See a park, save a buck. Saturday (Sept. 24) is National Public Lands Day, which offers you and me the opportunity to:

1. Chip in some volunteer work to enhance a public space near you. This blog presented some details for how to participate earlier this week.

2. Visit a park and just soak up the scenery. For free. Entrance fees at federal parks and landmarks are waived for the day.

Where to go? This online guide from the National Park Service shows you what parks are near you. 

Why bother? Because open spaces, national parks in particular, are wonderful to experience. If you need additional persuasion, I offer a couple of photo albums from just one state, Utah, that is home to 5 of the finest parks in the U.S.

I explored 2 of them at length this year. First Bryce Canyon:

Then Zion:

I have wandered extensively in the other 3 within the past 3 years. That trio includes Canyonlands (the Needles district shown below):

Capitol Reef (you can find some amazing alcoves in remote nooks of the park, as shown below):

And Arches (the car-accessible Double Arch shown below):

I'm itching to return to all of them.

What's your favorite Utah national park? If you're in the vicinity, maybe you could go check one of them out. Zion is just a 3-hour drive from Vegas, folks.

So, the advice from this corner is this: Make a plan. Colors are changing, decent weather remains, winter draws closer. If a park lies near you, go and volunteer. Or just go and see. Just go.

All photos © 2008-2011, T.D. Wood