National Parks Traveler - A New Addition to My List of Favorite Places!

I’m pretty sure I’ve made it obvious to readers of this blog that, while Alan and I are passionate about traveling in general, we’re particularly fond of the State and National Parks scattered throughout our beautiful country.  So I was absolutely delighted when I recently ran across National Parks Traveler, an organization dedicated to providing news about our National Parks and an extensive collection of ways to enjoy them and other public lands.

National Parks Traveler (NPT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in August of 2005 by Kurt Repanshek.  Kurt is NPT’s Editor-in-Chief, as well as the President and CEO of its Board of Directors, and he guides NPT in its mission to keep the general public informed of what’s happening in, to and with our National Parks and protected areas of the United States.

There have been more than seventy news posts just since the beginning of August.  Seventy!  If you’re wondering what topics are covered, here are a few of the headlines from this month that I snatched from “The Latest News from the Parks” section of the NPT web site:

“Glacier National Park Relaxes Closures Over Grizzly Bear Activity”

“Friends of Acadia Working to Preserve Acadia National Park’s Carriage Road Bridges”

“National Park Service Approves Plan for Historic Lake McDonald Cabins at Glacier National Park”

“Civil War History to Come to Life at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park”

“Details on Glacier Point Road Rehab in Yosemite National Park”

In addition to the regular news posts, NPT also publishes Special Reports and Traveler’s View items such as “Traveler’s View:  Should the NPS Overlook its Backlog While Planning New Projects?”

The news items alone would make this one of my new favorite sites.  But wait, there’s more!  In the "Your National Parks" section, you’ll find the following topics to delve into:

Explore Your National Park System (includes Essential Park Guides)

Exploring Your Parks (includes more detailed items on many of the National Parks)

A Day in the Park (overviews of many National Parks units)

Your National Lakeshores (specific focus on several National Lakeshores)

For Families (brief articles about the Parks focusing on travelers with children)

Trails I’ve Hiked (covers a variety of trails from coast to coast)

Discriminating Explorer (stories to help you make the most of your National Parks vacation)

Photography in the Parks (tips and techniques for getting the best shot – gorgeous images of the Parks, too)

Fireside Reads (suggested books)

The features that I’ve mentioned have more than enough grist to keep you informed and entertained for hours.  But wait - you guessed it - there’s even more!

How about Traveler Podcasts? NPT currently offers 27 podcast episodes including the following:

“Blue Ridge Parkway Needs, Acadia’s Falcons and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison”

“Photography in the Parks, Schoodic and Arizona Monuments”

“What Do You Know about Capitol Reef National Park”

“Everglades Python Problem”

NPT has been the recipient of the George Wright Society Communications Award and the George Hartzog Award from the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.  And how about this testimonial from the writer and co-producer of Ken Burns’ epic series “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea”:

“For anyone interested in what’s going on in our national parks –

from breaking news and important trends

to featured stories, well-reasoned opinions and handy guides –

nothing on the internet matches National Parks Traveler”

                         ~ Dayton Duncan

To make keeping up with all of the latest happenings in our National Parks even easier, NPT offers a weekly newsletter that’s published every Tuesday which contains all the stories that ran in the previous seven days.  I signed up for that lickety-split – and it wouldn’t surprise me if you do, too, once you’ve visited NPT and poked around a bit.

I still can’t believe that I wasn’t aware of this extraordinary resource for travelers and National Parks enthusiasts (like me!) before this.  But, now that I’ve found National Parks Traveler, I can promise you it’s going to remain on my list of favorites!

Please note that this post is not sponsored in any way.  I’m not affiliated with or receiving payment from National Parks Traveler.  I just happened upon it and wanted to share what I believe to be an excellent find with you.  You can skedaddle over to NPT right now, if you’d like to visit (link HERE) but, in the future, remember that it will always be accessible from my list of favorite places in the column at the right.  Have a delightful day, and thank you for stopping by!