Acadia National Park News:
Acadia National Park is holding their annual park pass sale, selling passes for half price.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=111686&catid=2
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Big Bend National Park News
Camping at Big Bend Ranch State Park? Bring two spare tires
State's most remote park offers acres of rugged terrain to explore. (Note 2 hours to Big Bend NP)
I'm trying to decide which is more spectacular: the backdrop of canyons and mesas visible when the sun was up, or this night sky, which looks like someone draped a black sheet overhead, poked a bunch of pin holes in it, then lighted a flickering candle behind it.
http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/travel/2009/12/06/1206fiesta.html
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Great Smoky Mountain National Park News:
Western North Carolina dodges bulk of snowstorm
A snowstorm forecasted to cover most of the mountains missed much of Western North Carolina, leaving less than an inch of snow in many places.
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20091206/NEWS01/912060355
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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park News:
Land of Lava
Hawaii's volatile volcanoes leave their mark on the big island's landscape
Daylight fades as we descend into the abyss of Kilauea Iki crater. The rugged trail zigzags through dense Hawaiian jungle of snaking vines and unfurling palm fronds. It is cloyingly humid. Our eyes and lungs burn from the sulfur dioxide and other volcanic gases, or "vog," that envelope most of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
http://www.thestar.com/travel/article/730103--land-of-lava
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Misc. National Park News:
There are Many Colourful Characters Associated with the National Parks in the United States
National parks throughout the United States have at least one single thing in common: someone interesting had a hand in making that park what it is today.
http://www.travelvideo.tv/news/united-st...e-united-states

National Park Lodging Rates, On Average, Stay Ahead of Inflation
Regular guests of national park lodges have undoubtedly noticed persistent increases in room rates.
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/200...d-inflation5031
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Outside the US/Canadian Park System:
Orphaned baby gorillas get lush new jungle home
Two baby mountain gorillas, who survived a 2007 attack on a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which left them orphaned, have been settling into their new home at the Senkwekwe Centre in Virunga National Park.
http://www.necn.com/Boston/World/2009/12/05/Orphaned-baby-gorillas-get/1260021892.html

It’s our sea to save, in all its still living color
This is a plunge into both wonder and worry. I have snorkeled and gone scuba diving in the waters of Virgin Islands National Park off and on for nearly 30 years.
http://www.boston.com/travel/getaways/ca...l_living_color/
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Yellowstone (and Grand Teton) National Park News:
Climate change studied in Yellowstone (in photos)
Yellowstone's 2.2 million carefully managed acres are among the few places left in North America to retain a virtually intact ecosystem, in a landscape where the hand of man remains light. The park's strict federal protections have maintained a refugium, where the plants and animals are largely unmolested by localized industrial pollution. That makes Yellowstone an ideal place to study the effects of climate change.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-yellowstone-html,0,1526277.htmlstory

Two small quakes reported in SW corner of MT
It's been an active earthquake week in the mountains in the southwest corner of Montana, although the remote locations probably means they went unnoticed.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=11626944