Washington National Monument closed indefinitely

Tuesday, August 23rd's earthquake that rattled nerves of east-coasters and caused giggles among west-coasters did have a significant effect: The National Park Service (NPS) has discovered structural damage serious enough to have them close the monument indefinitely.

Cracks found at the top of the iconic "needle" have stirred no small amount of concern. An outside structural engineering firm has been hired to evaluate and make recommendations for repairs. The 5.8 magnitude quake caused enough shaking to drop mortar down into the monument's observation area.

The 127 year-old obelisk is constructed of made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5 1⁄8 inches. At its completion it became the world's tallest structure until the Eiffel Tower in Paris was completed two years later.

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Visit four awesome national parks without the crowds

If you love visiting the national parks but hate the summer crowds, the August 2011 issue of Sunset Magazine suggests visiting these parks.

Capitol Reef is Utah's second largest national park, and has slot canyons, arches, cliffs, petroglyphs, a river flowing through a valley of 2,000 fruit trees, and 31 miles of trails to explore--and one-fifth of the visitors to the state's most popular national park, Zion.

You can camp--without hookups--at one of 71 shaded campsites along the river at Fruita Campground for $10.

Washington's North Cascades is known as the American Alps yet has only about 20,000 annual visitors. What you will find are 312 glaciers, 400 miles of hiking trails, and two mountain peaks that reach over 9,000 feet.

Watch peregrine falcons from atop 389-foot high Diablo Dam or hike to a back country fire tower with an awesome 360-degree views.

Camp at Colonial Creek Campground in an old growth forest at the base of glaciated Colonial Peak on the shore line of Diablo Lake for $12. No hookups, first come first served. Several other campgrounds lie along Route 20, the only highway through the park.

Sunset calls Great Basin the "quietest place on the planet." See 4,000 year-old bristlecone pines and drive most of the way up 13,065-foot Wheeler Peak for vies across Nevada and into Utah. Take Lexington Arch Trail to a six-story limestone arch.

Camp at 10,000-foot Wheeler Peak Campground--where you will feel the altitude--for $12.

No other canyon in North America has the dramatic vertical sheer 2,000 foot cliffs of  the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. On the north rim you can take a 3-mile round-trip hike to the "jaw-dropping" panorama of Exclamation Point ot to Chasm View.

Camp at the amid the pinyons and junipers at North Rim campground for $12. No hook-ups and RVs over 35 feet not recommended (other campgrounds with full hook-ups are available). The 13 sites are first come first served and a Senior Pass will cut half off the fee.

National Park managers clarify rules for wildlife watching

Bear and cubs cross road in Grand Teton National Park

Encounters between bears and humans in National Parks are on the increase. Bears become more used to humans presence the hungrier they are, and are driven to look for food in drought areas like Southern Colorado.

Many wildlife watchers erroneously think that because the bears don't appear imminently dangerous, that they are tame. So park managers are devising new rules--not for the bears, they will still be allowed to be bears--but for their biped watchers.

In Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, humans will not be allowed to "willfully approach" bears, for a photograph for instance, within 100 yards.

In Canada's Banff National Park all hikers must be in groups of at least four, and a minimum of one in the party must carry bear spray. You can expect these rules to increase--and for good reason--as it seems that many of us humans tend to anthropomorphize our values and mores onto the bears and expect them to act accordingly.

But they don't. And until we convince ourselves that wild animals are wild and will act like it, sometimes in what we think are in unpredictable ways, these rules will have to fill in for our lacking in common sense.