From rumored Bigfoot sightings to a vanishing island, there is no shortage of mystery in the waters of Crater Lake. At 1,943 feet, the lake is the seventh deepest in the world and is best known for its sapphire blue color and astonishing size. Visitors can marvel at the massive crater formed thousands of years ago in a volcanic eruption and enjoy many activities that change with the seasons, but many find themselves drawn to a stump. Referred to as "The Old Man," the log has slowly navigated the lake's waters for well over 100 years, and the mystery of its movement and ability to remain upright continues to perplex scientists and parkgoers alike. Early travelers stood atop it in the open water; others were certain it controlled the weather. Still, like the lake itself, The Old Man is an indescribable fascination that continues to inspire the minds of many.

This week America'sa’s National Parks, Crater Lake, and the Old Man.

Hosted by Jason Epperson

Written By Lizzie Tesch

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

Join us for the latest updates in National Park news. This episode covers the collapse of a popular double arch in Glen Canyon, the establishment of the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument, and new features on Recreation.gov for park entry bookings. You’ll also hear about recent lightning strike incidents at Horseshoe Bend, prohibited base jumping in the Grand Canyon, vandalism at Joshua Tree, elk poaching in Redwood National Park, and the partial reopening of Lassen Volcanic National Park following fire evacuations. Stay informed and plan your next adventure with this week's National Parks news roundup.

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

Become a Mile Marker Member and support this content. Learn more at https://RVMiles.com/milemarkers 

Despite its proximity to major metropolitan areas, Assateague Island National Seashore offers a serene escape that feels worlds away. With its sweeping beaches and wild horses, the island embodies the natural beauty preserved by dedicated conservationists. But the island's story is unique, shaped not only by human efforts but also by one of the most destructive hurricanes of the 20th century. Join us as we delves into the creation of Assateague Island National Seashore, exploring its dynamic landscape, the resilience of its ecosystems, and the dramatic events that led to its preservation.

Written By James Fester

Hosted By Jason Epperson

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

For all of the heroes of the National Parks we’ve covered on this podcast over nearly 200 episodes, it’s a wonder we haven’t spent time with a photographer who brought the beauty, grandeur and spirit of nature to the world -  showing the need for preservation and curating a desire for a nation to visit them. 

Ansel Adams is, to be sure, the most famous photographer ever. And his contributions to the natural world rival his innovations and artistry in his medium. 

Welcome to this month's "News from the Parks" our monthly roundup of top stories from the National Parks. The official overall NPS visitation number has yet to be released, but some parks have already turned in their reporting and the numbers at some of our most popular parks are staggering. Plus, project improvements continue, the sad fate of Lake Powell, Judge rules in favor of the Endangered Species Act. the USS Constitution sees a change in command and a first for the ship, Canadian doctors see the health benefits in National Parks, and more.

In the 1800s, the Lackawaxen region of the Upper Delaware River was a bustling area, punctuated by industrial transportation. The canal era provided access to water transport where there was no natural river or lake. John Augustus Roebling, a civil engineer with an innovative approach to suspension bridges, was hired to build four aqueduct bridges that became the basis for modern bridge construction still used today. 

Right at the end of the outcropping where the Patuxent River meets the Baltimore Harbor sits a star-shaped fort that had been instrumental in the War of 1812, and which led to the writing of our national anthem. But Fort McHenry carries other stories, too, few more striking than its use for imprisoning prominent Southern-leaning citizens of Maryland during the Civil War, including members of the Maryland legislature and journalists. 

patreon.com/nationalparkspodcast

Will you need to make a reservation when you visit a national park this year? America’s 400+ National Park Service sites have seen a surge in visitation during the pandemic, and it’s expected that 2022 will be no different. Across the country, you may run into reservation systems, closures, increased fees, and other changes at National Parks.

In this episode, Abby breaks down what you can expect in 2022.

In Connecticut's only National Park Service site visitors have an experience unique in the system — a place to create art, steeped in over 100 years of tradition. 

It's time for this month's National Park News episode. The National Park Service has a new director, fires have killed up to 19% of giant sequoia trees in California in just two years, the body of a man who went missing in the 80s has been found in Rocky Mountain National Park, and more. 

One of the very few women architects of her time, Mary Colter blended her lifelong love and respect of Native American arts and rustic elements with a fierce perfectionism: all to create a beautiful and singular aesthetic that left her imprint on the look of the modern American Southwest.

Beneath the rolling grasslands of Badlands National Park lies an intricate housing system and social network. Black-tailed prairie dogs pop in and out of their burrows in the prairie dog towns, chattering and gesturing. But amid all the prairie dogs, if you’re a keen observer, you may also notice what appears to be a small owl emerging from the burrows. These species – the black-tailed prairie dog and the burrowing owl - have a unique type of symbiotic relationship, and ultimately may experience a shared demise. 

In this episode, a park superintendent Aaron Mahr tells us what makes a national trail special, and difficult to manage. 

On May 10th 1855, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis personally penned one of the most unusual orders in the US Army’s history to Brevet Major Henry C. Wayne. It read, in part: "Sir: [You are] assigned to special duty in connection with the appropriation for importing camels for army transportaion and for other military purposes."

The order represented a victory for Davis in a four-year struggle with Congress to establish a camel corps within the US Army. As a US Senator, he introduced the measure in Congress in 1851 and 1852, only to have it literally laughed out of committee on both occasions.

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

Welcome to this month's "News from the Parks" our monthly roundup of top stories from the National Parks.

If you dare, dip your feet into the icy water of St. Mary Lake. The glacier-fed water adds a new twist to the term “refreshing.” It’s one of many sensory experiences at a park that attracts more and more people who want to see the glaciers before they are gone. 

Glacier National Park, in northern Montana, is a crown jewel of the United States. Its pristine landscapes draw millions of visitors a year, to see its majestic mountains, jewel-colored waterfalls, carpets of wildflowers, and wildlife ranging from bald eagles to mountain goats and bighorn sheep to grizzly bears. But mostly people come to see the glaciers, these fields of ice that – by definition – move under their own weight, picking up rocks and debris that sometimes stain their brilliant blue hue with a hint of grey.

Joshua Tree National Park in southern California encompasses parts of both the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. This unique ecosystem conjures images of the iconic trees, desert washes, wondrous boulders, rattlesnakes, and cactus blooms. But long before it became a national park (or even a national monument prior to that), this area was home to people, from Native Americans to pioneers – cattlemen, homesteaders, and miners – and where you find people, you find music.

Nestled between the San Bernardino and Coxcomb Mountains lies the confluence of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, where the wind rushes through the rocks and valleys. At night it’s the only sound, other than the occasional hoot of an owl and the sound of your own breath. This is the soundtrack of Joshua Tree National Park.

There's a newly nominated candidate for NPS Director, a position that has been vacant for more than 4 years. Meanwhile, well over half of Lassen Volcanic National Park has been burned by the Dixie Fire. It's time for this month's National Park News.

In early June 1912, residents of southeast Alaska began to feel earthquakes daily. Earthquakes are common in this region, which is well-known for its geologic instability, though these were getting stronger. The remaining two families at Katmai village evacuated, and they were just in time. On June 6th, the largest volcanic eruption of the twentieth century exploded. The skies darkened and the sun disappeared for more than 60 hours, and the aftermath of the explosion was felt hundreds of miles away.

This week on America’s National Parks: the Novarupta volcano in Katmai National Park.

As fires rage across the west in what will likely be the worst year for wildland fires on record, brave people face them head-on, to save our structures and our lives. The fraternity of American firefighters has always been a boys club — today only about 4% are women. And wildland firefighters even more so. In the early 1980s, one woman was among the first to join the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots, an elite National Park Service crew, stationed at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California. 

The text of today's episode comes from Women’s Voices: Women in the National Park Service Oral History Project and the audio comes from an oral history interview conducted by Lu Ann Jones and Leah Baer of the National Park Service Park History Program earlier this year. 

Under the light of the moon, shelled creatures emerge from the ocean and make their way onto the sandy shoreline. They drag their bodies through the sand until one by one, they stop. Each migrant reptile will use her back flippers to dig a hole in the sand, depositing up to 100 eggs before covering them again for protection. The new mother will then follow the moonlight back into the safety of the ocean. It's early summer along this seashore, and something spectacular is occurring: it’s sea turtle nesting season along the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

A couple of months later, tiny turtles will emerge from the sand and their shells and begin the seemingly impossible journey back into the ocean, on the same sand their mother did years or even decades earlier. Although they face many challenges, these magnificent creatures are worth protecting. 

This week on America’s National Parks: the sea turtles of Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Hottest days on record, new mask-wearing requirements, Congress has hearings on park crowding, lightning strikes several visitors to the Grand Canyon, and a whole slew of terrible park visitors. 

It’s time for the latest in National Park News.

For less than a dollar an episode you can support the America's National Parks Podcast and help us continue to produce the high-quality shows you love and increase our writing staff, ensuring we can tell ALL the stories from all the parks. 

Click the link below to join our community for as little as $3 a month.  https://www.patreon.com/NationalParksPodcast

Situated within the spray of the picture-perfect Nevada Fall stood a pioneer hotel that, for almost 20 years, welcomed guests to Yosemite National Park. Named La Casa Nevada or The Snow House, owners Albert and Emily Snow, like so many innkeepers of the late 1800s provided a valuable service to those wanting to escape city life in search of nature’s stunning beauty and peace. If you were willing to make the trek, there was a moderately comfortable bed and a warm meal waiting for you. But as romantic as that all sounds, life as a Yosemite innkeeper was not for everyone. It was tough, rugged, work in a landscape that required determination not many could withstand. 

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

When John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln, he broke his left leg in the process, leaping to the stage at Ford's Theater. He and his getaway man on the door of Dr. Samuel Mudd at four in the morning for assistance. Mudd set, splinted, and bandaged the broken leg. The two stayed with Mudd for about 12 hours as the doctor's handyman made a pair of crutches.

Within days Dr. Mudd was arrested and charged with conspiracy and with harboring Booth and Harold during their escape. 

Today, we’re revisiting the story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, one of the earliest stories we told on the show. In 1936, a film was made loosely based on Mudd's story called THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND, and two years later, it was adapted into a radio drama starring Gary Cooper as part of the Lux Radio Theater. On this episode, we're playing that program for you.

Hosted By Jason Epperson

Want to suggest a topic for a future episode? Reach out to us at editor@rvmiles.com. 

The sun can rise and set on this island nation in the middle of the Pacific. Known for its rainforest paradise and tropical reefs, these islands were originally settled by Polynesians more than 3,000 years ago, and continue to carry traditional Polynesian culture today. Colorful tropical reefs are part of the 4,000 acres of National Park that is underwater, though even reefs are threatened by human-caused climate change. Though we love to travel by RV here at America’s National Parks, this one is only accessible by plane.

This week on America’s National Parks, we take a deep dive into the American Samoa.

A flash flood tears through Zion, Karens build Cairns in Petroglyph, endangered frogs are gettin’ it on without any assistance in California, Grand Teton gets one BIG Teton of a new dump truck, a drunken kayaker gets 60 days in Jail and a 5-year ban from Yellowstone, a massive bear spray recall, and more. It’s time for the latest in National Park News.

Resources Mentioned: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/news/inde... https://rvmiles.com/major-bear-spray-... Pictured Rocks video: https://fb.watch/6tY-I0B1PF

If you've never been there, when you think of Michigan, you may not imagine miles of sandy beaches, turquoise waters, and bluffs that tower more than 450 feet above one of the four Great Lakes that border the state.

There are also inland lakes, lush forests, an island lighthouse, coastal villages and picturesque farmsteads. All of these fantastic features can be found in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Winding through Acadia’s forests and mountains are 45 miles of historic roadways that are only for pedestrians, bicyclists, horseback riders, and carriages. These roads were carefully designed to follow the contours of the landscape and reach scenic vistas. Though enormously popular for recreation today, until recently it was not well-known who had the most prominent role in the development of these roads: John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton shatter April attendance records, Zion sees a four-hour wait for its most popular hike, Biden’s 2022 budget sees the largest appropriation for the National Park Service ever, an Instagramer apologizes, and so much more.

It’s time for this month’s news round-up episode of the America’s National Parks podcast. 

In the middle of North Dakota, one of the least visited states in the nation, sits one of the smallest and least visited National Park Service Sites. It’s the place where Earthlodge people, the Hidatsa and Mandan, who lived along the Missouri River and it’s tributaries, hunted bison and other game. The site was a major Native American trade center for hundreds of years prior to becoming an important marketplace for fur traders after 1750. 

Today on America’s National Parks, the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, and the story of Buffalo-Bird Woman, one of the last Hidatsas born in the Knife River villages, in her own words, as portrayed by Grace Henry in the park film.

In 1680, one of the earliest Western accounts of coordinated fireflies flashing was recorded by a Dutch physician while traveling down the Meinam River in what is now Thailand. He wrote, “A whole swarm of these insects, having taken possession of one Tree, and spread themselves over its branches, sometimes hide their Light all at once, and a moment after make it appear again with the utmost regularity and exactness.” 

More than 300 years later and the synchronized flashing of fireflies is still a mystery.

Point Reyes National Seashore has recorded more than 450 species of birds, including 38 that are threatened or endangered. There are multiple factors that make it such a popular and birdy destination. For one, it has many unique habitats that provide food and shelter, such as coastline, forest, wetland, and open fields. The park’s peninsula also juts out into the ocean, scooping migrants into the park as they travel along the coast. Due to these special features, the National Audubon Society has also named it an Important Bird Area.

It might not be common knowledge that the Yosemite Valley one of the crown jewels of the American landscape, known for towering natural splendor in its pristine condition, has a sister valley, within the National Park, that was flooded to create a water reservoir for the city of San Fransisco. 

For over 100 years, Hetch Hetchy canyon, named with an indigenous word for a type of wild grass, has been called Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. And while turning back is a real possibility one day, Hetch Hetchy is still an amazing place to visit. Or it would be if it were a little easier. 

Restore Hetch Hetchy is an organization with a plan to do just that, and Executive Director Spreck Rosekrans is our guest today on the America's National Parks Podcast.

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

In this episode, we're looking at the federal government's decision to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades, Death Valley National Park has reopened most of its roads after last year's severe flooding, a group of skiers is rescued at Kenai Fjords, and more. 

Comment on the Rocky Mountain National Park camping fee increase proposal here: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/RMNP_FrontcountryCampground_Fees_2024

In the late 1800s, Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy) was reaching epidemic proportions in the Hawaiian islands. Bacteria cause nerve damage in patients and can lead to crippling of the hands and feet, paralysis, and blindness. At the time, there was no cure and no known effective treatment, and health officials had no idea how the disease was spreading. This frightened officials in Hawaii, and in a desperate act to save their native populations, isolation seemed to be the only answer.

On this episode of the America's National Parks Podcast - Kalaupapa National Historical Park. 

Some National Parks will require entry reservations this summer — in this episode, we'll tell you which ones, and break down all the details.

It was, literally, earth-shaking; so much so that a seismometer thousands of miles away picked up the vibrations. It contained enough force to push debris a mile under water, heaving it uphill onto the opposite shore, and generate a tsunami high enough to rival Seattle’s Space Needle.

But this was no earthquake.

Today on America's National Parks, they Icy Bay Landslide, a 60-second deluge of boulders, earth, and trees in a remote slice of Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve on October 17, 2015.

One of the most significant land conservation measures in our nation’s history was an act that protected over 100 million acres of land, doubled the size of the country’s national refuge system, and tripled wilderness areas. It created or expanded nine national parks and preserves, six national monuments, sixteen national wildlife refuges, twenty-five wild and scenic rivers, and two national forests, including our nation’s largest: the Tongass in Southeast Alaska. This legislation also created a compromise between the needs of development and conservation and the competing interests that fought for them. While it was not perfect, it has shaped the history of our public lands and the National Park Service system itself.

This week on America’s National Park: the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or ANILCA. 

A collared Yellowstone wolf has been killed...by the governor of Montana, Yellowstone is seeking to improve communication services, Glacier National Park has re-opened the East entrance after over a year of closure, a man is sentenced for stealing over $3000 from Grand Canyon, Wind Cave tours resume, and more. All on this episode of National Park News. Public comment on the Yellowstone communications plan can be submitted here: parkplanning.nps.gov/fiberEA

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are spending their free time counting birds, measuring water quality, or monitoring pollinators. They may also be counting asteroids, collecting bugs, measuring air quality, reporting wildlife sightings, or tracking monarch migration. The amazing thing is that these people are not career scientists. They live in the city and in the country, go backpacking or have picnics in the park. They vary in age and it doesn’t matter what their job is. They are community scientists.

Community science is the practice of data collection by everyday people, that is, people who aren’t scientists. Community scientists volunteer their time to help collect data, analyze results, and solve problems about important issues facing our natural world, and that includes our national parks.

Sometimes, the best and easiest way to collect data is to involve volunteers. For example, if a park manager needs to know what areas of the park need better protection, they may need to know where rare plants are blooming each year. A mobile app can support volunteer scientists to record when they see those flowers, and if hundreds of people get involved in the project, there will be more data than if the single scientist tried to explore the entire park alone. This can also be a great way for visitors to learn, get excited, and be involved in something important. By taking part in real science in the park, visitors can learn to appreciate their national parks in new ways. 

This week, on America’s National Parks Podcast, we’re exploring stories of community science in our national parks.

Lindsey Taylor's blog: https://curiositychroniclesblog.wordpress.com/

On June 17, 1775, New England soldiers faced the British army for the first time in a pitched battle. Bloody fighting took place throughout a hilly landscape of fenced pastures that were situated across the Charles River from Boston. Though the British were victorious, the psychological toll inflicted by American soldiers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire was staggering. Of the 2,400 British Soldiers and Marines engaged, 1,000 were wounded or killed.

Today on America's National Parks, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Bunker Hill Monument, part of the Boston National Historical Park.   

One and a half million acres of shallow-water marine habitats, freshwater marshes and prairies, saltwater wetland forests, and pine and hardwood forests provide refuge for threatened and endangered animals in the Gulf of Mexico. The green sea turtle, American crocodile, West Indian manatee, Everglade snail kite, and piping plover all depend on critical habitat within Everglades National Park. 1.3 million acres of the park is designated wilderness, making it the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States and the largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River.

Visitor statistics have been released for 2020, and visitation to parks was down about 1/3, thanks to park closures. There's a new National Park Service app, new rules for anyone taking video in parks, and Hot Springs National Park is about to celebrate a huge milestone. 

More than a thousand years ago in the Upper Midwest, indigenous people were moving mountains—literally. The Mound Builders changed the landscape by piling earth into tall shapes that could only be truly appreciated from up above. In our time, one Ho-Chunk woman lived a special life in this area, and one National Park Service superintendent went to prison for stealing the bones of her ancestors. 

Once the only access road to Capitol Reef National Park, Capitol Gorge provides a harsh and beautiful stone causeway that opens up into a world of bizarre and varied stone formations, desert washes both narrow and wide, and the types of plants common in the high desert – stunted trees like pinyon pine and Utah juniper, prickly pear cactus, the brilliant orange of globemallows and striking red of desert paintbrush. 

And then a sight that is unfathomable in the desert: the delicate, showy blossoms of fruit trees.   The blooming and fruiting trees create a strange and wonderful picture set against the magnificent cliffs and rocks of the high desert.

Hosted By Jason Epperson

Written By Lauren Eisenberg Davis

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

This week on America's National Parks, a great mountain of the west, and conservation lessons learned over the course of a century. 

Much of the western United States was once blanketed in hundreds of feet of sand. The unforgiving sun beat down on the landscape for 20 to 30 million years during the early Jurassic period. Thin layers of rock allowed water to collect even in the dry desert, though sometimes it was hidden a few inches below the surface. Dinosaurs and other animals were able to survive the harsh conditions, and as the sand slowly turned to sandstone, traces of these animals were caught and preserved in the rock, creating fossils.

More than 150 million years later, a man named Earl Douglass was born in Medford, Minnesota in 1862. He didn’t know it yet, but his fate was already entwined with the dinosaurs that once roamed the earth.

This week on America’s National Parks: Earl Douglass and Dinosaur National Monument.

It's time for this month's "news from the parks" episode. Today, we cover President Biden's new executive order requiring masks-wearing on federal lands, and a landmark ruling from a judge striking down the National Park Service's commercial film permit rules.