Essential Park Guide Summer 2016: Posters, Canal Quarters, Crater Lake And More by Kurt Repanshek

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We’ll start our watery centennial celebration June 18-21 with a float through the legendary Gates of Lodore on the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument with Holiday River Expeditions. This trip will feature noted national park historian Dr. Alfred Runte, who will look back on the Park Service’s first century and peer into its next. CLICK HERE for more details on the Gates of Lodore trip June 18-21, 2016

On July 22, we’ll be at Grand Teton National Park for a three-day sea kayak trip on Jackson Lake with O.A.R.S. We’ll camp on Grassy Island, find time to fish for trout or hike up Moran Creek, and wrap up with a half-day float down the Snake River. CLICK HERE for more details on the Grand Teton trip July 22-24, 2016

We’ll conclude the centennial excursions with a return to Cataract Canyon in Canyonlands National Park. This trip, September 26-October 1, with Holiday River Expeditions will feature Kevin Poe, the original ‘Dark Ranger,’ who will help us track the constellations overhead after the sun goes down. CLICK HERE for more details on the Cataract Canyon trip Sept 26-Oct 1, 2016

Inside

Essential Park Guide / Summer 2016

Centennial Series By Professor Robert B. Keiter How did the National Park System come to be, and what should be considered when it comes to expansion?

From A Distance Enjoy your national park visit from a distance with a number of optics that bring the parks into focus.

Ranger of the Lost Art By Kurt Repanshek Doug Leen has taken it upon himself to promote the parks by respecting, and protecting, a treasured art form launched by the Great Depression.

What’s Cooking? By Kurt Repanshek From iconic Dutch ovens to modern pressure cookers, you have a number of ways to cook your camp meals.

Bucket List Park When adding park destinations to your bucket list, be sure to include Dry Tortugas National Park. The Lockkeeper’s House By Kim A. O’Connell The charming quarters that long ago housed the men (and their families) who tended to the locks along the C&O Canal can be yours… for a night or two. Summer In The Rockies Take a hike, pitch your tent, search for birds, or angle for trout. Those are just the most obvious activities to pursue in Rocky Mountain National Park this summer.

Hydration Station Whether you’re hiking to Phantom Ranch, hiking through Shenandoah, or catching some rays at a national seashore, staying hydrated is key to a great time.

Gear, Books, And Such By NPT Staff Blazing lanterns, cooking gear, hiking sticks and insulated ponchos are among the items Traveler’s editors had a chance to tinker with.

Winter’s Fury After a near-normal winter in the High Sierra, Yosemite National Park’s waterfalls are running at full throttle this summer and not to be missed.

Editor: Kurt Repanshek Art Director: Courtney Cooper

Three Glorious Days By Kurt Repanshek Three days aren’t enough to explore a park, but if that’s all you have, Crater Lake National Park has plenty to occupy your time. Friends of the Parks Whether you’re hiking in Saguaro or Grand Teton, touring the Blue Ridge Parkway, or looking into the past at Acadia, these groups had a role in improving your experience. Cody Country Expand your visit to Yellowstone National Park with a stop in the town Buffalo Bill Cody put on the map.

Special Projects Editor: Patrick Cone Senior Editor: Scott Johnson Contributors: Robert B. Keiter Kim A. O’Connell Harold Jerrill

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Essential Park Guides are published by National Park Advocates, LLC, to showcase how best to enjoy and explore the National Park System. National Park Advocates, LLC, P.O. Box 980452, Park City, Utah, 84098. © 2016 Essential Park Guide, Summer 2016. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

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•••• from the publisher

The Promise Of the Next Century We stand on the cusp of the National Park Service’s second century, at an intersection of retrospection and promise. It’s the perfect point from which to look back on the first 100 years of the management of the world’s greatest park system and to examine how it can be improved moving forward into the future.

ut it won’t be, and shouldn’t be, a quick and easy examination, for there are many troubles in our national parks and the National Park Service. Cash-strapped parks face overcrowding issues, climatedriven changes, and a lack of resources. The National Park Service Centennial has diverted energy and resources from the agency’s core mission, which, as the National Park Service Organic Act points out, is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein. It’s a central mission courts time and again have upheld.

on the cover The terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, though not quite as iconic as Old Faithful, are a memorable aspect of any Yellowstone National Park visit. Photograph by Patrick Cone.

For information on purchasing a print, contact sales@nationalparkstraveler.com.

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

Today the Park Service grapples with pressures both internal and external. Internally, it at times seems conflicted. Despite its Organic Act mandate, at Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida potential wilderness designation in the 147,000-acre Additional Lands was tossed aside in favor of off-road vehicle routes and hunting; at Grand Teton National Park, the agency agreed to let the state of Wyoming govern wildlife management on state and private inholdings totaling some 2,300 acres, a move that has opened up private lands to

hunting; at Olympic National Park in Washington, the agency tries to manage, rather than remove, non-native mountain goats. Ethical lapses stretch from the field all the way to the director’s office. Employee morale across the much-beloved agency has been in a swoon for more than a decade, a downward spiral that wasn’t helped by a long running, and tolerated, chapter of sexual harassment at Grand Canyon National Park. Externally, there is a drive to nurture a following more representative of the nation’s diversity, to see that the park

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system recognize not just beautiful scenery and American history and culture, but to make all segments of society value the National Park System and feel welcome in the parks themselves. But is that realistic? In trying to adapt to all of those segments (especially in the creation of new national monuments) do we improve the National Park System, or dilute it until it’s something it was never meant to be? Parks should showcase the exemplary, not just the representative aspects of American landscapes and history. Recently, while roaming a rare and used bookstore in Salt Lake City, I came across this book: Regreening The National Parks. Written by Michael Frome during the National Park Service’s 75th anniversary, it’s a thoughtful, incisive analysis of the agency, its duty, and our parks. It remains pertinent today. In 1992 Mr. Frome, one of the deans of environmental writing during the past half-century, wrote that the National Park Service had lost its way; that it had been overrun by politics. He called for a “regreening of the national parks.” By regreening, he meant closing roads, and instituting carrying capacities for parks (“to provide optimum enjoyment rather than maximum use”). He advocated for a change in the National Park Service, to “get over the idea that national parks are outdoor amusement centers meant for tourism.” Mr. Frome also called for the National Park Service to be a stand-alone agency, separate

Kurt Repanshek, Publisher from the Interior Department, hoping that it might flourish without the constant churning drumbeat of politics. But the drumbeat goes on. Our national parks are being forced to shoulder highpower transmission lines while large-scale wind and solar projects sprout adjacent to their boundaries. They are subjected to nuclear waste from power plants, and are becoming biological islands where managers in some cases are being asked to serve as zookeepers. Shoulder seasons now add weeks to the once-traditional high seasons, straining human resources and impacting natural resources. Some segments of the public are demanding Wi-Fi within the parks. Congressional funding continues to lag. It’s the National Park Service’s centennial year, but it and our

parks are in dire straits. At a time when some parks are operating on budgets smaller than they had four years ago, Park Service Director Jon Jarvis has applauded Congress for being “generous to us this year in Fiscal 2016.” Yet the vast majority of national parks aren’t realizing that generosity. Line item increases went to construction and land acquisition, but overall the acrossthe-board increases did not even cover the cost-of-living increases for most parks. While there’s an ever-growing list of potential additions to the park system, one thing seems to be missing from the public dialogue: how to make the National Park Service better. Better in terms of park management, better as a place to make a career, and better tutors of the history, landscapes, and culture within the system. The blame, of course, can’t all be laid on the Park Service’s doorstep. Congress holds a huge responsibility, and can be criticized both for underfunding the agency and at times micromanaging it. In an attempt to explore the promise of the next century, we’re kicking off our Centennial Series in this issue. This series profiles, details, suggests, and advocates for needed change. It’s our inspirations and aspirations for the future. You can find the opening essay on page 4. We hope you’ll join us in this discussion, for the national parks are our American heritage, our touchstones, and dear to our hearts. ~ Kurt Repanshek

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Canoe at sunset, Lobster Lake in Maine North Woods / George Wuerthner

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

National Park System

Expansion By Robert B. Keiter

Confronting a Second Century Challenge The National Park Service Centennial presents an important opportunity to reflect on the National Park Systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enormous growth and change since its inception. From a mere handful of national parks scattered across the West in 1916, the system now exceeds 400 units stretching across all 50 states and covering more than 84 million acres. It contains national parks, monuments, preserves, recreation areas, seashores, battlefields, and heritage areas along with nearly a dozen other specific designations, all deemed nationally significant enough to merit inclusion in the system. In 2014, Congress commendably added another seven units to the system, and the President has since added several more monuments. These actions confirm that this revered national treasure is not complete, and raising the prospect that the centennial itself might yet see more additions to the system.

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he spectacular growth in the National Park System presents the question of how additions come about and what might be done to prompt further additions as we move into the system’s second century. Under existing law, Congress and the President are each empowered to add new units to the National Park System; the Congress through its usual legislative process, and the President through the Antiquities Act, which gives him authority to proclaim new national monuments on public lands. Thus, a new park designation decision is inherently a political matter that is in the hands of our elected officials. It is not a prerogative of the National Park Service nor of state or local officials, though each can certainly promote new additions to the system as well as a vision for the future. More often than not, as Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan reminded us in their sweeping PBS documentary series, new national park designations have come about through aggressive citizen advocacy prompted by a few foresighted individuals committed to protecting these special places. One person who understood these political realities was Stephen Mather, the first Director of the National Park Service, whose tenure and insights set the tone for the agency over the ensuing years. As we ponder further expansion of the National Park System during its second century, we can learn from Mather and his early unabashed commitment to promoting the nascent system by supporting efforts to attract visitors to the parks. Occasionally criticized for his booster-like initiatives, Mather was intent on bringing Americans to these special places, convinced that once they had experienced a national park they would appreciate its value and support the new system. He understood that in the world of politics, public support was essential to ensure the park system, whether the issue was budget appropriations to maintain or build infrastructure, new national park designations, or the

Stephen Mather, the first Director of the National Park Service / NPS

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

Nationa Park Service Director George Hartzog (cowboy hat) follows Interior Secretary Stewart Udall up a trail at Big Bend National Park / NPS

expansion of existing ones. Mather’s seminal policy document, the so-called Lane Letter, plainly reflected this commitment to public engagement in the fledgling National Park System, as well as his steadfast commitment to conserving these special landscapes. While establishing as a first principle that “the national parks must be maintained in absolutely unimpaired form,” the Lane Letter also spoke in terms of a “national playground system,” encouraged recreational use of the parks, called for low-priced camps and reduced automobile fees, and encouraged the new agency to cooperate with the “western railroads…chambers of commerce, tourist bureaus, and automobile highway associations.” Moreover, Mather endorsed an

array of booster-like initiatives, including public bear viewing spectacles, a park zoo, ski areas, swimming pools, and even golf courses—all in an effort to bring people to the new parks. With this background, it was no surprise that the National Park Service celebrated its 50th anniversary with Mission 66, the most ambitious construction campaign in the agency’s history. Designed to expand and upgrade park facilities to accommodate the flood of visitors expected in the aftermath of World War Two and the baby boom, Mission 66 garnered substantial political support and significantly improved the built infrastructure inside the parks. It did little overtly to advance the agency’s nature conservation agenda, but it did bring Americans to the national

Valles Caldera National Monument is the only natural area with significant acreage that has been added to the National Park System in recent years / NPS

parks in record numbers, a trend that generally prevailed throughout the remainder of the 20th century. It also helped ensure they had a pleasant and memorable experience once there. During the Mission 66 years, some 60 new areas were added to the National Park System. And in the immediate aftermath of Mission 66, the system experienced another growth spurt under Director George Hartzog, who helped to shepherd more than 72 new national park units through Congress in the period from 1964 to 1972, widely recognized as a golden era for the national parks. Since then, with the notable exception of the 1980 Alaska additions (for which much of the groundwork was laid during

Hartzog’s time), National Park System growth has been haphazard, and very few large national parks have been added to the system. Although Congress was persuaded in 2014 to further expand the system, only

large “national parks.” Since the 1960s, the option of alternative protective designations—wilderness area, national conservation area, and the like—have been available to protect sensitive and attractive lands, rather than creating

... public land preservation efforts, whether in the form of new national park or wilderness area designations, have become a political lightning rod across much of the West ... the Valles Caldera addition in New Mexico represented a natural area that contained any significant acreage. Several factors help explain this lack of extensive recent growth in the system, especially the absence of new

a new national park unit. (Ironically, these alternative protective designations were developed in part as a reaction to the Park Service’s early penchant for over building in the national parks.) Intense agency turf battles, particularly

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between the Park Service and the Forest Service, have frequently blocked proposals to transfer national forest lands to the Park Service, while the new National Landscape Conservation System has given the Bureau of Land Management a much more prominent role in land conservation. Because many new park designation proposals involve lower elevation lands with conflicting uses, such as livestock grazing or energy exploration potential, there is typically potential for more conflict over proposed new additions today than was present in the past. Moreover, public land preservation efforts, whether in the form of new national park or wilderness area designations, have become a political lightning rod across much of the West, often serving as a wedge political issue between economic development advocates and land conservation proponents. The centennial, however, represents an unparalleled opportunity to enhance the system to meet the challenges

of the 21st century. In 2009, a blue ribbon Second Century Commission (which included current Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell among its members) recommended creating “a national conservation framework” with national parks as the “keystone” to promote “representation of the nation’s ecological diversity” and “to broaden the diversity of our national narrative to reflect our nation’s evolving history.” The National Park Service Advisory Board has urged the agency to “identify gaps in natural resource representation, focusing especially on opportunities to improve habitat connectivity, to leverage additional protection in large landscape-scale conservation efforts, and to employ restoration strategies,” while also evaluating opportunities to “tell the whole American story” through new cultural and historic designations. And the National Park Service, in its own second century document, has called for “a national system of parks and protected sites…that fully

represents our natural resources and the nation’s cultural experience.” The agency, though, has focused its centennial initiatives primarily on attracting new visitors, engaging youth, and outreach education programs with little public mention of adding new units to the system. Despite the agency’s lack of focus on new park creation opportunities, its commitment to engaging diverse new constituencies and the younger generation in the national parks may pay long-term dividends in the form of new parks or expanded conservation efforts. As the nation’s population continues to diversify, political power will inevitably shift as traditional minority groups gain greater influence by virtue of their sheer numbers. If these citizens have not experienced the national parks and lack interest in the system, the parks will enjoy little political stature among this potential constituency. If the nation’s young people have no exposure to

Expansion of Canyonlands National Park, to encompass the distant landscape seen through Mesa Arch, long has been called for / NPS

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

the outdoors, they too will see little benefit in a national park system as they become engaged members of the political community, surely reducing the number of congressional champions willing to support or expand the system. If the National Park Service succeeds, however, in engaging new constituencies and the younger generation in the national parks, it will be grooming new champions for the system. And if the Service’s efforts to integrate more education programs into the national parks succeed, it will help to ensure an informed constituency that can understand the system’s value and carry that message into the political arena. By reaching out to new and increasingly important constituencies, the agency is helping to build the political base that will not only ensure the National Park System for the next century but can also prompt its expansion. Thus, the Mather approach of enticing new visitors to the national parks in order to win their support for

Secretary Lane issued the so-called “Lane Letter,” that in set down the mission of the brand new National Park Service.

the conventional narrative at existing park locations, and it argues for new relevant designations to ensure all groups are represented in the system. Second, the agency’s efforts to attract younger people and more diverse audiences to the national parks suggests the need for park units near heavily populated urban areas. This

By reaching out to new and increasingly important constituencies, the agency is helping to build the political base that will not only ensure the National Park System for the next century but can also prompt its expansion.

the system may well hold the key to long-term future growth in the system. The additional steps necessary to connect the agency’s constituency building centennial efforts and systemic growth are seemingly evident. First, in order to attract new constituencies to the national parks, the system must be relevant to them. The Service must therefore ensure that African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, women, labor, LGBT individuals, and other historically marginalized groups find their experiences represented in the system and their stories told as part of the nation’s cultural heritage. This means integrating these stories into

would provide an opportunity to introduce these constituencies to our natural heritage, and to define why nature conservation is essential to our nation’s future, especially in light of the climate change threat and mounting biodiversity losses. If successful in conveying these messages, the Park Service will set the stage for new park additions as a means for expanding the nation’s natural and cultural conservation commitment. There are, of course, evident impediments to growing the National Park System in today’s world. Historically, large new acreages have been added to

the system by re-designating national forest or BLM lands as new units of the National Park System, either by congressional legislation or presidential edict. But this approach to expansion has never been popular with these other land management agencies, which have long resisted such intrusions on their turf, accusing the National Park Service of snatching away their most spectacular lands. Today, these agencies argue, with some legitimacy, that they can adequately protect these lands as wilderness areas, national monuments, or through other protective designations. Yet these agencies do not ordinarily bring the same level of protection or services that are available in the National Park System. Indeed, a national park label carries with it several advantages, which include adequate law enforcement resources to protect sensitive areas, extensive experience with public educational and interpretive programs, and the related likelihood of engaging new and more diverse constituencies. This is not to suggest that every special place on the federal landscape merits national park designation. Rather, it highlights the need to coordinate the nation’s conservation efforts, including better communication and collaboration among the federal land management agencies and with their state and tribal counterpart natural resource agencies. Most knowledgeable observers agree that the nation, facing very real climate change threats and escalating biodiversity losses, must adopt a landscape-scale approach to nature conservation. Besides necessitating better coordinated planning and resource management decisions among the agencies, landscape-level conservation will require new and redundant protective designations that include un-represented ecosystem types and connective corridors to enhance resiliency and enable displaced species to move to new habitat. In this effort, new national park designations linked to the larger landscape would certainly be helpful. Or these concerns might be addressed by alternative protective designations and a more concerted effort to plan and manage collabo-

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There have been calls to include the proposed Bear Ears National Monument in southern Utah in the National Park System / Inter-Tribal Coalition, Stephanie Smith

ratively at this larger landscape scale. These points—including a reference to national parks as “critical anchors for conservation”—were made forcefully by Secretary of the Interior Jewell in a recent speech designed to reset the nation’s conservation agenda for this new century. Regardless of the force of these arguments, any new park designation decision will involve political judgments, which means proponents must be prepared to convince Congress or the President to take action. Although former House Speaker Tip O’Neill once famously 10

observed “all politics are local,” the National Park System is by definition a national political matter, but one with obvious local overtones. By law, proposed additions to the National Park System must meet a “national significance” standard and related “feasibility” or “suitability” criteria. These terms are defined broadly, however, and the National Park Service enjoys considerable discretion in giving content to these terms. Moreover, Congress regularly ignores them when it wants to establish a new park unit. Looking at the evolution of the National Park System, it is quite evident

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that our collective view of what constitutes a “nationally significant” landscape or site has evolved, reflecting the prevailing values and concerns of the time. In today’s world, addressing climate change and biodiversity losses are plainly national goals, just as promoting cultural diversity, environmental literacy, and outdoor recreation are important concerns in our increasingly urbanized world. When well-documented economic arguments extolling the financial benefits associated with a new park designation are added to the mix, the stage should be set for congressional action. But

There are important stories not presently represented in the National Park System, and ever more pressing reasons to protect our dwindling natural and cultural heritage at a landscape level. The National Park Service stands alone among the federal land management agencies in terms of its historic preservation experience and educational capacity. if Congress cannot be persuaded to act, then President Obama, who has proven through his national monument proclamations that he is sensitive to these arguments, might take action under the Antiquities Act to establish additional national monuments. While the National Park Service’s centennial efforts are taking a longterm view, the nation has immediate conservation needs and opportunities. Several new national park proposals have been advanced with notable public support that would meet the concerns noted here. One is for a new national park unit in central Maine. Consisting of privately owned lands that would be donated by the landowner to the National Park Service, the so-called Maine Woods proposal envisions a 150,000-acre joint national park and recreation area designation. Situated adjacent to Baxter State Park, it would protect critical wildlife habitat and offer diverse recreational opportunities, including hunting and snowmobiling to meet local preferences. Another proposal calls for expanding Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah by extending the park boundaries to the geologic basin’s rim in order to protect ecological resources from energy development and the indiscriminate use of off-road vehicles. An alternate proposal would designate a much larger Bears Ears National Monument, south of Canyonlands, to be jointly managed by federal and tribal officials. Both proposed designations would facilitate landscape-level conservation of the area’s invaluable natural and cultural resources. Yet another proposal calls for expansion of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area just outside Los Angeles to protect critical habitat for several species and to provide additional outdoor recreational opportunities for this diverse

community’s urban dwellers. Park expansion and protection proposals have also been advanced at Grand Canyon, Mojave, and elsewhere, each designed to afford similar landscapelevel benefits while also protecting cultural heritage values. Whenever such new park proposals are advanced, one political refrain often heard in opposition is the need to maintain the areas that we already have given the current maintenance backlog. This argument, however, presents a false choice, propounded principally by opponents of any new federal land acquisitions or any new federally protected areas. Historically, new park designations have not noticeably impacted the National Park Service budget, except when congressional opponents have withheld funds to manage the new area, as first occurred following Yellowstone’s designation and, more recently, following the 1994 California desert protection legislation. The harsh reality, given present municipal expansion and energy development patterns, is that undisturbed lands are disappearing at the rate of 1.6 million acres annually and climate change is altering natural systems. Unless we take deliberate action to preserve critical landscapes, future generations will not enjoy the natural world that is such a vital part of our American heritage and so essential to our future well-being. No shortage of payment options exist—an outdoor equipment tax, graduated entrance

fees, an income tax check off, mineral royalty funds—to cover the modest price (in terms of the overall federal budget) for pursuing a farsighted conservation agenda that includes new parks and protected areas. If we are to have additional national parks as part of the centennial or in its aftermath, then we must make a compelling case for them and secure necessary public support. Park designation decisions, as Mather so clearly understood, are inherently political in nature, so the case must be made in politically appealing terms and in a political setting. There are important stories not presently represented in the National Park System, and ever more pressing reasons to protect our dwindling natural and cultural heritage at a landscape level. The National Park Service stands alone among the federal land management agencies in terms of its historic preservation experience and educational capacity. It has a proven record of safeguarding the lands entrusted to it and engaging the public in these special places. It is therefore time, in the spirit of Stephen Mather, for the Park Service and its constituencies to frame a compelling system-wide vision for new park proposals and to cultivate the political support necessary to bring this vision to fruition. The National Park System, after all, is intended to serve both present and future generations.

Robert B. Keiter is the Wallace Stegner Professor of Law, University Distinguished Professor, Director, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. My sincere thanks to Deny Galvin for his comments on an earlier draft.

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Viewing National Parks

From A Distance H

igh on the ridge above Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley, the specks looked like little more than dots on the horizon. They seemed to be moving, but with the bare eye it was hard to say for sure. It’s an occurrence that can happen anywhere in the National Park System—you could be on a cruise

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

ship in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska trying to figure out if it’s a Tufted puffin you’re staring at or a Horned puffin, at Everglades National Park in Florida wondering if you had spotted an American alligator or an American crocodile, or in Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota trying to get a closer look at a Bald eagle.

The solution, of course, is a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope, one powerful enough and sharp enough that will turn those specs above Lamar Valley into grizzly bears frolicking in snow. For more than half-a-century, not long after Tom Johnson built a telescope for his sons to marvel at the skies overhead, Celestron has been making “glass” that brings the environment closer to you, whether you’re looking at wildlife, or zooming in on Saturn with a telescope. More and more these days, carrying binoculars on a national park visit is standard for many. Even if you’re just hiking in the front country of a park, not far off the road, binoculars come in handy when you’re looking at birds and other wildlife. Spotting scopes also are great to use from a pullout along a park road. And with the proper adapter, you can turn the scope into a powerful zoom lens for your camera. A great aspect of using binoculars and spotting scopes for wildlife watching is safety, for both you and the wildlife. Each year, bison gore visitors to Yellowstone National Park who get too close to the iconic animals trying to take a photo. Then there are missed photo opportunities when animals take flight while you’re trying to sneak up on them for a closer photo. Celestron offers a number of options, such as the National Park Foundation Travelscope 60, the National Park Foundation ExploraScope 60 AZ, or the National Park Foundation 50mm Spotting Scope, for bringing the wildlife closer without invading their territory or risking your own safety. If you’re not taking photos, but simply want a close-up view of wildlife, you might consider the company’s National Park Foundation 10x50 Binoculars. Exploring the parks doesn’t have to

Celestron has partnered with the National Park Foundation to offer a special centennial-edition lineup of optics for park travelers / Celestron

Star-filled night skies over many units of the National Park System encourage you to explore this aspect of the parks after sundown / Celestron

end at sundown, either. Searching out national parks that offer astronomy festivals is quickly growing in popularity. It’s been said that the night skies are the other half of the National Park System, and that makes sense when you gaze up at the brilliant, starspeckled night sky above one of the parks. Since, 2007, when Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah became the first unit of the park system to gain Dark Sky Park accreditation from the International Dark-Sky Association, more and more parks have been highlighting their wonderfully dark night skies and scheduled astronomy festivals to show off those stellar attractions. Through early May, 11 units of the National Park System had been certified as Dark Sky Parks: Big Bend National Park in Texas, Canyonlands National Park and Capitol Reef National Park in Utah, Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, Death Valley National Park in California/Nevada, Grand CanyonParashant National Monument in Arizona, Great Basin National Park in Nevada, Natural Bridges National Monument, and the Flagstaff Area National Monuments: Sunset Crater Volcano, Walnut Canyon, and Wupatki. Visit any one of these parks during the new moon phase of the month and

the stars can seem close enough to reach up and grab thanks to the lack of light pollution and general absence of moisture in the air that can distort views. Looking at the heavenly bodies through a telescope really brings these brilliant orbs even closer. You’ll marvel at the star clusters, distant galaxies, nebulas, and brown and white dwarfs. If you lack your own telescope to enjoy the star shows, consider scheduling your park trip with one of astronomy festivals in the parks that Celestron plays a role in. This year the company will be involved with the Bryce Canyon Astronomy Festival (June 1-4); the Badlands Astronomy Festival (July 8-10); the Sequoia Dark Sky Festival (August 5-7); the Acadia Night Sky Festival (September 22-25); the Great Basin Astronomy Festival (September 29-October 1); and the Joshua Tree Dark Sky Festival (October 28-30). Experts at these festivals not only can serve as your guides to the Milky Way, but offer advice on what telescope might be perfect for your backyard. To help mark the National Park Service’s Centennial, Celestron has not only partnered with the National Park Foundation to sell a line of telescopes, spotting scopes, and binoculars, but has supported many non-profit organizations connected with the parks. These relationships can magnify your national park experience.

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Ranger of the Lost Art By Kurt Repanshek

National Park History Preserved In Historic Posters The Robin’s egg blue poster with the bold block lettering was stained, worn, faded, and even tattered a bit around the edges. It promoted ranger programs (“a free government service”) at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and is one of a unique set of posters that artists from the Works Progress Administration created in the late 1930s and early 1940s to draw interest to our national parks.

hen Grand Teton seasonal ranger Doug Leen spotted the poster in the early 1970s, it was destined for the dump. “It was very early in my park seasonal career. I found an original poster in a barn, at the Beaver Creek barn, and it was going to the dump along with all this other junk,” Leen recalled.

This is the original poster that Doug Leen found in a barn in Grand Teton National Park / Courtesy of Doug Leen

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“I pulled this thing down and—I was a Jenny Lake ranger, I worked at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station—so I asked my boss if I could have it, and he said, “Yeah, take it home with you.” “Nobody thought anything of it in 1970. This thing was 30 years old, it was just an old piece of paper.” Today that “old piece of paper” could be worth up to $9,000, the recent selling price for a WPA poster of Grand Canyon National Park at a New York auction house. That’s an astounding price when National Park Service staff back in 1938 figured it would cost about $12 to create 100 prints, or 12 cents apiece. For 20 years Leen didn’t think much more about that Grand Teton poster, other than that it was beautiful. But in 1993 it launched him into a passionate career built on more than just a profit motive. It also led him down a road of misappropriated artworks and cheap copycats, with a determination to see

the original WPA posters returned to the National Park Service. “I’ve found 41 original posters and know where they all are. Most are within the public domain—park collections, the Library of Congress and the NPS,” said Leen. “Two slipped off the auction block to private collectors—one Mount Rainier and one Yosemite. However, five other Mount Rainiers have been found--two of which are back into that park’s collection. Sadly, the Yosemite was the only known copy and was auctioned off to a private collector. The final math is that 11 of 14 posters have been recovered into the public domain, one (Yosemite) is still at large and two have never been found—Great Smoky Mountain and Wind Cave.”

A Pre-War Art Project WPA artists began this project in 1938. The National Park Service’s Western Museum Laboratories

WPA artists graced Yellowstone with two posters to entice the public / Doug Leen

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

proposed the posters and other materials as a way to promote hikes and landscapes in the fledgling National Park System. “Since issuing the publication ‘Miscellaneous Products of the Western Museum Laboratories,’ we have hardly been able to keep up with the requests from the parks for various items,” Dorr G. Yeager, the assistant chief of the Museum Division of the Western Museum Laboratories in Berkeley, California, wrote to Frank Pinckley, superintendent at Southwestern National Monuments, the administrative arm for monuments in the Southwest, in late August of 1938. “We soon found that it would be absolutely impossible to fill the orders from the parks for these posters if they were hand made (sic) and lettered,” Yeager continued. “We have therefore put in a silk screen process, especially for colored posters, by which we can turn them out in large quantities.”

Doug Leen compared his print, on the right, to the original WPA print during a visit to Petrified Forest National Park. “The left version (original) has a ‘split fountain’ sky, which are two colors that bleed together and move back and forth as inks are added,” he says. “It is a very difficult technique and each poster is unique.”

The colorful posters truly are works of art. Studiously colored in buffs, umbers, blues, tans, oranges and reds, they capture the park landscapes, and depict the wonders of the young park system. Yellowstone National Park was portrayed in two posters; one depicted Old Faithful in full steaming eruption, another the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Lassen Volcanic National Park was captured in full steam phase, while the soaring cliffs of Zion National Park dwarf Zion Canyon far below. But only 14 parks were produced in print before the onset of World War II shuttered the project. Only 50 to 100 copies of each poster were produced, for a total of perhaps 1,000, figures Leen, a gregarious, 69-year-old bear of a man. This year he’s crisscrossing the country, telling the story of the WPA prints as his contribution to the National Park Service Centennial. “Parks just didn’t get around to signing up for it. And there was only a three-year period that these were made,” he said during a call from a

Below: Erupting Lassen Peak was the focal point of the WPA poster for Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The colorful posters truly are works of art. Studiously colored in buffs, umbers, blues, tans, oranges and reds, they capture the park landscapes, and depict the wonders of the young park system.

Asheville, North Carolina, campground near Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “The first print was Grand Teton. I suspect the second two were the two Yellowstones. All three were made from Haynes postcard images. The WPA artists were learning how to make posters as well.”

Ranger Doug To The Rescue Leen spent seven summers at Grand Teton before heading off to dental school and a successful career as a dentist, but returned to the parks in a roundabout way in 1993. That year, the wife of his old Park Service boss

contacted Leen. She wanted to make a commemorative poster of the Jenny Lake museum because the building was being moved away from the lake’s shoreline. Leen sent her a copy of same Jenny Lake poster he had saved back in1973, and soon found himself in the print business. “I ended up reproducing this in the silk screen style, identical to what the WPA artists did, and that’s been my signature,” said Leen. He first launched his company—Ranger Doug’s Enterprises—around 14 of these original prints. “This is why what I’m doing stands out from all the copycats

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During his cross-country tour, Leen stays in his vintage 1948 Airstream mobile home / Courtesy of Doug Leen

that have followed me. I’m copying the WPA style. … I’m pretty faithful to the origin of how these are made, silk screen, and I work with each park.” Dorr Yeager had a different impression of the first poster for Grand Teton National Park. “This poster for Grand Teton was made up more or less as an experiment and does not in any way represent the best which can be obtained by the process,” Yeager wrote in his letter to Pinckley. “Future posters, especially the lettering, will be of a much higher standard.” Leen shakes his head at that portion of the letter. “The lettering on the Grand Teton poster is the most stylized and beautiful script. It’s just bold,” he said. “This was a revolutionary artistic statement with fonts. Nobody ever messed with fonts before. The French did, but the flavor of WPA fonts was a derivative of the Russian Revolution that eventually made their way onto these Depressionera posters. Today, this font, you can go to Microsoft Office and look in Microsoft Word, and there’s one called ‘NPS 1935, which is the wrong date because this font was not developed until 1938, but anyway, it’s become so popular. And here this letter by Dorr Yeager said they could do better.” Leen’s curiosity about the prints’ background led him to the National Park

Service’s Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, offices. There he found 13 black-andwhite negatives of original prints. Those negatives, along with his own original Grand Teton poster, were the models that provided the small details that WPA artist Chester Don Powell used in his originals nearly 80 years ago.

The Missing Prints Through Ranger Doug’s Enterprises, Leen makes faithful replicas of the old WPA posters, and keeps adding to his original list of 14 parks. His latest production, for Haleakala National Park in Hawaii, depicts the Haleakala Observation Station at 9,740 feet with a ranger looking out across the volcanic crater, filled with color from the sunrise. The print is a spectacular burst of color; ten colors, actually, notes Leen. His small staff is working now on a poster of the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias in Yosemite National Park in California, due out August 24 at the dedication there. Leen is also searching for two missing originals of the WPA works— those of Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee. So far he’s managed to obtain 11 of the original 14 park prints, and knows another is in a private collection.

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

“I just spent a week here in Great Smoky looking at every antique store, every historical group, interviewing librarians, old ex-park rangers that live in the area, trying to find the Great Smoky Mountains poster. It’s never been found,” he said. “What we do know about it is we have a black-andwhite photo of it, and that’s it. The same is true for the Wind Cave. That’s why I went to Spearfish, South Dakota. I want to find these last two posters. “I’ve found 12 of the 14, and of those 12, 11 are in the public domain. These are the ones I’m donating back. The 12th one is Yosemite, and it disappeared in an auction. The Library of Congress ran out of money, I ran out of money, and it went to a private buyer. The gallery won’t divulge their client. I’ve written them a letter, explaining the importance if this could join its brethren in the set that I’m trying to build for the National Park Service, and I’ve gotten no responses so far.” Leen’s decades-long search has turned up originals in the oddest places: garages in Seattle, file drawers at Bandelier National Monument (where they were used as file dividers), and even an attic in California. He even learned of a scheme where someone impersonated himself to obtain two original prints from the son of Chester Don Powell. Along with these two originals, all the family photos of this process disappeared for 15 years; meanwhile the last surviving screen printer, Dale Miller—the “DM” scratched into the Lassen design— died, taking this history with him. As frustrating and time-consuming as his hunt has been, Leen’s efforts

The WPA park posters were intended to draw visitors into the fledgling National Park System, and succeeded with their bold images.

to both gain Park Service support for recovering the original prints and embracing the history of the WPA artworks have been equally so. His traveling WPA art show has taken him from Albuquerque to Pasadena to San Antonio, as well as to Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Saguaro, Big Bend, Everglades, Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah national parks. Before heading out on the road, Leen approached National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis to see if the agency could help underwrite the trek. “Doug, we don’t have the budget to take your exhibit on the road,” Leen recalled the director telling him. “I said, ‘Jon, I’m your best ambassador in the Park Service right now, and I’m willing to work for free. But I need a little momentum behind me, a little wind in my sail.’ “And basically they turned me down. That’s why I’m doing this on my own.”

The road trip already has already cost Leen one vehicle. His Toyota FJ Cruiser broke down, forcing Leen to purchase a new SUV to pull his vintage 1948 Airstream mobile home. Some of Leen’s talks have as few as four or five visitors, and some have packed the house. He calls each park about a month ahead and tells this history to anyone who will listen. One 8 a.m. scheduled talk in a huge auditorium yielded only one attendee— who returned again to his second talk that day and then purchased more than $1,000 worth of reproductions—the lifeblood of this mission. Leen’s park visits, while designed to promote the parks, also have left him concerned over their plight. “What I’m seeing is more and more volunteers and fewer and fewer rangers in the parks—this worries me,” Leen said. “Also, there is more onus on the

bookstores to raise money for their cash-strapped parks and they are flooding the markets with off-shore ‘retro’ everything,” he continued. “Often my historic posters hang in the corner without an explanation of their unique history. It’s frustrating.” And when he does reach a park he spends a bit of time educating park staff and gift shop and bookstore employees on the print’s history. “Why I’m doing it, I guess the only reason is I’m the only one that can do it, and I guess there’s some duty thrown in there,” Leen said, sighing. “These prints could easily have been swept under the rug and we never would have seen them.”

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Story by Kurt Repanshek | Photography by Patrick Cone

I placed a mix of boneless breast meat, boneless thighs, and bone-in thighs into the bottom of the Dutch oven, and the meat began to sizzle in the hot olive oil. Diced onions, potatoes, sliced celery, and dried morels from the nearby mountains soon followed. Before long it was all simmering in a quart of vegetable broth, along with plenty of a hearty red wine. And then, we pretty much forgot about it for a couple hours, giving us time to nibble a few tasty lobster tails, and down a few beers. By then, the Coq au Vin was perfect, the meat moist and succulent and swimming in a tasty broth.

Left: A cast iron pot, hot fire, and tasty ingredients come together to produce a flavorful meal.

Above: Ingredients can be as simple or complex as you desire for a Dutch oven meal.

utch oven cooking can be just that easy; a bit of preparation time, then a bit of a wait. I can see how cooking with Dutch ovens could take some practice and repetition, though. I first encountered Dutch oven cooking after a short day on a long river. We got into camp at midday. That turned out to be a blessing, as we were able to set up our tents and kitchen just before the skies opened up and released a drenching rain. Soon our group of 15 was relaxing in chairs rimming a campfire; an overhead tarp kept the downpour off our backs. Off to a side a few of the women were busy combining a variety of ingredients—flour, sugar, milk, butter and more—which they poured into a Dutch oven whose bottom had been lined with succulent slices of pineapple. They brought this cast iron pot over to the fire, which had burned down to hot coals, and planted it square in the middle. A handful of the glowing embers went onto the pot’s lid, and that was that. After the ladies decided enough time had elapsed, they served up some fresh and golden Pineapple-Upside-Down Cake for dessert. Fantastic! Mealtime on your trips into the national parks, whether you pull

into a site in the front country campground, head down a river, or paddle across a lake and end the day on a shore, is a high point. Dutch oven cooking gives you time to sit around with friends and family laugh, talk, and nibble the hours away. With today’s technology, you can be as elaborate as you want with your meals, or as quick and simple as you need to be of, course. Freeze-dried and dehydrated meals have improved immensely over the decades. You can go with the tasty, gluten-free entries such as the Thai Curry and Smoked Three Bean Chili from Good To-Go, which are rehydrated with a cup or so of boiling water, and soon ready to eat, or similar products. One company, GSI Outdoors, can help you outfit a backcountry kitchen that would please Gordon Ramsay. This small, privately held U.S. company has pots and pans, cooking systems, chef’s tools, and much, much more for both front country and backcountry use. Their pressure cookers are particularly interesting if you frequently travel above 4,000-5,000 feet in elevation, as they greatly reduce cooking time. And their Halulite 5.7 Liter pressure cooker (MSRP $75) can even travel into the backcountry if your mode of travel is raft, kayak, or canoe. Weighing less than 5 pounds, this unit is easily

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stashed in your gearbox or kayak hatch. We tested the pressure cooker with some lobster tails. In a cup of water, in less than 10 minutes, we were dipping steaming chunks of sweet lobster into melted garlic butter. It was divine. And that’s just one example. The cooker can quickly cook a wide range of foods, from beef chuck roast (35 minutes, 1.5 cups of water) and leg of lamb (35-40 minutes, 1.5 cups of water), salmon fillets (2 minutes, 1 cup of water), and black beans (1 cup of dry beans, 35 minutes, 3 cups of water and a tablespoon of vegetable oil). The non-reactive, hard anodized aluminum construction makes it easy to clean the pressure cooker, but food smells can be harder to remove. The silicon sealing ring around the lid absorbed the smell of lobster, and held onto it through several washings, leading us to seek a second seal that we could use. (Traveler footnote: For replacement parts or answers to questions, contact GSI Outdoors at: CustomerService@GSIoutdoors.com or 1-800-704-4474) For those new to pressure cookers, the instruction booklet provided by GSI Outdoors covers everything you need to know, from defining just what a pressure cooker is, how it works, and providing safety tips. It also has great cooking ideas, such as braising meat or poultry in the pot before adding the water and putting the lid on. Since the temperature of boiling water decreases with altitude, the included chart is invaluable. It spells out how much extra time you should allow for cooking at altitudes ranging from 2,950 feet above sea level (5 percent more time) all the way to 7,874 feet (30 percent more). And then, of course, the booklet includes cooking times and the amount of water to be added for meats and poultry, seafood, vegetables, dried beans, and rice. Meanwhile, back at the campfire, while the Coq au Vin simmered in the Dutch oven, we cooked and ate our lobster. Every so often, we’d check on the main dish, and drop another few coals on the lid. What’s the appeal of a Dutch oven? They and their sibling skillets are made of heavy-duty cast iron that can stand up to years of use, get incredibly hot when necessary, and are great for searing meats. There are some good cookbooks on the market for Dutch oven cooks. We like Dutch Oven: Cast-Iron Cooking Over an Open Fire by Carsten Bothe, as he goes over both seasoning your oven before use, cleaning it, a short history of this unique

The lid lifter from Camp Chef keeps the Dutch oven’s lid level while you’re lifting it, and also has a hook for lifting the entire pot.

cookware, and more than 100 recipes. Our Dutch oven, a 12-incher (they come in 10-inch, 12-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch sizes) came from Camp Chef, a Utah company that offers a “National Parks Cast Iron Set” to help celebrate this year’s

centennial of the National Park Service. Included in that set are a 12-inch Dutch oven, a 12-inch cast iron skillet, and a lid that fits both. The oven and skillet are cast with national park images, such as a bison in front of Old Faithful in Yellowstone

What’s the appeal of a Dutch oven? They and their sibling skillets are made of heavy-duty cast iron that can stand up to years of use, get incredibly hot when necessary, and are great for searing meats.

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

GSI Outdoors’ pressure cooker is small enough for a paddle trip, or car camping.

National Park or Delicate Arch at Arches National Park. Camp Chef’s recommended “starter kit” for cooks new to Dutch ovens includes a 12-inch Dutch oven, and a Charcoal Lighter basket. We used this, and it quickly lit our briquettes. You can even use the included aluminum liner pans in the Dutch oven, to keep it clean, and so you can lift out the meal to the table. The sturdy lid lifter is an ingenious, yet simple, tool that lets you pull up the lid of the Dutch oven, without dropping any ashes into the pot. The lid lifter also has a hook for lifting the entire Dutch oven out of the fire by its wire handle. A padded carrying case for storage would probably

be a good idea for traveling. As a bonus, Camp Chef applies a “True-Seasoned” finish to its ovens and skillets so you don’t have to season the cookware before using it; it provides a nonstick surface. Seasoning with oil does help prevent rust on the cast-iron ovens and skillets, and also helps create a nonstick surface. Camp Chef’s cooking guide includes a small number of recipes, as well as a temperature guide for how many briquettes to use to achieve a desired temperature inside the oven. For instance, if you’re using a 12-inch Dutch oven and need a temperature of 375 degrees Fahrenheit, you need 23 briquettes, with

16 placed on the lid and seven beneath the oven. It’s all very scientific. While many recipes call for the use of charcoal briquettes for the heat source, you can also use a wood fire, as we did. Perhaps the greatest difference is that briquettes are easy to count and, if you have a temperature chart, easier to distribute around the oven for a set temperature. That said, if you’re not cooking a batch of Cowboy Sourdough Rolls (page 143 in Dutch Oven: Cast-Iron Cooking Over an Open Fire) where you want a nice golden crust, you don’t always need to place coals on the lid. We used a wood fire to create a bed of hot embers for our oven. A few tablespoons of

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While these pressure cookers and cast iron ovens are not items you’d want to put into a backpack, they’re great for the back of the truck, in a canoe, or on a horse packing trip.

oil on the bottom kept the chicken from burning, and then we added the other ingredients. The lid was put in place, and we topped it with a small, but reasonable, number of embers from the fire. An occasional check on the progress ensured that our oven stayed level while the coals below it burned down. You might need to add more coals, or firewood, to keep the temperature up. As I mentioned, these cast iron kitchen tools can absorb the odors and tastes of the foods you cook in them. While some say this simply adds to the rich flavor of each subsequent meal, you wouldn’t be wrong to have two or three Dutch ovens and assign one to sweets, such as Pineapple-UpsideDown cakes and such, and the others to hearty and savory dishes. Finally, these cast iron ovens and skillets shouldn’t be cleaned with steel wool products, like S.O.S., as they can scrape off your layer of nonstick seasoning. Instead, use plastic Scrubbies, or a similar product. The folks at Bon Appétit recommend, “rubbing your cast iron cookware down with kosher salt and a kitchen towel while it’s still warm, then wiping it down with fat (flaxseed oil or lard do the trick nicely).” The salt acts as an abrasive without scraping off the seasoning coating. Or you can use the Cast Iron Cleaner and a Cast Iron Conditioner from Camp Chef, which make this chore even easier. While these pressure cookers and cast iron ovens are not items you’d want to put into a backpack, they’re great for the back of the truck, in a canoe, or on a horse packing trip. They’re durable, and pretty much foolproof. Bon Appétit!

GSI Outdoors’ pressure cooker is a great way to create a quick meal, whether lobster is on the menu or rice and beans.

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

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Why The Dry Tortugas Should Be At the Top of Your

Your Bucket List It is an architectural wonder of the world, one located in one of the most unique places on the planet. Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park is no ordinary destination—and one that everyone should visit in their lifetime. If you’ve never heard of this tiny cluster of secluded islands off the Florida Keys, it’s time you did.

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

ust 70 miles west of Key West in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, this chain of islands was discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513. Here, warm, cerulean waters cozy up to a pristine shoreline where graceful palms sway in the Florida breeze and beckon you to explore their splendor. Beneath the water’s surface, vibrant, multi-hued fish, sea turtles and resident porpoises harmoniously coexist, welcoming snorkelers and divers to explore their striking ecosystems. From the moment you step off the Yankee Freedom III, the official ferry of the Dry Tortugas, you’ll understand why tens of thousands of visitors are drawn here each year. An imposing sight, Fort Jefferson will truly take your breath away. This Civil War fortress, which has stood for nearly two centuries, was painstakingly built in 1847 to protect the southern coastline of the United States. Constructed of an estimated 16 million bricks that make up the six-sided structure, this historic fort served as a military prison during the Civil War and was home to more than 2,000 people, including soldiers, civilians and prisoners. As part of your experience here, a tour of the fort will include seeing the cell that once held the prison’s most famous resident, Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was convicted of being a co-conspirator in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. You can take

a guided tour of the fort or explore on your own; there is much to see and learn about, including the weapons and the fort’s rich past. Spend your day exploring the natural beauty, soaking up the sun on the beach, snorkeling the reef, and gazing up at some of the area’s most magnificent residents— an array of exotic bird species that come here to roost. In fact, the islands are an important part of the migration journey for bird species traveling between the United States and South America. More than 300 species, including the Sooty Tern, Brown Booby, the Brown Noddy, Brown Pelican, Black-bellied Plover, and Frigatebird are observed by bird enthusiasts throughout the seasons. It’s no wonder the Dry Tortugas is a top destination for bird watchers! For those who wish to spend more time here, pitch your tent at Garden Key. It’s a camping experience like no other, where you’ll sleep under the stars with the calming sounds of the ocean creating the ideal backdrop. The only catch: Dry Tortugas only offers primitive camping—which means you’ll need to bring everything with you, including

During your visit to Dry Tortugas, you can join a guided tour of Fort Jefferson or tour it yourself. Afterwards, walk the beaches or head into the water for some snorkeling / Yankee Freedom III

water and all provisions. To get here, you can sail in relaxation and comfort aboard the Yankee Freedom III, which will provide you with all you need to enjoy the Dry Tortugas. It will act as your home base throughout the day. Your Dry Tortugas adventure actually begins at Key West the moment you board this spacious, high speed, state-of-the-art, all aluminum catamaran that’s recognized world wide for safety, performance and passenger comfort. The Yankee Freedom III provides a scenic, relaxing journey complete with a complimentary breakfast that’s served just moments after leaving the dock. You’ll also be treated to a delicious lunch buffet and cold beverages. The boat is equipped with freshwater showers, and the crew will provide snorkeling gear as well as instruction on the best way to safely and

responsibly snorkel the reefs in the area. Once at the Dry Tortugas, the Yankee Freedom III will dock for the day, offering you a cool spot to take a break from all your activity. While you can also get to the islands via private boat or on a seaplane, the Yankee Freedom III is not only the most affordable transportation, it’s the official ferry of the National Park Service to the islands. Prices are $175 for adults, $165 for seniors, college students and military and $125 for children ages 4-16. You can book online to ensure you get seats as trips do fill up fast. If you’ve got a bucket list, the Dry Tortugas definitely deserves to be on it! And this one’s easy to cross off; just book your tickets today and experience this one-of-a-kind eco-treasure in the Florida Keys.

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Quiet Time

on the C&O Canal Staying in a 19th-century lockhouse offers a glimpse into engineering and transportation history. By Kim Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

The fine architecture of years gone past is on display in the lockhouses, such as in this one, No. 22 / C&O Canal Trust

rossing the powder-blue bridge spanning the Potomac River at Point of Rocks, Maryland, I feel like I’ve time-warped to another century. With my husband and two children in tow, we have left behind the bustling Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., to stay in a historic lockhouse along the C&O Canal. For one weekend at least we hope to experience what life was like for a 19th-century lock tender and his family, whose livelihood was tied to the daily rhythms of moving boats and goods. If history had gone in a different direction, however, our stay would have been impossible. Built between 1828 and 1850, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was a remarkable feat of engineering, designed to move coal and other products along the Potomac River from the midAtlantic ports to the Ohio River Valley, while bypassing difficult or impossible terrain, including the Great Falls of the Potomac and the Allegheny Mountains, part of the vast Appalachian range. The original plan was for both an eastern section from Washington to Cumberland, Maryland, and a western section that would traverse the Alleghenys to the Ohio River. With the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad laying track concurrently in what became a sort of a transportation race, only the eastern section of the canal was completed, stretching for 184.5 miles from D.C.’s waterfront Georgetown neighborhood (and its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay) up to Cumberland, a little town tucked into a vale in the mountains. A series of 74 locks moved canal boats up and down the canal, which went from sea level in the District of Columbia up to about 600 feet of elevation in the mountains. By 1924, a series of floods had closed sections of the canal, and operations were forced to cease. By the outbreak of World War II, the federal government had purchased the canal with the idea of turning it into a recreation area. This idea was quickly replaced by a National Park Service-supported plan to make a parkway along the path of the canal, destroying

Lockhouse 28, which the author stayed in, comes without water or electricity. Lockhouse 10 is one of those with electricity. All have been lovingly restored. / Kim O’Connel and C&O Canal Trust NationalParksTraveler.com

Lockhouse No. 6, below, has been restored to how it appeared in the 1950s, when Justice William O. Douglas led his crusade to preserve the landscape / C&O Canal Trust

Starlight and Fireflies

it in the process. But a small group of advocates was determined that the canal would have a different fate.

Following a Justice’s Path

The sun has dipped low in the western sky when we park in a riverfront lot at Point of Rocks, which is named for a rugged rock formation jutting out of Catoctin Mountain. We shoulder our packs and carry our lanterns and sleeping bags for the half-mile hike on the canal towpath toward our destination—Lockhouse 28, located at about milepost 49 (the towpath begins at milepost zero in Georgetown). It was on this same path that William O. Douglas, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, led a hike the entire length of the canal to advocate for keeping the canal as a historic site and recreation area. The walk began in Cumberland on March 20, 1954, with 58 hikers, including conservationists and members of the press. Only nine hikers, including Douglas, finished the entire length. It would take many more years of advocacy before Congress finally designated the Cheasapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park in 1971, preserving the canal, the towpath, and dozens of historic structures, including 30

lockhouses, tunnels, and aqueducts. Dating to 1837, Lockhouse 28 is one of six lockhouses now available for rent from the C&O Canal Trust, the park’s nonprofit partner. In addition to being one of the most rustic, with no running water or electricity (but a well-maintained Porta-John to one side), Lockhouse 28 is the most remote, the only one requiring a pack-in hike. Other lockhouses are spread throughout the length of the canal from milepost 5 to 108, and are restored to depict different time periods up through the 1950s. Some have electricity or full amenities. As the late-afternoon sun bathes the trees in shades of gold and green, we hike toward the house in near solitude, accompanied only by chirping birds and the occasional hellos of passing hikers and cyclists. My shoulders relax, and I feel grateful for Justice Douglas’s perseverance.

After about 15 minutes of hiking (it’s slow going with our packs and puttering children), we arrive at the lockhouse, a charming white cottage with green shutters. The towpath runs between the lockhouse and the extant lock, now full of vegetation instead of water. My kids immediately begin investigating the grounds, which include a short winding trail down to the Potomac in one direction and a path leading up to the adjacent railroad line as well. Because of the narrow strip of land between the cliffside and the river here, the railroad and the canal fought over the rights of way in court for years; the resulting proximity must have felt a little uneasy at times. Not long after we arrive, we get a thrill when a CSX freight train lumbers past, the horn blowing as it goes. As my husband starts a fire in the ring near the house, we check out the interior. The lockhouse is sparsely furnished with a simple wooden table and hutch in the dining room, and a long bench and two classic stick-back rocking chairs in the adjoining living room. Upstairs are two bedrooms with two beds apiece, with trundles tucked beneath. Historic photos of the lockhouse and the railroad help to put the place into context. We roast hot dogs over the fire, and we entertain a few visitors. Nearly every person who hikes or bikes past stops to ask questions about the lockhouse, and we happily become de facto docents. As night falls, we are startled to realize that the woods all around us are full of glowing fireflies. The sky fills with stars we don’t often see back in the city. We sleep soundly in the solid masonry building, with only the rumbling of the occasional train to stir us. Justice Douglas, in one of his pleas for protection of the canal, wrote, “It is a refuge, a place of retreat, a long stretch of quiet and peace.” After a weekend spent together in the charming lockhouse, hiking along the towpath, cooking over the fire, playing board games by lantern light, we couldn’t agree more.

Kim O’Connell’s articles, essays, and short fiction have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic News, National Parks, Little Patuxent Review, and more. She has been a writing fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and was the first writer-inresidence at Shenandoah National Park. She teaches in the Johns Hopkins University M.A. in Science Writing Program.

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

Lockhouse No. 28, with green shutters, requires a short hike to reach. Inside youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find unique architecture and an ambiance from decades long gone by. Outside, the canal, now full of vegetation, not water, entices peaceful walks / C&O Canal Trust (3 above) and Kim Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connell (below)

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Your Guide to Summer Treks in Rocky Finally. The long days of summer are upon us in Estes Park, the base camp for Rocky Mountain National Park. There’s plenty of daylight to really put some miles under your boots, take a hike with your kids and listen to nature, or even take a multi-day backpack trip to the high lakes and solitude. There’s a hike for every skill level, and every length of stay, from the lazy amble to epic mountaineer routes.

or a simple mountain walk with a view, try out one of these trails; they’re all perfect for groups with kids, or with different skill levels. The Sprague Lake Trail is a disabled accessible loop around this pristine lake. The trail to Copeland Falls is a third-ofa-mile of flat walking with spectacular falls as a reward. And the Lily Lake Trail goes around this lovely lake, in less than a mile, with about a nominal elevation gain. For a bit more of a jaunt, a bigger challenge, and great views, try the Gem Lake Trail in the Estes Valley. The Lumpy Ridge Trailhead, off

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

Devil’s Gulch Road is quick and easy to get to. There are a few steep areas in the 3.2-mile round-trip, with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Or head out on the Finch Lake trail, which is relatively less known, and great for bird watching. It’s about five miles each way and almost 1,500 feet up to the lake, and the lake’s meadows are great bird habitat. Then there’s the Fern Lake Trail, four miles to the lake, 1,375 feet up, and the wildflowers are stupendous. There are also some really tough hikes, and you need to be fully prepared for them. Longs Peak (at 14,259 feet) is the highest and

The Alpine Tundra Trail near the roof of Rocky Mountain National Park is a great place to get some fresh air and exercise while marveling in this mountainous landscape / NPS

probably the most iconic mountain in the park, and draws lots of hikers and climbers (sometimes over 10,000 in a season). The Keyhole Route is an extraordinary climbing experience for those who are well prepared. In general, the most snow-free and icefree time of year to climb Longs Peak is mid-July through mid-September. During that time of year the 15-mile round trip might take around 10 hours. If you’re willing, but inexperienced, consider going with a mountain guide. If you’d rather not join the adventureseekers on Longs Peak, then step it down a notch with the Tarn and Andrews Glacier Trail. This trek will take you above 11,000 feet, in 5.3 miles, in a 2,150-foot climb, and the alpine terrain is just gorgeous. It’s all possible in these amazing mountains, but this portends to be a busy summer, so while it doesn’t take long to lose the crowds once you leave the road, you do want to plan ahead.

Head to the high country of Rocky Mountain National Park and meet the locals / NPS

Here are some tips to make your hike a good one: • Get to the trailhead early. You’re more likely to find a place to park, and be on the trail while everyone else is sipping his or her second cup of coffee. • Even easier, ride the hiker shuttles. They access many of the loop and destination hikes along the Bear Lake Road. Plus, you can enjoy the view without the distraction of driving. • Talk to a ranger. They’ll be glad to direct you to lesser-known trails. It’s a big mountain range, and there are plenty of options.

• For equipment, you just need a decent pair of hiking shoes or boots, a pack with treats, water, and a decent extra layer or two (the weather up here can change in a flash, and a boom). Include sunscreen, a map, and emergency gear (matches, headlamp, first aid kit, whistle, and pocket knife) for the longer, more rigorous hikes. • Make reservations for lodging and campsites early. This is a popular vacation spot—so things can fill up—especially in mid-summer, on weekends and for holidays.

• If you’re unsure where to go, take a guided hike. Guides can take you birding, mountaineering, or find the best spots to photograph wildlife. It’ll save time, and you’ll go home knowing things you hadn’t.

• Be patient and respectful with other people, wildlife and plant life. Do your wildlife watching from a distance with binoculars, don’t feed the animals, and remember to pull over to take that epic photo.

• Order the Official Estes Park Visitor Guide ahead of your trip to plan ahead or stop by the Estes Park Visitor Center when you arrive for expert advice and to grab a guide.

• Use the Leave No Trace ethics, which means leave only footprints, take only photographs.

• There are even tours by vehicle, where you leave the driving to someone else and get to take in of the sights.

• Consider visiting the park on weekdays in early or late summer, and into the fall. It’s much quieter then. • Take lots of water, or sports drinks, on the longer hikes to stay hydrated in the high altitudes and arid climate of the Rockies.

These are just a few of the dozens of hiking trails within the park, so plan carefully and choose a hike that matches your abilities; you’ll have way more fun that way. NationalParksTraveler.com

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Visit The National Parks With A Strategic Plan, And A

Hydration Plan With visitation to the national parks expected to continue to grow this summer, and likely surpass last year’s record 307.2 million visitors, your best strategy for enjoying your park destination is, perhaps, to quickly leave the crowds behind.

oes anyone relish touring one of the landscape parks of the West or cultural or historical parks elsewhere in the National Park System with throngs of others? If not, then once you reach your destination, take your Vapur collapsible water bottle (or purchase a commemorative one in the park’s visitor center), fill it at one of the available filling stations, and take a hike. Literally. Across the more than 84 million acres within our National Park System there are endless miles to explore on foot, on a bike, paddling, and floating. Thousands of miles of hiking trails await you, and just as many, if not more, miles of streams, rivers, and lakes. Together, these open spaces give you an opportunity to separate from the crowds that will be flooding the parks to help celebrate the National Park Service Centennial. There are rehabilitated trails at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, guided hikes at Great Smoky Mountains National in North Carolina and Tennessee, and ranger36

Vapur’s new 1.5-liter bottle, coming in June, is a great way to stay hydrated on your hike.

led paddling adventures at Congaree National Park in South Carolina and Everglades National Park in Florida. And that’s just a very small sample of how to might enjoy the parks. No matter where you go, or what you decide to do, make sure that you stay hydrated. According to the National Park Service, your body loses one-half to 1 quart of fluids through perspiration for every hour that you hike in the summer heat. That amount can double, and then some, if you are hiking uphill in direct sunlight during the hottest time of day. Water-related issues include heat exhaustion, which is the result of dehydration, and heatstroke, when your body loses its ability to regulate your temperature. A less frequently seen issue

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

is hyponatremia, in which you’ve taken in so much water that you’ve diluted your blood system’s sodium level. At Grand Canyon National Park, rangers treat “many cases of heat exhaustion” at Phantom Ranch and Indian Garden every day in the summer, and two or three cases of heatstroke each year. Usually by the time you realize you’re thirsty, you’re already running a deficit. The solution, of course, is to drink water at regular intervals during your hike. With lots of hikers expected in the national parks this summer, Vapur has introduced not only a 1.5-liter bottle (MSRP $15.99), but also the DrinkLink Hydration Tube System (MSRP $16.99) that lets you keep your water in your pack

and your tube within reach on your shoulder strap. There are many other water bottles on the market, but none like Vapur’s line of bottles. These vessels conveniently fold when they’re empty, so they take up far less room in your pack or luggage when you don’t need them. While the bottles can be sent through a dishwasher for cleaning, Vapur also recommends Bottle Bright cleaning tablets (MSRP $5.99 for a package of 10) that use an all-natural, chlorine-free formulation to effervescently-clean your bottle. If you plan to hike all day, or set out on a multi-day backpack in a park, consider adding Vapur’s Explorer Series Microfilter (MSRP $34.99) to your gear list. This handy filtration system is really no larger than a wand. It slips into your Vapur bottle and holds tight with a screw-on cap. This water purifier functions much like a standard straw, and allows water to be filtered as water is sucked or squeezed through the mouthpiece. How does it work? There are no chemicals involved, no need for pumping, no batteries, and no waiting required. In short, the Vapur Explorer Series MicroFilter is made of 60 meters of hollow fiber membrane packed into a compact casing. This membrane has an absolute pore size of 0.2 micron with a minimum capacity of 500 liters, when used in clear water. You can use the MicroFilter when connected to the Anti-Bottle by squeezing water through the Anti-Bottle into another vessel or by drinking normally. The filter, when used in accordance with the company’s Usage & Care guidelines, has been found to safely remove 99.9999 percent of waterborne bacteria, including E. coli, and 99.9 percent of protozoa, including Giardia. So on your national park vacation this year, go with a strategy to avoid the crowds, and with the gear you need to stay hydrated.

A handy clip on the bottle caps lets you attach your Vapur bottle to your pack. The company’s MicroFilter fits inside your bottle to safely filter your water. NationalParksTraveler.com

Gear & Books Worth Considering GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Camper Cook Kit My son and I had a chance to try out this new cook kit from GSI Outdoors this spring as we headed to Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase National Monument. This kit is meant for four people, with two pots (a 2- and a 3-liter), two lids (with drain holes), a frying pan, a folding clip-on handle, four plastic plates, and four insulated plastic cups with covers. And, it all nests together and fits inside the nylon carrying kit that doubles as a water carrier. It’s very compact, and light for car camping, but probably not great for backpacking due to its size. If we were on foot I’d take the small pot, lid, handle, and frying pan separately, though. The plates and cups are color coded so you know whose is whose, and the pots and pan are all anodized aluminum with a non-stick coating, which made for easy cleanup. The clip-on handle works well, and it only takes one hand to operate. We cooked on a propane stove, and I did notice that the frying pan bottom warped slightly with the high heat, a function of the thin metal I suppose, but not a deal breaker. I wasn’t crazy about the tri-corner cups though; it was tough to drink from the lid’s corner-holes, and I was wishing that there was a way to seal the cups, so you could use them to store loose items, because they’re very light. All in all, we liked the kit, and it’ll be part of our gear from now on. It retails for around $150. — Patrick Cone

The Honcho Poncho keeps you warm and dry, and can double as a pillow once stowed in its own pocket / Patrick Cone

Therm-A-Rest Honcho Poncho If you want something to wear outside when it’s wet, and stay cozy and comfortable, then this Honcho Poncho might be just the thing. Part of ThermA-Rest’s Camp and Comfort Series, this poncho is synthetically insulated, breathable, and water-resistant. It’s lightweight, at just under 2 pounds, and stuffs into its own front kangaroo pocket as well. Basically, it’s a light, insulated blanket (79’ x 58”), with a head hole, hood, and side snaps to cinch it up. It’s one-size-fits-all, and when my wife put this on it seemed a bit baggy, but that’s actually what it’s supposed to do. She liked the hand-warmer pocket, and that the back was longer than the front, to keep her backside warm. She thought it would be just perfect to take to a cold football game.

GSI Outdoors Pinnacle Camper Cook Kit is great for car camping, but you’ll probably want just some of its components for backpacking / Patrick Cone

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

I’ll keep this in the truck as a throw on cold nights, or when I go out to fetch some firewood in a snowstorm. It’s simple to put on, good in wet weather, and very warm. It comes in yellow and blue, and prices range from $105-$130. — Patrick Cone

Coleman Northern Nova Propane Lantern Talk about a bright propane lantern, this one is it. With variable controls, the Northern Nova will put out 3,000 lumens that will light up the entire neighborhood. We took this lantern camping into the Escalante River country of Utah, and soon put it to work as a series of rainstorms rolled in. Camped on a ridge well away from the slot canyons, we were super snug in my truck’s camper shell with this thing blazing both light and warmth. The rain got fairly intense, and in the morning there was about three inches of snow around, but when we fired up the lantern it warmed us up in a hurry. Its dual mantles are connected top and bottom, which will hopefully keep them

Coleman’s Nova Lantern can brighten up the neighborhood...or be adjusted for less light. Leki has a new foldable hiking stick, as well as a camp chair to compete with others on the market / Patrick Cone (4)

from breaking on some rough roads. Once in camp, we screwed a 16-ounce propane tank onto the bottom, swiveled the three legs down, turned it on and hit the red igniter. Instant light and heat. We ended up folding up the legs, and hanging it from a tree branch the next morning. I’m going to keep an eye on these folding legs, though, in case they fold by themselves: the locking mechanism is pretty loose. Also, the lantern rattled around in the accompanying case a bit when we were in 4WD, so I ended up padding it with a small towel. But, this is really well designed and made, and runs around $150. — Patrick Cone

Leki Breeze Chair You can add Leki to the outdoor companies that offer lightweight, collapsible chairs for backcountry and front country use. The company’s Breeze model, which retails for $100, is very similar to the Helinox Chair One sold by Big Agnes. Both rely on sturdy aluminum tubing that is shock-corded together for easy assembly and breakdown. A slight edge that Leki might have over Big Agnes is that their chair is slightly taller and offers a larger fabric footprint for the actual seat. There’s also a small collapsible cupholder that you can attach to either side of the chair tool of your favorite beverage. The chair’s carrying case also has two Velcro patches that allow you to secure it to the bottom of the seat so you won’t easily loose it. — Kurt Repanshek

Leki Micro-Vario Folding Walking Sticks Looking for a pair of foldable walking sticks, with a little cushion to them? Leki’s new Micro-Stick might be the ones: when packed in their bag, they’re only 39cm long when broken down, and just shy of 18 ounces in weight. Plus, there’s a small rubber shock absorber built into the end of the stick that provides a little cushioning when you’re out on the trail. The grips are ergonomic with adjustNationalParksTraveler.com

Gear & Books Worth Considering able straps, and set-up and take-down are very simple. The sections are connected with coated cables. Pull up on the top section and a button locks them in place, and the height is adjustable, from 43 to 51 inches. The top grip is rounded to fit your palm, and there’s an extended rubberized section below the top grip. I really liked the ease of operation, and how well designed and made these were. They’ll set you back around $160 but they should keep you company on lots of mountain adventures. — Patrick Cone

New Yellowstone Hiking Map

park and perhaps take a short hike or two during their stay. Period. That’s where a good trail map comes in handy. Jake Bramante knows about day hiking, as well as about long-distance backpacking. Back in 2011 he became the first person hike all of Glacier National Park’s more than 700 miles of hiking trails. From that experience he decided to help others enjoy hiking in the national parks by creating a series of hiking maps dedicated to day hiking. His latest product is Day Hikes of Yellowstone National Park (MSRP $11.95). This waterresistant map highlights 65 day hikes in Yellowstone. To make it easier for you to choose

Okay, let’s be honest. Most people who go to national parks don’t go to set out on multi-day backcountry treks. Rather, they’re looking to tour the

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

a hike, he has color-coded the hikes. Naturally, he also has provided some short descriptions to give you a sense of the trail’s hiking conditions, as well as labeled distances between junctions or features that the trail will lead you to or by. Finally, there also are topographic lines to help you judge how steep or level the trail might be. Through his approach to color coding hikes, you can quickly and easily see which trails range up to 5 miles in length, from 5 to 10 miles in length, or from 10 to 15 miles in length, and more than 15 miles in total. You can order this map, or trail maps for Glacier or Zion national parks, from www.nationalparkmapguides.com. — Kurt Repanshek

Day Hikes Of Yellowstone National Park provides the skinny on 65 day hikes in the world’s first national park.

With its three adjustable legs, the Pakpod offers a surprisingly stable camera anchor in a wide range of settings / Patrick Cone

Pakpod Headed into some wild places and need a tripod for your sports camera, or 4k video? This lightweight tripod has been thoughtfully designed to go just about anywhere, and hold your camera in any position. Retracted, it’s only 12.75 inches long, but nearly 18 inches when extended. Now, I wouldn’t want to put my heavy old Nikon D4S on this, but my GoPro Hero4 worked perfectly, even when hanging upside down from a cottonwood tree in the desert. One twist of the top knob frees all three legs to adjust, then locks them again with one action. And, choose from the spoon or spike foot, with a quick rotation. (I especially liked the spike foot!) Inventor Steve Underwood designed the Pakpod out of necessity, looking for something that was quick-to-deploy, and versatile, and this seems to do the job. You can pick one up, and check it out for around $100. — Patrick Cone

Sea of Sand, A History of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve There is an inland sea of sand that relatively few people realize exists. While the sand dunes of Death Valley National Park are fairly well-known, and most people are aware of the sand dunes at our national seashores, the towering

dunes of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado are unknown to most. Michael M. Geary brings these incredible dune fields to life in Sea of Sand, A History of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Released in March, this nearly 300-page book explores how these gigantic sand dunes, the tallest in North America, came to stand today, and how this landscape came into the National Park System. The author comes to his task as a researcher and historian, as well as a writer. Some might fear this combination would result in a ponderous narrative, but it’s neither pedantic nor mind-numbing. But Mr. Geary is thorough, and leads us through various geologic processes that led to this spectacular field of dunes, the Native American tribes that crisscrossed the region, the Spanish explorers who came in search of gold, and the Americans focused on pushing the young country’s boundaries west. And, of course, he goes into great detail in laying out the push to preserve this incredible landscape as a unit of the National Park System and the growing pains the park endured. Mr. Geary turns up wonderful 1930 correspondence between members of Colorado’s congressional delegation and then-NPS Director Horace Albright over the value of the sand dunes landscape as a national monument or park. The drive

for preserving this unique landscape goes back into the 1920s, and involved the PEO Sisterhood, an “international women’s philanthropic and educational organization” that itself dated to 1869. For true national park history aficionados, the author regales us with Roger Toll’s inspection and consideration of the sand dunes area for inclusion in the National Park System. Toll, although superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, also was Albright’s man in the field for assessing potential parks. During his career he had surveyed Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Big Bend, and even Everglades national parks for inclusion. At the sand dunes, where Mr. Geary notes Toll spent a total of “only about four to six hours…actually investigating the Great Sand Dunes,” Toll wound up producing a roughly 100-page report with maps, reports, photographs (“including several depicting the novel activity of skiing on the dunes”) that in the end spoke highly of including the area in the park system. Great Sand Dunes, of course, did become a unit of the National Park System, first as a monument, then re-designated as a national park. But to understand the twists, turns, and trials that it took to get to that point, you should read this book. — Kurt Repanshek

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Take In The Grandeur Of Yosemite National Park This Summer

From Glacier Point you can see the major waterworks that plunge into the Yosemite Valley... as well as a great profile of Half Dome / Yosemite’s Scenic Wonders

he majesty of Yosemite is all around. Just across from Glacier Point Lower and Upper Yosemite falls plummet thousands of feet. To the right the Merced River feeds Nevada Fall, then Vernal Fall, emptying into America’s grandest landscape. Cloud’s Rest and Half Dome, of course, anchor the horizon to the east, while deep in the valley the forests, meadows, and river murmur. When you stand on Glacier Point, with its cool breezes, magnificent views, and pine-scented air, you might consider ditching your job and moving to the High Sierra permanently. But you’ll settle for a few days of this mind-blowing natural world. Vacations and long weekend getaways let you put things in perspective, forget your daily life and your list of concerns, so that you can revel in the pristine settings of this iconic national park. And this summer, especially, will be incredible, with the near-normal snow melt filling the rivers and streams. The falls’ spray will cool your face, the thundering sound will haunt your dreams at night, and the scene will burn itself into your memory. So now is the time to book your stay with Yosemite’s Scenic Wonders Vacation Rentals in Yosemite West. Both Glacier Point and the Yosemite Valley are just short drives away. Head south to Wawona, where you can marvel at some of Thomas Hill’s 19th century paintings of Yosemite at Hill’s Studio. Or, explore the Pioneer Yosemite History Center with its collection of horse-drawn wagons. Then, grab lunch

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

at the Big Trees Lodge (aka Wawona Hotel), or play a round of golf. Take a hike, such as the 8.2-mile round trip trail to Chilnualna Falls. The trail from Wawona to the Mariposa Grove of sequoias, however, is closed until spring 2017 for restoration work. But if you are visiting Yosemite to see the big trees as much as the waterfalls and granite domes, then have no worries. There are plenty of other groves of giants nearby. Tuolumne Grove is the closest, just off the Tioga Road not far east from Crane Flat. You’ll have to hike a mile to reach the stand of two dozen Sequoias, but it’s worth the effort. Other groves a bit farther away (drives up to two

hours) include the Grant Grove at Kings Canyon National Park, and the North and South Calaveras Groves at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. If you visit the Tuolumne Grove, make sure you get an early start to explore the Tuolumne area. The Tioga Road leads to Yosemite’s high country, where the peaks tower above you. The two-lane road meanders through an incredible landscape of granite domes, pine forests, and alpine streams. The lovely Tenaya Lake was named in honor of Chief Tenaya, the leader of the Ahwahneechee people who lived in the Yosemite Valley when whites discovered it. It’s easy to spend a day on the lake’s shore, swimming, picnicking, hiking, or fishing (though you’ll need a California fishing license). Or you could make a quick stop for a photo or two and then head towards Tuolumne Meadows and maybe hike to Cathedral Lakes (a 7-mile round trip), up to Lyle Fork Canyon along the John Muir Trail (8 miles), or to Dog Lake and Lembert Dome (a 4-mile round trip). When you’ve had enough adventure, head back to your rental home, perhaps the Alpine Aerie, which can sleep a dozen, with its private deck that is lined up to catch the sunset. Or maybe the Chinquapin Retreat, which is designed for a more intimate escape to Yosemite for 2-4 guests, is a better fit for your plans. Previous guests have rated Yosemite’s Scenic Wonders Vacation Rental properties so high that TripAdvisor inducted them into its ranking hall of fame, as No. 1 for five years in a row for specialty lodging in Yosemite. There are over 80 properties to choose from, so you’ll find a vacation retreat for a large family or

Big trees, like big waterfalls and cliffs, are part of the Yosemite experience / Yosemite’s Scenic Wonders

group up to 16, or one for an intimate getaway for two. As the National Park Service marks its centennial this August, Yosemite and other national parks will be very busy as visitors celebrate the agency and the landscapes it oversees. So, join in, and enjoy the celebration, as well as a little solitude, by choosing your lodging wisely.

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Wizard Island features a volcanic crater within a volcanic crater / NPS

Perfectly Blue Days At Crater Lake National Park By Kurt Repanshek

The rich cobalt blue waters of Crater Lake are the centerpiece for this national park in southern Oregon. Its geologic birth has left an enormous volcanic caldera, in which the lake rests today. The story of the lake’s birth is as fascinating and striking as the park itself.

ight thousand years ago a 12,000-foot volcano (today referred to as Mount Mazama) stood high above the forests. Geologists believe that it may have taken more than 500,000 years for the magma to form this mountain. Then, a major cataclysmic eruption that occurred over a very short period of time (perhaps days or weeks) blew the top off of Mount Mazama. Magma spewed from a vent on the northeast side of the mountain, draining the deep inner chamber. Empty, it then collapsed under the upper mountain’s weight. When the dust and smoke cleared, all that remained was a deep crater, or more technically a caldera, some 6 by 4.5 miles in diameter and 4,000 feet deep. During the 7,700 years since that eruption, rain and snowmelt filled the crater with a lake of pure water, to a depth of 1,940 feet. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and the ninth deepest lake in the world. Surrounding the lake, forests, streams, and meadows now cover the once-barren landscape. You’ll quickly fill a three-day itinerary, and wish you had more time to explore. But that’s what return visits are for. If you only have three days at Crater Lake National Park, here are some suggestions for how to spend your time.

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irst off, check out, and into, the Crater Lake Lodge. This elegant, restored chateau was originally built on the crater rim in 1915. There are just 71 rooms, while outside you’ll find an expansive deck that lets you peer down to the lake far below. On cool evenings, retreat to the comfortable Great Room with its crackling stone fireplace and cozy dining room. At least a week before you head to the park book a reservation for the concessionaire’s “Standard Lake Cruise” ($40/adults, $27/3-11). You can also purchase tickets once you arrive at Crater Lake, but if you request a reservation in advance of your trip you’re more likely to get the time slot you prefer. This two-hour cruise includes a stop at Wizard Island, where you can head ashore and hike to the summit for a look inside the island’s own volcanic crater. Or, you can hike out to Fumarole Bay and catch a later boat to complete the tour around the inner caldera. The hike to Wizard’s summit is particularly worthwhile. Not only does it give you a chance to stretch your legs along the zigzag trail to the island’s summit, but also the 360-degree views out across Crater Lake are spectacular. Back on the boat, along with an interpretive ranger, you’ll slowly circumnavigate the lake. You’ll enjoy a close-up view of Phantom Ship, the rocky 450,000-year-old remains of the throat of an ancient volcano that existed prior to the eruptions that formed Mount Mazama. Then there’s the Old Man of the Lake. This tree trunk, estimated by some to be 34 feet or so long, with 30 of those feet under water, bobs perfectly upright around the lake.

Top: Boat tours include an interpretive ranger who provides insights into the geology and history of the lake / Kurt Repanshek Bottom: It’s believed that the Old Man in the Lake has been bobbing around since 1896 / Kurt Repanshek

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

Those who know say the “old man” has been bobbing in the lake since at least 1896. It’s believed that this hemlock tree was knocked into the lake by a landslide off of the rim, and that rocks tangled in its roots help to stabilize it in an upright position. While the boat tour won’t fill your entire day, you do have to hike down, and then back up, the Cleetwood Cove Trail, which runs a little more than a mile in length. Going down to meet your cruise isn’t too terrible, but the hike up with a 700-feet altitude gain can be tough—especially tiring on a hot summer afternoon This summer the cruise season ends in mid-August, due to a paving project of the Cleetwood Cove parking lot, so be sure to coordinate your travel to Crater Lake if this cruise is on your agenda.

Wildflower blooms peak between mid-July and mid-August in Crater Lake National Park / NPS

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hile the main attraction of this national park is, ahem, a lake, there’s plenty to see on the forested side of the caldera rim. There are 90 miles of hiking trails—including a section of the Pacific Crest Trail—and some excellent, family friendly day hikes. Though short, at not quite a half-mile, the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail is a refreshing walk through a cool, colorful corner of the national park. Located less than a quarter-mile from the start of East Rim Drive near park headquarters, this quiet nature trail with its gurgling creek gives you a chance to stretch your legs and take a closer look at some of the park’s colorful vegetation. The trail, built by the Boy Scouts in 1929, roams through an area with more than 200 species of wildflowers. There are pinkish Monkey Flowers, purple lupines, yellow Buttercups, purple Monks-

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hood, blazing red Paintbrush, and Skyrocket Gilia. The bloom peaks between mid-July and mid-August. When the Scouts built the trail, they created an ovalshaped loop that crosses the main spring-fed creek four times, along with numerous seeps and springs. Wooden bridges and native flagstone steppingstones help keep your feet dry. For another hike, try the 1.7-mile hike to the top of Garfield Peak, with distant views of the South Sister to the north, the Klamath Basin to the east, and the 14,162-foot Mount Shasta to the south. The Garfield Peak trailhead is just to the east of Crater Lake Lodge along the Rim promenade. Also recommended is the short Sun Notch Viewpoint hike that leads to an amazing view of the lake with Phantom Ship in the foreground, and the Pumice Desert at the North Entrance to the park. This sprawling “desert” was created 7,700 years ago by the climactic eruptions of Mount Mazama, which blanketed this area with more than 200 feet of ash and pumice. The landscape is dotted here and there with volcanic rocks and even some “volcanic bombs” tossed out by eruptions from surrounding volcanoes. (Note: Rock collecting is prohibited here.) A more strenuous hike would be the 2.2-mile trail to the summit of Mount Scott, the highest point in the park at 8,929 feet. The trailhead is near the picnic area across from the turnoff to Cloudcap Overlook along East Rim Drive. This hike has outstanding views of the entire Crater Lake caldera, the Klamath Basin to the southeast, and Mount Bailey and Mount Thiessen, adjacent to Diamond Lake, to the north.

Renderings of Mount Mazama during peak eruption and afterwards / NPS

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

The trail to the summit of Wizard Island zigs and zags its way to the top, providing gorgeous views of Crater Lake / Kurt Repanshek

Day

ake a drive along the Rim road. It’s only 33 miles long but has many differing views of the lake, as well as a few short excursions to overlooks and other points of interest. Be sure to pick up a guide to the drive, published by the Crater Lake Natural History Association, in one of the park gift shops or visitor centers. Along the road, you’ll pass the Sun Notch Viewpoint Trail with its view of Phantom Ship; the spur road to the Pinnacles (fossilized fumaroles) of Sand and Wheeler creeks, another view of the Phantom Ship and Chaski Slide from the roadside pull out at Kerr Notch, and at a subsequent pullout, the wonderful overlook of the colorful Pumice Castle, a volcanic outcropping within the inner caldera. There’s the Cloudcap Overlook, which at 7,900

feet above sea level is the highest point on Rim Drive. Or try Cleetwood Cove, along the Cleetwood Cove Trail to the guided boat tour, or spend some time fishing in the lake for rainbow trout and kokanee salmon (no limits for either), or the Watchman Overlook with its trail to The Watchman, a fire lookout which offers an unobstructed view of Wizard Island and the inner caldera If you visit during a full moon, hike to The Watchman after dark and marvel at the shadow cast by Wizard Island on the lake surface. While many visitors stop, look at the lake, and move on, there’s a lot more at this park for you to enjoy. There’s more to see at Crater Lake than is obvious, and relaxation is key to any vacation.

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Friends Of the parks Centennial Summer at Jenny Lake: What to Expect More than one million people will come to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park this year to take in this famous destination’s timeless beauty. Visitors will find trails that lead to some of the park’s loveliest backcountry spots, including the newly restored route leading to Inspiration Point that will open in early summer. They will also discover visitor plaza and lakeshore construction, trail reroutes, and a closure at Hidden Falls that will be in effect for the majority of the summer. While this work causes temporary disruption, it is a large-scale effort to help Grand Teton create an inviting and sustainable trail system for the next 100 years. The project—Inspiring Journeys—is an $18 million public-private partnership between Grand Teton National Park and Grand Teton National Park Foundation in celebration of the National Park Service’s centennial in August. Front country work is underway around the visitor plaza so parking will be limited for the summer season. Temporary visitor services, trail reroutes, and closures will be in place. Crews will rebuild asphalt trails, create new lake overlooks, and construct drystone walls between the core visitor plaza and the lake. Backcountry improvements will focus on Hidden Falls and the South Cascade Creek Trail, both of which will be closed for the season. Visitors will not be able to hike to Hidden Falls this summer—trail crews will work to create a sustainable viewing space and restore damaged areas at the base of the falls. For the most up-to-date information on closures and access at Jenny Lake, please stop by a park visitor center or ask a ranger. Work is anticipated to be complete before the 2018 summer season. Grand Teton National Park Foundation needs your help to finish our gift to Grand Teton for the National Park Service centennial celebration on August 25th. Join us today and visit www.gtnpf.org or call 307-732-0629.

Part of the Inspiring Journeys campaign focuses on healing the eroded trail at Hidden Falls that has left tree roots exposed / Kurt Repanshek

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

A Great Season To Take Your Kids Into The Woods There are, not far from the pavement, glorious creeks to splash in and ponds and lakes to fish, forests to explore, and grassy meadows to chase butterflies across. These are kid friendly aspects of the natural world that come without batteries, don’t need a Wi-Fi signal, and are guaranteed to bring the kid out in all of us. Since 2012 the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has been working to coax kids out into the national parks and nature in general. The focal point of this effort has been the Foundation’s Kids in Parks TRACK Trail program. This effort has created an ever-growing network of hiking, biking, paddling and disc golf trails outfitted with free activity guides for children and families. Each TRACK Trail has a series of self-guided brochures designed to turn an ordinary hike into a fun-filled, discovery-packed adventure. The guides encourage children to truly engage with the outdoors by identifying trees and birds, viewing the forest from the perspective of animals, and searching for natural features, among other fun activities. You and your kids can explore these trails at several locations along the Blue Ridge Parkway, including: • Peaks of Otter Recreation Area (milepost 86) • Blue Ridge Music Center (milepost 213, near Galax, Virginia) • Julian Price Memorial Park Picnic Area (milepost 297) + a paddling “trail” at Price Lake • The Orchard at Altapass (milepost 328.3) • Mount Mitchell (milepost 355) • The Visitor Center in Asheville, North Carolina (milepost 384) • North Carolina Arboretum (just off the Parkway at milepost 393) • Cherokee Oconaluftee River Trail (at terminus of the Parkway)

The TRACK Trail program launched by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation lures youth out into nature / Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation

Near the roof of Saguaro National Park you’ll find Manning Camp.

Other TRACK Trails can be found in California, Maryland, North and South Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In all, there are 27 TRACK Trails in the National Park System. Each trail features a brochure of activities to engage kids as they explore the woods. Kids also can register to earn prizes. For information, visit www.kidsinparks.com.

Summertime Hikes In Saguaro National Park It can be hard to get your head around backpacking or hiking in Saguaro National Park in summer because of the high temperatures that seem to envelope southern Arizona. But if you approach it strategically, the park has much to offer for hikers. The summer months actually are a great time to hike the Arizona Trail, which is a National Scenic Trail, on its path across the park. A segment of the Arizona Trail heads along the roof of the park in the Rincon Mountains and passes by the Manning Camp. At nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, this is one of the coolest areas in Saguaro National Park during the summer. From Hope Camp on the southwestern edge of the park’s Rincon Mountain District, the trail heads north/northwest (and is marked as the Quilter Trail through the park). The Quilter Trail joins the Manning Camp Trail and climbs steadily for several miles, before dropping down into the Grass Shack Campground. It then climbs continuously for several more miles to the northeast, crosses Chimenea Creek, and then comes to Manning Camp. From Manning Camp, the trail goes to Mica Mountain, and then starts down the other side of the Rincon Mountains before exiting the Rincon Mountain Wilderness into the Coronado National Forest and heading on to the Santa Catalina Mountains.

Altogether, the Arizona Trail extends 817 miles across the state, from the U.S.-Mexico international border to the Arizona-Utah state line. With help from Friends of Saguaro National Park, volunteers offer more than 40,000 hours of service each year to help maintain the trail. Work on the Quilter Trail segment through Saguaro National Park was completed with a $400,000 federal grant in 2008, secured for the park by then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Visitors can get more information on the Arizona Trail Association’s website at www.aztrail.org.

New Book Looks At Life Of Man Behind Acadia National Park George Bucknam Dorr was born into a comfortable life, as he inherited sizeable fortunes from both sides of his family. While he had the wherewithal to travel extensively about the world and do anything with his life, he came to cherish the landscape of Mount Desert Island along coastal Maine. It was a lifelong connection spurred by childhood vacations on the island, one that spawned a tireless, and selfless, campaign to both conserve the island’s landscape and, more importantly, see it included within the National Park System.

Dorr’s role in seeing Sieur de Monts National Monument established in 1916, the same year the National Park Service was created, is dissected by Ronald H. Epp in Creating Acadia National Park, The Biography of George Bucknam Dorr, a book released this year as part of Acadia’s centennial celebration. This, the first complete biography of George Dorr, not only looks at his upbringing and where he found his passion for nature, but also examines his role in seeing national park status bestowed on a large portion of Mount Desert Island. Mr. Epp’s extensive research also uncovered that Mr. Dorr, the first superintendent of the national park that was renamed Acadia in 1929, was something of a burr in the saddle of the National Park Service. “For nearly a decade Dorr had done his best to work within the growing bureaucracy of the national park system,” writes the author. “Yet to many officials, he was judged as noncompliant. He did not wear the National Park Service uniform, his reports contained scholarly references and allusions that departed conspicuously from the brief informational reports sought by Washington bureaucrats, and the most troublesome matter continued to be his independent management of the park itself.” Brought to life through the support and assistance of Friends of Acadia, this profile of the man known as the “Father of Acadia” should be on the reading list of all Acadia lovers.

The first comprehensive biography on George Dorr lays out the campaign to create Acadia National Park.

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Western charm personality

Cody, Wyoming Cody, Wyoming, is a legendary Western frontier town with the personality to match. Cody was founded by William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, the famous Wild West showman and Army scout, and sitting adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, the town still sports his wild and adventurous nature.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West (top) provides wonderful exhibits and interpretive materials to help you understand and enjoy the region. The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway arguably is the most scenic route into Yellowstone National Park / Yellowstone Country

Essential Park Guide | Summer 2016

ou can learn more about the legendary showman, and the history of the region, in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. The Center, a complex including five museums and a research library, is home to classic works of Western masters such as Frederick Remington, Charles Russell, Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt. There’s even an exhibit of pencil sketches made by Chief Sitting Bull of the Sioux tribe while he was imprisoned at Fort Randall, Dakota Territory in 1882. You can also enjoy exhibits about the Plains Indians and regional

history—be sure to check out the notorious firearms of the Wild West on display. After the museums, make sure you get out and explore the West for yourself throughout town. Catch the nightly rodeo, sidle up to the bar in the Irma Hotel (built by Buffalo Bill himself, and named after his daughter), or head south to the small ranching community of Meeteetse to experience one of the finest chocolatiers in the West. Cody is the gateway to even more adventure. In fact, Cody, Wyoming, is known as the “wildest way into Yellowstone,” as the town is the hospitality center for travelers using the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park. From Cody, you can explore the park’s natural wonders, discover the Absaroka Range and its wildlife, or go kayaking and rock climbing. Anglers intent on hooking one of Yellowstone’s iconic cutthroat trout can do so just north of Cody in the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone, the only officially designated Wild and Scenic River in Wyoming. Round out your western adventure with a stay in one of the area’s dude or guest

Nightly rodeos are part of the fun in Cody / Yellowstone Country

ranches. There’s nothing like waking up to a golden sunrise with a steaming cup of coffee in your hands, riding the range under endless skies, and ending the day in front of a crackling fire, appreciating the

wonders of the West. With history, western charm, and outdoor activities, there’s always adventure to be had in Cody, Wyoming, the wildest way into Yellowstone.

FULL OF EXCITEMENT. There’s plenty to see and do. Start planning your Cody, Wyoming vacation today. 1-800-393-2639 or yellowstonecountry.org. T H E W I L D E S T W AY I N T O Y E L L O W S T O N E

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Parting Shot “In wildness is the preservation of earth.” — Henry David Thoreau

Harold Jerrill captured this shot at Morton Overlook along the Newfound Gap Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For information on purchasing a print, contact sales@nationalparkstraveler.com