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Oct 28, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
Sheltered from the sprinkling rain under the train station’s broad roof, I stood on the wooden platform, waiting expectantly. Nearby, a mother with a stroller tried to corral her excited children, while two white-haired couples, clearly old friends, sat on the benches chatting and laughing. Road bikers in spandex and cleated shoes leaned amiably against the far wall, comparing times and distances, their bicycles behind them.
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Sep 18, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
The National Weather Service seems to be shouting over the raging thunderstorm: “FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE….” My windshield wipers thrash frantically against the downpour. Major flooding is keeping me away from the Mississippi River town of Nauvoo, Illinois. Already five feet over flood stage, the dark river is still rising.
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Jul 2, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
By Barbara 'Bo' JensenI’m trying to get to the old plaza, driving through the narrow streets of Taos, New Mexico. I’ve been imagining a leisurely stroll under the porticos, browsing the colorful paintings and hand-woven rugs, looking out at the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. But orange construction barrels block off the torn-up intersection and all but one lane, forcing me to turn right, away from my destination.
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May 31, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
By Barbara 'Bo' JensenSomewhere in the ten miles from the visitor center at Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in St. Paul, Minnesota, across the river to Minneapolis, I crossed an invisible line. It would have risen like a wall of ice, perhaps a mile high, just 15,000 years ago — a line demarcating the extent of the last glaciation.
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Apr 21, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
By Barbara "Bo" JensenWALNUT CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT, Arizona —The highway begins to curve, slowly meandering up into Ponderosa pine-forested mountains as you approach Flagstaff, Arizona. All the roads do, from any direction; that’s how you know you’re almost there. People have been wandering through the volcanic hills and hidden canyons around the San Francisco Peaks for thousands of years.
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Apr 7, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
The Chiricahua Mountains stand shoulder to shoulder, rising over 6,000 feet in silent solidarity from the surrounding Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. Driving south from Willcox, Arizona, Highway 186 is sun-faded and snaked with cracks. Beyond barbwire fences, cattle graze on what grass they can find. A solitary pickup passes me, heading to town. I am entering Chiricahua National Monument, named for the Chiricahua Mountains, homeland of the Chiricahua Apache people who lived here for generations.
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Apr 7, 2024 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
The Chiricahua Mountains stand shoulder to shoulder, rising over 6,000 feet in silent solidarity from the surrounding Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts. Driving south from Willcox, Arizona, Highway 186 is sun-faded and snaked with cracks. Beyond barbwire fences, cattle graze on what grass they can find. A solitary pickup passes me, heading to town. I am entering Chiricahua National Monument, named for the Chiricahua Mountains, homeland of the Chiricahua Apache people who lived here for generations.
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Dec 31, 2023 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Kurt Repanshek |Rita Beamish |Patrick Cone |Barbara Jensen
The ongoing plight of National Park Service staff, a crippling bout of coral bleaching, record snowfall in the Sierra, and the loss of archaeological sites along the floor of Grand Canyon National Park were among the top stories across the National Park System in 2023. Here's a look at some of the top stories from around the National Park System.
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Dec 24, 2023 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen |Kurt Repanshek |Kim A. O’Connell |Lori Sonken
Some stories just deserve another read. Here, in no particular order, are some we think are deserving of that. By Barbara 'Bo' JensenYUKON-CHARLEY RIVERS NATIONAL PRESERVE — I turn the Jeep north at Tetlin Junction onto Alaska’s Taylor Highway. I’ve been told this area from Tok to Eagle is wolf country. “But you probably won’t see any wolves,” people cautioned. “They’ll be deeper into the preserve.” I’m trying to remain realistic, pragmatic.
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Nov 15, 2023 | 
nationalparkstraveler.org | Barbara Jensen
By Barbara 'Bo' JensenDriving along the McCarthy Road into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, I slow down to gaze at Long Lake. Three miles in length, the private lake within the preserve feels like a peaceful summer camp pond, ringed with snug cottages, leafy trees, and sunny wildflowers. Nothing about the idyllic scene reveals the perilous hardships of one man’s odyssey to reach gold-rush Alaska. According to the 1940 U.S. Census, an unassuming man named George Flowers lived here.
