Thirty-two-million years after a saber-tooth cat stalked prey on the landscape known today as Badlands National Park, a 7-year-old girl working for her latest Junior Ranger badge spotted the animal's fossilized skull protruding from a hillside.

Nowadays, a visit to a unit of the National Park System requires at least a minimal amount of planning and preparation. Whether you fly, drive, cruise, or ride the rails, planning your park travel ensures a much more enjoyable stay. Contributing photographer and writer Rebecca Latson shares her own planning and preparation routine for a safe and enjoyable park visit.

With the year-end quickly approaching, there are efforts in Congress to help, and possibly hurt, the National Park Service.

National Park Service proposals to reduce, and even ban, air tours over four national parks are being fought by the Helicopter Association International, which has asked its members and supporters to file comments against the proposals.