US & Canadian Parks Blog

On September 20th, Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve will celebrate its 20th Anniversary. The scenic park with granite spires and sculptured rock formations will host public events that include equestrian trail rides, wagon rides, living history presentations, climbing workshops, Junior Ranger activities, live music, food, and an Earth Caching competition. Contact the park for further information.

History will come to life at Saratoga National Historical Park on Saturday & Sunday, September 20 & 21. Reenactors portraying 18th century American soldiers set the 1777 scene with tents, campfires, musket and cannon firings. Park visitors can discuss strategy with officers, judge an actual court-martial, browse colonial wares, see a dramatic performance of Thomas Paine, listen to fiddle music, go on a “reconnaissance” party, and learn about open-hearth cooking techniques. Activities will take place on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Yellowstone National Park Lodges and the Yellowstone Association Institute will offer six "Lodging & Learning" packages this winter in Yellowstone National Park. The park's winter season begins Dec. 17, 2008 with the opening of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel opens Dec. 19, 2008. The lodges provide the only wintertime accommodations within the park. Programs generally include lodging, meals, transportation for field trips, and optional evening programs. Lodging & Learning programs can be booked by calling 307-344-5566. Yellowstone Association members receive a $10 discount on all courses, and family memberships begin at just $30 per year. For detailed package information, go to YellowstoneAssociation.org.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the established of the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Charles Pinckney was a principal author and a signer of the United States Constitution. This remnant of his coastal plantation is preserved to tell the story of a "forgotten founder," his life of public service, the lives of enslaved African Americans on South Carolina Lowcountry plantations and their influences on Charles Pinckney.

Located in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area offers a remarkable contrast of desert and water, mountains and canyons. This popular park offers a full range of water-based recreational activities, as well as the opportunity for hiking and wilderness exploration. I hope these Lake Mead photos will inspire you to visit this outstanding park in the near future.

Park visitors can honor and remember the citizen-soldier past and present by being part of the Star-Spangled Banner Weekend at Maryland's Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. The three-day event, from September 12 to 14, will feature parades, fireworks, a military encampment of over 100 War of 1812 reenactors, a symbolic ship-to-shore bombardment, noted authors, and a patriotic band concert. The Star-Spangled Banner Weekend commemorates Defenders’ Day, Baltimore’s oldest holiday, which honors the successful defense of the city from British attack and the writing of the National Anthem in 1814. It has been a state holiday since 1908.

In preparation for the upcoming tidepool season (October through June), California’s Cabrillo National Monument will hold an introductory orientation and training conference for new and returning Tidepool Protection, Education and Restoration Program (TPERP) volunteers on September 13 and 27. Field experts, monument staff and volunteers will introduce new volunteers to the fauna, flora, geology and ecology of the beautiful, wild coastal environment of Cabrillo's rocky intertidal, which has been called the best protected rocky intertial area on the Southern California mainland coast. Volunteers will learn to provide informal interpretation of tidepool resources to families, children and the general public. Contact the park for further information.

On this day in 1992, legislation was signed establishing the Marsh-Billings National Historical Park in Woodstock, VT. The 555-acre park was the boyhood home of George Perkins Marsh, the author of Man and Nature, an important mid-19th-century book that helped to inspire the early conservation movement. Renamed Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, it is Vermont’s only national park unit other than the section of the Appalachian Trail that passes through the state

This week in 1933, President Roosevelt established Cedar Breaks National Monument near Cedar City, Utah. The 6,155-acre park features a three-mile-long canyon of rock walls, fins, spires and columns that is more than 2,000 feet deep. Park visitors can enjoy auto touring, hiking trails, and a variety of ranger-guided programs. Although the park's scenic drive is closed by deep snow during the winter months (late November to mid-May) and no visitor services or facilities are available, winter access into the park by skis, snowshoes, or snowmobiles is a wonderful way to experience the sub-alpine beauty of the park.

The second largest member of the cat family in North America goes by a number of different names, including mountain lion, cougar, puma, catamount, Florida panther, and screamer, to name a few. Though it has the largest range of any wild land animal in the Americas, this elusive carnivore is rarely spotted, particularly among any of the frontcountry trails at the national parks. I hope you’ll enjoy the photos of these big cats.