All posts tagged: parks

July is Yellowstone National Park’s deadliest month

July is Yellowstone National Park’s deadliest month

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Over four million people from all over the world visit Yellowstone National Park every year to admire its grandeur and beauty. Unfortunately, not every visit ends with gorgeous photos to show off to friends. All those visitors statistically ensure that some trips will occasionally go awry—or turn deadly. But should you fear for life while trekking through Yellowstone? The legal team Beck, Amsden, and Stalpes in Montana recently reviewed nearly two decades of fatality reports from the popular national park to get a sense of the unfortunate outcomes, and quickly identified some key takeaways. After tallying up the tragedies between 2007 and 2024, they found that a total of 75 people died inside Yellowstone. However, the vast majority had very little to do …

Mysteries and Thrillers Set at Amusement Parks & Summer Camps

Mysteries and Thrillers Set at Amusement Parks & Summer Camps

Sunscreen is in the air, mosquitoes are annoyingly buzzing, and hopefully your AC is cranked to the max. That’s right, we are in the middle of summer. For many, summer comes with the nostalgia of summer camp—from sleepaways to weeklong art or sports-themed versions—and trips to amusement parks for all the deliciously fried food, lemonade, and dare-you-to-get-on-that-ride memories.  So why not pair that nostalgia of fun summer vibes with a mystery to solve! I mean, we are mystery and thriller fans after all. Depending on your summer mood, there’s a fictional serial killer thriller set at an amusement park, an unsolved missing person case set at a summer camp, and siblings fighting over a family estate, which is the family summer camp. Wonderland (Wonderland #1) by Jennifer Hillier For fans of amusement parks, fictional serial killers, and multiple POV! What starts with an amusement park employee breaking into the grounds in order to free climb the Ferris wheel ends with a dead body being found… It’s a hell of a way for Vanessa— who just …

‘Rush Project at Request of POTUS’: Trump Is Draining the National Parks to Pay for His Projects

‘Rush Project at Request of POTUS’: Trump Is Draining the National Parks to Pay for His Projects

The pathway that connects the White House residence to the Oval Office has long been paved in Tennessee flagstone. Every president since Harry Truman made the 45-second commute, and made it without complaint, until Donald Trump. The dun rock would not do. Instead, Trump wanted polished African granite, carved in Italy, with a flamed-finish stripe—slightly raised, to prevent slips—running down the middle. As workers tore up the flagstone in March, a reporter asked Trump who was paying for the enhancements. “Paid for by me,” he replied. But that wasn’t true. Budget documents from the National Park Service that I obtained show that the walkway replacement cost taxpayers $689,232, and is part of a $1.3 million project that included repairing adjacent stone and masonry and providing new hardware for nearby doors. A year earlier, in a separate “Rush project at request of POTUS,” the Park Service spent $347,503 to remove and replace the stucco on the colonnade wall, a project that cleared the way for Trump to affix gold frames and plaques mocking some of his …

John Legend, Chance the Rapper, and Lonnie Ali, Widow of Muhammad Ali, Were Honored at the Annual Gordon Parks Gala

John Legend, Chance the Rapper, and Lonnie Ali, Widow of Muhammad Ali, Were Honored at the Annual Gordon Parks Gala

Gordon Parks, the photographer, filmmaker, author, and civil rights activist, was one of the 20th century’s most consequential artists and narrators of the American experience, specifically regarding race and poverty. He established the foundation with his friend and collaborator at Life magazine, longtime editor Philip B. Kunhardt Jr. And in 2007, a year after Parks’s death at age 93, the foundation held its first gala, a relatively modest affair, in Midtown. Since 2017, awards and fellowships have been dispensed to dozens of recipients for achievement in photography, literature, journalism, art, film and, as of this year, music—to jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran. Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., grandson of the foundation’s cofounder, now leads the organization, which includes the Parks archive and exhibition space in Pleasantville, New York. “Gordon,” Lonnie Ali told me prior to the gala, “was actually two generations older than Muhammad.” Referring to Parks’s first article on Muhammad—in 1966, for Life, after his conversion to Islam—she said, “It was called ‘The Redemption of the Champion.’ Gordon was not trying to redeem him …

Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire goes woke with Rosa Parks revisionism

Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire goes woke with Rosa Parks revisionism

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court further hollowed out the Voting Rights Act, continuing a decades-long project of dismantling the legal infrastructure that protected Black suffrage. Observing the responses to the decision, The Nation’s Elie Mystal noted the distinct tenor of celebration from conservatives delighted at the possibility of vanquishing Black political power through gerrymandering.  Now the right-wing media ecosystem appears ready for the next phase of the project. If Black political gains are to be rolled back, then the historical basis for those gains must also be discredited. The Civil Rights Movement cannot remain a sacred democratic triumph if modern conservatives hope to argue that anti-discrimination laws represented a constitutional mistake.  In the trailer for a new Daily Wire series titled “The Real History of the Civil Rights Movement,” the voice of right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh drips with the practiced solemnity of a whistleblower exposed a grand conspiracy. “Since the 1990s, America’s classrooms have turned Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks into sacred Civil Rights icons,” he says. “But what if almost everything …

Superbloom turns Redwood National Park’s hills purple

Superbloom turns Redwood National Park’s hills purple

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Death Valley National Park’s ephemeral spring superblooms get most of the attention, but another national park in California has its own impressive floral show this year. Redwood National Park in northern California is awash in a purple riverbank lupine (Lupinus rivularis) superbloom. It was first spotted earlier in May and is expected to last through the end of the month.  The park six hours north of San Francisco is home to over 30 species of plants, including to the state’s famous redwood trees—the tallest trees in the world. The landscape features open prairies, oak woodlands, wild rivers, and untamed coastline.  Purple riverbank lupines help attract important pollinators. Image: NPS photos / O. Seweryn. This year’s purple riverbank lupines are blooming at the Lyons Ranch Trailhead and covered the Bald Hills with purple flowers. Riverbank lupine is a fast-growing and multi-stemmed member of the pea family (Fabaceae) that can grow up to five-feet tall. Its seeds provide food for birds, …

Congress, retailers want to rebuild national parks. Road tolls might pay

Congress, retailers want to rebuild national parks. Road tolls might pay

American Bison graze at the Grand Teton National Park. Danny Lehman | The Image Bank | Getty Images Congress is trying to come up with more money to give the aging national parks a facelift in honor of the country’s 250th birthday this year. President Donald Trump talks about the importance of federal facilities looking good, while his budget proposal slashed funding for the National Park Service. Republican lawmakers are searching for revenue sources including establishing tolls on federally operated roads in the Washington area used daily by tens of thousands of commuters and by hiking fees to visit national parks for visitors from outside the U.S. Democrats say putting tolls on roads that intersect with the Capital Beltway is an untenable solution and that finding new money to fund park overhauls is not necessary since it’s already the government’s responsibility to maintain the parks. Lawmakers are racing to pass the successor to the Great American Outdoors Act, or GAOA, a law Trump signed during his first term to clear the National Park Service‘s backlog …

Drivers who pay for parking at car parks issued important warning

Drivers who pay for parking at car parks issued important warning

Drivers and motorists who pay for parking at car parks have been issued an important warning. Which? has warned drivers to make several checks before paying for car park stays, or risk having their personal data and money stolen. Taking to social media, Which? said: “Don’t get caught out by a QR code scam.” It added: “Criminals often tamper with QR codes in public places – like restaurants, pubs, shops, bus stops, train stations, and car parks – to redirect you to fake websites or malicious apps. Here are five simple ways to protect yourself from QR code scams.” A Which? spokesperson said: “Before you scan a QR code in public, always check to see if it’s been tampered with. If it looks suspicious, don’t use it. Just type the web address in manually on your device to make sure you visit the correct website. READ MORE Foreign Office places country on ‘do not travel’ list as UK tourists face ‘kidnap’ “Most phones have a scanner built into the camera, so use this instead. Don’t …

Disney Parks in 2026: Leia, Luke and Han Hit Galaxy’s Edge

Disney Parks in 2026: Leia, Luke and Han Hit Galaxy’s Edge

Disneyland had a huge 2025 when it kicked off its 70th anniversary, a celebration that continues at the original Disney theme park this year. Three new rides are also being built at California Adventure, as well as a whole new Avatar area. And at Walt Disney World in Florida, four new lands are being constructed right now, themed around villains, Pixar characters and more. Here’s everything you need to know about Disneyland, Disney World and Disney Cruise Line in 2026 and beyond. Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: New old characters New characters have begun roaming around the Star Wars-themed lands in Disneyland, as the area “expands its timeline” to include Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Han Solo. The original trio of Star Wars main characters arrived in Batuu on April 29 and are now interacting with guests and other characters. To help tie them in with the more modern Star Wars land, there will also be new props, graphics and music (featuring the legendary John Williams score) in Galaxy’s Edge. “Black Spire Outpost will roll back in time several …

A 13.5-mile urban hike connects parks, neighborhoods in Northeast L.A.

A 13.5-mile urban hike connects parks, neighborhoods in Northeast L.A.

As the spines of the invasive thistle bit into my legs, I worried I had failed. I had spent hours at my computer staring at maps of northeast Los Angeles in hopes I could develop an urban hike that used existing trails to connect at least four of the area’s parks. But there I was, standing in a narrow footpath on a hilltop, realizing I’d essentially hit a dead end, because to get into Ascot Hills Park, I would need to trespass (not allowed) or do something dangerous (also not allowed). I headed down the steep hillside and told myself, “It’s OK. It’s your job to fail a little.” It was time to try again! In today’s edition of The Wild, I will introduce you to a 13.5-mile urban hike that I developed and fact-checked myself from the ground. I have admittedly been a mountain hiking snob since arriving in L.A., running off to the San Gabriels or Santa Monicas any chance I get. This experience opened my eyes to the joy and potential of …