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.

A black bear sow that walked into a backcountry campsite and bit a woman on her arm and head and "nipped" the hand of a child in the group was killed by Yellowstone National Park rangers who arrived on the scene while the bear was eating the campers' food.

Concerns about catching Covid-19 during cross-country travel don't seem to have left national parks to the locals. While overall visitation to many parks is lower than usual for this time of year, statistics provided to the U.S. Travel Association show many people are traveling hundreds of miles across state lines to visit the parks.

It's been more than a half-century since the Beatles let the world know they get by with a little help from their friends. Certainly, that's true for national parks from coast to coast, which have been able to accomplish much with philanthropic dollars raised by friends groups. But what happens if those dollars vanish?