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Scotts Bluff National Monument: Nebraska's Ancient Giant of Pioneer Legend

2008-08-30T22:35:22Z

Scotts Bluff National Monument, part legend, part fact, is one of those natural wonders in America's West that must be experienced to be appreciated.

Rising up more than 800 feet above western Nebraska's North Platte River, between 1841 and 1869 more than 350,000 pioneers and emigrants (some historians say as many as half a million) used this natural landmark as a guidepost along the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails to point them westward to their own personal promised land.

A Home in the West, If We Can Just Follow the Oregon Trail to Get There

2008-08-30T22:42:56Z

Between 1840 and 1870 thousands-some experts say maybe as many as half a million-emigrants went West, following the Oregon, California, Mormon and Pony Express Trails that took them across the Grain Plains and to settlements in Oregon, Utah and California.

Often progress was measured in just a few miles a day. Natural landmarks such as Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff in today's Nebraska would be comforting signs that they were on the right track to their eventual destinations.

Snow Plowing of Teton Park Road Begins March 14

2011-03-05T23:11:42Z

The annual snow plowing of the Teton Park Road in Grand Teton National Park will begin on Monday, March 14, 2011 weather depending.

As plowing operations get underway, recreation on the snow-packed trail will cease for the 2010/11 winter season. Park visitors may continue to use other winter trails, or areas adjacent to the Teton Park Road, for skate skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing until snow conditions are no longer favorable for such activities.

Mussel-Infested Boat Quarantined at Glen Canyon Launch Area

2011-04-09T17:29:57Z

A vessel infested with live adult quagga mussels was prevented from launching on Lake Powell in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area on March 24 before the invasives could contaminate lake waters.

The mussels were discovered by an employee at Antelope Point Marina during a routine inspection. Park staff decontaminated the vessel and placed it in quarantine for 30 days to ensure that all associated mussels will die before it is launched.

BLM Asks Drivers to Watch Out for Nevada’s Red Rock Burros

2011-12-04T19:30:09Z

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Southern Nevada District Office is asking motorists driving along state route 159 in the Red Rock area to be careful of wild burros.

In the past year, at least 11 burros have been hit and killed or sustained injuries leading to euthanization.The burros are increasingly wandering onto the road creating a safety hazard for people traveling the highways.

Yellowstone Switches to Oversnow Travel Parkwide

2012-01-09T03:33:00Z

With the park experiencing significant snowfall throughout its boundaries at the end of 2011 and into the New Year, Yellowstone National Park has shifted fully to oversnow travel for visitors and staff.

Rubber- and steel-tracked guided snowcoaches and snowmobiles now are allowed to travel on all interior park roads, with the exception of the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Junction, which is restricted to rubber-tracked guided snowcoaches only until snow conditions improve.

New Uranium Mining Banned Around Grand Canyon

2012-01-11T03:55:58Z

New uranium and other hardrock mining around Grand Canyon National Park has been banned for the next 20 years by the Department of the Interior.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced his decision on Jan. 9, 2012 ans said the move is to protect the iconic Grand Canyon and its vital watershed from the potential adverse effects of additional uranium and other hardrock mining on over 1 million acres of federal land.

Yosemite Launches Lottery System for Half Dome Cable Climbing

2012-01-22T21:40:45Z

Yosemite National Park will use a lottery system to allocate Day Use Permits for climbing the Half Dome cables during the summer 2012 season, with the preseason drawing conducted through www.recreation.gov.

"We are trying to eliminate (permit) scalping, and to make the process as fair as possible for park visitors," Yosemite National Park spokesperson Kari Cobb told OldWestNewWest.com Travel & History Magazine.

Aztec Ruins National Monument to Host World Heritage Celebration

2012-02-04T23:48:00Z

Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico will host a World Heritage 25th Anniversary Celebration on Feb. 24, 2012 with an all-day commemoration.

The 25th anniversary celebration will bring renewed attention to the honor of World Heritage designation. Entrance fees will be waived all day on Feb. 24 so the public can attend the celebration for free. Aztec Ruins will offer a unique World Heritage junior ranger badge and certificate all day and show documentary videos about World Heritage.

Wandering Along a Trail of Western History

2008-08-28T05:22:46Z

Visit the grounds at Wyoming’s Fort Bridger State Historic Site and it’s like wandering along a trail of history, a tributary of the great American West where explorers, fur trappers, Oregon Trail emigrants and Pony Express riders coursed by on their way to settling and taming the frontier.

Fort Bridger’s beginnings go back to 1843 when mountain man Jim Bridger set up a trading post on the Black Fork of the Green River, close to the Oregon Trail. Bridger, and fellow trapper and adventurer Louis Vasquez, built a small pine-log stockade which included two log and mud buildings and a coral for horses. The buildings housed Bridger’s trading post, blacksmith shop and living quarters.