RV LIFESTYLE NEWS OF THE WEEK

Nearly 4,000 campsites in California's 18 national forests could close all or part of the summer because of safety concerns following staffing cuts. The U.S. Forest Service had 2,000 employees cut under the Trump administration's cost savings measures and in a memo obtained by the New York Times, the cuts in California mean there are not enough people to maintain trail safety, remove human waste, manage visitor centers or search and rescues in many remote U.S. Forest Service trails and campsites.

The National Park Service set a new record in 2024 in the number of visitors to the nation's national parks, national monuments and national recreation areas of 331.9 million visits, beating the previous record set in set in 2016. The numbers were released as the National Parks Conservation Association reports the NPS lost about 9% of their employees between the cuts and early buyouts and predicts big problems this summer.

If you are camping this week - and even if you're not - look for a total lunar eclipse late this Thursday night/ early Friday morning.An eclipse happens when the Earth is perfectly positioned between the moon and the sun, with the moon having a red hue (often called a blood moon) before the eclipse occurs. While the eclipse will start before midnight Thursday, it will be at prime viewing between 2:26-3:31 am EDT Friday.

A Michigan man is facing a dozen felony charges for breaking into self-pay pipes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula state forest campgrounds and stealing money. The campsites all had locked pipes for campers to self-register and self-pay, which the man is accused of breaking into.

The search continues for a Georgia woman who went missing while on a camping trip with her husband and son at South Carolina's Table Rock State Park. Stephanie Womacks was last seen at 5:30 pm Monday, but when her husband returned from buying camping supplies, he couldn't find her. Rescuers have been searching for her in the rugged area since.

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