Vibrant colors from the day’s last light at Joshua Tree National Park gives us pause. The park protects nearly 800,000 acres of the California desert and is home to extensive stands of Joshua trees, rugged canyons and mesmerizing rock formations. The Joshua trees, the park’s namesake, are actually the world’s largest Yucca in the world and their unique shapes dance across landscape. Photo by Emily Haskell, National Park Service.

For several weeks, photographer Kate Ochsman has been following the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep herds in Yellowstone National Park and shared the experience with us.
“This is the season of the rut. The males intimidate, dominate and eventually fight one another for the championship prize of breeding with the females and passing on his champion’s genes. The bighorn rut is unlike any rut I’ve seen. Elk and bison use brute strength and deafening sound delivered in a chaotic frenzy to intimidate and fight other bulls. Bighorn rams could not be more opposite. Their dominance display is a beautifully choreographed, ancient rocky mountain tango. It’s a dance of stillness, bowing, head nudges, and the very tango like kicking feet-usually aimed at another male’s sensitive bits. The photo above captures a moment of escalation in this tense dance between two friends. The final blow, the crescendo to this intricate dance, erupts with the fury of bashing skulls and horns in a thudded KOHW. The champion, already wearing his crown, enters his kingly right and breeds all the queens, providing another generation of Rocky Mountain princes and princesses.” Photo and words courtesy of Kate Ochsman.

Please remember to give them room and use your zoom #YellowstonePledge

Mount Rainier National Park in Washington delivers autumn with bright blue skies, sunshine and shimmering waterfalls. Michael Althauser snapped this photo while visiting the Paradise area, capturing the beauty of the park. “A brisk 1.4 miles from the trailhead brought us to Comet Falls, which made for just about the most perfect lunch spot one could imagine. It’s named Comet Falls because when the water hits the rocks below, it sprays out in a few distinct directions and looks like shooting stars, especially when shady in the afternoon.” Photo courtesy of Michael Althauser.

Upon getting out of the army in 2016, I wanted nothing more than to visit our nation’s national parks. And after four years of travel, Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming is still the one that takes my breath away more than any other. I took this image with my trusty Nikon D8 10 camera on a frosty 22° morning in October 2019. As always, I woke up at about 4 a.m., found myself a cup of coffee, drove to one of my favorite lookouts and waiting for the sun to rise. Photo and words courtesy of Brian Johns.

A creamsicle sky over the mountains at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia delivers mesmerizing eye candy. Shenandoah National Park straddles the Blue Ridge, a unique line of mountains forming the easternmost rampart of the great Appalachian Range. The park is bursting with spectacular vistas, cascading waterfalls, fields of wildflowers and quiet wooded trails. Fall colors have mostly come and gone, but many visitors flock each year to see the incredible autumn display during its peak. Shenandoah is only 75 miles from the bustle of Washington, D.C., and a visit brings a breath of fresh mountain air to those who make the journey.

Happy National Bison Day! Our national mammal is a shaggy symbol of strength and resilience. Their thick coats and powerful necks allow them to bulldoze their way through deep snow and find food even in the dead of winter. Social animals, they gather in large herds – their collective grunting and breathing make quite a noise. Adult males can weigh over a ton while still being able to run 35 miles an hour and jump 6 feet in the air. Most impressive. Photo of a bison at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming by Jacob W. Frank, National Park Service.

A new dawn on a new day at Acadia National Park in Maine. From the middle of October through early March, Acadia’s Cadillac Mountain is the first place where the sun appears each day in the continental United States. The wonders don’t stop after sunrise, though. Visitors can marvel at the fall colors and explore the forests, ponds, meadows and coastline on 27 miles of historic motor roads, 158 miles of hiking trails and 45 miles of carriage roads. You’ll never want to leave. Photo by Roy Goldsberry (www.sharetheexperience.org).

Just a moment of calm and peace for your social media feeds.  

Enjoy this virtual escape to Glacier National Park in Montana. Photo by National Park Service.

From the Seminole people of the Everglades to the Athabascans who gave Denali its name, Native Americans have important connections to public lands across the country. To celebrate National Native American Heritage Month, we’re featuring parks, refuges and historic sites that help us appreciate these nations, their history, perspectives, cultures and contributions. Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming – known by names like “Bear Lodge” and “Bear’s Tipi” and sacred to Northern Plains Tribes – is a powerful place to experience the oral tradition of origin stories and learn about the relationships between this rocky sentinel and people from thousands of years ago to the present day. Photo by Brian Truono (www.sharetheexperience.org).  

Learn more on our blog: www.doi.gov/blog/10-public-lands-powerful-native-american-connections