Fall can be pretty spectacular in Shenandoah National Park, as this stitched panoramic view by Alan Pitt demonstrates. The photo was taken along Skyline Drive, looking west-southwest from the Big Run Overlook near Big Flat Mountain Campground. Rocky Top Mountain is tallest in the chain to the right, while Massanutten Mountain is in the background.

Gear: Camera: Canon Powershot S2-IS; Lens: Zoom lens - 6 mm - 72 mm - F/2.7-3.5; Focal Length: 6mm; Exposure: 1/320 sec; F-number: F/4.

Tenacious. That pretty much sums up the junipers that somehow found purchase in cracks in the granite domes that you find along the Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park. These trees have been hanging on for a long, long time in the granite landscape you can find across from Olmsted Point.

While it's amazing to gaze at these trees from the pullout at Olmsted Point, scampering up onto the granite for a close-up view of these trees is worth the added time. Only by doing so can you appreciate the twisted limbs, the worn and weathered bark, the sheer tenacity of these trees.

What's in a name? For years it's been accepted that the 800-acre national monument down below Mammoth Lakes, California, has been known as Devils Postpile. That's Devils with an "s."

Well, it didn't start out that way. When President William Howard Taft set aside the monument on July 6, 1911, only one "Devil" was involved.

There are times when it's hard not to take a decent photograph. I encountered one of those moments in early September in the backcountry of Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. From a beach in a cove on the lake's Flat Mountain Arm, I watched as the sunset moved almost in slow motion over the glassy waters. Over a period of 10-15 minutes I watched as the sunset lazily ebbed, its rays lighting up the low-hanging clouds with a slowly changing range of hues. And then it was gone.

Gear: Nikon D80, 35-80mm F 5.6, 1/125 sec

Most often we look at the obvious in national parks: gorgeous waterfalls or mountain settings, so-called charismatic mega-fauna such as wolves, bears or moose, colorful wildflowers.

But beyond those scenes and subjects there's an amazing world of life. Since the late 1990s biologists have been involved in an All Taxa Biological Inventory at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Designed to inventory all the various forms of life in the park, the inventory to date has discovered nearly 900 life forms new to science and 5,000 new to the park.

People often ask me what my favorite national park is, and I always answer Yellowstone. Why? Because it's so rich. You've got incredible wildlife, great mountains, lakes and streams, and, of course, the geothermal resources.

While most geothermal attention seems to go to Old Faithful, there are countless geysers that will impress you with their displays. Jeremy Sullivan nailed this shot of Great Fountain Geyser along Firehole Lake Drive. The backlighting really lends texture and even a little personality to Great Fountain.

There is something about pitching a tent in a national park. It becomes not just your refuge from the weather and bugs, but your home, your comfort zone in the natural world. Is there any more relaxing night than one spent in a tent, preferably gazing through a no-see-um mesh roof so you can watch the stars?

The Rainbow Falls Trail is a long-time favorite in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In fact, it's thought to be the first route that led to the top of Mount LeConte. Found off the Cherokee Orchard Road just beyond downtown Gatlinburg, the Rainbow Falls Trail follows, and occasional hopscotches, LeConte Creek on the way to the 80-foot waterfall.

Our National Park System is rich in history, not just natural resources. One such example is the statute that recalls a man who had perhaps one of the most significant impacts any one individual could bring to bear on the whaling industry of the early 19th century.

At the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park on the Massachusetts coast stands a statute in honor of Lewis Temple, an inventor who lived from 1800-1854. His significance? He invented the "toggle iron."

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?