Here are the answers to some questions that have come in from various sources:
Barky?
For those of you who know me in real life, this probably threw you. “Barky” is a name I’ve used on various Internet messageboards for years and years. It started at the Lord of the Rings (yes, I’m a big fan) site http://www.ringbearer.org sometime around 1999, and it stuck. I’ve used it on message boards ever since.
Be careful, though. A casual Google search produced thousands of entries, none of which are me! Apparently, it’s a fairly popular handle …
400+ sites? Aren’t there only 390 (or so)?
Here’s the reason: I can’t find a clean list of these 390 sites on the NPS web site! I found a list at http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parksearch/atoz.cfm, but this contains affiliated sites that aren’t officially part of the NPS, sub-sites (like Alcatraz Island, really part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area), and groupings of sites (like Capitol Hill Parks).
I’m going by this list so, yeah, I’m exaggerating my counts. If anyone can provide me a clean list of these 390 official sites, I’d love to get a link! Send it to me by the comment box below.
EDIT: In March of ’09, a helpful reader sent me this link of all the official sites plus affiliated areas. But even this list has problems: some sites are listed twice (like Denali, it’s listed as a National Park and as a National Reserve). This is a great example of how dysfunctional our government is: they can’t even make a simple list. Anyway, I’m now using this list (such as it is) as my guide during my travels, and have updated my blog progress counts accordingly. So the official count per this blog is 405: all NPS sites plus affiliated areas minus duplicates.
Why can’t I click on the pics to get bigger/higher resolution popups?
Starting with my Alcatraz post, you should be able to do so. It took a while to figure it out. WordPress does not have an easy image handler, so it’s quite manual, but I think I’ve got the hang of it.
I won’t do clickable pictures for photos that aren’t mine. I’ll put links to the source website for that. Permission to use all non-public domain photos has been graciously granted by some really good photographers, I don’t want folks to use my site to pirate their great photos.
Plus hi-res photos take up disk space, and I do have a limited amount. I’d rather use it up on my own.
What? No Amazon.com link?
That’s because WordPress doesn’t allow ads on their free blogs. Personally, I think that’s great! The blogs here are so much easier to read without those stinkin’ ads, and I’m not in it for the money. I still encourage you to read any books I recommend, and you don’t need a link from me to make it easy. Besides, I encourage people to shop at their local used bookstore anyway. Screw Amazon, shop local!
If you have other FAQ-type questions, post them using the comment below!
America In Context 
Hi Barky!
Check out the National Park Travelers Club (NPTC) – and our website http://www.parkstamps.org!
Not only do we have a list of all of the official 391 full units of the NPS, but we are a bunch of travelers that are intensely interested in visiting our national parks – and often quite fanatic about obtaining those rubber stamp impressions for our “Passport to Your National Parks” stamps! You know, those little blue Passport Books you can buy at most national parks?
Our club maintains an up to date list of all of the known locations of all of the passport stamps for each park! We also include in this list the stamps that are also available for Affiliated sites, national trails, and national heritage areas!
We would love to have a park-traveler and supporter such as yourself among our members!
Look us up on our website – and join up! It’s a fun group and highly educational.
Plus, we have members that have truly been to ALL of the 391 parks, so our members can really help you plan your trips to the national parks!
Check us out! Email me if you have any questions!
Cheers,
Tristan Davis
NPTC Membership Director
I enjoyed you essay on the Edgar Allen Poe site, which I visited just in the past month. Your take on it was different than mine — more humane — since I was more interested in what constitutes historocity (if that’s a word). Maybe I’ll post my own essay soon.
On a more general note, I like the way you write and think. Your essay on Eisenhower was not just a knee-jerk piece but a thoughtful consideration. Thanks for doing this kind of thing; I’ll keep reading.
Thanks for the kind words. Looking forward to your own take on Poe, feel free to either post it under that site’s entry on my blog or post a link to your own there. 🙂
Just do me a favor and post comments under the specific NPS site’s page on my blog, and not here on the FAQ. Most people don’t read this page 😆
Just found your blog. I could spend hours here! Love all your links and your quest to visit the national sites. I want to visit all the Texas parks, then expand from there. 🙂 Thank you!
Thanks. I wish I could post faster, but I want to write all original content and it takes me a while to think up my posts.
Start visiting those parks! I haven’t been to Big Bend, but the Guadalupe Mountains were pretty neat. 🙂
Thanks for your kind words about Midnight Rising. I’m off on Sunday to a national park I wonder if even you’ve visited: the Raisin River Battle Site in Michigan. All the best Tony Horwitz
Nope, actually I didn’t even know it was part of the NPS. It’s not listed under their Michigan listing, looks like a glitch on their website. Will have to let them know about that. Enjoy your visit!
there are , officially , 417 Units of the National Park Service. What makes it still more confusing, is that the Park Services calls all the Units “Parks” even though only 60 are National Parks.