Talk regional cuisines and when the region that pops up is the Southwest you know the talk is going to get spicy: Chipotle peppers with their rich, smoky flavor, habaneros with their bite, and potentially potent chile rellenos. But Southwestern cuisine is more diverse than its bite might indicate. You can discover that during a meal in the Metate Room at Mesa Verde National Park, where the menu is built around bison, elk, turkey and quail, as well as squash, black beans, and tortillas.

Wyoming's Snake River carves both lazy oxbows and braided channels with swift currents through Grand Teton National Park. It's a great float, but as a 71-year-old Indiana woman discovered the hard way, you have to make sure you hit your takeout point before the current pushes you downstream. She didn't and ended up spending a cool night on a sandbar in the river.

A recent mountaineering accident at North Cascades National Park left one climber seriously injured and a second one stranded on a remote, rugged peak. The location of the incident was certainly appropriate: Mount Terror.

An annual survey of hoteliers identifies the French as the world’s worst tourists and the Japanese as the best. Brits and Germans are deemed polite, and Canadians don't complain. Does this match your own perception of international tourists in our national parks?