Rarely mentioned National Parks and Monuments.

[agesilaus]

I was replying to another thread when it occurred to me that there are a number of parks that are hardly ever mentioned. I can see why most of the Arizona Indian Ruins parks get scant mention. They are hotter than Hades in the summer and mostly look alike when you get there. But here is my starting list:

1) Cedar Breaks NM UT
2) Cogaree SC (I've never been there myself)
3) Cuyahoga Valley NY (ditto never been)
4) Death Valley and Great Basin are rarely mentioned.
5) Guadeloupe Mt NM-- we stopped but it seems to be a serious hiker only park. Little road access
6) Kings Canyon CA-- Over shadowed by Yosemite
7) Lassen Volcanic CA--really should be more visited
😎 North Cascades WA
9) Saguaro AZ
10) Theodore Roosevelt--way off from anywhere and not that much to see.
11) Basin and Range--who's ever heard of this one?
12) Browns Canyon CO ditto above
13) Chiricahua AZ-- interesting but CG is limited to 25 ft RV
14) Colorado CO--Been there a couple times not even good hiking
15) Grand Canyon-Parashant AZ- on the North Rim??
16) Oregon Caves OR--been there a looong time ago. Did not make any big impression
17) Río Grande del Norte NM--another mystery park
18) Upper Missouri River Breaks MT-- and another unknown

Any comments or add-ons?

[dieseltruckdriv]

No one mentioned Wind Cave NP. Thats OK, I don't like crowds. It is now my favorite NP, ahead of Tetons and then Yellowstone, and I haven't been in the cave for a few years.

[Atlee]

I thought I was pretty clear on what I was getting at. I said both parks are full of rock formations. However, the rock formations are totally different types, and give a totally different look.

As for Mesa Verde, we toured Hovenweep also while we were there.

Not sure what you mean by on line reservations, unless you mean the trip down to the pueblos. If that's what you are talking about, it wouldn't bother me, since I'd never climb down there, and wouldn't climb up into the ruins.

agesilaus wrote:
3) Capital Reef National Park - Another interesting park. Another park that features lots of rock formations, but totally different from the rock formations at Craters of the Moon. Plus there are other features to view while there.
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Not sure what you are getting at here. Capital Reef is not a volcanic features park, not in the last many millions of years anyway. It's more a different red rock type park where the red rock isn't red...heh. Craters on the other hand is 100% recent volcanic and indeed they expect a new eruption at any time.

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5) Mesa Verde National Park - Down in the 4 corners region of Colorado, I mention this one because I don't hear it bandied around a lot. Again, a different national park due to it centering on the Ancestral Puebloan culture, and their cliff dwellings.
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Mesa Verde is just the most spectacular of many Indian Ruin parks in that area, Hovenweep is another example within sight of MVNP and there are a score or more down thru New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. They have made MV a lot less visitor friendly by shifting to that online reservation system. You can't just show up and do tours anymore you better make reservations days ahead of arrival.

[agesilaus]

dedmiston wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
Thanks to an all expenses paid trip, paid by the USN, I spent 10 months in Arco. That included the coldest weather I've yet to see. 41 deg below w/o the wind chill.

That's hardcore. Thanks for your service!

I see you bailed on the cold and moved to FL. Good call. :B

Not exactly, I started out in Florida.

[dedmiston]

agesilaus wrote:
Thanks to an all expenses paid trip, paid by the USN, I spent 10 months in Arco. That included the coldest weather I've yet to see. 41 deg below w/o the wind chill.

That's hardcore. Thanks for your service!

I see you bailed on the cold and moved to FL. Good call. :B

[dedmiston]

ReneeG wrote:
And did you tour EBR1, the first nuclear power plant? Fascinating. North of Arco, north of McKay is the earthquake epicenter where you can view the fault.

We didn't have time. We looped up through Arco on our way up to Yellowstone after we visited Grandma down in Twin Falls.

[agesilaus]

Thanks to an all expenses paid trip, paid by the USN, I spent 10 months in Arco. That included the coldest weather I've yet to see. 41 deg below w/o the wind chill.

[ReneeG]

dedmiston wrote:

Atlee wrote:
2) Craters of the Moon National Monument - It's near Arco, Idaho. Really enjoyed my visit there. A good day will cover it in fine detail. Liked the other worldly rock formations found here.

Arco was such a trip. We had fun looking around town and eating at Pickle's Place.

https://www.picklesplacerestaurant.com/

What a throwback town: The first "atomic powered" city in the US.

And did you tour EBR1, the first nuclear power plant? Fascinating. North of Arco, north of McKay is the earthquake epicenter where you can view the fault.

[dedmiston]

Atlee wrote:
2) Craters of the Moon National Monument - It's near Arco, Idaho. Really enjoyed my visit there. A good day will cover it in fine detail. Liked the other worldly rock formations found here.

Arco was such a trip. We had fun looking around town and eating at Pickle's Place.

https://www.picklesplacerestaurant.com/

What a throwback town: The first "atomic powered" city in the US.

[ppine]

shelbyfv wrote:

ppine wrote:
A good list. There are many more. I do not like to mention them and make them more popular.
I mostly avoid the popular ones except in winter or off season.

Yeah, mixed feelings about that! Nobody wants crowds but there may be an upside to more folks caring about the parks. As OP mentioned earlier, protection may not mean forever. National monuments in particular seem subject to random dismemberment.

If "nobody wants crowds", then why are people so quick to point out those places for others to go? If you have a favorite place, keep that way by not making its location public.

I read outdoor magazines once in a while so I know which places to avoid.

[Tom_N]

Why not visit all National Parks? Or at least most.

[agesilaus]

3) Capital Reef National Park - Another interesting park. Another park that features lots of rock formations, but totally different from the rock formations at Craters of the Moon. Plus there are other features to view while there.
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Not sure what you are getting at here. Capital Reef is not a volcanic features park, not in the last many millions of years anyway. It's more a different red rock type park where the red rock isn't red...heh. Craters on the other hand is 100% recent volcanic and indeed they expect a new eruption at any time.

------------------------------------------------
5) Mesa Verde National Park - Down in the 4 corners region of Colorado, I mention this one because I don't hear it bandied around a lot. Again, a different national park due to it centering on the Ancestral Puebloan culture, and their cliff dwellings.
------------------------------------------------

Mesa Verde is just the most spectacular of many Indian Ruin parks in that area, Hovenweep is another example within sight of MVNP and there are a score or more down thru New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. They have made MV a lot less visitor friendly by shifting to that online reservation system. You can't just show up and do tours anymore you better make reservations days ahead of arrival.

[Atlee]

Reiterate some that have been mentioned later in the thread.

1) Little Big Horn National Battlefield - It was quite interesting. It's name was changed from Custer some years ago.

2) Craters of the Moon National Monument - It's near Arco, Idaho. Really enjoyed my visit there. A good day will cover it in fine detail. Liked the other worldly rock formations found here.

3) Capital Reef National Park - Another interesting park. Another park that features lots of rock formations, but totally different from the rock formations at Craters of the Moon. Plus there are other features to view while there.

4) Saguaro National Park - Another different, but very interesting national park. Being a desert national park, it's totally different from one of the national parks in the Rockies.

5) Mesa Verde National Park - Down in the 4 corners region of Colorado, I mention this one because I don't hear it bandied around a lot. Again, a different national park due to it centering on the Ancestral Puebloan culture, and their cliff dwellings.

All but Saguaro were visited by us this year. Saguaro was visited in 2014.

[agesilaus]

That list for the most part contains parks that cannot be reached by most folks: in Alaska with little or no road access or obscure political history sites that darned few people are interested in, Eugene O'Neil? Who cares about that?

Alibates Flint Quarries we've been a couple times to and unless they've upgraded the visitor center it's no wonder it is little visited. IIRC the trailer/visitor center was open an hour or two a day and they had one tour/day. Miss that slot and you are out of luck. Plus they had a very unfriendly ranger.
We missed the witching hour on our last trip and drove around the park to see what could be seen...just about nothing. An 8 foot fence blocked the view of the actual quarry. The ranger not having time to stop and ask us if she could help did have time to follow us around glaring at us for no apparent reason.

I guess she was very worried that we would steal a rock. She actually followed us out of the park property onto other federal land talking into her radio. We never did figure that out.

[vermilye]

agesilaus wrote:
We've been to a number of the fossil sites, there are good pay sites near Rawlins WY too. I've noticed several people mention Lava Beds, usually when Lassen is mentioned. The big draw back is that you have to enter California to get there.

We've visited a couple of state park Indian Mound sites in the east.

We've been to a number of Military parks and even with knowledge of the battle, I'm a military history buff, I find the parks underwhelming, They need to come up with a better way to present the history. A stone monument saying the 6th Volunteer Wisconsin lined up here doesn't work. I suspect the topography has changed a lot over 150 years too.

Wiki has good lists of all the parks.

Check out Shellmound County Park, FL (near Cedar Key).

[vermilye]

Another unknown National Park that shouldn't be is Greenbelt NP in the Washington DC area. It is even left out of "Your Guide to the National Parks" (the Complete Guide to All National Parks). It seems like it is most unknown by our National Parks Service. Every time I'm there I am ashamed at the quality of upkeep since it is often a park where foreign visitors stay when visiting the nation's capital.

A National Monument that I enjoy for exploring lava tubes is Craters of the Moon in Idaho. Also a great dark skies location. A couple more that I like - Organ Pipe in southern AZ & Natural Bridges in UT. Not as unvisited as those linked below, but well off the beaten path.

Here is a list of the least visited places in the National Park system.