Beyond the Scenery

 
  USA Today put together a list of national parks that now require timed-entry reservations. This is an attempt at crowd control at popular sites, and usually is just for the busy season, from around Memorial Day through at least Labor Day, and sometimes into the fall.

  Some spots have had measures like this in place for a while. I’ll be visiting Washington, D.C. in August, and will have to select a specific time in advance to enter the Washington Monument and Ford’s Theatre

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cool parks for hot days

  Beat the heat by going underground! Here’s a list of national park sites where you can go below the surface:

  Jewel Cave National Monument, situated in South Dakota’s Black Hills, has over 220 miles of surveyed and mapped passages (so far). The space was first written about by a pair of brothers in 1900—Native Americans had populated the area way before that, of course, but there’s no record they ever explored it. President Theodore Roosevelt designated the cave as a national monument in 1908.

  This is a free-free park, meaning walk the trails and explore the Visitor Center without cost, but the only way to enter the cave is through one of four ranger-guided tours. Advance reservations are recommended, and you must follow strict rules for safety reasons and to prevent White Nose Syndrome among the cave’s bats.
 
About 30 miles away, in Custer, is Wind Cave National Park, which is closed through the fall for elevator replacement.
 
  Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave National Park is a UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and International Biosphere Reserve. At more than 400 miles, it's the world’s largest cave system. Again, no entrance fee is charged for the Visitor Center, grounds, or regular ranger talks, but cave tours require a ticket, best reserved in advance.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico is so popular you now need a timed ticket to visit, which costs one dollar, as well as $15 to get in (save on national parks and federal recreational lands entrance fees by purchasing a pass). Here, you can explore the cavern on your own, or reserve a spot on one of two guided tours . Ranger programs include a bat flight viewing, in which you may or may not see these creatures swarm out of the cave in the evening, and monthly star parties through October. On the third Saturday of this month is the Dawn of the Bats program, to watch the free-taileds return to their home down under.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  In Utah is Timpanogos Cave National Monument, undoubtedly known about and explored for thousands of years before Whites “discovered” it. President Warren Harding declared the property a national monument in 1922. Strenuous three-and-a-half hour main tour (https://www.nps.gov/tica/planyourvisit/cavetours.htm) during the short caving season include an uphill 1.5 mile hike from the Visitor Center to the entrance, and a tramp through three different colorful limestone caves. Additionally, two early morning lantern tours, and an arduous Introduction to caving excursion for those who don’t mind crawling on their knees, also are offered. All need booked-ahead paid reservations.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  If the outdoors is more to your liking, check out these tips from the National Park Service. Click on “Ways to Play Outside” to find places near you for water sports, hiking, birding, and camping, among other warm weather pursuits.

  Where not to go in the summer: Death Valley National Park. That’s when temps average 100 degrees and often climb over 120 degrees. Save a visit for the other three seasons.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Planning to move anytime soon? How not to get taken for a ride in my latest article.

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“There is nothing new under the sun.”

  Have you ever read the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible? What was your first impression? A real downer, right?

  The quote in bold above comes from that book (chapter 1, verse 9). Written by King Solomon, Ecclesiastes can seem cynical or pessimistic, as he examines the seeming aimlessness of our existence. His conclusion, though, is this: life is to be enjoyed to its fullest, because it is a gift from God (3:12-13, 5:18-20).

 
There are how many national park sites?!

429, as of now. The newest is Amache National Historic Site, in southeastern Colorado. Also known as the Granada Relocation Center (Granada is the nearest town), this is one of ten places where over 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans from the West Coast were sent during World War II. Two-thirds of them were American citizens; Japanese immigrants couldn’t become naturalized citizens until 1952.

A few other of these incarceration camps—the “residents” were housed behind barbed wire and overseen by armed guards in watchtowers—are in the Park Service: Tule Lake and Manzanar, California; Honouliuli, Hawaii (also a Japanese POW camp); and Minidoka, Idaho.

The National Parks on Jeopardy!

Try to answer these clues—in the form of a question, of course—from Jeopardy!. I missed the first one.

Bad behavior in the parks

You’ve probably heard about the people who damaged and stole artifacts from a closed-to-the-public area of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. They were caught on a security camera, which the park is releasing to the public for help in finding them.

On the other hand, a man who brought down a 113-year-old structure in California’s Death Valley National Park came forward and took responsibility for his action.

Good behavior in the parks

NBC’s Al Roker won the American Park Experience Award for his promotion of the parks over the years. The honor was bestowed by the nonprofit National Park Trust.

Previous recipients include national park ranger Shelton Johnson. He was featured prominently in Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

Get into the parks for free!

Only 109 of the 429 charge admission, but there are six days during the year in which even those waive their fees. Juneteenth, June 19, is among them.

What is Juneteenth? One of the oldest known commemorations of emancipation in this country. Many park sites mark the occasion—go to nps.gov and enter “Juneteenth” in the “Search” space, then click on “All NPS” to see if there’s one near you.

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Have you ever considered your funeral? Yeah, I thought not—because the topic’s not exactly the most pleasant, too many of us leave it for our loved ones to deal with. Not a good idea. Check out Know Before You Go: The Not-So-Sad Guide to Planning a Funeral, a piece I wrote for Good Housekeeping. The graphics are really cool!

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Two verses for this month, both relating to the park news:

"Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). It’s pretty hard to hide out in today’s world; with God, it’s impossible.

“Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Even better news than Juneteenth!