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Do you agree - best state park?


Kirby

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Conde Nast lists their pick for best state park in each state.  Do you agree with the pick for your state? 

New York has a lot of nice parks to choose from, so what's "best" depends on what you want, but Watkins Glen is unique and beautiful.  People can have other favorites, but this is a worthy choice.

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/the-best-state-parks-in-the-us

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Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

Starved Rock is home to the stunning LaSalle Canyon, made of terraced sandstone walls carved out by glacial meltwater. Over 13 miles of trails provide visitors with access to impressive waterfalls, rocky cliffs, and overlooks of the Illinois River.

I guess I may be have a biased opinion.   I live about 10 minutes from this state park.  The place is was nice.   

Except....  now since the virus.  WAY too many people now travel to the state park.  For most of last year not too many places were open.   2.1 million people visited in 2020, and that was during the pandemic.  The park was closed for 1 or 2 months in 2020, and they still had millions of visitors.  :(   Not too many places were open in IL in 2020, people drove from everywhere to 'do something' outdoors.  

Before the virus, from time to time, we used to go there on a Sunday evening, and have dinner on the veranda overcooling the Illinois river.  It was wonderful... 

Now... WAY too many people on a weekend.  They close the parking lots at 11:00 AM because they are full. :(   We just avoid the place.   Possibly we may consider visiting on a weekday, but I'm still not sure I want to find out how many people are there. 

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2 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

The only one I know well is Baxter State Park in Maine, and it is a fantastic place.

Yeah.... that place is great.   WoBG and I hiked up to Chimney Pond.  We decided we'd skip going to the top of Mt Katahdin.  We were on a day hike and we wanted to get back to the camp ground sooner than later.

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18 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

I did Katahdin and the knife's edge years ago.

We were tired... and I wasn't sure knife's edge and my fear of heights were going to be compatible.  

We've been hiking places where you could fall a looooong way (on one side) and I was OK.   But that was just one drop off, not 2 like knife's edge.  I just didn't want to get into trouble...    

A 26 foot ladder for painting my home scared me to death each time I'd needed to paint the home.  A hot air balloon 2000 feet up... I was OK.  (go figure)

I found out about my issue with height at a power plant. I got off the elevator at an upper level, walked out and soon realized I could see hundreds of feet down thru the steel grating floor.   I was a noob, and the guy who was training me just laughed... 'your one of them'.   Yeah... I guess...  I never knew until that day.   

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This is a great post.  

And yes, Brown County in Indiana is by far the best state park IMO.  That is the site for our infamous Thanksgiving cooking camping trip every year.

Natural Bridge in Kentucky is super dope as well.  

 

I concur on both of those.

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12 hours ago, Kirby said:

Do you agree with the pick for your state? 

I've never been to the one listed for my state of Virginia!

I have been to four on the list, and liked them all.  In fact, we go almost every year to one of them for a week or more camping with family (Henlopen).

Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware - awesome - camping and the beach with lots of trails and near Rehoboth.

Assateague State Park, Maryland -wild horses!, the beach, and another place we have camped but it has the horrible grass spurs that tortured my pup's paws :(.

Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park - it was Hawaii, so, YEAH! Hikes to hidden beaches!

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah - very lovely and a wonderful spot to camp and watch the sun on the rocks towering above us. No beach, though :scratchhead:

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4 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

 I have never even heard of the one for Colorado, despite living not all that far away for a combined 10 years or so.  I guess you would have to think subjectively for a list like this.

Yep - never heard nor been to the VA one despite many years living there.  On the other hand, the fact that I have been to and even camped at several on the list show they are not just pulling random stuff from the azzes.  I think the responses here from other folks show that either we're a wild bunch or a the CN folks are pretty good?

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12 hours ago, Bikeguy said:

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

Starved Rock is home to the stunning LaSalle Canyon, made of terraced sandstone walls carved out by glacial meltwater. Over 13 miles of trails provide visitors with access to impressive waterfalls, rocky cliffs, and overlooks of the Illinois River.

I guess I may be have a biased opinion.   I live about 10 minutes from this state park.  The place is was nice.   

Except....  now since the virus.  WAY too many people now travel to the state park.  For most of last year not too many places were open.   2.1 million people visited in 2020, and that was during the pandemic.  The park was closed for 1 or 2 months in 2020, and they still had millions of visitors.  :(   Not too many places were open in IL in 2020, people drove from everywhere to 'do something' outdoors.  

Before the virus, from time to time, we used to go there on a Sunday evening, and have dinner on the veranda overcooling the Illinois river.  It was wonderful... 

Now... WAY too many people on a weekend.  They close the parking lots at 11:00 AM because they are full. :(   We just avoid the place.   Possibly we may consider visiting on a weekday, but I'm still not sure I want to find out how many people are there. 

Starved Rock is great; however, Cahokia Mounds deserves to be upgraded to a National Park. There's a lot of history there.

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Yep - never heard nor been to the VA one despite many years living there.  On the other hand, the fact that I have been to and even camped at several on the list show they are not just pulling random stuff from the azzes.  I think the responses here from other folks show that either we're a wild bunch or a the CN folks are pretty good?

Some of the choices were obviously made in states where there just isn't anywhere else even remotely nice to consider.  Other states have so many choices it would be almost impossible to pick the best.

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Assateague State Park may be the best in Maryland, but it's not accessible to most people.  In the first place you need a boat ride to get there,  In the second place the wild ponies are seldom visible on Chincoteague Island except during the Pony Roundup one day each year.  I've only seen Assateague and Chincoteague Islands from the mainland: there's nothing unusually special besides the Atlantic Ocean shores and the ponies.

Meanwhile, there's a Cypress Park on the nature-reserved Pocomoke River, just north of Assateague and south of Ocean City on the mainland with campsites radiating out from a circular roads with bathhouses in the middle, canoe rentals, and nature trails that I like a lot more.

On the Western Shore, west of Baltimore, north of Annapolis and D.C., and most accessible to the most people for a day-trip, Patapsco Valley State Park is the big favorite with its swinging bridge, nature trails, picnic areas, kids' play areas with swings, tunnels, etc. There are isolated sections of the park where you can hike along the banks of the river or along barren areas with beautiful stones where most of the world's chrome as well as other minerals were once mined.

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4 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

Assateague State Park may be the best in Maryland, but it's not accessible to most people.  In the first place you need a boat ride to get there,  In the second place the wild ponies are seldom visible on Chincoteague Island except during the Pony Roundup one day each year.  I've only seen Assateague and Chincoteague Islands from the mainland: there's nothing unusually special besides the Atlantic Ocean shores and the ponies.

????

Assateague is very accessible.  Likewise, during our times there, random wild horses - but not herds - have been easily observable (on Assateague) and, if folks were dopey about it, could be walked up to.  Heck, Assateague is part of the Seagull Century!

image.thumb.png.6905df769ef885c3c1e79822b5a8daa3.png

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5 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

I've never been to the one listed for my state of Virginia!

I have been to four on the list, and liked them all.  In fact, we go almost every year to one of them for a week or more camping with family (Henlopen).

Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware - awesome - camping and the beach with lots of trails and near Rehoboth.

Assateague State Park, Maryland -wild horses!, the beach, and another place we have camped but it has the horrible grass spurs that tortured my pup's paws :(.

Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park - it was Hawaii, so, YEAH! Hikes to hidden beaches!

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah - very lovely and a wonderful spot to camp and watch the sun on the rocks towering above us. No beach, though :scratchhead:

Dead Horse State Park near Moab, UT is pretty darn sweet too! Awesome MTB riding and better views than Canyonlands National Park.

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