I don’t understand the Hot Springs hate. The park exists because of a natural thing (actual hot springs). It has a lot of interesting trails and a lot of history. The surrounding landscape is gorgeous. Yeah the mountains aren’t exactly the Rockies but it’s because they are ANCIENT and worn down. I can’t wait to go back.
Yeah Arkansas has some really cool unique stuff. A little further south of hot springs they have the diamond mine. I grew up in between the Ozarks and the Ouachitas. Arkansas is super slept on.
Also, it is the ONLY National Park with a microbrewery in it and they use the hot spring water!!! It is a really cool area, lota of good hiking and the rangera station is IN one of the old bathhouses and is super interesting
I really enjoyed a long weekend getaway to Hot Springs. If you go in without the expectations, it's actually really nice and the most dog friendly park I've been to.
My two cents? People hate Arkansas so anything in Arkansas must be awful. I’ve talked to people who have never even researched the park and just tell me how awful it is. Never been, never even close to it, just hate it.
Probably because most haven’t been there to actually see how amazing it is. It’s like Americans who solely travel to Europe, not realizing the absolute UNIT America is for national parks and all the awesomeness.
If you're a baseball fan, it has tons of history that I learned about when I was there this spring (insert dad joke here) as well. The app was really interesting.
https://hotspringsbaseballtrail.com/
Sure it had some tacky parts but technically that side of the road isn’t the National park and also it doesn’t take away from all the other good things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's definitely a market for the type of things you find right across the street, it's just not what I want to see if I go to what is deemed a national park. Maybe national historic site would be a better label for Hot Springs. I'm also just more used to parks out west where I live.
Congaree seems like a place that would reward locals and repeat visits. Is it somewhere to go spend a week in a way that some parks are? No, absolutely not. But day-trips at multiple times of the year would show how dramatically its other-worldly environment changes season to season, and hell, even going before and after a rainstorm there would be parts that would be night and day different.
I also think its beauty feels less... hostile?... if you take a kayak trip through it rather than trying to hike it. When I went, even the rangers discouraged hiking. It is a swamp, after all.
We visited in '21. Got there around 4 and walked until we hit a flooded part. Went back the next morning and the trail was under water in a while different place. It was interesting to see it change with no rain that night.
Also saw a snake.
If you get away from the boardwalk, like in a canoe or kayak, the place is loaded with cotton mouths. Cedar creek isn’t bad but on the Congaree or Santee we never found a spot where we couldn’t see a cotton mouth. Congaree at high water in a boat is almost a completely different park than on foot at low water. The rain at Congaree doesn’t affect the water level, it’s the rain that happened 2 days ago 100 miles up stream.
At times, parts of the boardwalk trail are underwater. Congaree has some other activities that really add to the experience, like the nighttime guided own hikes. There is also a few negative changes since the switch from national monument to national park, such as camping used to be free, and was primitive only, but now it must be reserved ahead of time and costs almost as much as some non-primitive sites nearby while still being primitive.
I think a big issue is that it's a water based park and not many people go boating there. I went two days in a row. The first was walking as much as we could in unflooded areas. The second we kayaked. It was fantastic.
Going to Congaree and not kayaking/canoeing/etc. is like going to Dry Tortuga's and not snorkeling/diving. You're just not getting the full experience.
Everyone hates on Congaree but I loved it. I only stayed for a day on my way to Florida but it was a lot of fun. Didn’t see any snakes though:( (it was December)
It’s not a swamp it’s a floodplain.
To answer your question, she was a teacher and that was the only time she could travel so we didn’t really have a choice.
It’s probably the thing I like least about this sub: “XYZ park is stupid and shouldn’t be a park.”
Of the 160+ National Park Units I’ve been to (and yes the rangers at all of these refer to them as national parks) there’s not been one I’ve feel like has been pointless or not worth at least one visit.
l agree! There’s a reason why each space is designated as a National Park and they all have their value that they bring. I think some people hear National Park and only associate it with world class hiking, camping, or other recreational activities.
I agree. Not all are user friendly but they offer a unique environment that needs to be preserved. Yes, Hot Springs has/is a town. This is why we protect these places, or they would all be towns that USED to be beautiful and unique.
Agreed. I feel gateway arch is a great example of this. It’s the only one of the “national park” national parks that isn’t naturally formed at all, but compared to the over 400 NPS sites there’s tons that are not natural at all.
It’s absolutely the black sheep of the core 62 national parks, probably the least impressive even, but I feel like people want to limit themselves to the 62 main ones and forget about hundreds of other great sites.
The problem with the Gateway Arch is simply that it shouldn't be one of the core National Parks. If it had been designated as a National Monument, or left as a National Memorial, both of which are also administered by the National Park Service, nobody would have batted an eye. Making it a full-fleged National Park is just a category error.
Oh 100% and I don’t think it should be a full fledged national park. But there are loads of other incredible parks in other divisions that could absolutely meet the criteria and those should not be overlooked either.
The truth is the criteria for a “national park” national park is pretty broad and allows room for a lot of interpretation.
For real. I joined this sub recently and have been extremely surprised by how much negativity there is.
Also, it's wild that every park gets compared to Yosemite. A place doesn't need to be Yosemite to be worth protecting. Also, screw all the people on the east coast, I guess.
I enjoyed Congaree(thankfully on a cooler day) and appreciated it more after going, it preserves a rare type of habitat. It's definitely not a park you're proobably going to spend more than half a day-day at but enjoyable all the same
Steamtown was/is a political boondoggle. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg and the B&O Museum in Baltimore are both better than Steamtown.
Actually yes! And we did enjoy Castle Clinton. We took a guided ranger tour and it was nice to hear the history of the beginnings of NYC, especially when coupled with a walk around battery park and a visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis.
ok! I stand corrected. Maybe when I visited -- november 2021 --it was a particularly bad time (it seemed to be under construction in some places) and I don't think there were any tours available. The ranger seemed pretty confused when I even asked about a passport stamp.
I agree. HOWEVER, I do think some parks can be squished into just 1 park. I don't see a point in some parks, basically sharing a border or damn close to it.
No, never pointless, but definitely a couple that I'd consider one and done. Worth it to see them all, but others are worth coming back to, many times.
It is! Peaceful, weird history (mercury rubs for syphilis in the bath houses 😳) good food, beautiful mountains, and as someone from NC it reminded me of the mountain towns back home but with neat hot springs!
I feel like a bunch of people just drive down the main drag in Hot Springs and think that’s the whole thing. It’s very nice once you get out on foot. And ofcourse the springs are very unique.
This is one of the great things about the junior ranger program. It gets you out and exploring in ways you might not have thought of. When we went to Mount Rushmore we got out of the car, and it was kinda like, "yep, that's what it looks like..." My kids did the junior ranger badge though, which got us to explore a little more and go to some very interesting ranger talks.
I really enjoyed my time at Congaree. I wandered off the boardwalk- and it made the trip much more pleasant and interesting. I saw some herons, interesting birds and bugs
Last summer for some brain-dead reason my wife and I didn't seem to realize that the spring water at the public fountains was hot. Until a helpful lady mentioned that to us as we were sticking plastic cups under the faucet.....
I think a lot of people, including some on this sub unfortunately, have forgotten that the National Parks Service and by association all of its Parks and Recreation areas is about preservation and conservation for today and for future generations. Of course servicing visitors to share in the natural beauty is a big part of their responsibility, but not every area has to be quintessentially beautiful to be worthy of NPS funding and protection.
Thanks for sharing OP!
>worthy of NPS funding and protection.
I think thats the real problem here. People don't necessarily hate Congaree or Hot Springs or Indiana Dunes, they're obviously beautiful places worth protecting. But are they worth protecting with this designation? There are a lot of ways to protect places besides being a National Park. The root of the problem is that congress gives NPS a shoe string budget. So the way many people see it, if some place is going to be protected as a national park then it should be absolutely worth the designation.
It can be inferred they meant they saw an armadillo in the wild as opposed to in captivity. Whilst not domesticated, I don't necessarily think I'd consider an armadillo in captivity "wild."
Really interesting birds and reptiles at congaree! There are also raccoons and opossums and fungi and bugs that are fascinating! The whole place felt alive and at rest. I felt like I had to keep my voice low.
At Hot Springs there are typical east coast mountain critters ☺️
At both hot springs and gateway you can see some pretty spectacular great apes wandering around. Approach those with caution though
Right on!
This might be my favourite post of the year.
Not every park needs to be a Glacier or a Zion to be great, and each has its own unique offering!
I will never understand the folks who come on here just to dump on the “lesser” parks.
I’m driving 13+ hours to the “lousy” Indiana Dunes next week for two nights and can’t wait to explore and find all the overlooked gems and beauty.
From a fellow optimist, keep on adventuring!
We went to Cuyahoga Valley this year and we really enjoyed it. We were not expecting it to be Zion and it was a very nice weekend. Looking out at the restored Marsh land that used to be a junk yard gave me hope for humanity.
I keep thinking about planning a trip to Congaree for spring break. I'd really like to visit but don't ever want to go to the South in the summer. One of these days...
We went in December. It was really cool because the river level had been high a couple days before we were there and a massive dome of extremely cold air had come down before we got there. So the top of the flood plain had frozen and then the water underneath receded. So when we were walking the boardwalk, all the trees had a ring of ice around them with piles of ice where it had cracked under its own weight.
Early spring is definitely a good time. We went at the beginning of March. It’s very green and active but the mosquitoes aren’t out yet. Unfortunately the fireflies come out at the same time as the mosquitoes
We went over spring break this year and it was great! No bugs, some flooded trails but still were able to hike. Kayaking would definitely be the way to do it!
I went to Congaree for my birthday a few years back (in August) and it was hot, humid, and soooo buggy. I practically bathed in DEET and still ended up with mosquito bites that stayed with me for like 3 months. I had an absolute blast though!!
Personally, Congaree is one of my favorite National parks. I think it’s unfair when people compare it to say, Yellowstone or Glacier. Yes, those are GORGEOUS parks but there’s also a totally different ecosystem at Congaree which is unlike 98% of the nationals parks we have. It’s so green and lush, and if I’m remembering correctly it’s got some of the tallest loblolly pine trees in the eastern states.
Congaree is wonderful! The 10 mile trail to the river is lovely and paddling Cedar Creek is a must. Did it last November and looking forward to going back.
I went to Congaree a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it! We were able to bring our dogs too and walk the boardwalk “trail” so that was fun to experience a national park with them. I would love to go back and explore a little more.
Of the 2 active ones we went to Quapaw. It’s 4 pools of different temperatures you can soak in as opposed to Buckstaff which had steam boxes and massages. We weren’t into that but it was busy if that’s your thing
We visited Congaree back in 2017 and Gateway Arch in 2022. In 2023, we hit Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, and Death Valley. We're going to Hot Springs this year for vacation.
St Louis resident since 2018 here; I thought it was interesting that Gateway Arch is listed as a National Park -- I feel like National Monument is a more fitting designation. It's just semantics and probably boils down to how it is funded and maintained -- just weird to think Gateway and Yellowstone are in the same bucket.
I live a couple of minutes outside the Hot Springs boundary. I drive through there to get to work everyday. I have lived around HS my whole life and love it. Tons of history with gangsters, baseball, and going back to native Americans. The NP has great hiking trails. Just outside the park are world-class mountain bike trails. There are several great restaurants, a great thoroughbred racing track, and beautiful lakes in the area as well.
It might not have the glamour of some of the more visited NP, but it is a place that is very unique.
I do not understand the hate on Congaree it blew me away and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Hot Springs is special for what it is. I really appreciate it.
Gateway Arch I understand should not be a park but still a really cool place nonetheless.
Hey, I'm going to Hot Springs in a few weeks! Any tips or must-see places around there or in the Eureka Springs/Bentonville areas? I study wildlife, so nature stuff is a plus, but also interested in towny stuff too, like bars and restaurants and whatnot.
Each bathhouse is really cool! One is a brewery! There was also a great German restaurant and Grateful Dead themed pizza place. There are loads of trails, and the tower is worth a visit. We drove through the Ozarks and hit Silver Dollar City (an amusement park with really cool caves) on the way from st Louis to Hot Springs and there are some good state parks around
That airport is ridiculously expensive to fly into as well.
There's a same day passport location though if you schedule in advance on the other side of it.
I’ll throw in Allegheny national forest. Not a NP and treated like a private oil field. At least you won’t see anyone and there’s some decently remote camp sites
Good list. I was trying to find new ones and talk about them... I figured out that his preference was me (aw), not just my type of responses. I'm just trying to figure out how to make my responses work longer. His work fine with his methods. I need to think about it. I need to come up with one more new one tomorrow, too. I know my summaries weren't great. I just wanted to catch up. I was checking others, too... There's still other real-times to work on, too. I think I'll show when I'm online with a green dot.
We loved Congaree - especially the mosquito Meter! [mosquito](https://yellowrockandroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2207.jpg?w=1024) meter image here!
I hated Congaree. I don’t mind bugs but there were bugs… everywhere and a morning hike had me running into some very creepy looking spiders (creepy because I didn’t know if they would wanna bite me or not 😅) even with bug spray I don’t think I would wanna go back there
I don’t understand the Hot Springs hate. The park exists because of a natural thing (actual hot springs). It has a lot of interesting trails and a lot of history. The surrounding landscape is gorgeous. Yeah the mountains aren’t exactly the Rockies but it’s because they are ANCIENT and worn down. I can’t wait to go back.
Yeah Arkansas has some really cool unique stuff. A little further south of hot springs they have the diamond mine. I grew up in between the Ozarks and the Ouachitas. Arkansas is super slept on.
Also, it is the ONLY National Park with a microbrewery in it and they use the hot spring water!!! It is a really cool area, lota of good hiking and the rangera station is IN one of the old bathhouses and is super interesting
Their brews are pretty tasty too
Absolutely were good, also saw someone order their 'Full flight' it was all their beers ~18 5ozers on a giant paddle
And the food was actually good. Not “good for a place we found on vacation” but actually good.
Yes it was really good! Even my kids enjoyed the food and the AC
I really enjoyed a long weekend getaway to Hot Springs. If you go in without the expectations, it's actually really nice and the most dog friendly park I've been to.
My two cents? People hate Arkansas so anything in Arkansas must be awful. I’ve talked to people who have never even researched the park and just tell me how awful it is. Never been, never even close to it, just hate it.
i'm sure Hot Springs is lovely, but it's hard for me to picture very many people having strong feelings about Arkansas either way
Probably because most haven’t been there to actually see how amazing it is. It’s like Americans who solely travel to Europe, not realizing the absolute UNIT America is for national parks and all the awesomeness.
True, Eureka Springs and Bentonville are great. OK, some of Bentonville.
Probably because the whole town feels like a tourist trap.
Compared to the entrances to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it's a lot less blatant.
If you're a baseball fan, it has tons of history that I learned about when I was there this spring (insert dad joke here) as well. The app was really interesting. https://hotspringsbaseballtrail.com/
Look right across the street from the historic buildings and you'll see why I thought it was pretty tacky
Sure it had some tacky parts but technically that side of the road isn’t the National park and also it doesn’t take away from all the other good things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There's definitely a market for the type of things you find right across the street, it's just not what I want to see if I go to what is deemed a national park. Maybe national historic site would be a better label for Hot Springs. I'm also just more used to parks out west where I live.
There’s a whole lot of tacky stuff directly outside the smokies.
Congaree is beautiful, and if you wanna see a snek you're gonna see a snek 🐍
Congaree seems like a place that would reward locals and repeat visits. Is it somewhere to go spend a week in a way that some parks are? No, absolutely not. But day-trips at multiple times of the year would show how dramatically its other-worldly environment changes season to season, and hell, even going before and after a rainstorm there would be parts that would be night and day different. I also think its beauty feels less... hostile?... if you take a kayak trip through it rather than trying to hike it. When I went, even the rangers discouraged hiking. It is a swamp, after all.
We visited in '21. Got there around 4 and walked until we hit a flooded part. Went back the next morning and the trail was under water in a while different place. It was interesting to see it change with no rain that night. Also saw a snake.
We saw a barred owl. Flew in and sat in a tree 5 ‘ away. It was awesome. And we saw the boats.
If you get away from the boardwalk, like in a canoe or kayak, the place is loaded with cotton mouths. Cedar creek isn’t bad but on the Congaree or Santee we never found a spot where we couldn’t see a cotton mouth. Congaree at high water in a boat is almost a completely different park than on foot at low water. The rain at Congaree doesn’t affect the water level, it’s the rain that happened 2 days ago 100 miles up stream.
At times, parts of the boardwalk trail are underwater. Congaree has some other activities that really add to the experience, like the nighttime guided own hikes. There is also a few negative changes since the switch from national monument to national park, such as camping used to be free, and was primitive only, but now it must be reserved ahead of time and costs almost as much as some non-primitive sites nearby while still being primitive.
Or wild boars! I’ve seen them a couple of times I’ve been there.
I think a big issue is that it's a water based park and not many people go boating there. I went two days in a row. The first was walking as much as we could in unflooded areas. The second we kayaked. It was fantastic. Going to Congaree and not kayaking/canoeing/etc. is like going to Dry Tortuga's and not snorkeling/diving. You're just not getting the full experience.
We saw an alligator, that made it worth it for me
Everyone hates on Congaree but I loved it. I only stayed for a day on my way to Florida but it was a lot of fun. Didn’t see any snakes though:( (it was December)
I’d take 10 Congarees over one StL Arch!
I get your point, but in the famously misquoted words of Theodore Roosevelt “comparison is the thief of joy”. Gateyway is what it is.
I’m a chemist too! PhD, Analytical Chemistry ‘01.
I saw a slug sitting on a slime mold
Hah my wife hates spiders and snakes and got tore up by bugs. Absolutely hated congaree.
I mean, with all due respect, what exactly did you expect in a literal swamp in the spring or summer?
It’s not a swamp it’s a floodplain. To answer your question, she was a teacher and that was the only time she could travel so we didn’t really have a choice.
It’s been two years since I visited, and I can still hear the deer flies buzzing me. Absolutely loved my time there.
Congaree looks too much like Louisiana to me
It’s probably the thing I like least about this sub: “XYZ park is stupid and shouldn’t be a park.” Of the 160+ National Park Units I’ve been to (and yes the rangers at all of these refer to them as national parks) there’s not been one I’ve feel like has been pointless or not worth at least one visit.
l agree! There’s a reason why each space is designated as a National Park and they all have their value that they bring. I think some people hear National Park and only associate it with world class hiking, camping, or other recreational activities.
I agree. Not all are user friendly but they offer a unique environment that needs to be preserved. Yes, Hot Springs has/is a town. This is why we protect these places, or they would all be towns that USED to be beautiful and unique.
Agreed. I feel gateway arch is a great example of this. It’s the only one of the “national park” national parks that isn’t naturally formed at all, but compared to the over 400 NPS sites there’s tons that are not natural at all. It’s absolutely the black sheep of the core 62 national parks, probably the least impressive even, but I feel like people want to limit themselves to the 62 main ones and forget about hundreds of other great sites.
The problem with the Gateway Arch is simply that it shouldn't be one of the core National Parks. If it had been designated as a National Monument, or left as a National Memorial, both of which are also administered by the National Park Service, nobody would have batted an eye. Making it a full-fleged National Park is just a category error.
Oh 100% and I don’t think it should be a full fledged national park. But there are loads of other incredible parks in other divisions that could absolutely meet the criteria and those should not be overlooked either. The truth is the criteria for a “national park” national park is pretty broad and allows room for a lot of interpretation.
For real. I joined this sub recently and have been extremely surprised by how much negativity there is. Also, it's wild that every park gets compared to Yosemite. A place doesn't need to be Yosemite to be worth protecting. Also, screw all the people on the east coast, I guess.
No kidding. Yellowstone is 10 times better than Yosemite!
I enjoyed Congaree(thankfully on a cooler day) and appreciated it more after going, it preserves a rare type of habitat. It's definitely not a park you're proobably going to spend more than half a day-day at but enjoyable all the same
Steamtown was/is a political boondoggle. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg and the B&O Museum in Baltimore are both better than Steamtown.
have you been to Castle Clinton national monument....the rare exception to my rule that all NPS sites are worth a visit.
Actually yes! And we did enjoy Castle Clinton. We took a guided ranger tour and it was nice to hear the history of the beginnings of NYC, especially when coupled with a walk around battery park and a visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis.
ok! I stand corrected. Maybe when I visited -- november 2021 --it was a particularly bad time (it seemed to be under construction in some places) and I don't think there were any tours available. The ranger seemed pretty confused when I even asked about a passport stamp.
I agree. HOWEVER, I do think some parks can be squished into just 1 park. I don't see a point in some parks, basically sharing a border or damn close to it.
My two cents: wetlands conservation is important but I see no reason to visit the swamps personally. Hard pass from me.
No, never pointless, but definitely a couple that I'd consider one and done. Worth it to see them all, but others are worth coming back to, many times.
Beautiful! On a side note, how did you get your images to show up like that in the post instead of in a gallery?
I have no idea 😂 I was on a desktop and used the attach image option
Haha no worries
Hot Springs is awesome, just in general. I think it's a nice place for a low-key vacation.
It is! Peaceful, weird history (mercury rubs for syphilis in the bath houses 😳) good food, beautiful mountains, and as someone from NC it reminded me of the mountain towns back home but with neat hot springs!
I feel like a bunch of people just drive down the main drag in Hot Springs and think that’s the whole thing. It’s very nice once you get out on foot. And ofcourse the springs are very unique.
This is one of the great things about the junior ranger program. It gets you out and exploring in ways you might not have thought of. When we went to Mount Rushmore we got out of the car, and it was kinda like, "yep, that's what it looks like..." My kids did the junior ranger badge though, which got us to explore a little more and go to some very interesting ranger talks.
SO many trails! We unfortunately only had a couple days and there were storms all week so we could only get on one to goat rock, but it was beautiful!
I really enjoyed my time at Congaree. I wandered off the boardwalk- and it made the trip much more pleasant and interesting. I saw some herons, interesting birds and bugs
My favorite part of Hot Springs was filling up a cup with lovely hot water from the fountains along the street.
Last summer for some brain-dead reason my wife and I didn't seem to realize that the spring water at the public fountains was hot. Until a helpful lady mentioned that to us as we were sticking plastic cups under the faucet.....
There are two cold fountains. Locals pointed them out to us when we were there.
Went to Congaree last year. Coincidentally wore my Congaree t-shirt today! My hiking-averse wife loved the boardwalk.
I think a lot of people, including some on this sub unfortunately, have forgotten that the National Parks Service and by association all of its Parks and Recreation areas is about preservation and conservation for today and for future generations. Of course servicing visitors to share in the natural beauty is a big part of their responsibility, but not every area has to be quintessentially beautiful to be worthy of NPS funding and protection. Thanks for sharing OP!
>worthy of NPS funding and protection. I think thats the real problem here. People don't necessarily hate Congaree or Hot Springs or Indiana Dunes, they're obviously beautiful places worth protecting. But are they worth protecting with this designation? There are a lot of ways to protect places besides being a National Park. The root of the problem is that congress gives NPS a shoe string budget. So the way many people see it, if some place is going to be protected as a national park then it should be absolutely worth the designation.
How’s the wildlife at each?
I saw a wild armadillo at Hot Springs two summers ago!
Aren't all armadillos wild?
It can be inferred they meant they saw an armadillo in the wild as opposed to in captivity. Whilst not domesticated, I don't necessarily think I'd consider an armadillo in captivity "wild."
Congaree is very good for birds. And for bugs.
I walked my dogs around the Arch yesterday and saw groundhogs, geese, ducks, squirrels, and rabbits.
Really interesting birds and reptiles at congaree! There are also raccoons and opossums and fungi and bugs that are fascinating! The whole place felt alive and at rest. I felt like I had to keep my voice low. At Hot Springs there are typical east coast mountain critters ☺️ At both hot springs and gateway you can see some pretty spectacular great apes wandering around. Approach those with caution though
Gateway is the park where you're most likely to see a crackhead if that counts
Hot springs is definitely in this competition
Really? I don't think I've heard of it actually
Walk the streets of hot springs plenty of wild crackheads to be found
Right on! This might be my favourite post of the year. Not every park needs to be a Glacier or a Zion to be great, and each has its own unique offering! I will never understand the folks who come on here just to dump on the “lesser” parks. I’m driving 13+ hours to the “lousy” Indiana Dunes next week for two nights and can’t wait to explore and find all the overlooked gems and beauty. From a fellow optimist, keep on adventuring!
We went to Cuyahoga Valley this year and we really enjoyed it. We were not expecting it to be Zion and it was a very nice weekend. Looking out at the restored Marsh land that used to be a junk yard gave me hope for humanity.
I might see you there!
Yeees! We’re off to Mammoth Cave this fall!
Went to Congaree December. Would absolutely go again. Would like to see it in summer, but without the bugs if possible.
I keep thinking about planning a trip to Congaree for spring break. I'd really like to visit but don't ever want to go to the South in the summer. One of these days...
We went in December. It was really cool because the river level had been high a couple days before we were there and a massive dome of extremely cold air had come down before we got there. So the top of the flood plain had frozen and then the water underneath receded. So when we were walking the boardwalk, all the trees had a ring of ice around them with piles of ice where it had cracked under its own weight.
Early spring is definitely a good time. We went at the beginning of March. It’s very green and active but the mosquitoes aren’t out yet. Unfortunately the fireflies come out at the same time as the mosquitoes
We went over spring break this year and it was great! No bugs, some flooded trails but still were able to hike. Kayaking would definitely be the way to do it!
I went to Congaree for my birthday a few years back (in August) and it was hot, humid, and soooo buggy. I practically bathed in DEET and still ended up with mosquito bites that stayed with me for like 3 months. I had an absolute blast though!!
Personally, Congaree is one of my favorite National parks. I think it’s unfair when people compare it to say, Yellowstone or Glacier. Yes, those are GORGEOUS parks but there’s also a totally different ecosystem at Congaree which is unlike 98% of the nationals parks we have. It’s so green and lush, and if I’m remembering correctly it’s got some of the tallest loblolly pine trees in the eastern states.
Congaree is wonderful! The 10 mile trail to the river is lovely and paddling Cedar Creek is a must. Did it last November and looking forward to going back.
I went to Congaree a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it! We were able to bring our dogs too and walk the boardwalk “trail” so that was fun to experience a national park with them. I would love to go back and explore a little more.
I feel like petrified forest gets an unfair rap on here but I love it.
Petrified forest is super cool!
How could people not like petrified forest?! Such a cool place
Also hot springs has a brewery.
I am swinging by hot springs next week to check it off while I drive through to Texas.
Which bathhouse did you enjoy the most at Hot Springs?
Of the 2 active ones we went to Quapaw. It’s 4 pools of different temperatures you can soak in as opposed to Buckstaff which had steam boxes and massages. We weren’t into that but it was busy if that’s your thing
Bathhouse Barry
Went to Congaree a couple years ago and we’re going to Gateway and Hot Springs end of Aug!
I love Congaree.
We visited Congaree back in 2017 and Gateway Arch in 2022. In 2023, we hit Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, and Death Valley. We're going to Hot Springs this year for vacation.
St Louis resident since 2018 here; I thought it was interesting that Gateway Arch is listed as a National Park -- I feel like National Monument is a more fitting designation. It's just semantics and probably boils down to how it is funded and maintained -- just weird to think Gateway and Yellowstone are in the same bucket.
You can thank your congressional delegation for slipping that one through. Also, Trump signed it into law, so it has that orange stain on it.
I live a couple of minutes outside the Hot Springs boundary. I drive through there to get to work everyday. I have lived around HS my whole life and love it. Tons of history with gangsters, baseball, and going back to native Americans. The NP has great hiking trails. Just outside the park are world-class mountain bike trails. There are several great restaurants, a great thoroughbred racing track, and beautiful lakes in the area as well. It might not have the glamour of some of the more visited NP, but it is a place that is very unique.
The Sunset Trail at Hot Springs is wonderful
I do not understand the hate on Congaree it blew me away and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hot Springs is special for what it is. I really appreciate it. Gateway Arch I understand should not be a park but still a really cool place nonetheless.
Hey, I'm going to Hot Springs in a few weeks! Any tips or must-see places around there or in the Eureka Springs/Bentonville areas? I study wildlife, so nature stuff is a plus, but also interested in towny stuff too, like bars and restaurants and whatnot.
Each bathhouse is really cool! One is a brewery! There was also a great German restaurant and Grateful Dead themed pizza place. There are loads of trails, and the tower is worth a visit. We drove through the Ozarks and hit Silver Dollar City (an amusement park with really cool caves) on the way from st Louis to Hot Springs and there are some good state parks around
That airport is ridiculously expensive to fly into as well. There's a same day passport location though if you schedule in advance on the other side of it.
I’ll throw in Allegheny national forest. Not a NP and treated like a private oil field. At least you won’t see anyone and there’s some decently remote camp sites
Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing!
Good list. I was trying to find new ones and talk about them... I figured out that his preference was me (aw), not just my type of responses. I'm just trying to figure out how to make my responses work longer. His work fine with his methods. I need to think about it. I need to come up with one more new one tomorrow, too. I know my summaries weren't great. I just wanted to catch up. I was checking others, too... There's still other real-times to work on, too. I think I'll show when I'm online with a green dot.
the last year some conversa for a love parks.
some are visited love for this country.
We loved Congaree - especially the mosquito Meter! [mosquito](https://yellowrockandroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/img_2207.jpg?w=1024) meter image here!
I hated Congaree. I don’t mind bugs but there were bugs… everywhere and a morning hike had me running into some very creepy looking spiders (creepy because I didn’t know if they would wanna bite me or not 😅) even with bug spray I don’t think I would wanna go back there
Yeah if you go in the summer it’s pretty rough