January 2026
Posted by Penny Musco onPark News
Get ready to celebrate America’s 250th birthday in the national parks!
In November, 1775 the British still held Boston in a siege. As George Washington and other Continental Army commanders pondered how the break the hold. For one thing, they needed more weaponry. Colonel Henry Knox had a brilliant suggestion: what about the cannons and other artillery left behind by the British when the patriot fighters took over New York’s Fort Ticonderoga earlier in the year?
That same month, Washington dispatched Knox to retrieve what was left in the fort. Joining them were the heroes of that take-over, Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen.
The problem, as you can imagine, lugging 59 cannon and mortars back to Boston. But in 56 days, Knox and the others did, moving the artillery 300 miles, using heavy sleds and teams of oxen, and arriving in Boston in January 1776.
Stay tuned for my March post, in which I relate the rest of the story…
Also that January, the pamphlet Common Sense was published, at first anonymously, but its author was soon identified as Thomas Paine. He was born in England, yet became a staunch supporter of American independence.
In his 47-page leaflet, which sold an astonishing 500,000 copies, Paine emphasized not just resistance, but breaking off from Great Britain and forming a new nation. As an author of a book about Paine put it, “He encouraged [the colonists] to realize they weren’t British, they were Americans.”
Common Sense also put more pressure on the Continental Congress to take the final step of formally declaring independence.
Great places to go in the Park Service in Winter
- Yellowstone National Park, which straddles Wyoming and Montana, has about 10,000 geothermal features, including around half the world’s geysers. features in the world, and in the icy cold, the hot steam arising from them is a spectacular sight.
New Jersey’s Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park creates a dazzling display of shimmering ice and frosty mist when temps plummet.
- Full moon hikes are popular in Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, held every month in the year, but through March, you can do so wearing snowshoes; rent them at a venue just outside the park (the snowpack depth must be greater than 16”, though).
And now for a warm one: Death Valley National Park’s brutal heat abates in the winter, with the thermostat usually hovering around 60-70 degrees, although overnights can dip into the freezing zone. The season’s cool, crisp air means it’s a great time to observe the night skies. Another plus at this California spot during January-February is less visitors.
Free Days!
More days in 2026 in which to enter those National Park Service sites that charge admission:
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- Presidents Day, February 16
- Memorial Day, May 25
- Flag Day, June 14
- Independence Day weekend, July 3-5
- The 110th birthday of the Park Service, August 25
- Constitution Day, September 17, the anniversary of its signing in 1787
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- Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, October 27; as president, he greatly expanded the number of recreational lands in the U.S.
What I’m working on in 2026
One thing is a book on praising God, a non-fiction book. A project that I’ve been doing, on and off for a looong time, is an historical fiction book inspired by my great-grandfather’s flight from Germany. It’s a story very dear to my heart, and I’m determined to pitch it to my editor this year. Below are the opening paragraphs. Do you think this is something you'd read? Let me know!
Rudi stood on the rain-washed deck, wincing as his hands gripped the worn wooden edge, still damp from the squall that had moved in earlier. Though hardened from farming, his palms ached after only two days at sea. Shoveling a seemingly limitless supply of coal into the voracious fire deep in the Europa’s belly for hours on end was like nothing he’d ever experienced before.
There was no more land, just water as far as he could see, disturbed only by the boat making its way through the now-smooth surface, leaving little white, foamy waves in its wake. He watched idly as birds, their wings spread wide, swooped and dived in search of fish.
His old world was gone. He wouldn’t see another speck of solid earth again for another fifteen days, maybe longer if more bad weather followed them across the Atlantic Ocean.
His eyes shifted to the horizon, the sun slowly dropping into the ocean, and impatiently brushed away the wisp of hair persistently blowing in his eyes. At least the ship wasn’t pitching up and down as much as before, and his stomach had settled down—for now. Gaining his sea legs was another story. His fellow fireman, especially the sour-breathed Franz, and other seasoned seamen enjoyed poking fun at his unsteady footing while he worked. They laughed even more at his drunken-like gait as he lurched from one handhold to the next along the narrow corridors as the ship navigated the rolling sea.
A cool breeze rippled over his bare arms and sweat-soaked body, carrying a light ocean spray, a welcome relief to his heat-scorched cheeks. Despite the balmy, pleasant evening, though, he couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through him. The terror of the previous week was too fresh in his mind.
In this precious, secluded spot on the boat, in the fading light of a July twilight in 1870, Rudi deliberately shut out the distant shouts of the crew, the three enormous, snapping canvas sails high above him, and the massive paddlewheels’ deep groanings. He shook his head slightly, hardly believing that instead of helping his father in the fields, he was hundreds of kilometers away, on his way to a place he’d never dreamed of, not knowing what would happen when he got there. He’d never sought adventure, never craved anything but what he had. Yet now he found himself on the run.
Happy New Year!
When Solomon considered life’s seemingly endless sameness in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, he lamented, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). But his summary is this: “I know that there is no good but for one to rejoice, and to do good in this life. And also that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all one’s labor, it is the gift of God…Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear [Reverence] God and keep His commandments: for this is our duty” (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, 12:13; see also 3:22, 5:18-20, 9:7-10).
We find comfort in the dependable rhythms of life, yet we also crave the new and different as well. And God understands that. Revelation 21:5 says, “He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” A new start doesn’t come just on January 1—God makes every moment new.
And Jesus showed us a “new and living way” to a close relationship with Him (Hebrews 10:20). Because of Him, we can walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4) any time of the year. And that is my prayer for you, that if you haven’t already, you would ask the Lord for the new spirit He longs to give you (Ezekiel 11:19).
