National Parks – Page 2 – Wandering Dawgs

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Utah

August 15, 2017August 14, 2017Posted in National Parks, Nature, RVing, Utah, Wandering around AmericaTagged America the Beautiful, Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capital Reef, Dead Horse Point, Kodachrome Basin, WordPress Photo Challenge Elemental, Zion23 Comments

State 40:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state in my series is

Utah

Utah became the 45th state on January 4, 1896. The Capital is Salt Lake City.

As we drove through Utah exploring national and state parks the scenery was spectacular. There were red sandstone cliffs and hoodoos, multicolored striped mesas, white cliffs, red slick rock, arches and balanced rocks, canyons carved by river water, and twisting narrow highways with steep grades.

We had our first views of Utah as we entered the state from the southern border with Arizona.

B20060730Red-Canyon-Utah-(2) — Red Canyon

Our first Utah destination was Bryce Canyon National Park. After setting up camp at Ruby’s Inn we headed to Bryce to take an afternoon drive through the park. Just a few overlooks later our drive was cut short as the rain started coming down. By the time we got back to our campsite the rain was coming down in buckets. With better weather the next morning we returned to Bryce for some more views of the red sandstone formations called hoodoos.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Rainbow Point, Bryce Canyon National Park

Natural Bridge, Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Point, Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

As we traveled on scenic Utah Highway 12 from Bryce Canyon to Torrey we stopped for lunch at Kodachrome Basin State Park.

20060731Kodachrome-Basin-State-Park-(4) — Henry and Blondie are standing at the base of this hoodoo in Kodachrome Basin State Park

20060731Kodachrome-Basin-State-Park-(11) — Kodachrome Basin State Park

After lunch we continued to Torrey. The narrow highway climbed upward with several 8% and a couple of 10% grades. We were both happy when we arrived at Sand Creek RV Park safe and sound. There were no other campers in the park and our site had a great view of red cliffs and mountains.

The next morning we left the camper in the campground to make the 20 mile round trip scenic drive through Capitol Reef National Park.

20060801Capitol-Reef-NP-(6) — Capitol Reef National Park

20060801Capitol-Reef-Petroglyphs — Capitol Reef Petroglyphs

Traveling on Highway 24 from Torrey to Moab the scenery changed from red cliffs to all white cliffs to grey and gold mesas near a town called Luna Mesa.

20060801Driving-on-24-Luna-Mesa-3 — Driving through Luna Mesa on Highway 24 we felt like we were on the moon

Portal RV Park in Moab was our home for a few days while we toured Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and enjoyed several Moab restaurants.

We made several visits to Arches National Park and went on a few short hikes. I have a terrible fear of heights and was hesitant to do the Delicate Arch hike because there is a section where the trail is very narrow and high above ground. I am very happy that I didn’t let my fear keep me from making the hike that was the highlight of our visit to Arches.

20060803Delicate-Arch-Hike-(7)Henry-under-Delicate-Arch — Henry standing under Delicate Arch

20060803Delicate-Arch-Hike-(32)Petroglyphs — Petroglyphs at the bottom of the Delicate Arch trail

There were many other arches and formations in Arches National Park that we saw as we toured the park and walked on many short trails.

20060802Arches-NP-(9)Three-Gossips — Three Gossips at Arches National Park

20060802Arches-NP-(20)Balanced-Rock — Balanced Rock at Arches National Park

20060802Arches-NP-(33) — Arches National Park

20060804Landscape-Arch-Hike-(37)Double-Arch — Double Arch at Arches National Park

20060804Landscape-Arch-Hike-(38)Elephant — One of the Elephants on Parade at Arches National Park

Dead Horse Point was a short drive from our campground in Moab. The view from one of the overlooks provided a spectacular view of the Colorado River and the deep canyon.

20060804Landscape-Arch-Hike-(57) — Dead Horse Point State Park

We arrived at Canyonlands National Park just as the afternoon storms were rolling in.

20060804Landscape-Arch-Hike-(63)Canyonlands — Rain over Canyonlands National Park

Of all the Utah parks we visited, Zion is my favorite. Maybe it’s because we had this view from our campsite beside the Virgin River in the Watchman Campground. Or maybe it’s because our first night we watched the moon rise over Watchman.

20070528Zion-(23)Moon-rising-over-Watchman — Moon rising over Watchman in Zion National Park

Or maybe it’s my favorite because of the beauty of the park. To hop on the shuttle for a ride through the canyon all we had to do was take a short walk from our campsite to the Visitor’s Center. One day we took Blondie on a four mile hike on the Pa’Rus trail beside the Virgin River. Another day we took a ranger guided shuttle tour through the canyon in the morning and drove through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel to the East entrance after lunch. The landscape changed on the other side of the mountain and we discovered a herd of Big Horn Sheep.

20070529Zion-Blondie-in-Virgin-River — Blondie takes a dip in the Virgin River

20070529Zion-(19)Virgin-River — Virgin River in Zion National Park

20070529Zion-(51)The-Narrows — The Narrows in Zion National Park

20070530Zion-(20) — Menu Falls at Zion National Park

20070530Zion-(34)Three-Patriarchs — Three Patriarchs in Zion National Park

20070530Zion-(69) — Checkerboard Mesa in Zion National Park

20070530Zion-(78)Big-Horn-Sheep — Big Horn Sheep in Zion National Park

20070530Zion-(87)Big-Horn-Sheep — Big Horn Sheep in Zion National Park

Our adventures in Utah continued as we towed our fifth wheel through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel to our next destination, Gouldings Lodge and Campground in Utah near Monument Valley which is in the Navajo Nation Reservation in both Arizona and Utah.

John Wayne's Cabin from "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" — John Wayne’s Cabin at Goulding’s from “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”

20070531Monument-Valley-(29) — View of Monument Valley from Goulding’s Lodge and Campground

The elemental effects of nature on the earth are evident all over the state. Water and wind created these magnificent formations on the earth.

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – South Dakota

July 19, 2017July 19, 2017Posted in National Parks, RVing, South Dakota, State Parks, Tourist Attractions, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, Badlands, Bison, Custer State Park, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Needles Highway, Wordpress Photo Challenge17 Comments

State 37:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state in my series is

South Dakota

South Dakota became the 40th state on November 2, 1889. The Capital is Pierre.

Our travels have taken us through South Dakota a surprising number of times. The Corn Palace in Mitchell and Wall Drug Store in Wall are two fun places to take a travel break along Interstate 90.

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota

Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota

Like so many other people, we made the Black Hills our primary travel destination in South Dakota. There is so much to see there we couldn’t do everything we wanted on our first trip so we returned five years later. In addition to the spectacular scenery, the highlights of our visits were Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Custer State Park, the wildlife, Deadwood, Wind Cave National Park and Badlands National Park.

20060831Mt-Rushmore-(6) — Mount Rushmore National Monument

20060831Crazy-Horse-(3) — Crazy Horse Monument in 2006

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(116) — Crazy Horse Monument in the summer of 2011

Five years after our first trip to the Black Hills, we camped at Game Lodge Campground in Custer State Park. We loved being close to so much wildlife.

Custer State Park is home to herds of Bison, also known as American Buffalo. Many can be seen from the scenic Wildlife Loop Road. Some also like to hang out in other parts of the park and we often saw them near the Game Lodge Campground. There were many calves when we were there in early June. As we drove through the park and on the drive through Wind Cave National Park we saw bison, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs wild burros, and even white tail deer. This collage of the bison and other wildlife we saw in and around Custer State Park shows just a small sample of the wildlife that is there.

Bison on Wildlife Loop Drive

Huge bison herd on Wildlife Loop Drive

Bison in Custer State Park

Mama and Calf

Young bison

Take my picture!

Pronghorn Antelope

This buffalo was hanging out by the lodge

Friendly chipmunk at one of the overlooks on the Needles Highway

Pronghorn Antelope

Wild burro’s on the Wildlife Look Drive are not shy

Just driving through the Black Hills is an adventure and there are several scenic drives to enjoy. Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway are both narrow, steep, curvy roads with single lane tunnels. There were spectacular views from the Mount Coolidge Overlook at the end of another narrow road. Another day the views were spectacular as we drove through Spearfish Canyon but I forgot my camera that day!

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(16) — Along the Needles Highway in Custer Sate Park

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(80) — Eye of the Needle on the Needles Highway

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(98) — Needle Tunnel

20110601Custer-SP-(204) — Mount Rushmore from one of the tunnels on Iron Mountain Road

20110601Custer-SP-(157) — View of Crazy Horse Monument from the top of the Coolidge Overlook in Custer State Park

Deadwood is famous for being the town where Wild Bill Hickok was shot by Jack McCoy in the Number 10 Saloon in 1876. In the new Number 10 Saloon visitors can see a reenactment of the shooting of Wild Bill and there are reenactments in the street with gunslingers. We took the drive to his grave in the nearby Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Wild Bill Hickock was killed in Deadwood

Gunslingers in the streets of Deadwood

Reenactment of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickock (with the long hair and mustache playing cards)

At her request, Calamity Jane was buried next to Wild Bill Hickok at the Mt. Moria Cemetery in Deadwood

View of the town of Deadwood from the Mt. Moriah Cemetery

We discovered a couple of delightful campgrounds outside of the Black Hills during our South Dakota journeys. The owners are hard working and helpful at the Belvidere East KOA. Blondie enjoyed the dog park and we loved the Indian Tacos at their restaurant. The sunset was great, too.

Mina Lake State Recreation area near Aberdeen was a perfect place to chill after our time in the Black Hills. The park was practically empty and the camp hosts were friendly and helpful. They even brought us some pheasant appetizers one evening.

20110609AMMina-Lake-(1) — Mina Lake State Recreation area near Aberdeen

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Montana

May 27, 2017Posted in Glaciers, Historic Sites, Montana, National Parks, RVing, Tourist Attractions, Wandering around America, WaterfallsTagged Glacier National Park, Going to the Sun Road, Great Falls, Little Big Horn, Our Lady of the Rockies29 Comments

State 24:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is

Montana

Montana became the 41st state on November 8, 1889. The capital is Helena.

We visited Glacier National Park in 2006 on our very first cross country RV trip. The National Park had just opened back up after a wildfire when we arrived at Johnson’s RV Park. The smell of smoke was heavy in the air and many firefighters were still in the area. Our campsite sat on top of a hill overlooking St. Mary’s Lake.

Driving from the eastern entrance of Glacier National Park to the western entrance in West Glacier on the 55 mile long steep and curvy Going to the Sun Road was the highlight of our visit. After wandering around West Glacier we turned around and returned to St. Mary the same way we came. We also enjoyed exploring the St. Mary side of Glacier.

20060815Glacier-(17) — Glacier National Park, Montana

20060815Glacier-(32) — Glacier National Park, Montana

20060815Glacier-(48) — Glacier National Park, Montana

20060815Glacier-(50) — Glacier National Park, Montana

The next year we traveled to Montana again, this time to visit the Little Big Horn National Monument near Hardin. While we were in the area we made a day trip to Big Horn Canyon.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana

20070416Little-Bighorn-Battlefield-(2) — Little Bighorn Battlefield

20070416Bighorn-Canyon-(10) — Bighorn Canyon

Earlier in that same trip we had gone through snow storms in Minnesota so we kept an eye out the weather after we left Hardin. We made a quick overnight stop in Garrison, Montana. Everything was fine when we went to sleep that night. The next day we woke up to several inches of snow. We were headed west with more snow moving towards us from the east so we skedaddled out of there as fast as we could and arrived safely at our next destination in Washington.

20070418Three-State-Day-(1) — After the storm in Garrison, Montana

Several years later we enjoyed spectacular scenery as we traveled through Montana on the way to Alaska. We spent a night at Cardwell Store and Campground and three nights in Great Falls before crossing into Alberta, Canada about 120 miles north of Great Falls.

Mountains in the distance in Cardwell, Montana

Our Lady of the Rockies overlooking Butte, MT

Snow on the mountains between Butte and Great Falls — It was snowing over the mountains between Butte and Great Falls

In Great Falls we took care of some business and stocked up on supplies before continuing north to Canada and Alaska. We also got to do a little sightseeing.

Statue honoring Lewis and Clark at the Visitor's Center — Statue honoring Lewis and Clark at the Visitor’s Center

On our way home from Alaska two and a half months later we spent two more nights in Montana as we traveled east towards Georgia.

A Bear cub with fish in our campsite in St. Regis, Montana

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Mississippi

April 29, 2017November 29, 2017Posted in Mississippi, National Parks, RVing, Wandering around AmericaTagged America the Beautiful, beach, Buccaneer State Park, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi River, Oxford, tamales, Vicksburg, Waveland13 Comments

State 22:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is

Mississippi

Mississippi became the 20th state on December 10, 1817. The capital is Jackson.

Our travels have taken us through Mississippi on two interstates and numerous state roads. Driving along the state roads we passed by the Jim Henson museum in his birthplace of Leland, B.B. King’s birthplace in Itta Bena, Tennessee Williams birthplace in Columbus, and many historic places along the Blues Trail,

Our wandering has taken us to Vicksburg twice. Both times we camped at the Ameristar Casino RV Park across the street from the Mississippi River. We enjoyed touring Vicksburg National Military Park and seeing the views of the Mississippi River.

Vicksburg National Military Park

Cairo Museum at Vicksburg National Military Park

The mighty Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Mississippi

Barge on the Mississippi River in Vicksburg

Another one of our trips took us along I-10 through Mississippi. Buccaneer State Park was a great overnight stop. You can read more about our stay at A night on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Walking along the beach in Waveland, Mississippi

Majestic oaks in the campground — Majestic oaks in Buccaneer State Park

While staying in a campground across the Mississippi River in Arkansas we made a day trip to Greenville, Mississippi for some Tamales at Doe’s Eat Place. They were so delicious we made a return trip a couple of years later. More about the tamales at BBQ, Pie and Tamales.

Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, Mississippi — Doe’s Eat Place in Greenville, Mississippi

Three dozen Mississippi Delta hot tamales

We traveled to Oxford in the fall of 2016 for a football weekend at Ole Miss. Friday afternoon downtown and tailgating at the Grove were fun, the game not so much. I posted about our stay here.

Tailgating Tents as far as the eye could see — Tailgaters in The Grove before a football game

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Kentucky

February 27, 2017July 13, 2017Posted in Kentucky, National Parks, RVing, Tourist Attractions, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged Bison, Bourbon, Kentucky Horse Park, Land Between the Lakes, Mammoth Cave, Wild Turkey Distillery14 Comments

State 15:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is the Bluegrass State –

Kentucky

Kentucky became the 15th state on June 1, 1792 and the capital is Frankfort.

When I think of the Bluegrass state I think of horses, bourbon, and Colonel Sanders famous Kentucky Fried Chicken. We never got a chance to visit the original Kentucky Fried Chicken but we did get to experience horses and bourbon and a whole lot more.

Late one fall we set up camp at the Kentucky Horse Park State Park near Lexington. Seeing these magnificent horses was the highlight of our visit to the area.

One very overcast day we left the horse park for a scenic drive by many beautiful horse farms and a tour of the Wild Turkey Distillery located right beside the Kentucky River.

Bridge over Kentucky River at the Wild Turkey Distillery

Wild Turkey Bourbon is aged these barrels

Until we visited the Elk and Bison Prairie in the Land Between the Lakes I never knew that bison once roamed in this area of the United States.

The Land Between the Lakes has been a perfect stop over for us several times in our wandering. It doesn’t get much better than camping near a body of water and Canal Campground in the Land Between the Lakes is one of our favorite Corps of Engineers park.

Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal COE — Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal Corps of Engineers Campground

Located in central Kentucky, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system known in the world. There are many options for guided tours of the cave. Above ground the scenery is beautiful with hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

Mammoth Cave National Park

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky