Best places to see fall colors in National Parks

The National Park Foundation has released its “National Parks Fall Foliage Guide” for 2012. It lists many parks with exceptional fall colors, although the group notes there are many more not included. It advises park visitors to visit nationalparks.org to learn more or to share their own photos of fall foliage in the parks.

The list below includes information about region-specific flora as well as estimated timing on the peak of colors:

Nez Perce National Historical Park (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington) – Peak foliage times range across the rivers, canyons, prairies and mountains of this park which overlaps four states. The short-grass prairies of White Bird Battlefield (ID) and Spalding (ID) peak around mid- to late October. The plains and plateaus of the sagebrush steppe eco-region include a site called Buffalo Eddy (WA) where fall foliage also peaks around mid to late October.

Steamtown National Historic Site (Pennsylvania) –Take a ride back in time on a 1920’s era passenger car, with either a 1917-built steam or historic diesel-powered locomotive, to combine a view of the autumn scenery with the history of railroading. Peak is estimated to be Oct. 7-20.

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (New York) – Visit the site of Theodore Roosevelt’s home around mid-October to see the changing colors of oak-tulip tree, hickory and copper beech. Sagamore Hill Day, a Fall Family Festival giving tribute to the agricultural heritage of the site, is conveniently planned for Oct. 20 which is also Theodore Roosevelt’s 154th birthday!

St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (Wisconsin, Minnesota) –The St. Croix and Namekagon rivers create a 255-mile corridor with a variety of color from one end to the other, including maple, aspen, oak, and birch trees. Visit this park soon, as leaves are changing quickly, with peak colors from now through mid-October.

Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky) – Foliage at this park includes the changing colors of black gum, poison ivy, and dogwood, peaking from mid to late October. Join the Friends of Mammoth Cave for a Walk-In-The-Park on Oct. 6, and choose one of three different walks that are sure to suit your interests and abilities while allowing the perfect opportunity to support the park and view a variety of fall colors.

Vicksburg National Military Park (Mississippi) – The location of a critical battle in the Civil War, this park has a brief period of fall foliage, usually lasting from mid-October through mid-November. Visitors can see changes in the hickory, pecan, and black walnut trees, among many others. Plan a visit around Oct. 27, and the kids can participate in a “Shape Up, Junior Ranger Owl Discovery Walk.” This 1-mile walk teaches more about the park’s nighttime creatures, and is the perfect chance to test out this year’s Halloween costume.

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park (Texas) – Located in the Hill Country of Texas, leaves at this park change from mid-October through the end of November. The sumac, oaks, and haw holly add bursts of fall colors, while the pecans cover the ground and the purple flowers of the gay feather herb enhance the color palette and autumn atmosphere. For a fantastic foliage tour, start with a drive through the LBH Ranch and tour the Texas White House. Make your way into Johnson City to visit the Boyhood Home and finish out your tour with a walk down the nature trail to the Johnson Settlement and the 1960s cabin and barns.

Flight 93 National Memorial – (Pennsylvania) This national memorial, dedicated to the brave passengers and crew of Flight 93 who fought back against terrorism on September 11, 2001, encompasses 2,200 acres of rolling hills, wild flowers, wetlands and old-growth and newly planted trees. Once a coal mine, this location has experienced a breathtaking rebirth as a place of national honor and reflection. Peak viewing times span early to mid-October, but if you can’t get there in person, you can enjoy the foliage from the park’s Live webcam.



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Terrorists' plot foiled at Ohio national park

Cuyahoga Valley National Park has the unique distinction of being Ohio's only national park. Cuyahoga means, "crooked river" in the Mohawk dialect, but this week, something more than the river was crooked. The FBI has arrested five mean who plotted--and took part in planting--a bomb on a huge bridge running through the park.

The Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge on Route 82 runs through a beautiful piece of parkland and connects the Ohio towns of Brecksville and Sagamore Hills. This stately bridge became the final part of a plan by the five men, all in their twenties and thirties, to make a political statement.

Authorities, who describe the man as "anarchists," say the five obtained what they thought were working explosives from an undercover agent. With the understanding that the bomb would detonate by receiving an appropriate text message by cell phone, the crooks were busy calling their seller when the bridge wasn't blown up on cue. Evidently they thought the text code was wrong.

Douglas L. Wright, Brandon L. Baxter, Anthony Hayne, Connor C. Stevens, and Joshua S. Stafford were arrested April 30 on charges of conspiracy and attempted use of explosive materials to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce. While the men were associated with the Occupy Cleveland movement, but an organizer for that group says the alleged-plotters don't represent Occupy Cleveland's non-violent views.

The park was the tenth most-visited national park in 2011, with 2,161,185 coming through the gates.

Photo: Library of Congress

Grab your camera--it's photo contest time

Picture taking and RVing are like nachos and cerveza. OK, popcorn and soda. No matter your taste, if you have an RV, it's pretty likely you've got at least one camera when you head out on a trip. Now the National Park Service wants to get you to use both to enter their Natural Landmarks Program photo contest.

"This is the 50th anniversary of the program and we hope people will join the celebration by photographing one of America’s National Natural Landmarks," said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. "We’re looking for images that capture the beauty and diversity of these natural areas."

Winners will find their photographs gracing the 2013 National Natural Landmarks calendar. Contest entries will be accepted through June 30. Winners will be announced in September. You can submit up to three entries. There are no restrictions on the date of a photograph; however, please remember that "old" slides and prints often lose their quality over time.

Each photograph must be from a different national natural landmark. Images of the 13 sites featured in the 2012 calendar will not be accepted. Those winning photos can be viewed at www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/currentwinners.cfm.

For full contest information and submission requirements for the ninth annual contest, please visit www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/photocontest.cfm.

There are nearly 600 national natural landmarks nationwide representing an array of natural features-from dinosaur tracks and fossils at the Morrison-Golden Fossil Areas, Colorado to bioluminescent waters at Puerto Mosquito, Puerto Rico to the largest impact crater known in the United States at Barringer Meteor Crater, Arizona.

National natural landmarks include features on private, state, municipal, and federal lands. Program participation is voluntary and not all landmark sites are open to the public.

National natural landmarks are designated by the Secretary of the Interior following rigorous scientific study. The National Natural Landmarks Program is managed by the National Park Service and recognizes significant examples of biological and geological features and supports the cooperative conservation of these important examples of America’s natural heritage.

Further information about the National Natural Landmarks Program, including a complete list of designated sites and their accessibility is available at www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/.

photo: National Park Service

Black Canyon of the Gunnison, America's other "Grand Canyon"

PhotoL: NPS/Lisa Lynch

At Black Canyon of the Gunnison in west-central Colorado you can explore one of the nation’s steepest, darkest and most rugged canyons in America, and its surrounding plateau as well.

Between Gunnison and Montrose, Colo., Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park protects a narrow, deep gorge carved by the Gunnison River, with sheer cliffs rising to heights over 2,000 feet. No other canyon in North America combines such a narrow opening, sheer walls and startling depths.

Evidence suggests use of the canyon rims by pre-historic peoples and the Utes consider it part of their homeland. Members of the 1873-74 Hayden expedition, the first white men to see the great chasm, pronounced the Black Canyon inaccessible.

These days, outdoor enthusiasts picnic on the rim, camp along the plateau and marvel at epic views and the abundance of plants and wildlife. The narrow, nearly vertical walls of the inner canyon draw hikers and expert climbers. The Gunnison River’s Gold Medal waters entice anglers to the canyon bottom for unparalleled fly-fishing experiences, particularly during the annual stonefly hatch.

Impressive from top to bottom, the Black Canyon is hidden treasure.

Organ Pipe National Monument: A spring treasure

In early spring, when most of the country is recovering from winter frosts, life flourishes in the Sonoran Desert. Daytime temperatures at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument range from 72 in March to 88 in May. A day without sunshine is almost unknown. After soothing showers, bright golden swaths of wildflowers cover many of the lower mountain slopes. The slightest breeze sets them dancing in time with the music of the organ pipes. Overhead, golden eagles and hawks slip and slide on the wind to set the aria with a visual crescendo.

At night, the Sonoran Desert sky is like a sea of stars. When the moon is in view, if only a quarter phase, no other light is needed for an evening stroll. During times like these it's easy to lean back, watch the sky from horizon to horizon and contemplate our human insignificance in the vast universe.

At the Kris Eggle Visitor Center visitors admiring new museum exhibits can explore the ways of the Sonoran Desert. The free van tour of the 21-mile Ajo Mountain Loop is ranger-guided and immerses visitors in the desert landscape. Many are awed by the thousands of Organ Pipe, Saguaro, Cholla, and other cactuses that march into the distance in every direction.

A day hike on the Estes Canyon-Bull Pasture Trail is an up close and personal experience with the desert. It takes the visitor back in time. From the overlook at trail's end, the view to the western horizon is a classic southwestern landscape; rugged mountains and a basin studded with the iconic Saguaro cactus. In the far distance, a rugged historic path known as El Camino del Diablo--or The Devil's Highway--leads toward Yuma. To the east are the higher Ajo Mountain peaks and Bull Pasture where some of Pancho Villa’s supporters hid out while the U.S. Army was hunting them farther south in Mexico.

The largest maternal colony of Lesser Long-Nosed Bats in North America makes its summer home in an abandoned mine on the monument. Thousands of females give birth and suckle their young through the first part of life. After the cactus flowers are gone and their fruit depleted, the colony will migrate east beyond Tucson and then south to Mexico for the winter.

Minnow-sized Sonoran Desert Pupfish swim in two small ponds next to the visitor center patio. School children from the town of Ajo, Arizona helped build these ponds as a way to preserve this endangered species, in an additional setting near their natural habitat at Quitobaquito, a historic spring and Oasis in the monument. Another endangered species, the Sonoran Pronghorn, is being reintroduced onto suitable habitat within the monument to increase the species’ chances for survival.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument provides opportunities for adventure and solitude within unmatched scenery. If you visit with an open heart, you may find that the Sonoran Desert inspires you to dream your own dreams and make your own memories.

source: National Park Service news release

Grand Canyon bans water bottle sales

Plan on hiking the Grand Canyon this summer? Better bring your own water bottle. The National Park Service is killing off the sale of pre-packaged bottled water in the park, but hasn't lost its concern for your health: Bring your own reusable water bottle and you'll be able to fill it up free throughout the park.

Plastic water bottles have been a bane at the canyon. Making up nearly 20% of the park's waste stream, disposable bottles don't just find their way into the trash or recycling bins, they also get dumped on trails and over the edge of the canyon, messing up an otherwise wonderful experience.

Under the park's new policy, sales of individual disposable water containers of less than a gallon will end this month. Instead of buying water, you can fill up your own bottle at one of the new filling stations that provide free, Grand Canyon spring water from the park's approved water supply, located at Roaring Springs.

The new South Rim filling stations are equipped to provide year-round access to water and are located at:

Hermits Rest (located near the other public amenities);

Bright Angel and South Kaibab Trailheads;

Canyon Village and Desert View Marketplaces;

Yavapai Geology Museum;

Grand Canyon, Verkamp's and Desert View Visitor Centers; and

Maswik Lodge (in the cafeteria).

New North Rim filling stations are located at:

North Kaibab Trailhead,

North Rim Visitor Center (adjacent to the restrooms), and

North Rim Backcountry Office.

Mountain lion attacks boy in Big Bend National Park

A mountain lion attacked a 6-year-old-boy as he walked with three other people near the lodge Sunday evening in Big Bend National Park in south Texas.

Witnesses said the attack was by a "young lion in very poor condition." He was treated for puncture wounds at a hospital in Alpine and released.

Park Rangers began evacuating campsites and warning hikers off trails on Monday. The closed areas include the Chisos Basin, Window Trail, the Pinnacles, Boulder Meadow, and Juniper Flats. Rangers are hunting for the lion and it will be killed according to park spokesman, David Elkowitz.

Attacks like this are extremely rare and usually indicate a sick, or possibly in this case, a starving lion that could be a result of the severe draught ranging across Texas. To minimize your chances of accidentally confronting a mountain lion, which is a rare occasion since they usually see or hear you first and retreat stealthily into the bush, and what to do if you do come upon one, these recommended actions will diminish your chances of being attacked.

• Ask rangers if there have been lion sightings and if certain areas should be avoided.
• Hike with others and make enough noise through conversation that the lion will hear you coming.
• Make yourself as large as possible, raising your arms over your head and waving them. Do now crouch or sit down.
• If you have young children with you, put them on your shoulders to appear even larger.
• Yell at the lion and make as much noise as possible.
• Throw branches, rocks, anything you can find at it.
• However, if it does attack you, fight back hard, hitting it and jabbing sticks or rocks into its eyes. They are not accustomed to prey that fights back and may give up the attack.

Remember that attacks are rare and should not frighten you away from hiking or camping in areas where mountain lions are found.

National Parks and the nation's bottom line

Just how much are National Parks worth? In these budget-stretched times, the nation's parks are sometimes in for a little short-shrifting when federal dollars are allocated. Is it possible there's a bit of Congressional myopia? As RVers, we know that the value of parks far transcends dollars and cents. But if the dollar is the bottom line, a study released by the National Park Service paints an interesting picture as to how much parks are worth to the economy.

Using the most recently available statistics (2010) the Service put together a report on national parks in the economy. With 281 million "recreation visits" that year, visitors spent $12.13 billion in what are called gateway regions. Those regions are areas that are roughly within 60 miles of parks. Of that amount, nearly 60% was spent for accommodations outside parks for places like motels, B & Bs, cabins, and the like.

Half of that 12 billion went to lodging and meals, nearly 20% for fuel and local transportation. Another 10% went out for amusement, 8% for groceries, and another 13% to other retail spending.

How did all that money tally up for the national economy? The Park Service report shows that 258,400 jobs were added, including $9.8 billion for labor, with an additional $16.6 billion in value added to the economy. Yes, it seems money -- like water -- seeks its own level.

Tourism means big dollars, there's no question of that. In terms of local "gateway" economies, National Parks meant another 156,280 jobs and $4.68 billion in labor income. The Service itself employed over 26,000 folks with a payroll amounting to $1,709 million. The total impact on the national economy of the Park Service payroll amounted to $2.96 billion in value added.

It would seem that paring back park budgets will do more than just make it more difficult to commune with nature. Even for those who only "see" in terms of dollars and cents, every dollar cut back from parks means a lot more dollars for the nation.

To see the complete NPS report, visit this site.

photo collage: R&T DeMaris

Martin Luther King day celebrated by National Parks with free admission

Selma  to Montgomery Nat. Historic Trail

All 397  national  parks  across  the  country will offer free admission from January 14 through 16 to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

You  can literally walk in Dr. King's footsteps at Martin Luther King, Jr. National  Historic  Site   in  Georgia, the  Selma  to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama, or the Lincoln Memorial  in Washington, DC -- just  a few of the many national parks that have direct ties to Dr. King or the Civil Rights movement.

Other parks that will hold special events honoring Dr. King that weekend include the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC, Morristown National Historical Park in New Jersey, Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Tennessee, and Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, DC.

“Dr. King led the fight to realize his dream of a nation free of discrimination, where every citizen was able to enjoy the inalienable rights promised to all Americans,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis.  “Dr. King’s story and those of so many others whose efforts changed our country are preserved in the national parks, places where history happened.  I hope every American can take advantage of the upcoming fee free weekend and visit their parks to experience their history firsthand.”

Your nearest national park can also help you keep that New Year’s resolution, whether it is to get more exercise, spend quality time with family and friends, try a new sport, learn some history, expand your horizons, or enjoy the natural world. There’s something for everyone at a national park, even in the middle of winter. Choices include snow shoe hikes, canoe trips, campfire programs, film festivals, battle reenactments, and music jams. It is also a great time of year to view wildlife such as bison in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming or grey whales at Point Reyes National Seashore in California. A list of activities can be on the National Park website.

Free National Park entry days for 2012

Visit the National Park system on several fee-free days at more than 100 national parks that usually charge entrance fees.

Mark your calendar for these fee-free dates in 2012:

* Jan. 14-16: Martin Luther King Jr. weekend

* April 21-29: National Park Week

* June 9: Get Outdoors Day

* Sept. 29: National Public Lands Day

* Nov. 10-12: Veterans Day weekend

Here's a tip: many of your 397 national parks never charge an entrance fee, So start planning your visit!