Great Smoky Mountains National Park

October 17, 2019 Raven About The Parks 5 Comments

Overview

Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, with both sides offering incredible views. The park is similar to Shenandoah National Park in that it was mostly purchased from private landowners before its establishment by the federal government in 1934. With around 11-million visitors annually, it is easily the most visited of the 62 National Parks in the National Park Service system, perhaps because it has no entrance fee.

Highlights

Clingman’s Dome, Cades Cove, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Foothills Parkway, Oconaluftee, Appalachian National Scenic Trail

Must-Do Activity

Many interesting sections of Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserve the human history of the region, like the popular Cades Cove with its iconic old grist mill. To learn more about the Cherokee indigenous to this region, visit Oconaluftee Visitor Center on the North Carolina side. While there you might also spot a herd of reintroduced elk.

Best Trail

Even on the bumper to bumper Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, all you have to do is park and take a hike to find some solitude. Grotto Falls Trail passes through old-growth hemlock forest, an area very popular with black bears.

Instagram-worthy Photo

As you can imagine, this park is incredibly popular in October and November because of the beautiful fall foliage. Early in the season, head to 6,643-foot Clingman’s Dome, then drop in elevation as the autumn progresses.

Peak Season

Summer and fall

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

Newfound Gap Road is the major thoroughfare connecting the two sides of the park and it is plowed throughout the winter. The 11-mile loop road through Cades Cove is open year round, but the 7-mile spur road up to Clingman’s Dome and the 6-mile one-way Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail are seasonal.

Camping

There are 10 campgrounds within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but if you need RV hookups you will have to find a private campground outside the park.

Blue Ridge Parkway (North Carolina-Virginia)

Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)

This design we created to celebrate Great Smoky Mountains National Park is available on a variety of products at Cafe Press and Amazon.

Explore More – While most National Parks do not allow dogs on trails, what are the two trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that do?

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Idaho, Washington

Minidoka National Historic Site

October 15, 2019 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

One of the many things that makes this country great is its willingness to remember inglorious moments in its past, such as the internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. Most of the 13,000 Japanese-Americans imprisoned in central Idaho were from Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, including Bainbridge Island where a memorial stands today that is considered part of Minidoka National Historic Site.

Highlights

Guard tower, film, Honor Roll, barrack, mess hall, baseball field, root cellar

Must-Do Activity

The site in Jerome, Idaho now has a new visitor center that shows an excellent film. From there (or the guard tower) you can access the 1.6-mile interpretive trail. There was a portion of the museum at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument dedicated to Minidoka National Historic Site, but that may not be there anymore.

Best Trail

A 1.6-mile trail passes historic structures lined with many interpretive signs. Highlights include the root cellar, baseball field, and a tarpaper mess hall.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The guard tower on the North Side Canal stands near the Honor Roll, which was recreated to match one from the 1940s that listed Japanese-Americans serving in the U.S. armed forces.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/miin/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

The main access road is paved, but some of the surrounding farm roads are dirt. Follow driving directions on the park website, and note that the site is about an hour away from the town of Minidoka, Idaho. You can park at the guard tower or just down the road at the new visitor center’s gravel parking lot.

Camping

Bruneau Dunes State Park offers camping south of Interstate 90 and is a fun spot to visit with sandboards available for rental.

Tule Lake National Monument (California)

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (Idaho)

Explore More – Minidoka War Relocation Center was the seventh largest city in Idaho on March 1, 1943; what was its maximum population?

New York, Pennsylvania

Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River

October 10, 2019 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

Authorized in 1978, this 73-mile stretch of the Upper Delaware River is the longest free-flowing river in the northeast United States. Forming the Pennsylvania-New York borderline, only 30 of its 55,575 acres are federally owned. Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River is one of 43 designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers, 10 of which are managed by the National Park Service (NPS).

Highlights

Zane Grey Museum, Roebling Aqueduct, fishing

Must-Do Activity

The Upper Delaware River is famous for year-round bald eagle viewing, Class I and II whitewater rafting, and fishing for smallmouth bass and walleye. The NPS runs the Zane Grey Museum, which celebrates the “Father of the Western Novel” who lived in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania from 1905 to 1918 and loved fishing here (and throughout his worldwide travels). It was in this house that the former dentist (Zane Grey) wrote many articles about his outdoor adventures, as well as his novels, including Riders of the Purple Sage (published in 1912).

Best Trail

There are six trails you are required to complete in order to earn your Upper Delaware Hikes patch from the NPS, ranging in length from the quarter-mile Minisink Battleground (Revolutionary War) to the three-mile Tusten Mountain Trail, which provides an excellent view of the river valley.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Within eyeshot of the Zane Grey Museum, the Roebling Aqueduct operated between 1848 and 1898 to allowed coal-laden canal boats to cross over the Upper Delaware River. Its architect is better known for the Brooklyn Bridge, but this aqueduct was converted to a one-lane car bridge before being purchased by the NPS in 1980.

Peak Season

Spring through fall

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/upde/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All major roads paved, with Highway 97 in New York following the river for most of its length.

Camping

There are no NPS campgrounds, but many private ones along the Upper Delaware River.

Related Sites

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (Pennsylvania-New Jersey)

Buffalo National River (Arkansas)

Minute Man National Historical Park (Massachusetts)

Explore More – Although they live in the Delaware River for most of their lives, what is the name of the sea in the Atlantic Ocean where eels migrate to spawn and die?

Arizona

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

October 8, 2019 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument outside Flagstaff, Arizona is worth a closer look than a drive-by on your way to Grand Canyon National Park. As its name suggests, this thousand-foot high cinder cone is stained red as though in perpetual twilight. Volcanic activity last occurred here in the year 1180 AD, but even though geologists consider this area dormant, it is just possible that a new cinder cone might start erupting at any time.

Highlights

Lava Flow Nature Trail, Bonito Lava Flow, Lenox Crater Trail, O’Leary Peak

Must-Do Activity

A 35-mile loop drive through Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument to neighboring Wupatki National Monument passes through ponderosa pine forest and sunflower-filled meadows on its way to an arid, rocky high desert region that is dotted with ruins. From the road you can see the San Francisco Peaks rising to the west, as well as a series of cinder cones outside the monument’s boundaries. Several of these mini-volcanoes are accessible by roads, including our favorite: S.P. Crater.

Best Trail

To experience the black cinders you have to get out of your car and hike through them, but take your time as the elevation is around 7,000 feet. Lava Flow Nature Trail provides interpretive signs along a partially paved one-mile loop. You cannot climb to the top of Sunset Crater, but you can summit nearby Lenox Crater on a steep one-mile trail.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Sunset Crater and the Bonito Lava Flow are especially eye-catching when viewed from atop 8,900-foot O’Leary Peak, accessible by hiking to a fire lookout tower in adjacent Coconino National Forest. The awe-inspiring vista will make you glad that movie producers were stopped from dynamiting Sunset Crater in 1928.

Peak Season

Summer

Hours

https://www.nps.gov/sucr/planyourvisit/hours.htm

Fees

$25 per vehicle, which also covers entrance to neighboring Wupatki National Monument.

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

The U.S. Forest Service runs the Bonito Campground across from the Sunset Crater visitor center from May through October. Dispersed camping is allowed in portions of Coconino National Forest.

Related Sites

Wupatki National Monument (Arizona)

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (Idaho)

Capulin Volcano National Monument (New Mexico)

Tiff with a field of sunflowers in September 2009

Explore More – How many millions of years of volcanic activity have occurred in the area around Flagstaff, Arizona?

New York

Stonewall National Monument

October 3, 2019 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

A raid by New York City police officers at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969 was not out of the ordinary, but the response by its patrons secured its place in history. At the time, it was illegal to serve alcohol to homosexuals, so the Stonewall Inn was operated by the Mafia as a “private” club. The police raid resulted in six nights of civil rights protests outside the bar around Christopher Park, gathering approximately 2,000 supporters on the second night. It was not the first gay pride protest in America, but it did have a lasting impact with more than a thousand LGBTQ groups forming in the following year.

Highlights

Christopher Park, George Segal sculpture

Must-Do Activity

In 2016, President Obama designated Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park, across the street from the Stonewall Inn. During the summer, park rangers are on site approximately 11-1 and 3-4 every day, but we were told it is best to call beforehand to verify. The Stonewall Inn is still a business and not owned by the National Park Service (NPS), so nobody under age 21 is allowed in.

Best Trail

None

Instagram-worthy Photo

A sculpture by George Segal entitled Gay Liberation Monument was commissioned in 1979, but not installed in Christopher Park until 1992 due to public opposition. It depicts two standing men and two seated women comforting one another in their shared struggle for acceptance.