August 31, 2018
Getting There And Getting Around Rocky Mountain National Park
Denver (DEN) is the best arrival point for exploring Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), and a car is the most convenient way to see Trail Ridge …
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August 31, 2018
Travels in Geology: Roof of the Rockies: Trail Ridge Road
In mid-April each year, two Colorado snow-clearing crews embark upon an assignment with a deceptively simple goal: to traverse the 77-kilometer …
April 10, 2018
Down to Earth With: National Park Service senior paleontologist Vincent Santucci
When Vincent Santucci was hired in 1985 to work as a seasonal ranger in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park, he assumed the most formative part …
January 16, 2018
Geologic Column: Travels with Claudia: Rediscovering America
Claudia and I have been traveling together since we got married in February 1965. That summer and the following summer, she graciously agreed to …
January 16, 2018
Travels in Geology: Las Vegas: The scenery beyond the slots
Known for its dazzling neon lights, mega-casinos with nonstop gambling, high-end shopping and restaurants, and marquee shows, Las Vegas is an …
December 18, 2017
Travels in Geology: Roaming the rocky coastline of Downeast Maine
Sitting atop the bald, pink granite ledges of Cadillac Mountain in Maine’s Acadia National Park, I watched the sunset from the highest point …
November 29, 2016
Getting there and getting around Patagonia
Southern Chile has two main gateways, the homey town of Puerto Natales, a 1.5-hour drive from the national park, and Punta Arenas, a small city …
September 28, 2016
Ancient landslide gave us Zion Canyon
It took about 20 seconds for the Sentinel rock landslide to tumble into Zion Canyon, but those seconds changed the landscape for thousands of …
August 29, 2016
Exploring the newest gift to America: Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
“Are you sure this is right? It feels like we are headed to Neverland,” my boyfriend asked me while hiking last weekend. We were in the country’s …
July 26, 2016
Benchmarks: August 25, 1916: The National Park Service is established
The U.S. national parks are sanctuaries where one can find refuge in nature and marvel at its grandeur — from the glacially sculpted granitic …
July 25, 2016
Down to Earth With: National Park Service Geologic Resources Division chief David Steensen
" in 1986, he did not think he’d be working for the National Park Service for more than a few years. He had been hired into a four-year …
May 11, 2016
Mesa Arch's 'hum' measured to track health of rock structure
For decades, structural engineers have listened to the tiny vibrations of buildings and bridges to detect internal damage or weakness. In recent …
February 2, 2016
Down to Earth With: Yosemite's first park geologist Greg Stock
As a child growing up in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, Greg Stock and his family took frequent trips to Yosemite …
January 11, 2016
Benitoite: A rare gemstone
The tectonic forces that formed Pinnacles also helped form one of the world’s rarest gemstones: benitoite. Gem-quality specimens are only found …
December 29, 2015
Benchmarks: January 10, 2013: Pinnacles National Park is founded
On Jan. 10, 2013, when President Barack Obama signed legislation granting national park status to the former Pinnacles National Monument — …
September 21, 2015
Benchmarks: October 4, 1915: Dinosaur National Monument Founded
While moving across the country from California to Michigan two years ago, I stopped at Dinosaur National Monument, or “Dinosaur,” which today …
December 9, 2014
Modeling a big mess from Yellowstone
In the event of another super-eruption at Yellowstone National Park, few places in the U.S. would be ash-free, according to a new modeling study. …
December 8, 2014
Geocorps America: Putting geoscientists to work on federal lands
In 2009, when Erica Clites was completing her masters in paleontology at the University of California at Riverside, she didn’t know what her next …
December 3, 2014
April 20, 1832: Arkansas' hot springs named the First National "Park"
In March 1872, not long after William Henry Jackson’s photographs from the famed Hayden Geological Survey first introduced the U.S. populace to …