Historical Park, and Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, as well as Theodore Roosevelt, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite national parks, some Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are concerned about "dubious multi-million-dollar investments in urban liberal cities" while smaller parks "have struggled to compete for funding."

Photography In The National Parks: Same Spot, Different Time / Season / Weather

While it’s great to travel to and explore new units of the National Park System with your camera, it’s also great to revisit your favorite parks and return to photograph favorite spots at view areas and along the trail. Why? Because quite often, this same favorite spot may look quite a bit different depending upon the season, time of day, or weather conditions.

Yellowstone Lake's Submerged Hot Springs Vs. Seafloor Hydrothermal Vents

Discovery of hydrothermal systems on the ocean floor in the late 1970s is regarded as one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century and has implications for the flux of chemicals and heat into the oceans, the formation of some mineral deposits, and the origin of life. Over the last 50 years, deep-ocean hydrothermal vents have been found along plate boundaries throughout the oceans of the world.