CAMPFIRE STORIES

“Leading readers to the lessons and pleasures of the great outdoors”: these stories not only hold a practical entertainment value for folks sitting around a campfire, but also will connect them to the outdoors—and hopefully inspire new, unfamiliar audiences to experience and protect our National Parks and other public lands. Campfire Stories is a new collection that brings together in one volume stories about our national parks and some of the fascinating tales, legends, and more that have helped to define them over the years. So, what makes a good “campfire story”? While ghost stories are often the first thing we think of—who doesn’t want to be frightened when sitting in dark, spooky woods!—our parks and culture are rich with many other stories: legends of the landscape, trees, and animals that inhabit a place; ballads that recall larger-than-life heroes; journals that evoke long-forgotten events; or heart-thumping wilderness adventures.