"Astronomically" high tides, waves possibly three stories tall crashing ashore, and heavy rains are descending on Cape Cod National Seashore as a potent storm that could dwarf January's "bomb cyclone" arrives this weekend.

National Park System units along the East Coast were closing down Wednesday in advance of a potent winter storm, known in some circles as a "bomb cyclone," expected to batter the coast through Thursday with gale-force winds, freezing rains, and possibly a foot or more of snow in some parks.

Gathering wild cranberries is a fall tradition on the Outer Cape of Massachusetts. Later this month you can pick some cranberries for your Thanksgiving dinner when a ranger at Cape Cod National Seashore leads a walk into cranberry bogs.

Trying to understand how Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke views himself as a conservationist cut from the mold of Theodore Roosevelt is an ongoing challenge. While he wants to bolster the ranks of hunters and anglers, the secretary also wants to shrink some national monuments, allow target shooting on as many public lands as possible, and allow hunters to chum for bears with donuts and greasy loaves of bread.