America’s National Parks Podcast RV Miles Network

On May 10th 1855, Secretary of War Jefferson Davis personally penned one of the most unusual orders in the US Army’s history to Brevet Major Henry C. Wayne. It read, in part: "Sir: [You are] assigned to special duty in connection with the appropriation for importing camels for army transportaion and for other military purposes."
The order represented a victory for Davis in a four-year struggle with Congress to establish a camel corps within the US Army. As a US Senator, he introduced the measure in Congress in 1851 and 1852, only to have it literally laughed out of committee on both occasions.
Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.
When John Wilkes Booth shot and killed President Abraham Lincoln, he broke his left leg in the process, leaping to the stage at Ford's Theater. He and his getaway man on the door of Dr. Samuel Mudd at four in the morning for assistance. Mudd set, splinted, and bandaged the broken leg. The two stayed with Mudd for about 12 hours as the doctor's handyman made a pair of crutches.
Within days Dr. Mudd was arrested and charged with conspiracy and with harboring Booth and Harold during their escape. 
Today, we’re revisiting the story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, one of the earliest stories we told on the show. In 1936, a film was made loosely based on Mudd's story called THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND, and two years later, it was adapted into a radio drama starring Gary Cooper as part of the Lux Radio Theater. On this episode, we're playing that program for you.
Hosted By Jason Epperson
Want to suggest a topic for a future episode? Reach out to us at editor@rvmiles.com. 

Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.
In this episode, we're looking at the federal government's decision to reintroduce grizzly bears to the North Cascades, Death Valley National Park has reopened most of its roads after last year's severe flooding, a group of skiers is rescued at Kenai Fjords, and more. 
Comment on the Rocky Mountain National Park camping fee increase proposal here: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/RMNP_FrontcountryCampground_Fees_2024

Once the only access road to Capitol Reef National Park, Capitol Gorge provides a harsh and beautiful stone causeway that opens up into a world of bizarre and varied stone formations, desert washes both narrow and wide, and the types of plants common in the high desert – stunted trees like pinyon pine and Utah juniper, prickly pear cactus, the brilliant orange of globemallows and striking red of desert paintbrush. 
And then a sight that is unfathomable in the desert: the delicate, showy blossoms of fruit trees.   The blooming and fruiting trees create a strange and wonderful picture set against the magnificent cliffs and rocks of the high desert.
Hosted By Jason Epperson
Written By Lauren Eisenberg Davis
Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

What's with the big controversy over wild horses? In this episode, we take a look at these creatures and their place in the ecology and history of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 
Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.

In this episode, we're taking a look two vandalism incidents in national parks, a lawsuit against the National Park Service over not accepting cash as payment for entrance at some units, some potential new and expanded national monuments, and the details of the upcoming National Park Week.
Use code PARKS30 for $30 off of a $500 or more booking at www.rvshare.com.