America's National Parks Podcast

By RV Miles Network

What's America's National Parks Podcast about?

Explore our national parks — their history, their people, and their stories.

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101 Years Apart

02.15.2020

This past Wednesday, Grand Canyon National Park's Interpretive Rangers lowered the flag in honor of one of their own. A ranger who lived and worked at Grand Canyon National Park for the past 20 years, and became a favorite of ...

America's National Parks Podcast episodes:

02.15.2020 101 Years Apart This past Wednesday, Grand Canyon National Park's Interpretive Rangers lowered the flag in honor of one of their own. A ranger who lived and worked at Grand Canyon National Park for the past 20 years, and became a favorite of ...
02.08.2020 A Lasting Impact The contributions of immigrants to our great nation are undeniable. Some of our greatest institutions were literally built on the backs of immigrants of all stripes. Our national parks are no exception. In the west, some of the most significant ...
02.02.2020 News from the Parks \| January 2020 Welcome to January's "News From the Parks" episode of the America's National Parks Podcast, our monthly show where we round up for you the latest info about happenings at America's Greatest treasures. On this episode, shark fossils in Mammoth Cave, ...
01.26.2020 What Makes a National Park? The National Park designation has become one of the most prestigious terms in the English language. National parks have stirred the imagination of Americans ever since they were dreamed up, and a recent focus has been sparked by the confluence ...
01.18.2020 National Park Passes Explained It's the time of year where people around the world are planning their adventures to America's National Parks, and we thought this would be the perfect time to explain one of the things we most commonly get questions about - ...
01.11.2020 The Black Canyon The deep canyons of the west enchant us today as much as they did those who dared to explore them for the first time. They're all unique in their own ways, as nature seems to brag about the incredible might ...
01.04.2020 The Great Prairie Highway It was an international road for American and Mexican traders, until 1848, when the Mexican-American War ended, and New Mexico joined the United States. It became a national road for commercial and military freighting, stagecoach travel, emigration, and mail service. ...
12.29.2019 News from the Parks \| December 2019 This month, there's a new national park in the system, fees are increasing at parks around the country, invasive species are threatening the park system, the Narrows trail at Zion will be protected forever, and a whole lot more.
12.21.2019 Wolf Trap Today on the America's National Parks Podcast, the vision of a D.C. socialite to develop and share a love of the arts with the community set to the backdrop of nature. Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.
12.14.2019 Treasure in the Sea Today, Channel Islands National Park and the original 1982 "Treasures of the Sea" park film. Now in retirement, this version was replaced in 2011 with the currently running film featuring narration by Kevin Costner.
12.07.2019 Valley Forge On December 19th, 1777, 12,000 weary revolutionary war soldiers and 400 women and children marched into what would be their winter encampment. They began to build what was essentially the fourth largest city in the United States, with 1,500 log ...
11.30.2019 News from the Parks \| November 2019 This month we have news of a cold case that's haunted the park service for over 40 years, an expansion of Rocky Mountain National Park, a National Park Service TV drama in development, and whole lot more!
11.24.2019 Toward a Dark and Indefinite Shore After the Civil War ended with the surrender at Appomattox, Abraham Lincoln waited two days to speak. He opened, "we meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart." Lincoln was looking ahead to the reconstruction of the ...
11.16.2019 A Prescription for Fire From a seed no bigger than one from a tomato, California's coast redwood may grow to a height of 367 feet and have a width of 22 feet at its base. Imagine a 35-story skyscraper and you have an inkling ...
11.09.2019 The Legacy of 3 Million If you've spent a decent amount of time in National or State parks in the U.S., you've probably been in a building built by a federal program that employed nearly 3 million people during the most difficult economic time in ...
11.02.2019 The Sound of Geology One of our most visited National Parks averages more than a half-million visitors per month in the summer, who flock to see massive sandstone cliffs of cream, pink, and red that soar into a brilliant blue sky. It's main feature, ...
10.30.2019 National Geographic's Jon Waterman Adventurer Jon Waterman is the award-winning author of several books on the American landscape, including several on the wilds of Alaska and the conflicts surrounding the Colorado River. His newest book, commissioned by National Geographic, is called "Atlas of the ...
10.26.2019 News from the Parks \| October 2019 Welcome to the October "News From the Parks Episode" of the America's National Parks Podcast, our new monthly series where we round up for you the latest info about happenings in America's Greatest treasures.
10.19.2019 Spooky Yellowstone National Parks play roles in all kinds of American legends, and Yellowstone, our first park, is no exception. It's October, time to dust off the ghost stories and feast on three short pieces of Yellowstone lore, as retold by S.E. ...
10.12.2019 The Great Unknown In the summer of 1869, an expedition embarked from The Green River Station in the Wyoming Territory and traveled downstream through parts of the present-day states of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona before reaching the convergence of the Colorado and Virgin ...
10.05.2019 Gateway to the West Halfway down the mighty Mississippi, a model of engineering greets the world to the Gateway to the West, St. Louis Missouri. The Gateway Arch is known worldwide; it's probably only second to the Statue of Liberty But how much do ...
09.28.2019 News from the Parks \| September 2019 With over 420 sites in the NPS, every month offers a new opportunity to Find Your Park. And while we strive to focus on the stories that make these places so special, we also think keeping up-to-date can be useful ...
09.25.2019 The Old Northwest In the town of Vincennes, Indiana, stands the largest Beaux-Arts style monument on an American battlefield and outside of Washington, DC. It sits on the former site of Fort Sackville to commemorate a little known battle with tremendous stakes. A ...
09.17.2019 The Search for Dark Skies 80 percent of the world’s population lives under what’s called “skyglow.” In the United States and Europe, 99 percent of the public can’t experience a natural night. Light is helpful to people, of course, but it’s also one of our ...
09.10.2019 Ahwahnee Who doesn't love a majestic National Park lodge? Splendid craftsmanship on a grand scale surrounded by the wonders of nature. Some lodges are full of just as many stories and secrets as the park that surrounds them. On this episode ...
09.02.2019 Castle on the Coast Situated along the shores of St. Augustine in northeastern Florida stands the only surviving 17th-century military construction in the United States, Castillo de san Marcos. On this episode, the many faces of Castillo de san Marcos National Monument, as told ...
08.22.2019 10 Days, 1,800 Miles For 18 short months, a group of riders carried letters from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, and they did it in just 10 days. Crossing 1,800 miles of rough western terrain, at breakneck speeds, the Ponny Express tied the ...
08.09.2019 The Waving Girl of Savannah The Savannah river twists and turns for 301 miles in the Southeastern United States, forming most of the border between Georgia and South Carolina, before it's divided into channels by several islands near Savannah Georgia, and then spills into the ...
08.02.2019 The Voice of Wilderness in the Storm In the early days of what is now Denali National Park and Preserve, one park scientist stood out among the rest. He was known for his tough, adventurous spirit, ground-breaking biological research, and inspiring communication. His name was Adolph Murie.
07.26.2019 Restoring the Giants Awe-inspiring giant sequoia trees are among the largest living things on earth, but the opportunity to experience them is rare. Approximately 75 groves exist, and only along the southern Sierra's western slope on moist sites between about 5,000 and 7,000 ...
07.19.2019 Rangers Make the Difference III Being a National Park Service Ranger is a multifaceted job, one that requires you to call on all your skills to bring a park to life. Whether it be through music, research, education, conservation, or day to day administrative work, ...
07.12.2019 Lincoln's Throne For more than 100 years, no national memorial had been contemplated for any president except George Washington, yet talk of building one to honor the monumental legacy left by Abraham Lincoln began even as he lingered on his deathbed. There ...
07.06.2019 238,900 Miles from Idaho 50 years ago, in 1969, NASA sent astronauts to a remote location in southern Idaho. Their goal? To learn basic geology and study the local, relatively recent volcanic features located there in preparation for potential missions to the moon. On ...
06.29.2019 A $50 Bet Rising high above the prairies west of the Blackhills stands a tower of astounding geological feature. Considered sacred by indigenous people, it's an impressive and striking monument against the flatlands of Northeastern Wyoming. Hundreds of parallel cracks make it one ...
06.24.2019 Meaningless Without Sacrifice The Emancipation Proclamation has been called one of the two most important American contributions to the world by Martin Luther King, Jr., yet was said to possess "all the moral grandeur of a bill of lading" by historian Richard Hofstadter. ...
06.14.2019 Alone on a Winter's Island Nestled at the top of Wisconsin sits a cluster of islands on Lake Superior that is home to what some call the finest collection of lighthouses in the country. Guiding the way for ships on Lake Superior, Nine light stations ...
06.10.2019 On the Oregon Trail The first covered wagons would carve a trail towards Oregon Country in 1836. Among them was a missionary party headed by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. Narcissa kept a journal at the suggestion of her mother, whom she would never see ...
05.31.2019 "We were standing on Ground Zero of World War III" During the Cold War, a vast arsenal of nuclear missiles was placed across the Great Plains. Hidden in plain sight, for thirty years 1,000 missiles were kept on constant alert; hundreds remain today. The Minuteman Missile remains an iconic weapon ...
05.24.2019 Cataloochee - The Center of the World Nestled among some of the most rugged mountains in the southeastern United States is an isolated valley that was home to 1200 people in 1910, who made their living first at farming, and then, as tourism developed, by welcoming weary ...
05.17.2019 A Presidential Barbecue Barbecued meat has played a surprisingly important role in United States presidential politics over the years. George Washington was a Virginia-style barbecue enthusiast. Recently, archaeologists discovered a barbecue pit on the south lawn of Montpelier that was in use during ...
05.10.2019 River on Fire In 2007, a young bald eagle took flight from its nest along the Cuyahoga River. It was the first successful nest in Cuyahoga County in more than 70 years. The eaglet grew up eating fish from the Cuyahoga River, where, ...
05.03.2019 Guardian of the Gulf When we think of America’s National Parks, we often don’t think of the oceans or the Gulf of Mexico, but along our shores are some of the most incredible places our country has to offer. Seven barrier islands along the ...
04.26.2019 A Race to a Tie On May 10th, 1869, in Promontory Summit, Utah, two sets of ordinary railroad tracks met under extraordinary circumstances. Together the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad companies, building from Sacramento, California, and Omaha, Nebraska, joined to revolutionize travel. Before that ...
04.19.2019 The Strange World of National Park Gift Stores When we think about the people that help keep the gears turning in National Parks, it’s easy for us to think about the wonderful rangers that keep us safe and help us interpret and protect these incredible places. But we ...
04.12.2019 The Night the Mountain Fell The Yellowstone Supervolcano snores through the geysers and mud pots, and restlessly tumbles as multiple earthquakes hit the region nearly every day. We don't hear a lot about Yellowstone earthquakes, but each year one to three thousand hit the park ...
04.05.2019 A Rescue in the Grand Tetons Mountain climbing is surely one of the most dangerous of the extreme sports. It’s a trial of wills that takes a clear head, teamwork, and unflappable trust in your climbing partners. The challenge is magnified ten-fold when the climb is ...
03.29.2019 Apostle of the Cacti If you're a National Park buff, and you probably are if you're listening to this podcast, you probably know of some of the famous people responsible for the very creation of many of our greatest parks. People like John Muir, ...
03.22.2019 9:02 A.M. 24 years ago, a Ryder truck packed with nearly 5,000 pounds of explosives was parked in front of Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In a matter of seconds, the blast destroyed most of the nine-story concrete and granite ...
03.15.2019 Rover On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his famous “Day Of Infamy Speech." The United States had entered World War II. That evening, his wife would call on all ...
03.08.2019 "Goodbye, Death Valley." In 1848, gold was discovered in California and people from all over the United States packed their belongings and began to travel by wagon to what they hoped would be a new and better life. It was important to leave ...

Older episodes

America's National Parks Podcast

What's America's National Parks Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

America's National Parks Podcast episodes:

101 Years Apart

A Lasting Impact

News from the Parks | January 2020

What Makes a National Park?

National Park Passes Explained

The Black Canyon

The Great Prairie Highway

News from the Parks | December 2019

Wolf Trap

Treasure in the Sea

Valley Forge

News from the Parks | November 2019

Toward a Dark and Indefinite Shore

A Prescription for Fire

The Legacy of 3 Million

The Sound of Geology

National Geographic's Jon Waterman

News from the Parks | October 2019

Spooky Yellowstone

The Great Unknown

Gateway to the West

News from the Parks | September 2019

The Old Northwest

The Search for Dark Skies

Ahwahnee

Castle on the Coast

10 Days, 1,800 Miles

The Waving Girl of Savannah

The Voice of Wilderness in the Storm

Restoring the Giants

Rangers Make the Difference III

Lincoln's Throne

238,900 Miles from Idaho

A $50 Bet

Meaningless Without Sacrifice

Alone on a Winter's Island

On the Oregon Trail

"We were standing on Ground Zero of World War III"

Cataloochee - The Center of the World

A Presidential Barbecue

River on Fire

Guardian of the Gulf

A Race to a Tie

The Strange World of National Park Gift Stores

The Night the Mountain Fell

A Rescue in the Grand Tetons

Apostle of the Cacti

9:02 A.M.

Rover

"Goodbye, Death Valley."

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