Hurricanes and their aftermath have shuttered a small handful of units of the National Park System from Hawaii to Texas.

A new CEO is expected to take the helm at Yellowstone Forever next week, a move expected to begin a transition for the troubled nonprofit organization that the National Park Service seriously had considered jettisoning from its role as the main fundraiser for Yellowstone National Park.

In a 180-degree reversal of an Obama administration finding, the Trump administration on Friday said an open-pit mine on the doorstep of Lake Clark National Park and across from Katmai National Park in Alaska would not harm the fisheries of Bristol Bay, a decision quickly denounced by conservationists.

The two of us have enjoyed a half century of travel, much of it devoted to visiting America’s national parks. The initial three decades involved travel in a series of four Volkswagen campers, a vehicle we loved, but that disappeared in 2004 from VW dealers in the United States. If only the company would export its California van to the U.S. More recently we tented and stayed in national park lodges. The many national park visits offered some wonderful surprises including these ten that we seem to remember best.