Have you ever logged onto Recreation.gov the moment your dream permits drop, only to watch them disappear in the blink of an eye? You click, refresh, enter your details, and by the time you hit "submit," they’re all gone. It’s not just you. And it’s not always bad luck either. So here’s the BIG question on everyone’s mind: Are bots stealing the National Park Permits that let us explore some of the most beautiful places in the country?

“Look, a blaze!” my daughter yelled as she passed a tree with the red mark on its thick trunk. This was not one of the metal disks with a figure of a hiker on it that we’d been following. I stopped and looked closer at it. Yes, this was a blaze…an old blaze. I looked up the trail, then back the trail we’d traveled. And I remembered. How could I forget? It was our first.

Get ready for breathtaking seaside cliffs, towering coastal Redwoods, and challenging terrain. You can be hiking on the coast in the morning