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.

Though some states are seeing spikes in Covid-19 cases, more parks are reopening access to the public. Death Valley National Park has reopened more campgrounds, Zion National Park plans to resume its shuttles this week, and Canyon Mouth Park at Little River Canyon National Preserve is back in business.

Steve and Lacy are wanted by rangers at Death Valley National Park. Steve is thought to be a Canadian who has taken to leaving his and his dog's name, Lacy, on rocks and historic structures in the park over the past two years.

Death Valley National Park, the largest national park in the lower 48 states at roughly 3.4 million acres, closed down Saturday due to the coronavirus pandemic.