Best state parks

The top pick in ILL is good as far as I know, I have never been to the number 2 and 3 pick, but oddly enough there is one in southern, mid, and northern parts of the state, coincidence I think not.

however the number one pick is a good one, but also without any camping, the hiking is very limited ( could probably cover all the trails in a half a day), but the still water kayaking is very very nice with lots of migratory birds including lots of warblers, and your paddling around some of the biggest bald cypress in the country.

Our favorite was listed Stone Mountain State Park in NC.

yloshrk wrote:
Some of these need an asterisk. Lake Guntersville was an absolutely beautiful state park until tornadoes wiped it half off the face of the earth. It will come back, but it's not what it was.
Percy Quin was/will be another wonderful park.....but it has an empty lake filled with grass and weeds since Isaac destroyed the dam in 2012.

Here is Lake Guntersville shortly after the tornado. Cleanup in one loop was still in progress.

Here in upstate NY we are fortunate to have several great state parks for camping. Part of the experience is planning way in advance for the best spot. As for the best it kinda depends on my mood. My fav's didn't make the list. Trying a new one this year maybe it will be my new fav.

agesilaus wrote:

mockturtle wrote:
I'll have to agree with the dissenters here. Many, if not most, make no sense at all, IMHO. OTOH, maybe it will decoy people away from the really good parks! :B

LOL good point.

BK

Double ditto.

Some of these need an asterisk. Lake Guntersville was an absolutely beautiful state park until tornadoes wiped it half off the face of the earth. It will come back, but it's not what it was.
Percy Quin was/will be another wonderful park.....but it has an empty lake filled with grass and weeds since Isaac destroyed the dam in 2012.

FordDiesel250,

"I wonder what the criteria was for these parks? Number of visits per year or what? I agree that some of these is not the best parks per state but it is a good starting point"

I also wonder what was used for their "best" rating criteria? What's "BEST" is subjective. I also smell some agenda!

In Michigan "State" parks as the site refers to, if the number of visits or popularity had any part of it, the list would have been like this in decreasing popularity or visits or camping:

Grand Haven State Park - 2.1 million/yr

Holland State Park - 1.95 million/yr

Mackinac Island State Park - 1.24 million/yr It's an island about 7 miles from the closest roads so you take a ferry boat etc to get there, no motorized vehicles allowed on the 3 by 5 mile island. Just feet, horses, and bikes.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park - 1.1 million/per

Many more are at or close to the 1 million number.

etc. on down

Per "Pure Michigan" org, there's over 100 million visitors total each year just in the Michigan 100 State Parks having more than 14,000 campsites total, more than 140 State Forest CG's, the popular National Parks/CG's in Michigan, 78 County CGs, 57 city and township CG's, and many have multiple CG's in them and/or even 500+ campsites. These are just the public CG's. So many better choices than some the article had named. Then there's the more than quadruple the number of public CG's are number of private owned, commercial, church owned, private club, organizations, and a long list of free etc CG's.

From the Pure Michigan site:

State Parks of "Pure Michigan"

Michigan has 11,000 plus inland lakes, more than 3,200 miles of freshwater shoreline and more than 36,000 miles of rivers and streams. In Michigan, you're never more than five miles from water and great fishing, boating, canoeing or kayaking. Michigan's two peninsulas provide eight million acres of public hunting land, including 4.5 million acres managed by DNR. Michigan has more than 100 state parks and recreation areas along with over 140 state forest campgrounds. Your Recreation Passport gives you access to all the State parks, forest and educational programs throughout the state for one low price of $11. It's a one time fee for the entire year --- get yours and head outdoors.

Very tough to choose the "BEST"!

Been to a surprising number of them. Wondering what the ratings are based on? From personal experience some deserve recogntion. Others, not so much.

Oakman wrote:
Since this list was compiled by asking the director of each of the 50 state park systems I can only conclude the directors don't know much about the parks they oversee.

1) They may have ulterior motives: they could want to steer traffic to certain parks for example.

2) Look at the lists, on some they have a "What they said" link. And on those they probably got an answer from someone from that state. Only a large number they do not have that link, thus they didn't get an answer and just inserted their own selection.

BK

I wonder what the criteria was for these parks? Number of visits per year or what? I agree that some of these is not the best parks per state but it is a good starting point