An important question for travelers on the Blue Ridge Parkway, especially in the winter, is "How's the weather?" The Parkway is open year-round, with one important caveat: "As long as snow or ice do not create dangerous driving conditions." Now, thanks to a new website, BRPweather.com, it's possible to get real-time weather conditions and forecasts for multiple locations along the popular roadway before you decide to go for a drive.

Though the landscape within the Blue Ridge Parkway --outside of the parkway, itself -- was closed during the recent closure of the National Park System, rangers had plenty of work to attend to, including the arrest of a man poaching mushrooms in the Parkway.

Among the many casualties of the government shutdown are some of the popular webcam views of locations around the National Park System, since NPS and some other government web services have been disabled for the duration of the dispute. If you enjoy the ability to check in on favorite park locations via those cameras, all is not lost, however, and we'll provide some tips about park webcam views provided by non-government sources.

With the clock, and the calendar, ticking closer to congressional gridlock over the country's debt ceiling, how might the National Park Service react if October 1 arrives without an increase in the ceiling?