Nearly 1 million records and artifacts relating to Great Smoky Mountains National Park will soon have a new home, as the Interior Department has OKed funds to complete a $4.3 million Joint Curatorial Collections Facility.

Here at the Traveler we recently asked you to comment on Which Is The Most Overlooked, Or Under Appreciated, Unit Of The National Park System? Well, after my trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, I can answer with great conviction that the three intriguing parks in St. Croix -- Christiansted National Historic Site, Buck Island Reef National Monument, and Salt River Bay National Historical Park -- qualify for both overlooked and under-appreciated.

John Lowry Dobson (1915-2014) amateur telescope maker, co-founder of the Sidewalk Astronomers, and an evangelist for interpreting the "other half" of our national parks, dies at age 98

Paddling down a river or across a lake in a national park setting is truly a wonderful, memorable experience, one that carries thrills and life-long memories. You can retrace the historic 19th-century journey of John Wesley Powell, or land on a lodgepole pine-studded shore where camp is set under swaying trees and the evening brings a vivid sunset.