• Touring Mount Rushmore's famous faces goes virtual

    Mount Rushmore National Memoria via AP

    In this May, 2010 photo provided by the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, crews use lasers to scan Mount Rushmore monument, in western South Dakota. Crews scanned the monument and other features of the memorial to document and preserve the structure as well as create an online portal allowing users to visit the park virtually.

    By Rich Shulman

    This is cool technology; I just hope young people won't be disappointed by the real thing.

    AP reports: SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Virtual visitors to Mount Rushmore can now explore even more remote areas of the memorial than some who see it in person.

    Three-dimensional laser technology scans that captured every nook of the four presidential faces and other features of the monument last year mean that starting Tuesday, visitors will be able to take in-depth tours online of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in western South Dakota.

    The portal, comprised of models of the monument, allows people remote access to the site to plan a visit or explore unusual areas, said Maureen McGee-Ballinger, the memorial's director of interpretation and education. The monument draws about 3 million in-person visitors a year.

    Cosmic Log: Monuments immortalized ... virtually (May 25, 2010)

    Mount Rushmore National Memorial via AP

    This undated photo provided by the Mount Rushmore National Memorial shows the memorial in western South Dakota. Starting Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, visitors can take in-depth tours online of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial using three-dimensional laser technology.

     

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  • Mount Rainier National Park reopens to the public

    Elaine Thompson / AP

    Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Matt Chalup turns around the sign to read "open" at the Nisqually entrance Saturday morning, Jan. 7, near Ashford, Wash. The park opened for the first time since the shooting death of Ranger Margaret Anderson on Jan. 1. A memorial service for Anderson will be Tuesday, Jan. 10, in Tacoma, Wash.

    AP reports:

    Saturday's somber reopening will be followed with a candle light vigil in nearby Eatonville on Sunday for Margaret Anderson, who was killed by 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes.

    Authorities say Barnes fled to the park after a shooting the night before left four injured. He drove his vehicle through a check point and when Anderson tried to stop him, he sprayed her vehicle with bullets.

    Full story: Mount Rainier reopens after fatal ranger shooting

    Elaine Thompson / AP

    Mount Rainier National Park rangers stand at a memorial for Ranger Margaret Anderson at the Nisqually entrance as they wait for the park to open Saturday, Jan. 7, near Ashford, Wash.

     

  • Chopper pilot drops coffee cups to warn campers of suspected killer on the loose in national park

    By Jim Seida

    Imagine camping with friends when suddenly your campsite is invaded by the roar of a helicopter rotor.  That's what happened to Brian Vogt and his friends on Jan. 2 while sleeping in their tents in Rainier National Park.  "We thought we heard 'A ranger has been shot and killed, shooter at large,' " camper Brian Vogt wrote in an email exchange with The Seattle Times. But it wasn't all that clear.

    Matt Pokrywka via AP

    Jen Berthiaume, left, Natalia Martinez-Paz, center, and Brian Vogt are seen celebrating New Year's Eve, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011, while camping at Mount Rainier National Park, Wash. A helicopter crew searching for the gunman who killed a Mount Rainier National Park ranger on New Year's Day came across the small group of campers and used an unusual method to warn them the shooter was at large.

    That's when the pilot let fly his backup plan. He dropped a coffee cup with a warning scrawled in ink: "A ranger has been shot shooter at large. Call on cell if able to Pierce Co Sheriff."

    Jen Berthiaume via AP

    In these photos provided by Jen Berthiaume, a messages scrawled onto coffee cups that were dropped to a group of campers Jan. 2, 2011 while a search was going on for an armed suspect in Mount Rainier National Park, Wash., are seen. A helicopter crew searching for the gunman who killed a Mount Rainier National Park ranger on New Year's Day came across a small group of campers and used an unusual method to warn them the shooter was at large, writing messages on paper coffee cups and dropping them to the campers telling them of the danger.

    Brian Vogt via AP

    In this photo provided by Brian Vogt, the campsite of Vogt and his companions are seen as a helicopter hovers nearby at Reflection Lakes at Mount Rainier National Park, Wash., Monday, Jan. 1, 2012.

    Read the rest of the story on the Seattle Times.

    See our previous PhotoBlog post from the day of the shooting.

     

  • Ranger fatally shot at Mount Rainier National Park, armed gunman still at large

    Dean J. Koepfler / The News Tribune via AP

    Emergency vehicles speed to the scene of a shooting of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger as another ranger redirects traffic in Mount Rainier, Wash., Jan 1. The ranger, Margaret Anderson, was fatally shot following a New Year's Day traffic stop and authorities believed the gunman was still in the woods with an assault rifle.

    AP

    Park Ranger Margaret Anderson.

     

    AP reports:

    Park superintendent Randy King said that Anderson is a mother of two young daughters who has served as a park ranger for about four years. King said Anderson's husband also was working as a ranger elsewhere in the park at the time of the shooting.

    "It's just a huge tragedy — for the family, the park and the park service," he said.

    Read the full story.

  • Huge boulder falls, blocks entrance to Yellowstone National Park

    National Park Service via AP

    This photo provided by the National Park Service shows an unidentified man standing by an SUV-sized boulder sitting on Yellowstone National Park's West Entrance road approximately nine miles inside the park's west gate Dec. 29, 2011. The boulder apparently broke loose from a mountainside several hundred feet above the road early Thursday. Park crews have pushed the rock from the road and are assessing the slope for the potential of further slides.

    By Jim Seida

    This photo has a certain timeless quality to it.  I imagine it will be hanging on the wall of a Yellowstone lodge or ranger station for years to come.

  • Scenes of summer from Yellowstone National Park

    As summer begins, tourists are flocking to Yellowstone. Last year alone, the nation's first national park recorded over 3.6 million people.

    Jim Urquhart / Reuters

    Tourists walk around the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest in the United States and third largest in the world, in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 22.

    Jim Urquhart / Reuters

    A grizzly bear and her cub roam the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 24.

    Jim Urquhart / Reuters

    The Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest in the United States and third largest in the world, is seen in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 22.

    Jim Urquhart / Reuters

    Clepsydra Geyser erupts, nearly constantly, in the Fountain Paint Pot area in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 21.

    By Jonathan Woods, msnbc.com

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