Best National Parks Information Websites

September 29, 6:09 PMNational Parks Recreation ExaminerRandi Minetor

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If you want more facts, figures and travel information about America’s national parks than your Google Alerts provide, bookmark these sites—once you start following some of these blogs, forums and news feeds, you’ll be every bit as hooked as I am on the daily developments in parks across the country.

National Park Service News, www.nps.gov/news/index.htm.  This is the official website of the Office of Communications for the National Park Service.  You’ll find system-wide news releases, a search function to help you find releases about specific parks, and the Daily Digest of short news items from parks all over the country. Looking for a job with the Park Service?  You’ll find those listings here as well.

National Parks Traveler: www.nationalparkstraveler.com.  Kurt Repanshek is a career journalist whose resume includes 14 years with the Associated Press. He exercises his passion for the parks by following the issues that affect park preservation and management as well as the visitor experience.   Forums on the site provide opportunities to ask questions about where to go and what to do in the parks.

US National Parks News forun at Topix.com, www.topix.com/forum/us/national-parks.  Daily news stories from all over the country are collected and posted here, with plenty of room for comments and discussion.  Virtually every NPS property can get coverage here—historic sites and battlefields get equal time with the scenic parks and national monuments.  

National Parks Gallery, www.nationalparksgallery.com. News, forums, and a wide variety of resources including webcam lists, photos, panoramas, maps, links and more. 

National Parks Conservation Association, www.npca.org.  There’s no better source for real information about the challenges our parks face from encroaching development, funding cuts, environmental threats to clean water and air, climate change and basic human ignorance.  You can sign petitions here and find out about ways to take action to protect the parks. Looking for an eco-vacation?  Check out the ParkScapes Travel Program, a series of trips that combine fun and education in parks all over the country.

GORP.com Top US National Parks: Travel Guides and Reviews, gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_national_park/main.htm.  Not so much news as a comprehensive, joyously opinionated guide to just about anywhere in the park system you want to go and what to do when you get there, GORP has long made its mark as one of the leading authorities on outdoor adventure.  After you’ve gathered the basic information about each park at www.nps.gov, come here for the skinny on the best hiking and biking trails, fishing, paddling, wildlife viewing and scenic driving.

U.S. National Park Net, www.us-national-parks.net/. All 58 national parks are explored here in excruciating detail, with information on lodging, camping, outdoor activities, and all the things you need to know to make your trip the best it can be—like the level of insect activity in midsummer and the best places to see orchids on Isle Royale. 

Trails.com, www.trails.com.  Enter the name of the park you plan to visit at the top of the home page, and your search returns a list of the trails—for hiking, biking, paddling, birding, skiing and more—along with full descriptions provided by the guidebooks of partner publishers including The Globe Pequot Press, The Mountaineers Books, FalconGuides, Menasha Ridge Press, Appalachian Mountain Club, and two dozen others.  Take a 14-day free trial, or join the site for an annual fee to download trail guides.