Quote:
Originally Posted by RBard48
Next summer we want to head up the east coast (from our home in Florida) ending up at Acadia National Park. From there we want to head a northern route out west to Black Hills, Grand Canyon, etc and then come back a southern route. We are retired and not in a hurry by any means. Any suggestions other than "take it easy", "be safe" and "have fun" along the way?
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We did Florida to Maine and upstate NY this fall. If you're into actual camping as opposed to KOA type rv parks, a great place to stay in southern Maine is Hemlock Grove in Arundel, Me (near Kennebunk). Full HU in a lovely forested setting. Speaking of KOA's, the one in Fredericksburg Va has lots of trees and shade, unlike most. There are some great dry camping state parks in the Adirondacks, especially Cranberry Lake and Nick's Lake outside of Old Forge.
I disagree with another poster's assessment of Painted Desert. We thought it was quite pretty, although I agree there's not much to the Petrified Forest Part. I should put in here that, if you're retired, you're probably old enough (62) to buy a National Parks senior pass. They've raised the price to $80 but it's still way worth the money as you get into all federal fee areas and parks for free and camping is half price. Also, the vast majority of NP campground are dry, which doesn't bother us but might deter some.
If you're ok with dry camping, there's a really nice National Forest campground just outside the gate to Grand Canyon called 10-X. If you go across the very top of the US, go the Devil's Tower Nat'l Monument. The KOA there is literally at the gate to the park and they play Close Encounters on an outdoor screen every night.
Glacier NP is a must, especially if you want to go while there are still any glaciers left. Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, of course. The campgrounds in Yellowstone and crowded so make reservations early, Madison is one of the better ones. In Grand Teton we prefer Colter Bay but they do have an rv park with hookups. The lodge has a good breakfast buffet and it's only about 45 min into Jackson for great restaurants and shopping.
In Utah, there are 5 national parks - Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion, and Capital Reef - listed in my order of preferences.
There are tons of other great parks and places to go out west and we've probably been to most of them at least once. Let me know if you want to try to PM for more detail or other places.
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