Long a bone of contention between state, local and federal authorities when it comes to public lands access is a nearly 150-year-old law initially passed to help advance westward expansion. Now Interior Secretary Ken Salazar hopes a pilot program in Utah can generate a solution to R.S. 2477 controversies.

R.S.

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Lodging in America’s national parks ranges from barebones tent cabins (Housekeeping units in Yosemite Valley may even be a step below this) to fashionable lodges with upscale amenities.

Choose the former and you may well end up with an evening meal of grilled hot dogs, pork and beans, a bag of Fritos, and a six-pack of Bud Light.

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One of the breathtaking aspects of touring Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley National Park is viewing the large music room where tycoon Albert Johnson and Scotty would relax and entertain friends.

Visit the park in mid-June and you’ll be able to hear the organ in action!

Pipe organs like the Welt

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While spring weather has been fleeting in the West, with wintry incursions, the cooler, wet weather has prolonged the spring wildflower bloom at Death Valley National Park.

While the bloom is nearing an end in the lower elevations of the park, there still is lots of Desert Gold in bloom.

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Among fishes, perhaps none are watched as closely as the Devils Hole Pupfish, which live on the very brink of extinction in a tiny, 10-foot by 50-foot warm spring that is part of Death Valley National Park.

If you’ve wanted to catch the wildflower bloom at Death Valley National Park, you better get to the park soon, as things are coming and going quickly, according to a dispatch from the park.

Here’s the latest report, from April 3:

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Death Valley National Park is a pretty hot place, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that at the upscale Furnace Creek Inn they offer Jalepeno Cheese Cake for dessert in the desert.

Can’t fit in a trip to Death Valley to sample this fiery confection?

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Well, it appears we had a pretty good stumper in this week’s Mystery Photo, though one reader came close enough to identify where the photo was taken, but not explain exactly what it was.

The photo was of a decorative door knob in Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley National Park.

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Editor’s note: [i]Contributors David and Kay Scott passed through Death Valley last week on a Western swing that will also take them to Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Here’s an update on what they found in the lodging facilities at Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

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The guessing game on how significant the spring bloom in Death Valley National Park will be continues.

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