Tag Archives: National Parks Traveler

March 14, 2023 · 5:35 am

National Parks Quiz And Trivia #59

It’s Trivia Tuesday folks! Did you know there are now 424 units within the National Park System? These units cover more than 85 million acres in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories. With so many units, there’s plenty to learn, which is why I pen a monthly quiz and trivia piece for the National Parks Traveler. Sure, you know a lot about your job role where ever you work, but how much do you know about national parks?

Click on the image above to go to the quiz.

The image you see here is of Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park. True or False: it’s the largest cliff dwelling in the park. To find out the answer, go to the quiz and look at the bottom of the piece. But, wait, why not just test your knowledge by looking at the entire quiz first, then reading the trivia, *then* checking the answers. You might learn something new with which to impress friends, family, and co-workers.

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February 21, 2023 · 4:11 am

Photography In The National Parks: Atmospheric Phenomena

It’s #TriviaTuesday folks!

What you see in this image is a part of what is known as a “sun halo.” It’s an atmospheric phenomenon, which is an event created by the interaction of sunlight or moonlight with the atmosphere, water, rain, clouds, dust, or other particulate matter. The belt of Venus, a rainbow, crepuscular rays, anticrepuscular rays, the Northern Lights – those are all atmospheric phenomena and I have written about photographing them in my latest article published today in the National Parks Traveler.

Just click on the image above to be taken to that article.

This image was captured during a hike along the Carroll Rim Trail in the Painted Hills Unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon. This trail is the longest trail (maybe a mile one-way) in this particular unit and worth the hike up to the top for a 360-degree view.

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February 11, 2023 · 4:30 am

National Parks Quiz And Trivia #58

It’s the last day of #volcanoweek so let’s start today off with a volcano quiz question.

Brokeoff Mountain (far right in this image) in Lassen Volcanic National Park is a remnant of the much larger and broader ___.

a) Mount Tacoma

b) Mount Tahoma

c) Mount Tehama

d) Mount Assiniboine

That’s one of the quiz questions in my latest quiz and trivia piece published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler. Why not click on the image above and go on over there to test your national parks knowledge, read the trivia, and maybe even learn a little something new.

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February 10, 2023 · 3:27 am

Celebrating Volcanoes

It’s nearing the end of #volcanoweek and it’s also #FunFactFriday . Oh, and the National Parks Traveler has published an article I wrote about volcanos and volcanic features in units of the National Park System as a Feature Story. It’s sort of a trifecta for me, I guess. Check out the article by clicking on the image above.

As for this image of Kilauea volcano, it was captured in the very late afternoon during a 2017 during a photo tour I attended. Kilauea volcano, in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, is a shield volcano, like Mauna Loa. Shield volcanoes are actually the largest volcanoes in the world, although they do not exhibit that high, conical shape of stratovolcanoes, which we tend to think of as the highest. No, shield volcanoes look like warriors’ shields – a bit convex on top where the summit is, with broad, gentle, rounding slopes fanning outward.

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February 4, 2023 · 3:38 am

National Natural Landmarks – An NPS Designation For Very Special Places

A Northerly View Of The Yakima River At The Umtanum Ridge Water Gap, Washington State

When is a landscape associated with the National Park Service, yet not a unit within the National Park System? When it’s a National Natural Landmark.

Today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler has published an article of mine about these very special places, designated by the NPS for their outstanding examples of a biological or geologic feature.

To read the article, click on the image above.

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January 27, 2023 · 6:15 am

Fun Fact Friday January 27, 2023

It’s #funfactFriday folks! And today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler features a contribution from the Caldera Chronicles, a weekly feature produced by collaboration by scientists and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Today’s article is all about how the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone came into being. Granted, it’s not like the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but it’s a pretty cool (and colorful) place all on it’s own, “Stretching from the Lower Falls to the Tower Falls area, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is about 28 km (17 miles) long, 250–350 meters (820–1150 feet) deep, and 450–1200 meters (1500–4000 feet) across. It appears to be a surprisingly young feature of the region, having mostly formed during and immediately following the last ice age, within the past 20,000 years or so. “

To read more about this and view the video, click the image above.

These shots were captured during my autumn 2019 visit to Yellowstone National Park. I’d wanted to see the Lower Falls area back during the summer of 2018, as I made my way from TX to WA, but the crowds were horrendous and there was absolutely no place to park – seriously, every single parking space was filled. On the other hand, this visit resulting in these images was great – definitely no crowds.

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December 29, 2022 · 5:56 am

2022 Year In Review: Photography A Little Closer To Home

It’s been quite a year for the National Parks Traveler, with new units of the National Park System explored and resulting news, general interest, and photography articles written. If you follow the Traveler (and you should, if you want DAILY news from an editorially independent source about national parks in the U.S. and Canada), then you’ll know that the Traveler – like other news outlets – has been publishing various year-in-review articles the past week.

Published in today’s edition of the Traveler is my own 2022 Year In Review Photography article. Aside from a couple of 9- and 10-hour road trips to single destinations (Yellowstone National Park in winter and Lassen Volcanic National Park in autumn), the majority of my photography explorations have been a little closer to home along routes you might not even realize are parts of the National Park System.

To read the article, click on the image above.

This image is one of those closer-to-home venues, although I guess “close” is a relative term. It only took me 5 hours total drive time for a couple of days of photography including photographing the waves resuling from the annual king tides at Cape Disappiontment in Washington state, where the Pacific Ocean meets the mouth of the Columbia River.

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December 20, 2022 · 5:50 am

Photography In The National Parks: A Matter Of Perspective

Photography is a matter of perspective, you know. It’s how *you* see things through your camera lens. My latest photography column has been published in the National Parks Traveler, and it deals with photographic perspective, using sample images I captured while visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park in California.

To read the article, click on either of the two images above.

The first image is the ground level view of the wall of blocky, black lava rock comprising the Fantastic Lava Beds, next to Butte Lake in the northeastern section of the park.

The second image is a much higher view of the lava beds from the summit of Cinder Cone, about 2 miles away from the first view.

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December 17, 2022 · 4:29 am

National Parks Quiz And Trivia: The Winter Edition 2022

How about a little rime ice to go with that tree, Ma’am.

Rime ice. There’s a question about it in today’s quiz and trivia piece I penned for the National Parks Traveler. It’s the winter 2022 edition. Why not go and check it out. You might learn something new about one or more units of the National Park System.

To take the quiz and read the trivia, click on the image above.

This particular image was captured during a snowcoach stop at Beryl Spring in Yellowstone National Park. Beryl Spring is a prolific steamer and all those freezing steam droplets land on whatever tree or fence railing is nearby. It can build up over a relatively short period of time in the winter there. And it’s amazing to look at close up.

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November 22, 2022 · 4:56 am

Photography In The National Parks: Getting Great Smartphone Shots – Part 2

It’s #TriviaTuesday folks! If you visit Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, you’ll have the opportunity to see all four types of volcano: plug dome (aka lava dome), cinder cone, shield, and strato (aka composite). And you can hike up to each of these, too. Lassen Peak is one of the world’s largest plug domes, Prospect Peak is a shield volcano, Brokeoff Mountain is an eroded part of stratovolcano Mount Tehama, and, well, Cinder Cone is a cinder cone. You can even hike up to and then down into Cinder Cone, pictured here.

This shot was captured with my iPhone. And speaking of iPhones, and smartphones in general, my latest photo column has been published in the National Parks Traveler: Getting Great Smartphone Shots – Part 2.

To read the article, click on the image above

I’m an SLR gal, but I readily admit the smartphone camera is an amazing piece of technology and smartphone cameras can get some pretty cool shots. I used mine when I neglected to bring along a particular wide-angle lens for my other camera during my own hike up to Cinder Cone. And I wanted to prove, not only to myself, but to you also, that you can get some very nice images with your smartphone.

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