"Here, just 200 years ago stood the snout of a 100-mile long glacier. Though icebergs no longer dot the waters of Bartlett Cove, the animals, plants, and landscape continue to change after the recession of this great glacier. There are many ways to explore Bartlett Cove. You may wish to investigate the area on your own, with a small group, or as part of a Ranger Naturalist guided hike or talk. Whatever the method, the beauty of Bartlett Cove and the events that took place here are well worth discovering.  Wondering how to get here?

"Emigrants of the California Trail describe the rocks here in vivid detail as "a city of tall spires,” “steeple rocks," and "the silent city." Today, this backcountry byway attracts rock climbers, campers, hikers, hunters," and stargazers.

The Sunrise area of Mount Rainier National Park is a busy place from early morning to far into the night. Yet, even with the lights from vehicles and hikers, the stars are still bright in the sky and sometimes stargazers get lucky and catch a meteor zipping through the atmosphere.

On August 19, 2013 Chaco Culture was officially designated an International Dark Sky Park, and you can see why with this image. "Chaco has long been considered by many night sky enthusiasts to be one of the best places in America to stargaze. Today, amidst this ancient landscape, visitors can experience the same dark sky that the Chacoans observed a thousand years ago. The protection of dark night skies is a priority at Chaco not only for the enjoyment of star-gazing visitors, but for the natural environment as well.

Kayaking in the Great Lakes can be a fantastic experience, expecially on a bright sunny day. It pays, however, to be safety conscious while out on the water, as conditions can change at any given moment. To read more about kayak safety at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, click here.

"Mesa Arch is one of most photographed arches in southeast Utah. This location is especially popular at sunrise, when groups of photographers often lay in wait for the glow of sunrise on the bottom of the arch." To learn more about this arch, click here.

Enjoy riverside camping in old-growth forest at Sol Duc, one of 15 developed campgrounds in Olympic National Park. To learn about each of these campgrounds and find out which ones accept reservations, click here.

Visitors can take a ranger-led 8.5-mile roundtrip hike over Red Basin, "a fossil-rich area part of the land within the 2004 boundary expansion of Petrified Forest National Park. Along this hike you will see petrified wood, petroglyphs, unique erosional formations such as hoodoos, vibrantly colored badlands deposited over 215 million years ago, and fossil clam beds."

National parks are great for all sorts of activities, from hiking to swimming to stargazing to horseback riding. At Yellowstone National Park, visitors can take a guided ride or bring their own private stock into the park. Click here for more information.

"Given its remote location and challenging weather conditions, Aniakchak is one of the most wild and least visited places in the National Park System. This landscape is a vibrant reminder of Alaska's location in the volcanically active "Ring of Fire," as it is home to an impressive six mile (10 km) wide, 2,500 ft (762 m) deep caldera formed during a massive volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago."