Dazzling strokes of Indian paintbrush, daubs of lupine and larkspur, and dashes of primrose will be on display at Cedar Breaks National Monument during its 4th Annual Wildflower Festival next month.
How much have the national parks changed since you were a kid? Have they changed? When you return to a park that you haven't been to in decades, is it like returning to an old friend, or visiting someplace totally alien?
While winter got off to a slow start in Utah, things are starting to pick up in terms of snowfall. In fact, there's enough snow at Cedar Breaks National Monument that the superintendent will lead a cross-country ski and snowshoe hike this Saturday.
If you didn't find time to drive up to Cedar Breaks National Monument this year, well, you have missed your opportunity for 2008. With winter closing in on Utah's high country, the roads leading to the colorful monument have been closed for the season.
There's an economic report out touting the benefits that a Mount St. Helens "National Park" would bring surrounding communities. And that begs the question of whether units of the National Park System should be viewed largely as economic engines?
Sweeping panoramas, fluted slot canyons and fossilized sand dunes are among the subjects that Jon Ortner brings into focus with Canyon Wilderness of the Southwest, an expansive coffee table book.
It was just about a year ago that I wrote about the invasion of "GPS Rangers" into the national parks. Back then I wasn't so keen on this hand-held electronic tour gizmo, but there does seem to be a hidden blessing in it.
In geologic time, something that's quite evident at Cedar Breaks National Monument, 75 years is pretty insignificant. But that doesn't mean the folks who operate the monument and those who take pride that it's in their backyard aren't going to throw a heck of a birthday party.
What's in a name? That's a good question in light of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's unsolicited bid to turn Golden Gate National Recreation Area into a "national park."
Summer, many will argue, is the season to go camping in the national parks. And, surely, this photo from Cedar Breaks National Monument by Ranger Lee Rademaker supports that argument. The dark, star-punched sky, towering pines, surrounded by the natural world. Can it get any better?