What are the Best State Parks in the United States?
This is a great question and it really has no perfect answer. Before we delve more deeply into the vast array of state parks in the United States, we should explain the genesis of the question.
At Jackpot Capital online casino, we extol the many virtues of casino gaming online. We feel strongly that online gaming has so many advantages over land based casino gaming that most people are much better off gaming at Jackpot Capital casino or one of the many other reputable online casinos and, when they want to go on a vacation, they take a “real vacation”.
We Take a Vacation Every Year
What then is a real vacation? Well, it is a vacation in which you don’t go to a land based casino or a hub of land based casinos such as Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Now, there are many ways a person can take a real vacation. One way is to go to a big city or at least a city bigger than the one you live in.
Another is to go to an amusement park such as the one popularized by a giant castle and heroines in uniform. You know what we mean!
A third type of real vacation is to venture out into nature.
Isn’t Going out into Nature Pretty Simple?
Actually, it is quite complicated!
One type of vacation in nature is at a park with abundant water, streams or rivers or lakes, and little or no high country. Another type of vacation in nature is in an area that is dry in the summer. The great American West falls into this category for the most part.
One type of vacation might be spent breathing in ocean air while another type of vacation might be spent breathing in mountain air. In fact, there is ocean air from the east coast which is warm and moist in the summer or there is ocean air from San Francisco that is quite cold and moist even in August!
There are literally thousands of Americans who have gone to San Francisco in August and found themselves woefully underdressed!
The United States has many National Parks that serve millions of vacationers every year. In this article, we would like to look at a few excellent state parks from various parts of the country.
How are State Parks Different than National Parks
The National Parks are run by a United States government agency called the National Park Service. At nps.gov, you can get a library full of information about National Parks, forests, monuments, historical sites, byways, overlooks, and gobs more!
State parks are run by the individual states and usually have smaller budgets. They are less well maintained even though most are well maintained. They aren’t the Major Leagues of parks! But they are in the AAA of parks and are well worth a visit especially as an alternative to a vacation at a land based casino that is no vacation at all!
Let’s take a look at the crème de la crème of state parks.
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The Southern Appalachians
This geographical are includes western North Carolina and South Carolina, eastern Kentucky and Tennessee and northern Georgia and Alabama. Here we choose Desoto State Park in Alabama. It has trails and rapids and abuts the Little River Canyon National Preserve. At Little River Canyon, visitors have to leave the park at nightfall but can find camping at Desoto or motel and hotel accommodations in nearby small communities.
The southern Appalachian region has changed dramatically since the 1960’s when circumstances gave it a black eye. Travelers can find much unique Appalachian handicrafts, music, restaurants, and much more!
The Ozark Mountains
This is both the name of a specific mountain range and a generic term for all of the mountain ranges in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. The ranges here are not very high but geology and geography have made them wild in their own way. Hiking here can be quite challenging as there are many steep climbs and descents.
Let’s Explore Bull Shoals White River State Park in Arkansas.
This park rewards fisherpersons with famous trout fishing. There are trails for all skill levels and broad grassy expanses for the kids to run around in. Bull Shoals Lake was created by the Bull Shoals Dam. This state park has both low altitude trails and mountain trails that are low enough to make both elevations accessible in a single day.
While the park attracts many fisherpersons every year, it also attracts boaters and people who just want a nice vacation in the deep country of the mid-latitudes and longitudes of the continental US where summers are hot but not so hot and winters are cold but not so cold!
New England
This is the quintessential region for looking at leaves after they have changed color in the fall. Hiking or simply strolling in the many state parks here is a colorfest and good for your heart as well! Even just driving a simple back road will fill your senses with reds, yellows, burnt orange, just plain orange, brown, and more!
Although there is so much to choose from in New England, we chose Baxter State Park in Maine. The park covers 200,000 acres! It boasts a grand mountain, Mount Katahdin and a lake. There are easy hiking trails and more difficult ones. And the fall colors are both real and simply spectacular!
High Mountain West
Here, as in New England, there are so many great parks that it is hard to choose one. There are also many national parks with giant trees, mountains, lakes, streams, a lot of snow and cold, brisk air.
So, let’s head out to State Forest State Park in Colorado. This is a park with many high peaks and hundreds of miles of trails but because it isn’t Rocky Mountain National Park it gets a lot fewer visitors! You’ll enjoy relative anonymity and seclusion and all of the emotional and spiritual benefits of being in the high western mountains.
Tree Huggers Delight
Since this is an article about state parks and we are finishing with the giant trees, we have to point you in the direction of Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. There are more redwoods in Redwood National Park and the giant Sequoias reign supreme in their own national park but Jedidiah Smith is a perfect stopover point on the famed highway 1 drive from San Francisco south.
Online Gaming at Jackpot Capital
Now, we fully recognize that there is some excitement in the air at land based casinos. We feel that there is better excitement in the air when you take a real vacation, far from any land based casino.
In fact, by accessing our mobile casino platform, you can actually take the casino with you on your excursion to state or national parks.
All you need to do to get all of the myriad benefits of online gaming is to JOIN JACKPOT CAPITAL NOW!
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