The old school bus rumbles to life with a painful metallic grinding and we roll forward, our chariot rocking side to side down a rutted, muddy street of a small crossroads town called Dumre in central Nepal. Angling down a hillside, the bus lists heavily to starboard and moves too slowly to escape its own cloud of choking exhaust, which drifts in through the open windows.

Sally Jewell, who runs the outdoor gear retailer REI, is to be nominated to replace retiring Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, it was being reported this morning.

Will expanded wireless service for cellphones and the Internet enhance your national park experience, or will it clutter it with a technological Disneyification of the parks, one that will detract from, not add to, the national park experience?

With springtime drawing near, another park is proposing an inrease in campground fees. At Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky, a hike of not quite 15 percent in the fees charged at the Wilderness Road Campground is under consideration.