Two cannons and a monument mark this one-acre (less than a football field) National Park Service (NPS) site surrounded by the city of Tupelo, Mississippi. The park was established in 1929 to memorialize the battle of July 14, 1864, when the Union army drove off Confederate troops trying to disrupt General William T. Sherman’s railroad supply line at the historic town of Harrisburg. Located only one mile off the Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo’s own Elvis Presley probably visited this park as a child.
Highlights
Cannons
Must-Do Activity
Unlike other NPS sites, Tupelo National Battlefield provides much easier access to a car wash and a Walmart store. Its visitor center is combined with the one for the Natchez Trace Parkway just outside Tupelo. The city of Baldwyn, Mississippi runs an interpretive center (with a small admission fee) that also commemorates a Confederate victory on June 10, 1864 at Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site.
Best Trail
There is a sidewalk on two sides of the one-acre park.
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This is one of the smallest units in the NPS system, but from one angle, Tupelo National Battlefield looks like many larger Civil War parks.
Peak Season
“They get about a week of spring then the summer is
blistering.” –Jason Isbell from the song “Tupelo”
Tombigbee State Park offers camping about 10 miles from Tupelo.
The park is located on Main Street in Tupelo, Mississippi.A view of the entire NPS siteConveniently located across the street from a car washTiff at the NPS site
Explore More – What
does the T. stand for in General William T. Sherman’s name?
This truly is a National Park for all seasons. In the summer, it is worth the extra time it takes to drive eleven miles up the unpaved curves of one-way Old Fall River Road to Alpine Visitor Center at 11,796 feet. From May 22 through mid-October, a timed entry reservation is required. Elk bulls spar and bugle in the autumn, when aspen trees briefly turn the mountainsides gold. Winter is a wonderful time for outdoor recreation if you come prepared for the cold and snow.
From the famous Trail Ridge Road, you do not even have to
get out of your car for amazing panoramas.
If you want to walk, the one-mile Toll Memorial Trail at Tundra
Communities Trailhead is paved and flat enough to not be too strenuous at
12,000 feet in elevation. Elk, pikas,
and yellow-bellied marmots frequent the parking area around Rock Cut.
Best Trail
If you are looking to climb straight up the side of a
mountain, there are plenty of options, including popular Flattop Mountain and
the strenuous climb up Longs Peak. For a
less busy trail, head to Ypsilon Lake and continue up the hillside, scrambling
over boulders all the way to spectacular Spectacle Lakes.
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In Grand Lake on the west side of the park, hiking or snowshoeing past Adams Falls up the East Inlet Trail is breathtaking in all seasons.
Peak Season
Summer is the busiest, but winter brings opportunities for
snowshoeing.
$35 per vehicle ($30 for one day) or America The Beautiful pass
Road Conditions
Almost all roads are paved; one-way Old Fall River Road is
gravel and only open a few months in the summer.
Camping
There are multiple campgrounds within the park and Glacier Basin is open year-round. Several National Forests surround the park and provide opportunities for dispersed camping, although around Grand Lake it does get crowded on summer weekends.
Elk herd at the Tundra Communities Trailhead On the Continental Divide National Scenic TrailPikaTiff and Scott atop 14,259-foot Longs PeakTiger swallowtail butterflyScott with two moose on the trail to Calypso CascadesDream Lake in winterTiff scrambling up to Spectacle Lakes
This design we created to celebrate Rocky Mountain National Park is available on a variety of products at Cafe Press and Amazon.
César Estrada Chávez was a Latino-American labor leader in the 1960s who led the fight for better working conditions and pay for all agriculture workers. He helped form the National Farm Workers Association (NWFA) labor union, which became the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Similar to Martin Luther King, Jr., Chávez was an advocate of nonviolent protests, including fasts. Chávez passed away in 1993 and César E. Chávez National Monument was established in 2012.
Highlights
Chávez gravesite, memorial garden, museum, Chávez office
Must-Do Activity
The National Park Service site is located at the historic Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz property in Keene, California where César E. Chávez lived and the UFW was headquartered from 1970-84. The site is now the home of the National Chávez Center, his gravesite, and a memorial garden. The museum here includes exhibits, videos, and an audio program at Chávez’s old office. A quick Spanish lesson before you go: “Huelga” translates to “Strike” and “Sí, se puede” means “Yes, we can.”
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None
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César Estrada Chávez is buried at the National Chávez Center in Keene, California surrounded by a well-landscaped memorial garden.
As its name suggests, Dinosaur National Monument was first created in 1915 to protect an archaeological dig. The 200-foot long wall of unexcavated fossils at Dinosaur Quarry outside Jensen, Utah is still the park’s main attraction. A major addition of 200,000 acres was added in 1938, stretching into the neighboring state of Colorado. More than 90% of the National Monument (click here to see where it ranks in our Top 10) is managed as wilderness and is best explored by whitewater rafting the Green and Yampa Rivers.
Whitewater rafting trips on the Green River can last a few hours or multiple days depending upon where you put in. We highly recommend a three night trip starting at the Gates of Lodore with Adrift Dinosaur or one of several other outfitters. They also offer multi-day trips down the Yampa River, which is undammed and only navigable during the spring snowmelt. If you do not feel like getting wet, simply enjoy a quiet picnic on the shoreline at easily-accessible Split Mountain (or take a high-clearance vehicle down the rough road to scenic Echo Park).
Best Trail
The 4-mile long Jones Hole Trail is accessible to rafters on
the Green River and from a fish hatchery at the end of a paved road near the
Utah-Colorado border. It provides access
to Ely Creek Falls and the Deluge Shelter pictographs, which are approximately
800 to 1,400 years old.
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Dinosaur Quarry may be the only mountainside in America surrounded by its own glass-enclosed, air-conditioned building. It contains thousands of fossilized bones of giant creatures sitting in the same place they have been for the past 148-million years. It is a completely different experience than seeing dinosaur skeletons reconstructed in a museum, although they have those, too.
No entrance fees for the Colorado side, but $25 per vehicle to enter the Utah side to view the Dinosaur Quarry.
Road Conditions
There are many dirt roads in the National Monument, some of
which are impassable when wet, so check at a visitor center before entering. The roads to the Dinosaur Quarry, Jones Hole
Trailhead, Deerlodge Park, and Harpers Corner are paved.
Camping
There are several campgrounds within the park accessible by paved or unpaved roads, as well as numerous backcountry campsites located along the Green and Yampa Rivers (plus, one on the Jones Hole Trail).
Mitten Park Fault is bisected by the Green River near Echo ParkOutside the NPS visitor center near Jensen, UtahTiff on the tram to the Dinosaur Quarry in 2012Tiff at the Dinosaur Quarry in 2012Whitewater rafting on the Green River in 2019Bighorn sheep along the Green River Deluge Shelter pictographs on the Jones Hole TrailSteamboat Rock at Echo Park
Explore More – Who was the one-armed Civil War veteran that led the first exploration of the Green River (and named the Gates of Lodore after a poem) in 1869?
The house at 144 Constitution Avenue NE in Washington, D.C. has an interesting history. First constructed by the Sewall family in 1799 near the new U.S. Capitol building, it was burned by British troops during the War of 1812. After being renovated by Vermont Senator Porter H. Dale in the 1920s, it was purchased by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont as a replacement headquarters for the National Woman’s Party (NWP). In 1972, it was named the Sewall-Belmont National Historic Site, affiliated with the National Park Service (NPS), who took over full control when it was established as a National Monument in 2016.
Highlights
Historic artifacts, sculptures, tours
Must-Do Activity
Free tours are given at specific times (see Hours below) by the NPS, but otherwise visitors can read the museum displays on both floors of the house. The name Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument refers to the aforementioned Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and Alice Paul, a militant suffragette who was arrested during World War I for picketing outside the White House. The protesters were attacked by men on the street, vilified in the newspapers, and abused in prison where they were force-fed during hunger strikes. In August 1920, these brave women achieved vindication with the passing of the 19th Amendment allowing all women the right to vote in the U.S.A.
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The Sewell House has a placard outside as part of the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. In 1814, the British believed there were snipers posted inside the house and burned it down, one of the few private residences destroyed during their march through Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812.
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A statue of Joan of Arc greets visitors in the front hallway of the house. Our tour guide said that the statue is attached to the house’s foundation and is completely immovable.
Raven About The Parks 