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National Parks Traveler Episode 28: Seven Months In The National Parks, Visiting Joshua Tree

Lauren and Steven Keys wanted to see national parks, so they took seven months off from the daily routine and headed out on a 34,000-mile journey that took them through the National Park System. We ask them how they did this, what they saw, and how they afforded it. We also take a look at visiting Joshua Tree National Park, and raise a question of why the National Park Service continues to pursue capital projects when it struggles under a roughly $12 billion maintenance backlog.

Will Joshua Tree National Park's Iconic Trees Survive Climate Change?

Glaciers are on their way out of Glacier National Park, according to climate projections, and Joshua trees could be missing from Joshua Tree National Park by century's end, according to scientists who say the trees only have so much higher elevation habitat they can retreat to before the landscape simply gets too hot for them.

Marker Pinpoints 1943 Shootout At Joshua Tree National Park

Bill Keys maintained all along that he was ambushed by Worth Bagley and shot and killed him out of self-defense. A jury didn't buy that, though, and Keys was sent to San Quentin State Penitentiary in California. What does that have to do with national parks? Well, thanks to the National Park Service you can find the location of this 1943 shootout.

Joshua Tree Corrects Number Of Joshua Trees Taken Down During Shutdown

Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith released an apology Friday evening regarding his earlier comments that two of the park's iconic Joshua trees were downed by vandals during the partial government shutdown earlier this year. One had been cut down prior to the shutdown, he said.

UPDATED | Damage Assessments, Cleanup, And Hiring Confront National Park Staff

A coyote that got a taste for human food from garbage strewn about Death Valley National Park during the partial government shutdown had to be put down by rangers after it repeatedly stopped traffic, while other coyotes and and two bobcats were seen approaching visitors in the park. Human visitors left other waste behind: an estimated half-ton of human waste on the landscape.

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