Wild America: Best national or state park you have visited? (camping, living in)

[workaholics]

My personal favorite is the great smoky mountains national park. It's rugged and breathtakingly gorgeous.

[601halfdozen0theother]

I love the Smokies too, because went there often when young. But that park is overvisited now in my opinion - too many people. Same thing with Yosemite.

Glacier is gorgeous! One of my friends is a Ranger there. What a life!

The Apostle Islands are a wonderful vacation. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore - Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

The Buffalo River was a lazy, mmmmm sort of a trip. www.nps.gov/buff/

Oh, really too many to mention.

But some of the best are small, obscure state parks. I think my favorite camping trip was in Oklahoma, when I stopped at Alabaster Caverns: Alabaster Caverns State Park | TravelOK.com - Oklahoma's Official Travel & Tourism Site

When I lived in AR I kept visiting Old Washington Historic State Park because I just want to live there.

I live near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area part of the year now, so have complex opinions about it. If you come here, please don't behave like an ignorant a d..k!

[ja1myn]

I was speechless at the natural beauty of all the state parks I visited in Colorado. I was like 13 at the time and had never been outside of NY. I was in awe and had never seen anything like it.

[kyle19125]

I like the Smoky Mountains too but prefer the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north and the Skyline Drive area where the scenery/views are fantastic. The Smokys are typically very cloudy/drizzly/rainy which cuts down on long range vistas a lot. For me of all of the parks the most unexpectedly beautiful was Zion National Park in Utah. You pretty much expect beauty from Yosemite or Yellowstone but found Zion to be a complete surprise. Pictures and descriptions don't do it justice.

[ischyros]

I don't know if I can name just one because they are all so varied and different! I'm going to say Yosemite but I'm biased because I lived and worked there for a while. Still, every time I would leave the park and drive down to Fresno for the day or something, when I would come back and get that first view of the valley again, even after months of living in it, it was like seeing it for the first time all over again. I could sit at tunnel view for hours.

[jtur88]

Best state parks are in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Illinois, and Missouri, where the owners of the parks (the general public) are not assessed a fine at the gate when they attempt to enter.

[Bydand]

There are so many that offer such a range of sights and experiences. There is no way I could name my #1 because the choice would change depending on mood and what I wanted to see/do. My top picks (in no particular order) that cover a lot of different choices are:

Isle Royale National Park located in Lake Superior.
Arcadia National Park on Mt. Desert Isle in Maine
Yellowstone National Park
Arches National Park
Fayette State Park located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Baxter State Park in mid-Maine
John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon.

There are a ton more that I love to visit, but each of these in my list stand out TO ME for different reasons and are among my favorites.

[601halfdozen0theother]

Oh yeah - I was trying to remember the name of Fayette State Park in the UP. What a cool place, with great camping, too!

[oregonwoodsmoke]

National, no way to beat Yosemite and Yellowstone.

[DubbleT]

Pictured Rocks!
https://www.google.com/search?q=pict...w=1280&bih=563

Not that anyone should be surprised by that as much as I've posted it, lol.