A California teenager luckily avoided serious injury when he fell 25 feet down into a steam vent at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Finding a comfortable position sleeping on the ground can be challenging, what with rocks, roots, and the general lack of a perfectly flat piece of turf. For those conditions, you might want to consider adding a cot to your gear bag.

To better understand the history and scope of the National Parks and their administration, we worked with OnlineMPADegrees.com to create a visualization on one our greatest national assets—Our National Parks: The Pride of America.

Although most of us have some favorite pieces of equipment for trips to a park, the combination of modern technology and human ingenuity continues to come up with new—and sometimes better—ideas. Here's a fun look at a few examples of outdoor gear that could be described as the most innovative, unusual or ....well, I'll let you pick your own adjectives.