Tag Archives: tour

Jewel Cave National Monument

October 30, 2018 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

Sometimes overshadowed by nearby Wind Cave National Park, the third-longest mapped cave system in the world is located within Jewel Cave National Monument. Thick calcite crystals are the sparkly jewels that adorn the walls of this gem in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

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Highlights

Historic Lantern Tour, Scenic Tour, Wild Cave Tour, Canyons Trail

Must-Do Activity

The Scenic Tour is a good option for most first-time visitors, and the Historic Lantern Tour is the only way to go inside the historic entrance (online tour reservations are recommended). The Wild Cave Tour is reserved for those willing and able to squeeze through the 8.5 x 24-inch crawlspace located out front of the visitor center. It is a taste of what is to come during sections like the “Brain Drain.” Thick layers of manganese will permanently stain clothing worn by those brave enough to take this epic 4-hour journey that crawls less than half a mile past rare hydromagnesite balloons and gypsum flowers.

Best Trail

Most of the forest within the monument has burned, but Canyons Trail makes a 3.5 mile loop from the visitor center or Historic Ranger Cabin.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Most cave tours do not allow you to touch anything, but on the Historic Lantern Tour at the historic entrance to the cave (summer only) you can feel the 4-inch long calcite crystals (also called dogtooth spar) that formed like a bathtub ring as water slowly drained out.

Peak Season

Summer when the Historic Lantern Tour and Wild Caving Tour are offered.

Hours

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

Fees

None to park, but there is a charge for all tours.

Road Conditions

All roads paved. Note that the Historic Lantern Tour at the historic entrance to the cave is not at the main visitor center where the elevator is.

Camping

None, but plenty of places at Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and Black Hills National Forest.

Related Sites

Mount Rushmore National Memorial (South Dakota)

Buffalo Gap National Grassland (South Dakota)

Badlands National Park (South Dakota)

Nearest National Park

Wind Cave

A July 2017 525 — Wild Caving Tour patrons have to prove they can squeeze through this 8.5×24-inch crawlspace.

A P1000224 — …so they can do this later inside the cave.

A P1000232 — Thick layers of manganese will permanently stain clothing worn on the Wild Caving Tour.

August 2012 448 — Ranger at the entrance for the Historic Lantern Tour.

August 2012 505 — This formation is known as “Madonna and Child.”

Explore More – How many miles of the cave’s passages have currently been mapped?

Learn more about the other 137 National Monuments in our book Monumental America: Your Guide to All 138 National Monuments

Ohio

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park

October 17, 2018 Raven About The Parks 1 Comment

Overview

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park preserves Orville and Wilbur’s bicycle shop and explains the development of air travel at a museum next door and several other locations on the Aviation Trail. The brothers opened a flight school at Huffman Prairie where an interpretive center on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is run by the National Park Service (NPS). We recommend you try one of the flight simulators at the two sites; they are free and they help you understand yaw.

Highlights

Museums, historic buildings, flight simulators, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

Must-Do Activity

In addition to learning about the Wright Brothers, the NPS also has an exhibit on Paul Laurence Dunbar, a local African-American poet whose home is occasionally open for tours. When Orville Wright ran a print shop in high school, he published his classmate Dunbar’s work.

Best Trail

The Aviation Trail is not a walking trail, but it is mostly free, including the Parachute Museum and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Instagram-worthy Photo

The NPS museum across from the bike shop has a replica of the 1902 glider that the Wright brothers took to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Peak Season

Open year round

Hours

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

Fees

None, except at the Wright Brothers Aviation Center and Hawthorn Hill mansion.

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

None

The sales counter for the Wright brothers shop — Ranger-guided tours are the only way to get inside the Wright Cycle Company building.

The prices were a little shocking — Bicycles were expensive in 1895!

In a remade grocers of the time — Frank Hale’s grocery store has been restored in its original 1900-1917 location in Dayton.

A catapult like this replica helped with airplane liftoff — Huffman Prairie provides information on the Wright’s post-1903 experiments and flight school.

A memorial to the Wright Brothers

IMGP6108-001 — Try a Wright flight simulator; we were told the one at Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center is easier.

IMGP6109 — Tiff holds up her certificate saying she flew the Wright Flyer for 3 minutes without crashing.

Explore More – How many winters did the Wright brothers spend in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina perfecting their gliders before their historic flights on December 17, 1903?

WONDON WAS HERE

North Dakota

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

October 16, 2018 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

North Dakota

Managed by National Park Service

Established 1978

70,446 acres

Website: nps.gov/thro

Overview

Located in western North Dakota, Theodore Roosevelt National Park is where Teddy came in 1883 to become a cattle rancher prior to his political career. The park is divided into a North and South Unit (in different Time Zones), each with impressive vistas and wildlife. It is home to a demonstration herd of longhorn steers and free-ranging wild horses, plus reintroduced bison, bighorn sheep, and elk.

Know someone who loves National Parks? Gift them our travel guide A Park to Yourself: Finding Solitude in America’s 63 National Parks.

Highlights

Historic cabin, badlands, petrified forest, wildlife, hiking

Must-Do Activity

Teddy Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross cabin was relocated to the park’s South Unit visitor center, which is easily accessible off Interstate 94, as is the Painted Canyon Overlook and trail. A portion of the 36-mile paved scenic loop road is closed indefinitely due to melting from a decades long underground coal fire.

Best Trail

Wind Canyon Loop Trail in the South Unit is less than half a mile in length but offers an opportunity to walk on the eroding slopes of the badlands and an excellent vista of the Little Missouri River. We have also backpacked on the North Petrified Forest Trail, where we woke up near a sleeping bison bull (see photo below).

Instagram-worthy Photo

Cannonball concretions are sandstone spheres formed by groundwater and can be seen only in the North Unit badlands.

Peak Season

Summer, but late September has good fall colors.

Hours

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

Fees

$30 per vehicle or America the Beautiful pass

Road Conditions

The scenic drives are paved, and the gravel roads in the park are good enough for a passenger vehicle when dry, including the 60 mile drive to Elkhorn Ranch.

Camping

There are large campgrounds in both the North and South Unit.

Related Sites

Cedar River National Grassland (North Dakota)

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (North Dakota)

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site (North Dakota)

Bison can be seen in both the North and South Unit of the park

Scott in the petrified forest

Petrified wood

Tiff on the North Petrified Forest Trail

We woke up and saw this bison too close to our tent so we quietly left and came back later to pack up

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

Cafe Press

Explore More – The death of which two important women in his life led Roosevelt to flee New York for North Dakota in 1884?

Know someone who loves National Parks? Gift them our travel guide A Park to Yourself: Finding Solitude in America’s 63 National Parks.

New York

Fort Stanwix National Monument

October 11, 2018 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

After FDR protected this very first historic site within the National Park Service (NPS) system in 1935, Fort Stanwix was finally reconstructed in the 1970s after demolishing the existing buildings in downtown Rome, New York. Visitors today will surely agree it was worth the effort, as were the recent updates in the excellent Visitor Center.

Stanwix

Highlights

Reconstructed fort, best historical museum in the NPS System

Must-Do Activity

The NPS museum inside the Marinus Willett Visitor Center is superb with videos and kiosks providing four different characters’ perspectives on the events of the American Revolution in Upstate New York. There are also costumed reenactors inside the fort, another reason why this National Monument is an example of historical interpretation at its best.

Best Trail

A short trail follows a portion of the Oneida Carrying Place and another leads to the historic Erie Canal.

Instagram-worthy Photo

Viewed from the drawbridge, you get an up-close look at the parapet and fraise (sharpened wooden stakes) of the reconstructed Fort Stanwix.

Peak Season

Spring to fall

Hours

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

Fees

None

Road Conditions

All paved, but parking is limited

Camping

None within the 16-acre monument, but Delta Lake State Park is only 6 miles away.

IMGP0542

IMGP0510 — The free museum inside the Marinus Willett Center is first rate.

IMGP0519 — Fort Stanwix was originally built by the British during the French and Indian War

Americans rebuilt the abandoned fort during the Revolutionary War and survived a 21 day siege in 1777

IMGP0538 — Something in this photo is not historically accurate.

Explore More – The portage called the Oneida Carrying Place (one to 6 miles depending upon water levels) connected which two important waterways?

WONDON WAS HERE

New Jersey

Thomas Edison National Historical Park

October 8, 2018 Raven About The Parks Leave a comment

Overview

American inventor Thomas Edison still holds the record with 1,093 U.S. patents awarded during his lifetime. Most of those came while running the massive laboratories in West Orange, New Jersey from 1887 until his death in 1931. After perfecting the incandescent lightbulb in 1879, it was here he employed hundreds to work on improving his phonograph, motion picture camera, alkaline storage battery, and Portland cement (one of his most profitable ventures). The park also includes the family estate, Glenmont, located one-mile away (a tour ticket is required to enter the house).

Highlights

Historic laboratories and workshops, inventions on display, house tour

Must-Do Activity

The multi-story Main Laboratory is handicap accessible and contains 400,000 artifacts from Edison’s prolific career. On display are some of the world’s first electric coffee-makers, waffle irons, and toasters marketed by his company Edicraft in the 1920s.

Best Trail

A self-guided walk around the grounds of Glenmont includes Edison’s gravesite.

Instagram-worthy Photo

At the West Orange laboratory is a replica of “Black Maria,” the world’s first movie studio originally built in 1893 on a track that allowed it to pivot for better lighting.

2016NJedison4

Peak Season

Open year round, but not every day of the week

Hours

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

Fees

$15 per adult or America the Beautiful pass

Road Conditions

All roads paved

Camping

None

Entrance to the park

Tiff in the heavy machinery lab

Inside Edison's office/library

Tiff at the West Orange lab

Tiff with Thomas — Edison famously said “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”

Explore More – On the day of Thomas Edison’s funeral, how was homage paid nationwide?

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

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