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.