US Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt has made entrance to all National Parks free for now. (Of course, some parks and facilities are closed so check before going.)

"This small step makes it a little easier for the American public to enjoy the outdoors in our incredible National Parks," Bernhardt said. "Our vast public lands that are overseen by the Department offer special outdoor experiences to recreate, embrace nature and implement some social distancing."

However, an organization of retirees from the National Park Service disagree. From CNN:

Chair Phil Francis of The Coalition to Protect America's Parks argues that "to suggest to the public that gathering at national park sites is acceptable ... is irresponsible to the visiting public and employees."

"National parks welcome visitors from around the world," Francis writes. "Many National Park Service employees interact with members of the public daily."

image: Chinle Formation, Arizona by Doug Dolde (public domain) Read the rest

Last month, the "Wizard Rock," an iconic 1-ton boulder, mysteriously vanished without a trace from Arizona's Prescott National Forest. It was the third boulder disappearance in the region over the last few months. Read the rest

A gentleman apparently wandered off the DESIGNATED PATH and was burnt pretty bad, fucking about near Old Faithful.

The water is hot, bro.

CNN:

Siemers was able to walk back to the Old Faithful Inn, where he was staying near the geyser, and call for help around midnight.

Park rangers thought there were signs he had been drinking, according to the statement. They later found a beer can near the geyser, along with one of Siemers' shoes, and footprints leading to and from the geyser.

Siemers was taken by ambulance to the West Yellowstone Airport and then flown by plane to Idaho Falls where he was admitted to the burn center at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. Due to bad weather, the use of a life flight helicopter from Old Faithful was prohibited, the NPS said.

The Old Faithful Geyser erupts every 51 to 120 minutes, according to the NPS. At the vent, the water is 203 degrees Fahrenheit.

The National Park Service said it is continuing to investigate to determine if any damage was done to the geyser cone. If so, they will forward the results to the US Attorney's Office for prosecutorial review.

A favorite act of baffling misbehavior, observed at Yellowstone, was conducted by asshole fans of a southern high school football team. Said fans insisted everyone trying to view or take a photo of Old Faithful from the center of the designated viewing area also look at their local high school football mascot! One of their party walked into the hydrthermal field, off the boardwalks and past the signs forbidding such a thing, to make sure their sportsy guy was out there for all to see. Read the rest

In the 1980s and 1990s, the National Parks Service commissioned Heinrich Berann to produce gorgeous, panoramic paintings of America's beautiful national parks as part of an advertising campaign; this week the NPS published high-resolution scans of these images for free downloading. Read the rest

The tree thought to have inspired Theodor Seuss Geisel's 1971 book The Lorax has fallen down. The Monterey Cypress tree stood for 80 to 100 years at Ellen Browning Scripps Park in La Jolla, California, Geisel's home for almost 50 years. From CNN:

Tim Graham (of the San Diego Parks and Recreation Department) said there is "no definitive cause on why it fell..."

The city plans to salvage the large trunk section in hopes of repurposing it, Graham said.

image: Bryan Fernandez/Flickr (CC) Read the rest

National Park is a free typeface from The Design Outside Studio based on the "National Park Service signs that are carved using a router bit." Studio founder and University of Kansas design professor Jeremy Shellhorn was visiting Rocky Mountain National Park when inspiration hit. He writes:

I had a sketchbook with me and took some rubbings of the letterforms and asked my friend Miles Barger, the Visual Information Specialist for Rocky, if he had the typeface. He asked the sign shop. No one has it? Turns out it isn’t a typeface at all but a system of paths, points and curves that a router follows.

The router’s "bit" follows the path and gives the letters its stroke weight or thickness only when engraving a sign.

It doesn't really exist as a typeface unless a sign is made.

So my design colleague, Andrea Herstowski, students Chloe Hubler and Jenny O'Grady, NPS Ranger Miles Barger and myself decided to make this router typeface a thing.

Our National Parks belong to the people, so this typeface should too.

National Park Typeface (via Kottke)

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No, they aren't after people who litter. The National Park Service's Investigative Services Branch (ISB) of 33 special agents handle the rapes, murders, assaults, robberies, poaching, drug smuggling, and other big crimes that occur on the 85 million acres of United States parks, historical sites, monuments, and other NPS turf. From Outside:

) ISB agents are a strange breed. They require a high tolerance for time alone in the backcountry—but because solving crimes typically comes down to getting information from people, they also need social skills. “I look for people who can talk to anybody,” Sullivan told me. Each of the half-dozen agents in the office was drawn to the job for different reasons. Kristy McGee, a petite blonde wearing cowboy boots, specialized in violent crime. “I had a very chaotic childhood. I was exposed to a lot of adult-natured things—drugs, abuse,” she told me. “I found a place where I can use that to relate to people.”

Steve Kim, who has salt-and-pepper hair and a degree in wildlife ecology, told me about how he had spent the summer of 1995 living the life of a dirtbag climber, when Yosemite put out a call asking climbers to help with a death investigation. While rappelling off the east ledges of El Capitan, looking for clues, Kim discovered that ISB work suited him—“It’s probably my obsessive-compulsive tendencies”—and never looked back.

Cullen Tucker, the office’s youngest agent at age 30, was born into the business; his dad is a former deputy chief ranger at Yosemite, and his mom was one of the park’s first female investigators.

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While bopping around Italy's Abruzzo National Park, zoologist Paolo Forconi witnessed a pack of three young wolves assaulting a garden variety house pooch. While it takes a few nips from the wolves, their young jaws, according to Forconi, weren't able to do much damage. Tthe dog was able to make its escape through a small hole in a fence. Read the rest

More Than Just Parks is a wonderful channel that showcases the incredible natural beauty of America's national parks. Their latest video celebrates Rocky Mountain National Park. Read the rest

The Round Rock Parks and Recreation Department posted images of mysterious large footprints reportedly spotted at parks and trails just north of Austin, Texas. Is this Bigfoot or a marketing stunt?

"I'm leaning towards not real at least on the top one," area Bigfoot researcher Russell Miller told the Houston Chronicle. "Too narrow at the instep."

And, of course, if the "surveillance" camera was capable of capturing the footprints, why didn't it get a shot of the (ahem) "cryptid" that made them?

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Our Park Ranger surveillance has captured strange footprints at various parks & trails in the area. If you find these,...

Posted by Round Rock Parks and Recreation Department on Saturday, June 10, 2017

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Do you like the Highline park in Manhattan? There's a subterranean version coming soon. The Lowline looks like it's going to be amazing. Read the rest

Everyone behaves badly in this one—snotty youngsters v. violent veterans—but that older guy throwing punches and threatening a pregnant woman should be in jail. Come for the Pokemon rage, stay for the expert demolition of a portable gazebo.

A story at the Winona Daily News appears to concern the same park; it looks like there's a concerted effort afoot to ban more or less any unapproved "gatherings" there, and it's all about the Pokemon Go phenomenon.

The ordinance would cover a wide array of activities, not all related to increased traffic from Pokémon players, and some which is already prohibited. ... recent crowds that suddenly began gathering at all hours earlier this month when the game was released include prohibitions on hammocks and tents, sleeping and sunbathing, recreational activities and games (electronic or not), having pets in the area and playing music.

Why would you bother asking the Pokemon company not to use that location as a gym when it's so much easier to pass sweeping teen-menace legislation? Read the rest

Ethan Gilsdorf reports on the most awesome hotel in the country. Meet Stanley the Stegosaurus and friends!

This pentagram visible on Google Maps is located on the shore of the Upper Tobol Reservoir in Kazakhstan. It's either an evil etching created by the ancient astronauts who were also Satan's minions, or the outline of a park built in the shape of a star during the Soviet era when that symbol was quite popular. You decide. (Yahoo! News) Read the rest