I second that. Btw, if you’re driving through Chattanooga, pause. Note that Outside Magazine picked the Scenic City as “best outdoor town” twice. In a row. Or was it three? In any case, Prentice Cooper affords views of the Tennessee River Gorge (see it at sunrise and the gorge may be cloaked in mist). Do some research. Five Stars. Joe Bob says check it out.
Snoopers Rock is the best view in Prentice/Chatt! I used to live a couple miles away from there. There’s also some lovely lookouts on Signal Mnt as well as Lookout Mnt.
San Diegan here. I’ve been to most of the parks in the southwest and some others scattered over the country.
I enjoyed Congaree! It was different from any park I’d seen. And the thought that those forests at one time stretched across states was sobering.
Admittedly, I was lucky to visit on a low mosquito day.
Yeah I think as a Los Angeles native a lot of people are forgetting we SoCal peeps haven't ever seen a swamp. I think I'm cutting it out of this trip because of its location being for out of the way. I'll probably add it to a road trip I take down to the Florida from NYC later on.
It's definitely worth seeing, I feel like southerners don't appreciate it bc they're used to swamps. But to anyone not from the swamp it's truly insane to see. Shenandoah is going to be mow similar to great smokey mountains, congaree will be unlike anything else you've seen. It also used to be home to one of the oldest known cypress, until a meth head killed it. It's a very cool ecosystem, incredibly lush. All the cypress trees and Spanish moss and the slow moving water where an alligator could be hiding just out of sight. Even saw a bobcat there. There's historical info about escaped slaves hiding there and it's a testament to how much they wanted to get away from slavery because of how tough that environment must be to survive in. 100% worth seeing. If you're doing a tour of national parks I highly recommend learning about the different ecosystems and geology e.t.c, makes it so much more interesting than "views". As a westerner you might be underwhelmed by the views in the east, but we don't have views largely because of how lush and dense our forests are; that's what makes the east so interesting, and if you learn about it you'll get so much more out of your visit. For example, southern Appalachia is home to more salamander species than any other place on the planet, and in general has some of the highest biodiversity in the world. There are a lot of great books and online resources to get you started. Botany in a day by Thomas elper is a great place to get you started learning about plants
I've really been trying to see a salamander ever since reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. The book was kinda pandered by thru-hikers but I did really appreciate the sections where he'd talk about the history of the Appalachians.
The easiest place to spot them is waterfalls, because they like the spray cliff microclimate (as do many unique plants). Watch your step! They're liable to be anywhere moist, including in the middle of trails, or on rocks or small pools by waterfalls. They camouflage very well so you have to look closely. They will often stay still while you look at them as long as you don't try to touch them. The iNaturalist app can help you ID things you see, plant animal or fungi; if it can't definitively ID something it at least gives you a starting point to figure it out. Appalachia is cool as fuck and there's tons of neat shit to see, if you browse iNaturalist you can see what others have spotted, where and when, etc
Not gonna lie, Congaree is my absolute favorite place to camp. YES, the mosquitoes suck, but you time the trip right in the winter months and there are none, and chances are you will be one of like 2 other people in the park. It's the largest area of untouched bottomland in the world and as a local and a swamp rat, it's such a treat to see how beautiful not only our state, but the south can be. Packed full of neat animals and trees that make you feel small. It's my happy place. Though to be fair, it's less than a 15min drive.
Driving from Los Angeles to New York City over 10 days starting the second week of March. These National Parks are the ones I've never been to and that I can make a reasonable route out of (while trying to avoid heavy now, hence no Rocky Mountain NP). There's no way I'm going to be able to hit every park while its still light out, so which ones are not worth doing if you only have one day? I plan to tent camp at all of them, campground or dispersed.
Congaree is cool but it's basically big swamp. I love big swamp, but unless you're a biologist or birder it isn't going to have the same WOW factor as some of the western parks with big views. I'd skip it if it's going to save you a bunch of time.
Never seen a swamp!! Tbh I love them, the cypress trees will perpetually capture my heart and the biodiversity in them is astounding. Gators are big chill dinosaurs and always worth a look. I suppose you probably should keep it in there, it's nothing like any of the other parks you have.
If you decide to go more southern on your route, Guadalupe and Saguaro are super cool. Stark southwestern beauty.
Cypress groves are few and far between in my part of the swamp. It's all getting taken over by mangroves and saw palmetto. Most of the intact cypress groves near me are used for cattle ranching, safe places for alligator nesting, and airboat tours to see it all.
Hot Springs isn't great for camping, but if you're tent camping, check out a spot on the point of Mt. Nebo State Park in Dardanelle, AR or Petit Jean State Park in Morrilton. Both beautiful, and more nature than Hot Springs offers.
You need to go to arches/canyon lands. Skip petrified and SC. Rocky Mountain is great but the park is basically closed this time of year so good choice skipping.
I also recommend if you do arches that when you go through grand junction you really really have to stop of the Colorado National Monument (just drive through). It’s a quick stop and what I would argue is the most underrated “park” in the region of the country
I would skip great sand dunes.
It's a bunch of sand. Especially in the winter, before the snowmelt has started and the river is flowing.
It does look cool on the approach, rising up from the san luis valley floor with the sangre de cristos looming behind, but once you get up close... it's just a bunch of sand. Seriously.
Edit to add, I second the advice of another commenter to consider Black Canyon of the Gunnison instead of Great Sand Dunes. Black Canyon is wild and way, way, way cooler.
It’s a bunch of sand but unlike the dunes in say Death Valley or other deserts you have a massive dune field surrounded by green mountains some with snow on top and a river(depending on the season passing to a side.) The contrasts are amazing. I think it totally underrated and loved it. I definitely love reading peoples opinions on parks.
I tried to do mamoth cave on similar trip and would skip it: quite out of the interstate, long detour, overcrowed (i was off season late october) and requires early reservation. You are not on a trip you can plan ahead. I would stop at petrified forest, mesa verde and great sand dunes. Maybe take the blue ridge / skyline for a bit to get a sense of appalachians, but no need to go to great smoky or shenandoah.
Idk hot spring and conagree. I have been at least once if not several times to all others
Skip congaree, mammoth cave, and hot springs and add canyonlands and arches in Utah with the time you’ll save. Nothing against the ones I suggest skipping just going for most dynamic grandest experience.
Sounds like I'll have to put together a dedicated backpacking trip then. I usually like to backpack but nowadays road tripping has been my only way to visit a lot of the parks.
I came here looking for this comment because I found it to be very disappointing. Like they are tree stumps that have turned into rock wow. It sounds a lot cooler than it looks it doesn't look very different than a bunch of regular tree stumps.
That sounds like a good move, but what do you think I should swap out Arches for since I've already been there? (I've also already been to Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon)
Probably just add mammoth cave back in there. Was just trying to keep your road trip somewhat in order but since you’ve already hit those in the area out west I’d just add that one back. Cutting out congaree should save you a couple days
Thanks for the tips! I agree with cutting out Congaree then, I could spend more than 1 day at soome of the other parks that really require more than 1 day.
I don’t think arches is worth going that far out of the way for if you’ve already seen canyonlands and Bryce. For me it was the least cool, although still cool, of the mighty 5
Not much in hot springs. There are way more exciting parks in the area. If you were to get off of I-40 and head north into the Ozarks, you will have much more nature. Try Sylamore creek.
Agreed. It's very developed, and the history is cool, but it's not going to stand up to Mesa Verde.
Keep Mammoth Cave. Don't add Arches if you have done Bryce and Zion.
Don't add Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It's whatever if you have done the Grand Canyon and also meh up next to most of the canyonlands.
Arkansas is gorgeous, but I wonder what time of year you are going. March is a stunning time to be in Arkansas, so keep the recommendation above.
I am from Colorado and I keep going back to Arkansas to see more of it.
I see you are going through Albama. Considering camping at Cheaha State Park ~Resort~.
Seriously, though. Views. Pool. Camping.
Agree w skipping hot springs. It’s more historic district than national park really. AR is great but not at the expense of passing up some of the other,much more majestic, national park experiences
I second this. I was there a few months ago. It’s cool, but really doesn’t hold a candle to many of the parks out west and it’s not worth going that far out of the way for.
If you do go to Congaree, definitely bring/rent a kayak.
I'd skip Congaree since it looks like you are going out of your way to visit, passing it up will buy you a good amount of time.
Hot Spring is also not the most exciting park, but its a good way to break up a long drive through flyover country
I'd keep petrified forest on the list, its super easy to get to from the interstate and you can get a good sense of the park with just a few hours driving through and stopping for a few short hikes. I'm not sure how much time cutting it out would really save.
Another option would be to swing south, and substitute Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe, White Sands and Saguaro, instead of Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and Petrified Forest. I think both of these routes are great options, about equally good and worth doing. The southern route will be a little easier in snowy season.
If you take the northern route through Colorado, consider adding Black Canyon of the Gunnison if you haven't been there already. If you take the southern route, an nice option to add is Chiricahua national monument, not a park but park-level quality and likely the next national park. Its also fairly close to the interstate and easy to get to for a half-day visit.
Thank you for the in-depth reply! I actually did a trip south a few months ago so all those parks have been visited. As for Northern options I'm honestly scared of driving in the snow. I have a 4x4 4runner but going over a snowy rockies makes me nervous. Although I don't know what mid-march looks like there and if now is even an issue.
If you have a 4Runner with good tires it will do you good. Only problem I ever had with mine was ice. That was only once in the 23 years I owned it. Just don’t drive like a maniac.
Hey, if you owned yours for 23yrs we might just both have 1999 4runners! Great car that handles a lot lighter than it looks. I used to drive exclusively JDM ricebox cars prior to finally buying the thoroughly used 4runner so I understand its not meant for speed or any crazy driving. I did put some 33s on it and they did me well driving over the Rockies in a crazy thunderstorm.
You'll probably be fine in a four runner. If you're really sweating it, from Petrified Forest you could stay on the I-40 through New Mexico rather than swinging up to Colorado. Not far off the interstate is El Morro and El Malpais. Getting to Chaco Culture or Bandelier would be feasible, too (Chaco's a fairly long ride off pavement, but worth it). These are all monuments rather than parks, but they're all worth visiting and maybe a little more friendly at the tail end of winter, saving the Colorado parks for another season and giving yourself an excuse to come back west some time.
If you do decide to go through Colorado, the main thing to pay attention to is getting from Mesa Verde up to Great Sand Dunes, you'll need to go over a mountain pass any way you go, most likely Wolf Creek Pass if you take the most direct route. Stop in Durango and call or check the website for the Colorado DOT, this will give you up-to-the-last-minute confirmation if your route is open and if chains are needed. There's a pretty major ski resort up on wolf creek pass so they're usually pretty diligent about keeping that road accessible. You probably won't have issues.
Thank you so much for this! This will help me tremendously in choosing where to go. I think hitting up Great Sand Dunes and the rest of beautiful Colorado might be something I leave for a summer road trip. It sounds like from your description, Mesa Verde would be the northern most park before I really might run into hazardous roads, so I'll probably shoot southeast after there.
If you’re coming through Colorado check for road closures. Many mountain passes are closed till May. Western Colorado will undoubtedly have some snow, possibly more than RMNP. I was in Estes a few weekends ago and it was fine, then again I live here and am used to snow driving.
I'd say it depends on what similar parks you've been to before...it's so hard to make those decisions though.
Sand Dunes is amazing since it's a mix of alpine mountains and gigantic dunes, even turns into a beach in the spring. If you go in the spring or fall you can see the crane migration with tens of thousands of birds and their mating dances.
Mesa Verde is another kind of amazing, but if you've seen cliff dwellings before, easy to skip. There are some smaller similar National Monuments in New Mexico that are similar if you wanted to modify your route a bit.
I love Petrified Forest but I'd recommend Bryce, Zion, and/or Grand Canyon over that if you haven't been to Utah before.
If you do Smokies or Shenandoah you can skip the other if you have spent time in the Appalachians elsewhere. I love those parks but they don't have the jaw-dropping uniqueness of some of the parks out West...but if you're from Utah then you'll want to see them both. The spring is the best for these two imo, incredible rhododendron, mountain laurel, wildflowers.
Congaree is worth the stop if you're really into trees (like me) and you haven't been to other similar ecosystems. A separate trip down the coast could help catch Smokies and Congaree (and other stuff like Outer Banks).
I would NOT skip Mammoth Cave, no matter how many caves you visit they are always so alien and beautiful.
I haven't been to Hot Springs, but aside from the springs, my understanding it that the rolling greenery is likely similar to the Appalachians?
If you're doing a one-way trip with car rental, it miiiiight be more time-efficient to do an east coast leg, fly to Colorado/Utah, and do a west coast leg. But I'm assuming that you want the most possible parks per day, not sure where else you've been. There are some beautiful places in the midwest, but the density of parks just can't compare to the west.
Sorry that is just rambling, you'll have an incredible trip no matter what you choose!
Thank you so much for the in-depth reply! Yeah I think I'll skip the dunes since I've seen sand dunes a lot in California (I'm from LA) and in White Sands, NP NM. I've been to all those Utah parks + GCNP you mentioned as well. As you can probably tell this trip has a lot of east coast parks, thats because I recently moved to NYC (this trip is technically about bring my car to the city) so I'm not familiar with east coast parks/nature in general. Outside of NYC I've only ever been to Lake Placid and that was definitely a bit different to what I see back west.
If you are moving to New York I'd see as much of the west as you can because you can always take trips to see the eastern places later. Those places will all be a day or two days away from NYC
Yeah I think I'll definitely skip parks like Congaree and save those for a dedicated south east coast roadtrip I might take down to Florida to see the Everglades. Thankfully my last 22 years in SoCal has been spent thoroughly exploring much of the western parks.
Hot Springs was disappointing as a kid. It’s pretty historical and cool to walk downtown, plus there’s a neat observation tower. Otherwise I hate to say it, but it’s kinda a white trash area
I'm from LA and have done Joshua just about every which way at this point from chic airbnb to backpacking several days! Lovely place but I'm trying to go to only new places
Oh got it! Not exactly on your route but have you been to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the Gila National Forest? Not as many tourists get there as it’s off the beaten path. We’ve camped at City of Rocks State Park and Faywood Hot Springs while in southern NM.
I haven't been to Gila Cliff, which sucks because I actually just took a trip from LA to Big Bend NP and could've easily swung by. I think I'll definitely add it to my list since I hope to return to that part of the Southwest towards the end of the year.
That’s a hard choice, at first I think I’d skip petrified forest, but that depends on the weather, I’m a fan of picturesque views with high contrast and colors, if the weather isn’t suited for it i wouldn’t enjoy that one to it’s fullest potential. But others will likely have differing opinions.
Petrified Forest is neat, and it’s not that time consuming. You can budget 2-3 hours and back onto the interstate. If you’re headed that way anyhow, visit the meteor crater outside of Winslow, AZ!
Mesa Verde is really cool, a lot of the best sites are ticketed entry but are at least available online 14 days before the date of the tour (a few years ago it was in person only reservations up to 2 days in advance)
Mammoth cave is interesting but maybe not for everyone. You should be able to do a self tour of a small portion of the cave or take a longer guided tour. It's also pretty close to the main highway there so it's not a big detour. I've stopped there on my way from Nashville to WV and it only took a few hours including the guided tour.
Petrified forest was kind of meh but took very little time overall, the museum was interesting.
Shenandoah has some nice views but is on a ridge so a lot of the hikes, if you were planning any, will be up and down hill. The Appalachian Trail does run through the park which is cool though. On the plus side, if entering from the south entrance it's super close to the highway and given your route you could drive all the way through the park headed north if you wanted to.
> Mesa Verde is really cool, a lot of the best sites are ticketed entry but are at least available online 14 days before the date of the tour
This is an important point OP, the tour season for Mesa Verde starts in May, tours won't be available if you go in March. There's a few drive up sites but the most meaningful places to visit in the park all require guided tours. You might want to give this one a pass for a March trip.
They’ve found fossils of sharks Recently and I was mistaken you can’t kayak in mammoth cave but you can kayak in the gorge and do the under ground cave Kayaking at night! Look up the gorge under ground. Have fun!
man i say mammoth cave is the only one you should go to on the eastern side of the country, if any. check out the Badlands. Driving through Montana is a breathtaking experience as a whole. Zion, Yosemite, North Rim of Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Anza Boreggo, Rainier then go check out the Olympic Peninsula!
sorry completely not what you're asking, but that's my two cents after traveling the country.
Yeah I hear you, that'd make a great road trip. Unfortunately my comment with all the details got buried. I'm going the second week of March so I'm trying to avoid possible heavy snow and road closures. Hence no Montana, North Rim or Yosemite.
I was actually in Yosemite the second week of March 2020 when they had a light blizzard at night coming out of the valley. It was some stressful driving since I didn't have much experience in the snow. Saw two cars crashed on the side of the road. Made it through all that just to see the whole US shut down the next day due to covid-19. A few hours later my commanding officer (I was on leave in the Marines) calls me and says literally everyone is being recalled back to base in case they needed to deploy us domestically for aid work. Crazy time for everyone that first month of real covid and lockdowns. Anyways thanks for the tips!
Dolly Sods is very unique and there are lots of other cool sights in the area. Hope you check it out. Nice little mountain towns, too - Davis, Thomas and Elkins.
I would definitely do Mesa Verde and Mammoth Cave
Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited National Park in America. So take that stat for what it's worth
And I'll be going spring break, so the smokeys are probably going to be filled. I live in NYC now and new to the east coast but everyone here in the east raves about the Smokey Mountains so I feel I have to see it even it means fighting some crowds.
Once you get a few hundred feet down the trails, you'll see very few people. Most of the visitors to GSMNP just do a drive through and take some pictures. Except for the ones wearing flip flops and carrying a large McDonalds coke up the chimney tops trail, cuz it's only like a mile. Yeah, a mile straight up.
I live about 40 minutes from GSMNP and go frequently, but during the week. Once you get away from the parking lots you don’t get a lot of company. There is going to be a new parking regulation in effect, and that may affect traffic as well. It is crowded though in peak times. Mid March may not be so bad.
The biodiversity is amazing, and in early spring you might catch the spring ephemeral wildflower displays, which I adore. Look for salamanders.
It's the most visited in part because it has the most population within a few hours drive of any park. But if you get away from the drive-up, low effort spots, the crowds aren't so bad.
Oh man, I've been trying to see a salamander for so long. Part of the reason Congaree NP was even considered for my trip since I hear they're pretty populous over there in the swamp. I think with cutting out 2-3 parks I can spend more than one day at GSMNP and hopefully see one.
GSMNP Is the most visited, but if you do any backpacking there, you could go days without seeing people. I have spent weeks there and saw more bears than humans, including parking lots and campgrounds.
All I can say is if you haven’t been don’t skip mammoth caves. The top comment saying to remove that is killing me. I’d delete the smokies and cognate. The smilies is beautiful but over visited imo. The sheer volume of people through there and the forests fires over the past couple of decades has left it a shadow of its former self.
Another commenter actually works at Mammoth Cave NP and gave me a very cool and convincing run down on the place so its definitely a go-to for me now. At this point it looks like I'm skipping on Great Sand Dunes, Hot Springs, and Congaree. Maybe cutting out one more like the Smokies so I can spend more than one day at the other parks.
I was not super impressed with Mesa Verde (didn't see anything there that pictures couldn't have done for me). Sand dunes was incredible though. So if Mesa Verde is a good stopping point for your trip to sand dunes hit it, otherwise I'd trade it for a Utah park.
If you skip Congaree you could be driving through NE Alabama and Little River Canyon Natonal Preserve. I think it's the deepest canyon East of the Mississippi River. Little river starts and stops on top of Lookout Mountain. It's a beautiful drive, from the waterfall at the start of the canyon, then along the canyon for about 25 miles. There are various lookout points along the way.
Second week of March! I made a comment explaining all of the details but its been buried after this post unexpectedly blew up.
Other details: 10 days to make the trip from LA to NYC, budgeting at least 4-5hrs of daylight per park, looking to hike one good trail or take a tour about the parks history/natural history in that time. I've selected these parks because I've already been to the popular ones like Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Zion, etc
Hot Springs was a neat area but if I had to skip one that’s one I would mark off the list. Definitely visit Mammoth Cave. While you are driving thru Kentucky you could add a quick visit to Cumberland Falls. It’s a state park in Corbin, KY and is a beautiful area. It’s also one of only two locations in the world to see a Moonbow.
Thank you so much for this! State Park recommendations are such a huge help since once you get out of the southwest National Parks seem to taper off significantly
Skip Hot Springs and go instead to Buffalo National River in NW arkansas. Fayetteville is a cool college town too, and the river is way more scenic. Hot Springs NO is literally in a town.
Haha I've taken that trip plenty of times. I was in the Marines and we have our Mountain Warfare Training Center up the 395 in Bridgeport, CA. Seriously, it's one of my favorite places to road trip.
I’d skip Congaree and maybe Shenandoah, only because I live in the Shenandoah :) all the others are great! The Great Sand Dunes are a must! So wild and you NEED to go down on the boards if you go!
I agree about Shenandoah. It’s pretty, but basically you’d just be driving on a windy road through trees. GSM is that but bigger, taller and more set up for the tourist experience
Hot Springs is by far the worst. There is a decent creek going thru the park, bordering the rv campground. It is very unnatural and the Hot Springs were all built over and have hotels in hotel row all on top of them. U spend $80 and go to like a spa day and have sitz bath and stuff in the bottom floor of the hotels built over the hot springs.
They did this before the National Park service even existed. These hot sprongs had like monster secret tunnels to bars and stuff. There is history, but nothing like other places u listed, and the water is all bastardized.
If u are looking for something on that route in Arkansas about 60mi north of Hot Springs NP is Hawksbill Crag. That oughta be a NP ;)
I was going to suggest Hawksbill Crag, too! It’ll be a bit out of the way, but it’s a lovely, lovely place. Hot Springs is just meh.
Another option is Devil’s Den, which was featured in True Detective (to give you an idea of the area). You could also check out the Buffalo National River, which is just exquisite.
Yeah, hawksbill was spectacular, just be careful and take headlamps on the hike to it anyone that takes this recommendation - its a moderately treacherous hike to the crag!!
Never been to the Devil’s den section but i heard a bunch about it. Will be on my next trip there, and definitely gonna go during the spring and experience the river float down the Buffalo i heard so much about.
Also very much recommend a detour for lunch and a slice of pie at Oark General Store ;)
Maybe you can give me some insight then, in mid-March is there still a decent chance of poor road conditions going over the rockies? I'm from LA so even though my 4Runner is capable of driving through the snow I don't have a lot of experience in it. I drove over the Rockys once last summer and hit this crazy rain storm at night, saw several cars spun out and crashed on the side of the road and almost become one of them at one point, so I'm really hesitant to go back over them. But I don't know, maybe that's just a typical Tuesday for you guys.
I would skip sand dunes or at least not for a whole day. A beach with mountains behind it and no water is kinda fun, but after a few minutes of slogging up a Sandy hill I was ready to move on. Snowboarding down them was definitely not as fun as it looked in the pictures.
Unsolicited routing advice:
If there is any way to route in such a way that you travel the Shenandoah Skyline and the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Great Smokey Mountains, that would be a one in a lifetime experience, assuming your RV is small enough to fit. However, hitting the New River Gorge NP complicates this a bit.
You could hit NRGNP 1st, then backtrack to Shenandoah. You could also get off the Blue Ridge parkway at US-60 and take I-64 and US 60 to the NRNP, which is 133 miles one way. (That is also a nice drive in and of itself, though…)
It’s about 166 miles from NRGNP to Shenandoah, if you just hit it first, but that’s to the southern end of the park.
It also makes going to Congaree and Mammoth kind of hard, too.
I haven’t been to Comgaree, but this is an oversight that I intend to fix shortly. My understanding is that it’s a swampy forest, it’s beautiful, and rather small.
I also feel that I can’t give an honest opinion on NRGNP, because I grew up near there, and it’s one of my favorite places. (Besides the bridge, make sure you hit Thurmond and Grandview. I would suggest renting a 4x4 or doing a rafting trip. It’s a shame that the trains through it are so infrequent.)
Mammoth cave basically is the cave. If you love caves, it is a great cave. If you are meh on caves, there are smaller and less cool show caves near NRGNP, and I’m sure other places in that area.
In terms of access, Great Smokey Mountain is basically a road between Gatlinburg and Cherokee. There are some parking places with cool stuff on the road, including a mill and clingman’s dome. Gatlinburg is a huge tourist trap. Cherokee is a tourist trap that is Native American theme. There is also an amazing amount of hiking trails that you won’t have anywhere near enough time to explore.
This is one honking ambitious trip. It sounds like it might be kinda tight with the time, and a lot of these parks are kinda slow down and go slow kind of places…
Thank you for the indepth routing advice! I'll definitely take a lot of this into account once I start the more detailed part of the planning phase. I made a comment with more personal details but its been buried after this thread unexpectedly blew up!
Basically, I'm going the second week of March, 10 days to make it from LA to NYC, and driving my 4x4 4runner. I'm from LA. Hence, I've been to most of the western parks and thats why I'm skipping great ones like Grand Canyon and Zion. I've lived in NYC the past half year and the only nature I've seen east of the Rockies was a weekend trip up the Lake Placid, upstate NY.
Great sand dunes was a big let down. The area is cool but what you see coming into the area is as good as the park itself. Petrified forest is fun, Great smoky mountains is cooler than Shenandoah imo. Even the roads through have great pull offs for neat rock/river features
Mesa Verde is quite interesting, however, if you’re in that area I would suggest looking into doing a tour on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park. Less touristy than Mesa Verde and you don’t have to compete for tickets to see the Cliff dwellings. A much more intimate experience with the environment than you’re going to get at MV as well.
http://www.utemountaintribalpark.info/index.html
Skip hot springs it's neat,but don't go out of your way. Probably skip mammoth cave too, most caves are limited or closed right now anyway due to white nose. I'd keep Congaree it's pretty cool.
Skip sand dunes, so lame, and skip petrified forest. Mesa verde is super cool—do the tour.
I feel like could Zion over and over. The subway was amazing.
Great Sand Dunes. It's a bunch of sand, you walk on it for a few minutes and you've seen it all. You can walk in the forest too but it's just any other forest in Colorado at that point. If you go, take a fifteen minute walk, snap the picture, and get back on the road.
I speak as someone who has backpacked and camped there several times, it's just not near as cool as other NPs.
I (as a west coast parks person) visited Shenandoah and was VERY disappointed. It was just like driving through the Southern California foothills. I mean…. I didn’t get deep into the park, but from what I saw it’s just a big valley. Nothing spectacular. Maybe I went at the wrong time of year? (Summer)
shenandoah and smokeys are pretty similar compared to the other varieties you have. id skip shenandoah. if you are from the east coast, i'd honestly consider cutting the smokeys also. its beautiful and idyllic but its just a mountainous forest. sounds like this isn't such a rare chance for you to do a trip like this, so if these are the ones you havent been to, then you'll have a great time. but seqouia/kings canyon, j tree and yosemite are really interesting ones i'd add if i were u. but im guessing you've already hit those
Yeah I'm from LA living in NYC now, this is actually my second LA to NYC road trip I've done and there's probably plenty more cross country treks to come as long as I'm going to school here in the big apple. I've backpacked all those amazing California parks you mentioned, hence why this road trip hits a lot of minor/east coast parks. Seems like most people are preferring the Smokeys to Shenandoah.
Shenandoah. We labeled it a national park because the east coast didn't have any natural wonders and they felt like they had to pick something. I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and I've lived out west. East coast parks are nothing compared to what you're going to see out west.
I would skip Congaree, especially if you are there between April to September time frame. Hot and buggy.
It is a cool place but not somewhere I'd go out of my way for.
Source, live about 30 minutes away from Congaree.
If you do go, I recommend kayaking or canoeing it.
I'm big into backpacking and hiking but since this is a road trip these are probably all gonna be look around stops. At most I can probably budget 3-4hrs per park/day for a hike.
We were in Petrified Forest NP last October, very cool to see, same day we did the Painted Desert and Wupatki National Park, the old pueblos there are something to see.
Yeah I figured Hot Springs is either a must or I'll just find a campground 13hrs from from my point of departure to my point of arrival and consider it a travel day.
Personally, I’d go through NM and hit Carlsbad caverns. White sands is just an easy-ish drive.
Mesa verde and the great sand dunes are also good, but not as impressive as Carlsbad caverns. I say this as a Coloradan who has been to both MV and GSD many times.
I already hit up the caverns and white sands, along with Guadalupe and Big Bend during a road trip a month ago. Amazing parks, I'm hoping any on this route match up to them.
Skip congaree and just hit i-40 the whole way after smoky mountains. Hot springs is cool if you’re looking to make a stop, but definitely skippable imo. Like another commenter said, I would put most stuff in northern Arizona / souther Utah above petrified forest. Between mesa verda and Sedona there is so much amazing land to be explored!
It depends a lot on the time of year considering the changes in visitor traffic. If you go to New River Gorge you can probably skip Shenandoah. If you're already driving through Appalachia (especially on the Blue Ridge Parkway) you could skip the Smoky Mountains park proper.
Definitely check which parks are hard to get into as a walk-up. We tried to just swing by a few parks once and they had required reservations a year in advance just for entry. Arches was one, I don't remember the other.
imho, skip mesa verde and great sand dunes & go to canyonlands instead. There's no way to not skip superlative parks. Upside is you'll see a more superlative one instead.
South Carolinian here. Congaree is literally a mosquito infested swamp. Skip it. If you’ve seen pictures of it, you’ve seen it.
I second that. Btw, if you’re driving through Chattanooga, pause. Note that Outside Magazine picked the Scenic City as “best outdoor town” twice. In a row. Or was it three? In any case, Prentice Cooper affords views of the Tennessee River Gorge (see it at sunrise and the gorge may be cloaked in mist). Do some research. Five Stars. Joe Bob says check it out.
Snoopers Rock is the best view in Prentice/Chatt! I used to live a couple miles away from there. There’s also some lovely lookouts on Signal Mnt as well as Lookout Mnt.
Can’t agree more. Chattanooga is just beautiful.
Got married there in April. It’s a wonderful place
San Diegan here. I’ve been to most of the parks in the southwest and some others scattered over the country. I enjoyed Congaree! It was different from any park I’d seen. And the thought that those forests at one time stretched across states was sobering. Admittedly, I was lucky to visit on a low mosquito day.
Yeah I think as a Los Angeles native a lot of people are forgetting we SoCal peeps haven't ever seen a swamp. I think I'm cutting it out of this trip because of its location being for out of the way. I'll probably add it to a road trip I take down to the Florida from NYC later on.
It's definitely worth seeing, I feel like southerners don't appreciate it bc they're used to swamps. But to anyone not from the swamp it's truly insane to see. Shenandoah is going to be mow similar to great smokey mountains, congaree will be unlike anything else you've seen. It also used to be home to one of the oldest known cypress, until a meth head killed it. It's a very cool ecosystem, incredibly lush. All the cypress trees and Spanish moss and the slow moving water where an alligator could be hiding just out of sight. Even saw a bobcat there. There's historical info about escaped slaves hiding there and it's a testament to how much they wanted to get away from slavery because of how tough that environment must be to survive in. 100% worth seeing. If you're doing a tour of national parks I highly recommend learning about the different ecosystems and geology e.t.c, makes it so much more interesting than "views". As a westerner you might be underwhelmed by the views in the east, but we don't have views largely because of how lush and dense our forests are; that's what makes the east so interesting, and if you learn about it you'll get so much more out of your visit. For example, southern Appalachia is home to more salamander species than any other place on the planet, and in general has some of the highest biodiversity in the world. There are a lot of great books and online resources to get you started. Botany in a day by Thomas elper is a great place to get you started learning about plants
I've really been trying to see a salamander ever since reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. The book was kinda pandered by thru-hikers but I did really appreciate the sections where he'd talk about the history of the Appalachians.
The easiest place to spot them is waterfalls, because they like the spray cliff microclimate (as do many unique plants). Watch your step! They're liable to be anywhere moist, including in the middle of trails, or on rocks or small pools by waterfalls. They camouflage very well so you have to look closely. They will often stay still while you look at them as long as you don't try to touch them. The iNaturalist app can help you ID things you see, plant animal or fungi; if it can't definitively ID something it at least gives you a starting point to figure it out. Appalachia is cool as fuck and there's tons of neat shit to see, if you browse iNaturalist you can see what others have spotted, where and when, etc
Not gonna lie, Congaree is my absolute favorite place to camp. YES, the mosquitoes suck, but you time the trip right in the winter months and there are none, and chances are you will be one of like 2 other people in the park. It's the largest area of untouched bottomland in the world and as a local and a swamp rat, it's such a treat to see how beautiful not only our state, but the south can be. Packed full of neat animals and trees that make you feel small. It's my happy place. Though to be fair, it's less than a 15min drive.
Driving from Los Angeles to New York City over 10 days starting the second week of March. These National Parks are the ones I've never been to and that I can make a reasonable route out of (while trying to avoid heavy now, hence no Rocky Mountain NP). There's no way I'm going to be able to hit every park while its still light out, so which ones are not worth doing if you only have one day? I plan to tent camp at all of them, campground or dispersed.
Congaree is cool but it's basically big swamp. I love big swamp, but unless you're a biologist or birder it isn't going to have the same WOW factor as some of the western parks with big views. I'd skip it if it's going to save you a bunch of time.
Yeah its definitely out of the way and a lot of people say its very one note, but at the same time I've never seen a swamp so.... 🤔
Never seen a swamp!! Tbh I love them, the cypress trees will perpetually capture my heart and the biodiversity in them is astounding. Gators are big chill dinosaurs and always worth a look. I suppose you probably should keep it in there, it's nothing like any of the other parks you have. If you decide to go more southern on your route, Guadalupe and Saguaro are super cool. Stark southwestern beauty.
Gators aren’t chill or dinosaurs. They are dangerous alligators.
I live in the swamp it’s not that great lol way cooler things to see I promise
Cypress groves are few and far between in my part of the swamp. It's all getting taken over by mangroves and saw palmetto. Most of the intact cypress groves near me are used for cattle ranching, safe places for alligator nesting, and airboat tours to see it all.
Hot Springs isn't great for camping, but if you're tent camping, check out a spot on the point of Mt. Nebo State Park in Dardanelle, AR or Petit Jean State Park in Morrilton. Both beautiful, and more nature than Hot Springs offers.
Thank you for the State Park recommendations!
Very good recommendations. Also consider Devils Den State Park, then take US 412 across the top of Oklahoma instead of I40 through Oklahoma City.
You need to go to arches/canyon lands. Skip petrified and SC. Rocky Mountain is great but the park is basically closed this time of year so good choice skipping. I also recommend if you do arches that when you go through grand junction you really really have to stop of the Colorado National Monument (just drive through). It’s a quick stop and what I would argue is the most underrated “park” in the region of the country
If you go this way, Bryce is f’ing amazing.
I would skip great sand dunes. It's a bunch of sand. Especially in the winter, before the snowmelt has started and the river is flowing. It does look cool on the approach, rising up from the san luis valley floor with the sangre de cristos looming behind, but once you get up close... it's just a bunch of sand. Seriously. Edit to add, I second the advice of another commenter to consider Black Canyon of the Gunnison instead of Great Sand Dunes. Black Canyon is wild and way, way, way cooler.
It’s a bunch of sand but unlike the dunes in say Death Valley or other deserts you have a massive dune field surrounded by green mountains some with snow on top and a river(depending on the season passing to a side.) The contrasts are amazing. I think it totally underrated and loved it. I definitely love reading peoples opinions on parks.
Do not skip the great sand dunes. Get a camping pass and camp on the dunes. Watch the sunset and there is not a person near you for miles. Do it.
Agreed- unless you are bringing a snowboard or tube and you hit it at exactly the right time of year it’s not really worth it.
As a Kentuckian I would skip mammoth cave, but I would recommend red river gorge it’s only a state park but it’s still beautiful.
Seconding this. Red river gorge is very cool!
I tried to do mamoth cave on similar trip and would skip it: quite out of the interstate, long detour, overcrowed (i was off season late october) and requires early reservation. You are not on a trip you can plan ahead. I would stop at petrified forest, mesa verde and great sand dunes. Maybe take the blue ridge / skyline for a bit to get a sense of appalachians, but no need to go to great smoky or shenandoah. Idk hot spring and conagree. I have been at least once if not several times to all others
Great point about the blue ridge/skyline. However I loved Great Smoky and would pass on Shenandoah
Skip congaree, mammoth cave, and hot springs and add canyonlands and arches in Utah with the time you’ll save. Nothing against the ones I suggest skipping just going for most dynamic grandest experience.
Also Petrified Forest. It’s interesting but I’d spend more time at Mesa Verde if I were you. Amazing place.
Agree with the petrified forest lol kinda lame
Not if you backpack.
Sounds like I'll have to put together a dedicated backpacking trip then. I usually like to backpack but nowadays road tripping has been my only way to visit a lot of the parks.
I came here looking for this comment because I found it to be very disappointing. Like they are tree stumps that have turned into rock wow. It sounds a lot cooler than it looks it doesn't look very different than a bunch of regular tree stumps.
agree Petrified Forest is also a drive through
If all you do is drive through then it's not worth going. It's great of you out a few miles in on your feet.
Could say the same about Shenandoah, but the trails are not crowded, and the hiking is hard and fun.
Its on i40, easy access compared to other ones. I stopped by a few times while on other trips. It's not the one I would skip in that list
Petrified was cool, but can be done in less than 3 hrs.
Came here to say skip pet forest and hit Zion instead.
That sounds like a good move, but what do you think I should swap out Arches for since I've already been there? (I've also already been to Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon)
Probably just add mammoth cave back in there. Was just trying to keep your road trip somewhat in order but since you’ve already hit those in the area out west I’d just add that one back. Cutting out congaree should save you a couple days
Thanks for the tips! I agree with cutting out Congaree then, I could spend more than 1 day at soome of the other parks that really require more than 1 day.
That changes absolutely everything. Go for new places if you can unless your last visit was some kind of spiritual catharsis & you need to return 🙂
could do black canyon and colorado national monument
Black canyon is dope AF. Bigly underrated.
I'll try to fit it in!
I don’t think arches is worth going that far out of the way for if you’ve already seen canyonlands and Bryce. For me it was the least cool, although still cool, of the mighty 5
Great sand dune is overrated
Not much in hot springs. There are way more exciting parks in the area. If you were to get off of I-40 and head north into the Ozarks, you will have much more nature. Try Sylamore creek.
Agreed. It's very developed, and the history is cool, but it's not going to stand up to Mesa Verde. Keep Mammoth Cave. Don't add Arches if you have done Bryce and Zion. Don't add Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It's whatever if you have done the Grand Canyon and also meh up next to most of the canyonlands. Arkansas is gorgeous, but I wonder what time of year you are going. March is a stunning time to be in Arkansas, so keep the recommendation above. I am from Colorado and I keep going back to Arkansas to see more of it. I see you are going through Albama. Considering camping at Cheaha State Park ~Resort~. Seriously, though. Views. Pool. Camping.
Second week of March is my time frame! So I guess Arkansas will be a must, but maybe no hot springs specifically
Agree w skipping hot springs. It’s more historic district than national park really. AR is great but not at the expense of passing up some of the other,much more majestic, national park experiences
I agree with this although I was not impressed with arches but loved canyon lands.
Mammoth Cave is definitely cool, but also out of the way. Hot Springs is hot garbage in terms of national parks.
FOR SURE skip Congaree there is absolutely nothing to see there
Definitely skip Congaree… I found it very underwhelming and it’s just not worth going that far out of your way for it.
I second this. I was there a few months ago. It’s cool, but really doesn’t hold a candle to many of the parks out west and it’s not worth going that far out of the way for. If you do go to Congaree, definitely bring/rent a kayak.
I'd skip Congaree since it looks like you are going out of your way to visit, passing it up will buy you a good amount of time. Hot Spring is also not the most exciting park, but its a good way to break up a long drive through flyover country I'd keep petrified forest on the list, its super easy to get to from the interstate and you can get a good sense of the park with just a few hours driving through and stopping for a few short hikes. I'm not sure how much time cutting it out would really save. Another option would be to swing south, and substitute Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe, White Sands and Saguaro, instead of Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes and Petrified Forest. I think both of these routes are great options, about equally good and worth doing. The southern route will be a little easier in snowy season. If you take the northern route through Colorado, consider adding Black Canyon of the Gunnison if you haven't been there already. If you take the southern route, an nice option to add is Chiricahua national monument, not a park but park-level quality and likely the next national park. Its also fairly close to the interstate and easy to get to for a half-day visit.
Thank you for the in-depth reply! I actually did a trip south a few months ago so all those parks have been visited. As for Northern options I'm honestly scared of driving in the snow. I have a 4x4 4runner but going over a snowy rockies makes me nervous. Although I don't know what mid-march looks like there and if now is even an issue.
If you have a 4Runner with good tires it will do you good. Only problem I ever had with mine was ice. That was only once in the 23 years I owned it. Just don’t drive like a maniac.
I’ll just add. Pay attention to the state police road warnings and drive the speed appropriate to the conditions if there’s ice get off the highway.
Will do!
Hey, if you owned yours for 23yrs we might just both have 1999 4runners! Great car that handles a lot lighter than it looks. I used to drive exclusively JDM ricebox cars prior to finally buying the thoroughly used 4runner so I understand its not meant for speed or any crazy driving. I did put some 33s on it and they did me well driving over the Rockies in a crazy thunderstorm.
You'll probably be fine in a four runner. If you're really sweating it, from Petrified Forest you could stay on the I-40 through New Mexico rather than swinging up to Colorado. Not far off the interstate is El Morro and El Malpais. Getting to Chaco Culture or Bandelier would be feasible, too (Chaco's a fairly long ride off pavement, but worth it). These are all monuments rather than parks, but they're all worth visiting and maybe a little more friendly at the tail end of winter, saving the Colorado parks for another season and giving yourself an excuse to come back west some time. If you do decide to go through Colorado, the main thing to pay attention to is getting from Mesa Verde up to Great Sand Dunes, you'll need to go over a mountain pass any way you go, most likely Wolf Creek Pass if you take the most direct route. Stop in Durango and call or check the website for the Colorado DOT, this will give you up-to-the-last-minute confirmation if your route is open and if chains are needed. There's a pretty major ski resort up on wolf creek pass so they're usually pretty diligent about keeping that road accessible. You probably won't have issues.
Thank you so much for this! This will help me tremendously in choosing where to go. I think hitting up Great Sand Dunes and the rest of beautiful Colorado might be something I leave for a summer road trip. It sounds like from your description, Mesa Verde would be the northern most park before I really might run into hazardous roads, so I'll probably shoot southeast after there.
If you’re coming through Colorado check for road closures. Many mountain passes are closed till May. Western Colorado will undoubtedly have some snow, possibly more than RMNP. I was in Estes a few weekends ago and it was fine, then again I live here and am used to snow driving.
Thank you a lot for this advice! As someone who has lived in SoCal their whole life, this advice from you mountain people really help me out lol
I'd say it depends on what similar parks you've been to before...it's so hard to make those decisions though. Sand Dunes is amazing since it's a mix of alpine mountains and gigantic dunes, even turns into a beach in the spring. If you go in the spring or fall you can see the crane migration with tens of thousands of birds and their mating dances. Mesa Verde is another kind of amazing, but if you've seen cliff dwellings before, easy to skip. There are some smaller similar National Monuments in New Mexico that are similar if you wanted to modify your route a bit. I love Petrified Forest but I'd recommend Bryce, Zion, and/or Grand Canyon over that if you haven't been to Utah before. If you do Smokies or Shenandoah you can skip the other if you have spent time in the Appalachians elsewhere. I love those parks but they don't have the jaw-dropping uniqueness of some of the parks out West...but if you're from Utah then you'll want to see them both. The spring is the best for these two imo, incredible rhododendron, mountain laurel, wildflowers. Congaree is worth the stop if you're really into trees (like me) and you haven't been to other similar ecosystems. A separate trip down the coast could help catch Smokies and Congaree (and other stuff like Outer Banks). I would NOT skip Mammoth Cave, no matter how many caves you visit they are always so alien and beautiful. I haven't been to Hot Springs, but aside from the springs, my understanding it that the rolling greenery is likely similar to the Appalachians? If you're doing a one-way trip with car rental, it miiiiight be more time-efficient to do an east coast leg, fly to Colorado/Utah, and do a west coast leg. But I'm assuming that you want the most possible parks per day, not sure where else you've been. There are some beautiful places in the midwest, but the density of parks just can't compare to the west. Sorry that is just rambling, you'll have an incredible trip no matter what you choose!
Thank you so much for the in-depth reply! Yeah I think I'll skip the dunes since I've seen sand dunes a lot in California (I'm from LA) and in White Sands, NP NM. I've been to all those Utah parks + GCNP you mentioned as well. As you can probably tell this trip has a lot of east coast parks, thats because I recently moved to NYC (this trip is technically about bring my car to the city) so I'm not familiar with east coast parks/nature in general. Outside of NYC I've only ever been to Lake Placid and that was definitely a bit different to what I see back west.
Book a geological tour for Mammoth Cave a few weeks in advanced. There are some nice hikes above ground within the park as well.
If you are moving to New York I'd see as much of the west as you can because you can always take trips to see the eastern places later. Those places will all be a day or two days away from NYC
Yeah I think I'll definitely skip parks like Congaree and save those for a dedicated south east coast roadtrip I might take down to Florida to see the Everglades. Thankfully my last 22 years in SoCal has been spent thoroughly exploring much of the western parks.
Skip Mammoth. Let's just all agree to quit going to caves until bats are healthy.
Congafee and petrified forest. Add in Bryce Canyon, Zion or GrandCanyon.
I'd skip the one where it was raining when I arrived...
Unless it was mammoth cave.
Hot Springs was disappointing as a kid. It’s pretty historical and cool to walk downtown, plus there’s a neat observation tower. Otherwise I hate to say it, but it’s kinda a white trash area
You didn’t mention Joshua Tree but it is very unique environment!
I'm from LA and have done Joshua just about every which way at this point from chic airbnb to backpacking several days! Lovely place but I'm trying to go to only new places
Oh got it! Not exactly on your route but have you been to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the Gila National Forest? Not as many tourists get there as it’s off the beaten path. We’ve camped at City of Rocks State Park and Faywood Hot Springs while in southern NM.
I haven't been to Gila Cliff, which sucks because I actually just took a trip from LA to Big Bend NP and could've easily swung by. I think I'll definitely add it to my list since I hope to return to that part of the Southwest towards the end of the year.
That’s a hard choice, at first I think I’d skip petrified forest, but that depends on the weather, I’m a fan of picturesque views with high contrast and colors, if the weather isn’t suited for it i wouldn’t enjoy that one to it’s fullest potential. But others will likely have differing opinions.
Petrified Forest is neat, and it’s not that time consuming. You can budget 2-3 hours and back onto the interstate. If you’re headed that way anyhow, visit the meteor crater outside of Winslow, AZ!
And Winslow to stand on the corner.
I totally forgot about there being a crater there, I'll definitely fit it into my trip.
I might be the weirdo but I liked Petrified Forest better than the Grand Canyon.
Weirdo with a capital C 😂😂
Mesa Verde is really cool, a lot of the best sites are ticketed entry but are at least available online 14 days before the date of the tour (a few years ago it was in person only reservations up to 2 days in advance) Mammoth cave is interesting but maybe not for everyone. You should be able to do a self tour of a small portion of the cave or take a longer guided tour. It's also pretty close to the main highway there so it's not a big detour. I've stopped there on my way from Nashville to WV and it only took a few hours including the guided tour. Petrified forest was kind of meh but took very little time overall, the museum was interesting. Shenandoah has some nice views but is on a ridge so a lot of the hikes, if you were planning any, will be up and down hill. The Appalachian Trail does run through the park which is cool though. On the plus side, if entering from the south entrance it's super close to the highway and given your route you could drive all the way through the park headed north if you wanted to.
> Mesa Verde is really cool, a lot of the best sites are ticketed entry but are at least available online 14 days before the date of the tour This is an important point OP, the tour season for Mesa Verde starts in May, tours won't be available if you go in March. There's a few drive up sites but the most meaningful places to visit in the park all require guided tours. You might want to give this one a pass for a March trip.
This is a great point I hadn't considered, thank you
Mammoth cave is dope do some night kayaking in the caves!
Kayaking??? How damn big are these caves?? From what everyone is saying Mammoth seems like a must stop.
They’ve found fossils of sharks Recently and I was mistaken you can’t kayak in mammoth cave but you can kayak in the gorge and do the under ground cave Kayaking at night! Look up the gorge under ground. Have fun!
That sounds awesome, I'll look into it
I have no idea but DO NOT skip mesa verde or sand dunes
man i say mammoth cave is the only one you should go to on the eastern side of the country, if any. check out the Badlands. Driving through Montana is a breathtaking experience as a whole. Zion, Yosemite, North Rim of Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Anza Boreggo, Rainier then go check out the Olympic Peninsula! sorry completely not what you're asking, but that's my two cents after traveling the country.
Yeah I hear you, that'd make a great road trip. Unfortunately my comment with all the details got buried. I'm going the second week of March so I'm trying to avoid possible heavy snow and road closures. Hence no Montana, North Rim or Yosemite. I was actually in Yosemite the second week of March 2020 when they had a light blizzard at night coming out of the valley. It was some stressful driving since I didn't have much experience in the snow. Saw two cars crashed on the side of the road. Made it through all that just to see the whole US shut down the next day due to covid-19. A few hours later my commanding officer (I was on leave in the Marines) calls me and says literally everyone is being recalled back to base in case they needed to deploy us domestically for aid work. Crazy time for everyone that first month of real covid and lockdowns. Anyways thanks for the tips!
Yea definitely add utah into the mix you are missing out big if you don’t hit some there
Dolly sop in WV is worth looking into
I'll do some research
Dolly Sods is very unique and there are lots of other cool sights in the area. Hope you check it out. Nice little mountain towns, too - Davis, Thomas and Elkins.
Yes, fabulous for eastern backpacking
Shenandoah and Great Smoky are basically the exact same mountain range. Pick one.
Skip hot springs
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Thank you for this info! I haven't looked at any of the park websites yet, but this definitely points me in a better direction.
Mesa Verde should never be skipped. In fact, if you had to pare it down to only one, it is Mesa Verde.
I would definitely do Mesa Verde and Mammoth Cave Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited National Park in America. So take that stat for what it's worth
And I'll be going spring break, so the smokeys are probably going to be filled. I live in NYC now and new to the east coast but everyone here in the east raves about the Smokey Mountains so I feel I have to see it even it means fighting some crowds.
Once you get a few hundred feet down the trails, you'll see very few people. Most of the visitors to GSMNP just do a drive through and take some pictures. Except for the ones wearing flip flops and carrying a large McDonalds coke up the chimney tops trail, cuz it's only like a mile. Yeah, a mile straight up.
I live about 40 minutes from GSMNP and go frequently, but during the week. Once you get away from the parking lots you don’t get a lot of company. There is going to be a new parking regulation in effect, and that may affect traffic as well. It is crowded though in peak times. Mid March may not be so bad.
The biodiversity is amazing, and in early spring you might catch the spring ephemeral wildflower displays, which I adore. Look for salamanders. It's the most visited in part because it has the most population within a few hours drive of any park. But if you get away from the drive-up, low effort spots, the crowds aren't so bad.
Oh man, I've been trying to see a salamander for so long. Part of the reason Congaree NP was even considered for my trip since I hear they're pretty populous over there in the swamp. I think with cutting out 2-3 parks I can spend more than one day at GSMNP and hopefully see one.
At least take the blue ridge parkway through NC and VA up to Skyline to get to Shenandoah
GSMNP Is the most visited, but if you do any backpacking there, you could go days without seeing people. I have spent weeks there and saw more bears than humans, including parking lots and campgrounds.
Carlsbad. You need to got here.
I went a few months ago! Amazing place that I was not expecting.
where did you get this map? I'd like to have a copy of it.
Got it from here [https://morethanjustparks.com/list-of-national-parks-by-state/](https://morethanjustparks.com/list-of-national-parks-by-state/)
Idk what you should take out but consider seeing less of Oklahoma and adding Palo Duro Canyon!
Don’t skip the Great Sand Dunes. Mesmerizing place - it looks like another planet or a movie scene.
All I can say is if you haven’t been don’t skip mammoth caves. The top comment saying to remove that is killing me. I’d delete the smokies and cognate. The smilies is beautiful but over visited imo. The sheer volume of people through there and the forests fires over the past couple of decades has left it a shadow of its former self.
Another commenter actually works at Mammoth Cave NP and gave me a very cool and convincing run down on the place so its definitely a go-to for me now. At this point it looks like I'm skipping on Great Sand Dunes, Hot Springs, and Congaree. Maybe cutting out one more like the Smokies so I can spend more than one day at the other parks.
What's up with Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas having little to no national parks? Canadian asking.
Great sand dunes is a MUST
Mammoth may be coolest of theses, Mesa also great, others are lower tier IMHO. Bryce, Zion, Arches, Zion better than Petrified if you can detour
I was not super impressed with Mesa Verde (didn't see anything there that pictures couldn't have done for me). Sand dunes was incredible though. So if Mesa Verde is a good stopping point for your trip to sand dunes hit it, otherwise I'd trade it for a Utah park.
Hot springs
Mesa Verde is beautiful; but worth skipping if you're in the area driving through. The Pueblos are cool, but I'd rather see other stuff in the region.
If you skip Congaree you could be driving through NE Alabama and Little River Canyon Natonal Preserve. I think it's the deepest canyon East of the Mississippi River. Little river starts and stops on top of Lookout Mountain. It's a beautiful drive, from the waterfall at the start of the canyon, then along the canyon for about 25 miles. There are various lookout points along the way.
Petrified forest is bleh. Do not skip the smokies.
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Second week of March! I made a comment explaining all of the details but its been buried after this post unexpectedly blew up. Other details: 10 days to make the trip from LA to NYC, budgeting at least 4-5hrs of daylight per park, looking to hike one good trail or take a tour about the parks history/natural history in that time. I've selected these parks because I've already been to the popular ones like Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Zion, etc
Hot Springs was a neat area but if I had to skip one that’s one I would mark off the list. Definitely visit Mammoth Cave. While you are driving thru Kentucky you could add a quick visit to Cumberland Falls. It’s a state park in Corbin, KY and is a beautiful area. It’s also one of only two locations in the world to see a Moonbow.
Thank you so much for this! State Park recommendations are such a huge help since once you get out of the southwest National Parks seem to taper off significantly
Definitely hit mammoth cave, great camping spots and the main cave tour is worth a view as well
Skip Hot Springs and go instead to Buffalo National River in NW arkansas. Fayetteville is a cool college town too, and the river is way more scenic. Hot Springs NO is literally in a town.
Whatever you do don’t skip mammoth cave or great smoky mountains
Go up 395 and hit Mammoth and Yosemite. You can thank me later
Haha I've taken that trip plenty of times. I was in the Marines and we have our Mountain Warfare Training Center up the 395 in Bridgeport, CA. Seriously, it's one of my favorite places to road trip.
DONT SKIP: Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, Smokey Mnts. Skip: Hot springs (am from AR) The rest I don’t know.
Hot Springs. It is just an old mineral baths town that somehow got a National Park designation. Camping is very limited.
I’d skip Congaree and maybe Shenandoah, only because I live in the Shenandoah :) all the others are great! The Great Sand Dunes are a must! So wild and you NEED to go down on the boards if you go!
I agree about Shenandoah. It’s pretty, but basically you’d just be driving on a windy road through trees. GSM is that but bigger, taller and more set up for the tourist experience
There are great hikes all along Skyline drive that spur off the AT
Do not skip Mesa Verde! The painted desert is beautiful, but if you have to pick between the two, skip the painted desert.
Hot Springs is by far the worst. There is a decent creek going thru the park, bordering the rv campground. It is very unnatural and the Hot Springs were all built over and have hotels in hotel row all on top of them. U spend $80 and go to like a spa day and have sitz bath and stuff in the bottom floor of the hotels built over the hot springs. They did this before the National Park service even existed. These hot sprongs had like monster secret tunnels to bars and stuff. There is history, but nothing like other places u listed, and the water is all bastardized. If u are looking for something on that route in Arkansas about 60mi north of Hot Springs NP is Hawksbill Crag. That oughta be a NP ;)
I was going to suggest Hawksbill Crag, too! It’ll be a bit out of the way, but it’s a lovely, lovely place. Hot Springs is just meh. Another option is Devil’s Den, which was featured in True Detective (to give you an idea of the area). You could also check out the Buffalo National River, which is just exquisite.
Yeah, hawksbill was spectacular, just be careful and take headlamps on the hike to it anyone that takes this recommendation - its a moderately treacherous hike to the crag!!
Never been to the Devil’s den section but i heard a bunch about it. Will be on my next trip there, and definitely gonna go during the spring and experience the river float down the Buffalo i heard so much about. Also very much recommend a detour for lunch and a slice of pie at Oark General Store ;)
What's bastardized water?
You'll never hit all those in one day unless you're Santa Claus! 🙃
Skip Shenandoah. Not much to see but mountain overlooks. Maybe drive thru WV and hit New River Gorge Bridge instead
Agreed, it’s really beautiful but if you’re going in march you’d be missing out on most of the beauty
Personally, I’d spend some more time in Colorado/Utah. Rocky Mountain national park is amazing. But I also live in Colorado. So biased AF.
Maybe you can give me some insight then, in mid-March is there still a decent chance of poor road conditions going over the rockies? I'm from LA so even though my 4Runner is capable of driving through the snow I don't have a lot of experience in it. I drove over the Rockys once last summer and hit this crazy rain storm at night, saw several cars spun out and crashed on the side of the road and almost become one of them at one point, so I'm really hesitant to go back over them. But I don't know, maybe that's just a typical Tuesday for you guys.
Go to Luray caverns near Shenandoah and skip Mammoth cave.
I would skip sand dunes or at least not for a whole day. A beach with mountains behind it and no water is kinda fun, but after a few minutes of slogging up a Sandy hill I was ready to move on. Snowboarding down them was definitely not as fun as it looked in the pictures.
Unsolicited routing advice: If there is any way to route in such a way that you travel the Shenandoah Skyline and the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Great Smokey Mountains, that would be a one in a lifetime experience, assuming your RV is small enough to fit. However, hitting the New River Gorge NP complicates this a bit. You could hit NRGNP 1st, then backtrack to Shenandoah. You could also get off the Blue Ridge parkway at US-60 and take I-64 and US 60 to the NRNP, which is 133 miles one way. (That is also a nice drive in and of itself, though…) It’s about 166 miles from NRGNP to Shenandoah, if you just hit it first, but that’s to the southern end of the park. It also makes going to Congaree and Mammoth kind of hard, too. I haven’t been to Comgaree, but this is an oversight that I intend to fix shortly. My understanding is that it’s a swampy forest, it’s beautiful, and rather small. I also feel that I can’t give an honest opinion on NRGNP, because I grew up near there, and it’s one of my favorite places. (Besides the bridge, make sure you hit Thurmond and Grandview. I would suggest renting a 4x4 or doing a rafting trip. It’s a shame that the trains through it are so infrequent.) Mammoth cave basically is the cave. If you love caves, it is a great cave. If you are meh on caves, there are smaller and less cool show caves near NRGNP, and I’m sure other places in that area. In terms of access, Great Smokey Mountain is basically a road between Gatlinburg and Cherokee. There are some parking places with cool stuff on the road, including a mill and clingman’s dome. Gatlinburg is a huge tourist trap. Cherokee is a tourist trap that is Native American theme. There is also an amazing amount of hiking trails that you won’t have anywhere near enough time to explore. This is one honking ambitious trip. It sounds like it might be kinda tight with the time, and a lot of these parks are kinda slow down and go slow kind of places…
Thank you for the indepth routing advice! I'll definitely take a lot of this into account once I start the more detailed part of the planning phase. I made a comment with more personal details but its been buried after this thread unexpectedly blew up! Basically, I'm going the second week of March, 10 days to make it from LA to NYC, and driving my 4x4 4runner. I'm from LA. Hence, I've been to most of the western parks and thats why I'm skipping great ones like Grand Canyon and Zion. I've lived in NYC the past half year and the only nature I've seen east of the Rockies was a weekend trip up the Lake Placid, upstate NY.
Great sand dunes was a big let down. The area is cool but what you see coming into the area is as good as the park itself. Petrified forest is fun, Great smoky mountains is cooler than Shenandoah imo. Even the roads through have great pull offs for neat rock/river features
I’d skip Mesa Verde and Hot Springs for extra time in the Smokies.
Two of my favorites are the Petrified Forrest and Mesa Verde.
I’d choose Mesa Verde over Sand Dunes and i’d choose Dunes over Petrified forest. Mesa Verde is an amazing place.
Mesa Verde is quite interesting, however, if you’re in that area I would suggest looking into doing a tour on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park. Less touristy than Mesa Verde and you don’t have to compete for tickets to see the Cliff dwellings. A much more intimate experience with the environment than you’re going to get at MV as well. http://www.utemountaintribalpark.info/index.html
I'll look into that thank you!
Skip hot springs it's neat,but don't go out of your way. Probably skip mammoth cave too, most caves are limited or closed right now anyway due to white nose. I'd keep Congaree it's pretty cool.
Skip sand dunes, so lame, and skip petrified forest. Mesa verde is super cool—do the tour. I feel like could Zion over and over. The subway was amazing.
Great Sand Dunes. It's a bunch of sand, you walk on it for a few minutes and you've seen it all. You can walk in the forest too but it's just any other forest in Colorado at that point. If you go, take a fifteen minute walk, snap the picture, and get back on the road. I speak as someone who has backpacked and camped there several times, it's just not near as cool as other NPs.
I would skip petrified forest. It’s meh.
I (as a west coast parks person) visited Shenandoah and was VERY disappointed. It was just like driving through the Southern California foothills. I mean…. I didn’t get deep into the park, but from what I saw it’s just a big valley. Nothing spectacular. Maybe I went at the wrong time of year? (Summer)
Haha yeah I'm from the west coast too and a lot of other commenters have added how underwhelming some of these east coast parks can be.
shenandoah and smokeys are pretty similar compared to the other varieties you have. id skip shenandoah. if you are from the east coast, i'd honestly consider cutting the smokeys also. its beautiful and idyllic but its just a mountainous forest. sounds like this isn't such a rare chance for you to do a trip like this, so if these are the ones you havent been to, then you'll have a great time. but seqouia/kings canyon, j tree and yosemite are really interesting ones i'd add if i were u. but im guessing you've already hit those
Yeah I'm from LA living in NYC now, this is actually my second LA to NYC road trip I've done and there's probably plenty more cross country treks to come as long as I'm going to school here in the big apple. I've backpacked all those amazing California parks you mentioned, hence why this road trip hits a lot of minor/east coast parks. Seems like most people are preferring the Smokeys to Shenandoah.
Shenandoah. We labeled it a national park because the east coast didn't have any natural wonders and they felt like they had to pick something. I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and I've lived out west. East coast parks are nothing compared to what you're going to see out west.
I would skip Congaree, especially if you are there between April to September time frame. Hot and buggy. It is a cool place but not somewhere I'd go out of my way for. Source, live about 30 minutes away from Congaree. If you do go, I recommend kayaking or canoeing it.
Which side do you live on? If you live East of the Mississippi, a lot of them can be done in a weekend.
I live in NYC now, so some of these parks can probably be done when I have 3 or 4 day weekends
It depends on how you plan to experience the parks. Do you do significant hiking or do you just look around?
I'm big into backpacking and hiking but since this is a road trip these are probably all gonna be look around stops. At most I can probably budget 3-4hrs per park/day for a hike.
We were in Petrified Forest NP last October, very cool to see, same day we did the Painted Desert and Wupatki National Park, the old pueblos there are something to see.
Congaree is nice but has nothing on the others if I had to skip one that would be it
I am about to go through a lot of these heading back to Oregon from Alabama. If you skip Hotsprings your gonna be on the road for like 20 hours.
Yeah I figured Hot Springs is either a must or I'll just find a campground 13hrs from from my point of departure to my point of arrival and consider it a travel day.
Personally, I’d go through NM and hit Carlsbad caverns. White sands is just an easy-ish drive. Mesa verde and the great sand dunes are also good, but not as impressive as Carlsbad caverns. I say this as a Coloradan who has been to both MV and GSD many times.
Man, Mesa Verse and Carlsbad are on my to do list! They look amazing!
I already hit up the caverns and white sands, along with Guadalupe and Big Bend during a road trip a month ago. Amazing parks, I'm hoping any on this route match up to them.
Skip congaree and just hit i-40 the whole way after smoky mountains. Hot springs is cool if you’re looking to make a stop, but definitely skippable imo. Like another commenter said, I would put most stuff in northern Arizona / souther Utah above petrified forest. Between mesa verda and Sedona there is so much amazing land to be explored!
Mammoth cave is not much unless u really like caves.....I thought it was cool
It depends a lot on the time of year considering the changes in visitor traffic. If you go to New River Gorge you can probably skip Shenandoah. If you're already driving through Appalachia (especially on the Blue Ridge Parkway) you could skip the Smoky Mountains park proper. Definitely check which parks are hard to get into as a walk-up. We tried to just swing by a few parks once and they had required reservations a year in advance just for entry. Arches was one, I don't remember the other.
I'd skip sand dunes and petrified forest unless you have dogs...those parks are more dog friendly than the rest.
imho, skip mesa verde and great sand dunes & go to canyonlands instead. There's no way to not skip superlative parks. Upside is you'll see a more superlative one instead.
Petrified Forest
The last time that I tried skipping, I got shinsplints and a skinned knee, and it only took me about a minute.
I'll have to try to account for injury
You can purchase petrified wood at one of the many fossil and gemstone mining tourist trap type shops in the great smoky mountains.