Sep 21 2024
Whale watching is one of the most memorable ways to experience Kenai Fjords National Park. From the harbor town of Seward, boats travel into Resurrection Bay and along Alaska’s rugged Gulf of Alaska coastline, passing forested mountains, rocky islands, seabird colonies, tidewater glaciers, and waters used by an impressive variety of marine mammals. Humpback whales …
Sep 21 2024
Brooks Falls is one of the most famous wildlife-viewing destinations in Katmai National Park and Preserve. Each summer, sockeye salmon surge upstream through the Brooks River while Alaska brown bears gather around the falls to take advantage of one of the richest seasonal food sources in the region. The scene has become iconic. Bears stand …
Sep 19 2024
The brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve are among the most famous wild animals in North America. Each summer, bears gather along salmon-rich rivers, roam coastal sedge meadows, dig for clams on tidal flats, and move through an enormous Alaska wilderness where food remains abundant and human development is limited. About 2,200 brown …
Sep 19 2024
Hiking is one of the best ways to experience Joshua Tree National Park. Trails weave between enormous granite boulders, climb desert mountains, cross sandy washes, pass abandoned mines, and descend into secluded oases where native fan palms rise unexpectedly from rocky canyons. The park protects portions of both the Mojave and Colorado deserts, giving hikers …
Sep 19 2024
Barker Dam is one of the most fascinating places to explore in Joshua Tree National Park. Hidden among massive granite boulders and Joshua tree woodland, the historic dam provides a glimpse into the difficult lives of the ranchers and homesteaders who tried to make a living in California’s Mojave Desert. The dam was built around …
Sep 19 2024
Hiking is the heart of the experience at Isle Royale National Park. There are no roads connecting the island’s destinations, no cars carrying visitors from overlook to overlook, and no easy way to shortcut a long day once you are deep in the backcountry. Exploring Isle Royale means traveling on foot or by water through …
Sep 19 2024
Mount Baldy is one of the most dynamic landscapes in Indiana Dunes National Park. Rising more than 120 feet above Lake Michigan, this enormous sand dune is constantly being reshaped by wind, waves, vegetation, storms, and changes along the shoreline. Unlike a fixed hill, Mount Baldy is a moving dune. Sand blows across its exposed …
Sep 19 2024
The Cowles Bog Trail is one of the most ecologically significant and surprisingly challenging hikes in Indiana Dunes National Park. Over 4.7 miles, the trail passes ponds, marshes, wooded wetlands, black oak savannas, forested dunes, open sand, and finally a secluded stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline. The variety is remarkable. A hike that begins beside …
Sep 18 2024
Hot Springs National Park is unlike almost any other national park in the United States. Instead of surrounding a remote mountain range, canyon, or wilderness, the park rises directly from the center of Hot Springs, Arkansas, where historic bathhouses line the city’s main street and naturally heated spring water still flows from the slopes of …
Sep 18 2024
The wildlife of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park is unlike that of almost any other national park in the United States. Thousands of miles of open Pacific Ocean isolated the Hawaiian Islands from continental ecosystems, allowing the animals that successfully reached these remote volcanic islands to evolve in remarkable ways. Native birds dominate the park’s wildlife …
