National Parks Traveler Episode 152: Exploring Big Bend, And Chuck Sams

By Kurt Repanshek - January 9th, 2022

Last week the National Parks Traveler took you to Big Bend National Park in far west Texas. Lynn Riddick sat down with the park’s Chief of Interpretation Tom Vandenberg to learn about the park’s history and its geological and botanical treasures. This week, in part two, Lynn gives us a first-hand, more personal glimpse into this vast remote park with her companion Mary Muenster as they clock nearly 1,100 miles to the park, through the park, and back home again.

Following Lynn and Mary’s great adventure, Traveler Editor Kurt Repanshek shares a short conversation he had with Charles Sams, the new director of the National Park Service.

:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Introduction with Kurt Repanshek
:37 Escalante - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks Plateaus and Canyons
:57 Nova Scotia Tourism
1:26 Yosemite Conservancy
1:47 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:21 Friends of Acadia
2:51 Lynn Riddick continues her exploration of Big Bend National Park with traveling companion Mary Muenster.
28:20 The Road Scholar - Bill Mize - The Spirit of South Dakota
28:30 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
28:51 Interior Federal Credit Union
29:27 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
29:54 Wild Tribute
30:24 Potrero Group
30:52 Traveler Editor Kurt Repanshek shares a conversation he had with National Park Service Director Charles Sams.
34:37 No’Easter - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
34:51 Episode Closing
35:44 Orange Tree Productions
36:17 Splitbeard Productions
36:29 National Parks Traveler footer

Big Bend National Park

National Parks Traveler Podcast

Add comment

form.antibot { display: none !important; } You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form.

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 317 | A Little Volcanic Levity

In this week’s podcast we thought we’d take a break from the unsettling news happening in and around our national parks and federal lands regarding park staff reductions and threats of reducing park boundaries to make way for mining.

March 16th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 316 | National Park Service Upheaval

There is, across the country, some upheaval going on as the Trump administration works to reduce the size of the federal government. Whether you support that effort or oppose it, you can’t deny there’s not upheaval going on.

March 9th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 315 | Threatened Lands

Across the United States there are hundreds of millions of acres of public lands. Indeed, there are more than 500 million acres of federal lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service, just to name the three largest land managers in federal government.

March 2nd, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 314 | NPS Cast Aside

It was just over a week ago, on Valentine’s Day, that the Trump administration wiped 1,000 employees off the National Park Service staff without any apparent strategy other than that they were dispensable staff still on probation and so lacking any real protection for being fired without cause.

February 26th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 313 | National Parks in Crisis

The Trump administration’s determination to reduce the size of government regardless of the cost is having a hard impact on the National Park Service.

Last month the agency was forced to rescind job offers to seasonal workers, saw a hold placed on millions of dollars distributed through the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act to address climate change, been told to prepare a reduction-in-force list of employees, and ordered to "hire no more than one employee for every four" let go.

February 16th, 2025 Read More

INN Member

The easiest way to explore RV-friendly National Park campgrounds.

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

Here’s the definitive guide to National Park System campgrounds where RVers can park their rigs.

Our app is packed with RVing- specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 national parks.

You’ll also find stories about RVing in the parks, tips helpful if you’ve just recently become an RVer, and useful planning suggestions.

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks