The parks are fiercely visual, making it easy for photographers—both amateur and professional—to snap some truly awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping images. Out of thousands of photos taken this year in the Golden Gate National Parks, here are the 18 favorite photos from our staff photographers.

Pathways through the Golden Gate National Parks don’t always mean trails.  For many staff members at the Parks Conservancy, the National Park Service (NPS), and the Presidio Trust, their paths to full-time employment started during internships or youth programs offered in our parks.

Whether you’re an art lover or a volunteer with a penchant for planting, these (hopefully wet) winter activities will be sure to whet your appetite. Here’s the need-to-know lineup for January-March 2019.

Resolve to be outdoors more this year. Even doctors are actually handing out "park prescriptions."

Please welcome our new trail maintenance, construction, and stewardship interns! They will be working hard to fight the cold and care for trails over the next 6-9 months.

Whales are common recurring characters in the waters along Crissy Field, but in October 2018, one (artificial) leviathan made its landfall. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Blue Whale art exhibit on Crissy Field challenges everyday visitors to examine their plastic consumption and the health of our oceans.

Hello fellow park lovers! Make sure to keep an eye out for a few of these interesting insects found in our Golden Gate National Parks recently.

As a new year approaches, full of possibilities, I think keeping an eye on the pair of red-tailed hawks at Lands End will continue to serve as a glorious symbol.

Take a walk up to Mori Point in the spring and you’ll be amazed by the display of wildflowers. Yet over the years, with higher visitation and more compaction of the soil, we’ve seen a reduction in the bloom. This winter, we’re ready to change that.

Each day I spend with my peers at the Parks Conservancy, and with our passionate and vital cast of volunteers, I endeavor to remember the people who shaped, shared and enshrined these lands and waters.

We have been fortunate to spot humpback and gray whales from the coast at Mori Point, as well as from the mountains at Rancho Corral de Tierra. We recommend heading out to the coast as soon as possible, if you want to bid them adieu.

In 33 years with Greg Moore at the helm, the Parks Conservancy and its partners have helped transform and restore Crissy Field, Lands End, and Fort Baker, ushered in the Presidio as its own national park, and built thousands of miles of trails.