Located in western Montana, the elevation of Lolo National Forest ranges from less than 2,400 feet on the Clark Fork River below Thompson Falls to the top of 9,186-foot Scapegoat Mountain. West of Missoula off Interstate 90, the Ninemile Historic Remount Depot preserves a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp and pack stock training facility. Founded in 1907, the Savenac Historic Tree Nursery Area is also well developed for visitors, including an arboretum and cabin rentals in what were formerly the cookhouse and bunkhouse.
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Highlights
Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, Lolo Pass Visitor Center, Lolo National Historic Trail, Fort Fizzle, Blue Mountain Recreation Area, Cascade Falls, Savenac Nursery, Petty Creek Bighorn Sheep Viewing Site, Clearwater Canoe Trail, Stark Mountain Vista, Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
Must-Do Activity
Lolo National Forest surrounds Missoula, where the Aerial Fire Depot and Smokejumper Center offers guided tours and exhibits. Right outside of the city are numerous hiking trails in Blue Mountain Recreation Area and Rattlesnake National Recreation Area, which contains 73 miles of trails (and has its own blog entry on our website). Following a path used by the Corps of Discovery in 1805, the Lolo National Historic Trail shadows Highway 12 west into Idaho (see Clearwater National Forest). Take time to stop at the Lolo Pass Visitor Center managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Best Trail
Morrell Falls National Recreation Trail leads to a 90-foot-tall waterfall on the western slope of the Swan Range. The trail is 5.5 miles out-and-back, mostly flat with some short inclines as it cuts through a burned area now full of beargrass and fireweed. The waterfall cascades down a rocky outcrop and is well lit in the afternoon. The trailhead is located 7.5 miles from Highway 83 on a good gravel road that has well-signed intersections. Also nearby, the Pyramid Pass Trailhead provides access to the Bob Marshall Wilderness in adjacent Flathead National Forest.
Watchable Wildlife
There are 60 species of mammals found in Lolo National Forest, including grizzly/brown bears, black bears, mountain lions, gray wolves, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, and mule deer. Among the largest of the more than 300 birds spotted are bald eagles, golden eagles, and trumpeter swans. The five rivers and over 100 lakes are home to 30 varieties of ducks and 20 types of fish.
Photographic Opportunity
Located on the western slope of the Swan Range, 90-foot-tall Morrell Falls is accessed on a 5.5-mile out-and-back hike.
quaking aspen, Rocky Mountain maple, western serviceberry
Explore More – What is the origin of the name Lolo?
Know someone who loves the National Forests? Gift them our travel guidebook Out in the Woods so they can learn more about this and the 154 other National Forests.
Last year we published our guidebook 50 States of Great: Road Trip Guide to America, so we decided to start a new type of blog post where we create a travel itinerary for all 50 states, in addition to our usual National Forest and National Park entries. After starting by jumping around to Kansas, Georgia, Idaho, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Hawai’i, Arizona, Louisiana, and South Dakota, we headed to the Midwest for our tenth state. We start in the northwest corner of Indiana on the shores of Lake Michigan near Chicago, then all roads lead to Indianapolis, so we head south with plenty of options to extend the trip. See for yourself why Indiana made it on our Top 10 States for State Parks list.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was originally created in 1966 as a compromise between industrialists seeking to build more steel mills and conservationists wanting to preserve biodiversity. Though it is now one of the 63 National Parks, the quiet Dunewood Campground still provides hot showers in a wooded setting inland from the lakeshore.
Complete the 3 Dune Challenge by climbing the three tallest dunes in the State Park (separate entrance fee) to earn a prize at the visitor center shared with the National Park.
This museum on the University of Notre Dame campus in South Bend offers free admission and highlights Christian art from Europe. Guided tours are offered of the famous football stadium year-round, and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and adjacent Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes spiritual shrine are always open. On a college football gameday, do not miss the midnight drumming circle beneath the golden dome and other traditions throughout the day.
Optional stop at Studebaker National Museum
South Bend was once the headquarters for manufacturing Studebakers and the museum displays many made-in-Indiana automobiles.
Elkhart is recognized as “the RV Capital of the World” since so many Recreational Vehicles are built in local factories. The Hall of Fame first opened in 1991 then moved to a larger building where it exhibits more than 50 historic vehicles dating back to the 1913 Earl Travel Trailer. You can also take a free plant tour of Jayco, Inc. to see RVs being manufactured in nearby Middlebury.
Six miles down the road in Elkhart, the Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum has more than 50,000 comic books and countless toys and movie props on display. All-you-can-play arcade games are included with your admission.
This popular state park is about an hour west of Indianapolis and offers camping, hiking, swimming, kayaking, and fishing.
Day 4
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The first auto race took place here in 1909 and the first Indy 500 was held two years later. The car that won that inaugural Indy 500 was the Marmon Wasp and it is held in the track’s Hall of Fame Museum, along with the Borg-Warner Trophy. This is considered the world’s largest stadium (with a capacity of 257,325). When cars are not running, you can take a bus tour around the oval (at significantly less than 200 miles-per-hour) and kiss the 36-inch strip of bricks at the finish line left unpaved.
Optional stop at James A. Allison Exhibition Center
Down the road from the racetrack, the free James A. Allison Exhibition Center tells the story of a local auto parts builder who expanded his company (founded in 1915) into engines for military airplanes.
Optional stop at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Hands-on exhibits abound in this renowned museum southeast of downtown.
Today you can still buy cornmeal ground by the historic gristmill that runs for ten minutes every hour, part of Pioneer Village where costumed reenactors demonstrate chair caning, broom making, and fiddle making. The park also contains trails, an elevated flume reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Hamer Pioneer Gardens, guided boat trips that enter 500 feet into Twin Caves, and the Grissom Memorial Museum dedicated to the local hero who was the second American astronaut in space and died in a 1967 launchpad fire.
Located in downtown Indianapolis, this unique State Park surrounds the Indiana State Museum, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art, Indiana Zoo, and NCAA Hall of Champions featuring many interactive exhibits next door to the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) headquarters.
Created in 1935 from cutover and abandoned farmland, the National Forest’s best hike is Hemlock Cliffs Trail, a 1.2-mile loop through a canyon that passes two unique waterfalls. A 0.8-mile trail runs through the 88 acres of old-growth forest of Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest. The tall trees here range in age from 150- to 600-years-old, and the black walnuts that grow in a moist cove known as Walnut Cathedral are considered the finest specimens in the country.
A visitor center and auto trail make this the most developed National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana for birding and fishing. The nearby Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge encompasses a former military property and requires special authorization to visit.
The beautiful Lanier Mansion was built for James Franklin Doughty Lanier, a prominent businessman in the state of Indiana around the mid-1800s. The Greek Revival-style house was completed in 1844 and is one of the finest buildings in Madison’s National Historic Landmark District on the Ohio River. Well-preserved Madison was an important waystation on the Underground Railroad.
This park protects a deep, boulder-strewn canyon with several waterfalls, including one with a 60-foot drop. It also has a campground and the blufftop Clifty Inn built in 1924 with views of the Ohio River.
Optional stop on the Indiana Cave Trail
A driving route connects several show caves in the southern part of the state where the brisk air is always a humid 57°F. Highlights include Indiana Caverns, Wyandotte Caves State Recreation Area, Squire Boone Caverns, Marengo Cave, and Bluespring Caverns that offers a one-hour boat ride through America’s longest navigable underground river.
A beautiful 80-foot-tall granite memorial was built on the site of Fort Sackville in the 1930s to commemorate the victory Clark led there on February 25, 1779. After watching the 20-minute film in the visitor center in Vincennes, go inside the circular memorial with 16 columns in classic Greek style to see a bronze statue surrounded by seven murals. You can then walk down the Wabash River to see the home of President William Henry Harrison and the old territorial capitol.
Holiday World
Located in the town of Santa Claus, this Christmas-themed amusement park has roller coasters, a water park, and many shops.
Take a walk past the pioneer cemetery to the Cabin Site Memorial where a bronze casting of sill logs and the fireplace hearthstones are at the site of Abraham Lincoln’s family cabin from 1829. The Living Historical Farm has costumed interpreters in the summer that depict homestead life at an authentic cabin and several outbuildings that were moved here from other parts of Indiana.
Angel Mounds State Historic Site
Near Evansville is a 430-acre site where there are 11 grass-covered Mississippian mounds built as early as 1,000 years ago, plus a replica village, simulated excavation site, and a visitor center full of artifacts.
Milan ’54 Museum
Commemorates the town’s 1954 high school boys’ basketball team that defeated the mighty Muncie Central for the state championship, as immortalized in the 1986 film Hoosiers.
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame
In a state obsessed with basketball, this museum was moved from the capital city to New Castle in 1990 so it could have more room for expansion.
George Washington’s great-grandfather John first came to Virginia in 1657 and later settled this slave plantation on Popes Creek. The future general and president was born on the property in 1732 in a house that burned down whose foundation is now outlined in the ground by crushed oyster shells. The current Memorial House was constructed to celebrate the bicentennial of his birth, although the architect had no idea of the original house’s layout. Those interested in the first U.S. President should combine this free tour with an expensive visit to his mansion at Mount Vernon located 68 miles north.
Memorial Obelisk, film, Memorial House, Family Burial Ground, Nature Trail, Dancing Marsh Loop Trail
Must-Do Activity
After passing the Memorial Obelisk on the drive in, your first stop should be the visitor center to watch the 15-minute film, see artifacts from the burned-down house, and find out about a tour. The hour-long ranger-guided walking tour covers about a half-mile on a gravel pathway to the Memorial House with frequent interpretive stops. In the summer, the house also has open hours for dropping in before and after the tour. There may be living history demonstrations at the colonial herb and flower garden, farm workshop, and colonial revival kitchen. It is worth a short drive to the tidewater beach on the Potomac River and a stop along the way at the Washington Family Burial Ground that has replicas of gravestones.
Best Trail
From the Memorial House, it is less than a mile to walk Dancing Marsh Loop Trail including open views on the footbridge across Popes Creek and the boardwalk through the marsh. This trail connects with the one-mile Nature Trail loop for a longer walk, and that is also accessible from the picnic area parking lot.
Photographic Opportunity
Originally constructed in 1896 by the War Department on the site where Memorial House now stands, the 50-foot-tall Memorial Obelisk is made of Vermont granite at one-tenth scale of the Washington Monument 70 miles to the north in Washington, D.C.
All roads are paved, but be aware there is a toll to cross the bridge into Virginia on Highway 301 southbound from Maryland.
Camping
There is no camping at the National Monument, so the nearest campground is seven miles southeast at Westmoreland State Park, which offers RV sites with hookups.
Added to the National Park Service (NPS) system on February 15, 2024, Amache National Historic Site is the fifth unit dedicated to remembering the sad story of the forced internment of 110,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II. Operated between 1942 and 1945, at its peak the Granada Relocation Center in southeast Colorado housed 7,310 incarcerees making it the state’s tenth largest city at the time. Although it does not have a visitor center, the site of the internment camp is more developed than other new NPS sites since it was previously added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 and then designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Learn more about the history of these camps by checking out the Related Sites below and watching some of our Top 10 World War II Films or reading one of the Top 10 World War Novels.
Highlights
Amache Museum, water tower, barracks, guard tower, cemetery, Recreation Hall
Must-Do Activity
Start at the excellent Amache Museum in Granada, which is run by local high school students and has free admission (donations accepted). Be sure to pick up a map of the driving tour or visit the website (https://amache.org/driving-tour-map-podcasts) to listen to the audio recordings at each stop (there is smartphone coverage on site). Drive the route in order or skip around, but make it a point to see Stop 4 (guard tower and barracks), Stop 8 (cemetery), and the Rec Hall. Starting in June 2025, ranger-led tours will be offered at 10 a.m. on the first and third Friday of the summer months.
Best Trail
There is a short loop trail with many interpretive signs at the picnic area when you first arrive at the site by the Honor Roll square structure. There is also an off-trail walk to the old koi pond at Stop 2 that you can navigate if you listen to the directions on the audio recordings.
Photographic Opportunity
The reconstructed barracks and guard tower at the south end of the site are two of the only structures standing above the open prairie. They are near the water tower, which is worth a short detour to see.
Explore More – Most of the 10,000 acres dedicated to Granada Relocation Center was for agriculture, so how many acres were used for residential and administrative buildings?
Near the Oklahoma border in southeast Colorado, Comanche National Grassland is comprised of two areas of shortgrass prairie co-managed with Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron National Grassland (in nearby Kansas). The Timpas Unit is in the watershed of the Purgatoire (or Picket Wire) River, while the more southern Carrizo Unit is mostly centered around Carrizo Creek, a tributary of the Cimarron River. There is a long history of human use of the canyons here, with petroglyphs dating back as far back as 8,000 years. Before giving the National Grassland its name, the Comanche pushed the Apache out of this area in the 1700s and their circular tipi rings can still be found. A branch of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail runs through the northern Timpas Unit with interpretive sites at Sierra Vista Overlook and Timpas Picnic Area (including a three-mile trail following the wagon tracks between the two).
Highlights
Picture Canyon, Crack Cave, Picket Wire Canyon, Dolores Mission, Rourke Ranch, Carrizo Canyon, Vogel Canyon, Santa Fe National Historic Trail
Must-Do Activity
Petroglyphs can be seen on trails near Vogel Canyon and Carrizo Canyon Picnic Areas, with the most famous found in Picture Canyon. It is about 16 miles of unpaved roads to access Picture Canyon from Highway 287, and there are vault toilets and picnic tables at the site. From there, the U.S. Forest Service traditionally leads a hike on Arch Rock Trail to Crack Cave on both the spring and fall equinox, when at dawn the sun’s rays illuminate a specific petroglyph that is usually behind a locked gate that blocks a narrow opening in the sandstone. A similar petroglyph with deeply-carved lines can be seen in an opening above a blue-tinted pictograph about a quarter-mile down the trail. Rock climbing is also a draw here, with a few permanent anchors in the sandstone behind the picnic tables.
Best Trail
It is a 17-mile drive down unpaved roads to Picket Wire Canyon, where a long trail leads to dinosaur tracks (19 miles out-and-back) and Rourke Ranch National Historic District (25 miles) that dates back to 1871. There are approximately 1,900 tracks left by Apatosaurs and Allosaurs over 150-million years ago. Along the way, look for petroglyphs, a model of a dinosaur fossil, and the ruins of Dolores Mission (see Photographic Opportunity).
Watchable Wildlife
Elevations range from 3,900 to 6,200 feet atop Fallas Mesa with ponderosa pine, pinyon pine, juniper, Gambel oak, and cottonwoods trees found in moister areas. Yucca and cacti are common in the prairie, as are desert-dwelling creatures like roadrunners and tarantulas (we saw one crossing the road). Hunters come here for mule deer, elk, pronghorn, and wild turkey in season. The National Grassland contains a lek for lesser prairie chickens, but it is typically closed during mating season due to their endangered status. About 328 bird species have been identified here, including many eastern birds at the extent of their range.
Photographic Opportunity
On the way to the dinosaur track site in Picket Wire Canyon, hikers pass Dolores Mission with a cemetery and the ruins of a small Catholic church dating back to 1898.
Peak Season
Spring and fall
Fees
None
Road Conditions
We have almost gotten stuck twice on the long dirt roads in Comanche National Grassland, once in deep mud following a spring thunderstorm and another time on thick ice following a spring blizzard.
Camping
It is free to disperse camp almost anywhere not on private lands in Comanche National Grassland, with the exception of the parking lots at the following canyons: Picture, Carrizo, Vogel, and Picket Wire.
Picture Canyon Picnic AreaArch Rock TrailSurprise overnight blizzardCarrizo CreekTiff and a tarantulaTarantulaTiff in Picket Wire CanyonSunflower and ladybugTiff with petroglyphsA shoulder blade (replica) from an ApatosaurusScott with dinosaur tracksBobcat on the trailTiff getting some lunch by the Picket Wire RiverAn old cemetery at Dolores MissionPetroglyphsA storm rolling inRaven about the grassland
Explore More – The markings in Crack Cave are theorized by some people to spell out what word in Ogam (an ancient Celtic alphabet)?
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