John Wessels, who has served as the National Park Service’s Intermountain Region associate director for administration, business and technology since 2004, has been named director of the region, the largest in the agency.

Mr.

If you had the option of either traveling to Utah for a swing through its national parks, or to California to sample its national parks, which would you choose?

True, California has Yosemite and Sequoia and Lassen Volcanic and Redwood just to name four, and overall more national parks

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As we bring an end to our week-long fund-raising drive to keep the Traveler on-line, we’d like to thank the many readers who responded with donations, and make a final pitch to those sitting on the fence.

As the image says, the Traveler is made possible by our friends and sponsors and you, our readers.

As the Traveler approaches its sixth year on the

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Climbing and bouldering long have been favorite activities in Arches National Park.

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You don’t need to be a long-distance hiker to tackle what arguably is not just the shortest but also the most impressive hike at Arches National Park. A comfortable pair of shoes, a bottle of water, and perhaps 90 minutes of your time will be enough to explore the Windows Section of the park.

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In Dream Hikes Coast to Coast, Your Guide to America’s Most Memorable Trails author Jack Bennett has done something more than a few folks would like to do: Head out on some great hikes, and then write about them.

In assembling his hiking list, though, Mr.

Before Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan came out with their view of the National Park System, many others were turning their cameras on the parks.

1. The collared lizards that inhabit many rocky desert parks like Arches National Park signal dominance and breeding condition by
a. flaring a brightly-colored dewlap about ten inches wide
b. inhaling air and swelling to twice normal size
c. making very loud hissing and “booming” sounds
d. bobbing up and down in “push-up” fashion

2.

Disclaimer: The traveling partner described here is a fictional character. Any resemblance to a real person, even to a person named Kurt Repanshek, is purely coincidental.

The outbound leg of this particular Dumb & Dumber trip has brought Kurt and me to Canyonlands National Park.

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When bird brains were being passed out, the common raven (Corvus corax), one of ten raven species worldwide, must have received an extra measure or two. There is, in any event, no smarter bird species in the national parks and damn few anywhere else.

As students of Native American mythology can attest, the raven’s intelligence is quite literally legendary.

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