Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Missouri is the first national park area to protect a river system. The Current and Jacks Fork Rivers – the beating heart of the park – are two of the finest floating rivers you’ll find anywhere. Spring-fed, cold and clear they are a delight to canoe, swim, boat or fish. The watershed also quenches the thirst of lush forests and grasslands, making it the perfect place for a spring hike. Photo by Pamela Reid (www.sharetheexperience.org).
The National Park Service is 100 years old today! I found this publication from the same year of NPS’s birth, 1916. It’s Glimpses of our National Parks, by Robert Sterling Yards, and was published by the Government Printing Office for the Department of the Interior.
The first section is a hoot - a chronological list of National Parks by order of creation, with some distinctive characteristics listed.
Learn more at the National Park Service’s page about the centennial. All National Parks are free through the 28th to celebrate, so now’s as good a time as any to visit!







