Mattginnow - National Parks

This black-billed magpie took advantage of Wind Cave National Park’s new bison ride-share program. 

One of America’s oldest national parks, you can find wildlife roaming, and riding through, the rolling prairie grasslands and forested hillsides.

Photo by Colleen Cahill (sharetheexperience.org). Photo description: A black-billed magpie bird rides on the back of a giant bison.

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People peer through a natural window in the castellated cliffs above the river in White Cliffs, Montana, 1971. Photograph by Volkmar K. Wentzel, National Geographic Creative

Matthew Ginnow, Matt Ginnow

A Decade of Sun

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Matt Ginnow, Matthew Ginnow

You find yourself at Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. Are you in a dream? Are you awake? It’s almost midnight but the sky is still filled with an eerie dreamlike light.  

The land of the midnight sun allows for endless dreamy hours of glacier watching moments.

The formation of a glacier requires three conditions: abundant snowfall, cool summers, and the gravitational flow of ice. All of these conditions are met in Kenai Fjords. Moist air moving off the Gulf of Alaska in the winter drops, on average, 60 feet of snowfall on the Harding Icefield every year. These perfect conditions are why nearly 51 percent of the park is covered by ice.

Photo courtesy of Angela Feldhaus (www.sharetheexperience.org). Photo description: A pink hazy sky with a low sun hangs above a blue colored glacial ice on a black rocky cliff.

Hot Springs National Park

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Matthew Ginnow

Matthew Ginnow by Matthew Ginnow

Amazing Nature Moment Alert! 

A female black bear at Great Smoky Mountains National Park wasn’t impressed with her male suitor and spent an hour in a tree barking at him to leave.  

Getting to watch wildlife be wild is amazing! #TeamPublicLands members know how serious it is to give these creatures their space. Give em’ room, use a zoom. No zoom lens, no problem. You can still watch wildlife by staying a safe distance back, especially when viewing predator animals like bears. The safety of these animals, as well as your safety, depends on using good judgment. Photo by Robert Wagner (sharetheexperience.org). Photo description: Two bears in a tree growl and bark at each other with their mouths open.