Do you agree? - Best State Parks by State

[SageRpod]

https://www.travelandleisure.com/tri...state-parks-us

City of Rocks in New Mexico is great, but Sugarite State Park is better in my opinion.

[Vermilye]

I've been to many of the ones listed, but I think they made a mistake leaving out Letchworth State Park in NY, and my favorite of all the state parks I've visited - Ricketts Glen State Park in PA. 21 waterfalls on a 4.5 mile hike.

Letchworth on top Ricketts Glen on the bottom

[Donna D.]

Interesting. I wouldn't rate Oswald West State Park here in Oregon in the top five and they rated it number one? It's a nice park, but nooooo.

[hugh]

We're lucky here in Virginia, and have so many great state parks it's hard to choose between them. Grayson Highlands is definitely one of the best, with all the wild ponies. But I really like the coastal parks as well. The beach at First Landing Park is second to none

[Civilguy]

Pretty much everything west of the Mississippi is just plain awful. The restrooms are filthy, there's no views worth mentioning, poisonous snakes and mosquitos abound, and my favorite peeve, they are always overcrowded. Stay home.

This is like the old joke about the chronic complainers; one says "the food was just awful" and the other replies "I know, and the portions were so small."

Or maybe like "Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded."

Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Civilguy

Pretty much everything west of the Mississippi is just plain awful. The restrooms are filthy, there's no views worth mentioning, poisonous snakes and mosquitos abound, and my favorite peeve, they are always overcrowded. Stay home.

This is like the old joke about the chronic complainers; one says "the food was just awful" and the other replies "I know, and the portions were so small."

Or maybe like "Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded."

Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try.

I love sarcasm

[Bill and Earline]

The Tennessee one is right across the street from our home on Signal Mountain.

"Click your heels together and repeat after me 'There's no place like home'".

[Iowa Dave]

I’ve been to a lot of state parks in the last 70 years. Several platitudes apply but In my opinion “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I’m as good a judge of quality as it it relates to my satisfaction as any author in America so I don’t waste a lot of time reading opinions of others. I’d rather burn gasoline and go look for myself.

I can take you to little known state owned sites in Iowa that if you fish for trout or want to look at neotropicals in early May or want to see some of the biggest whitetail deer bucks in North America, they would be the ticket for you. If you want a tiled restroom, entry road without chuckholes or grass mowed like a fairway, they are not your ticket and would rate poorly.
I’d rather be camped 50 feet from this limestone bluff listening to a trout feeding frenzy at dusk than anyplace else I’ve camped with the Escape. Where’s my Panther Martin?
Iowa Dave

[Rockhead]

Originally Posted by Civilguy

Pretty much everything west of the Mississippi is just plain awful. The restrooms are filthy, there's no views worth mentioning, poisonous snakes and mosquitos abound, and my favorite peeve, they are always overcrowded. Stay home.

This is like the old joke about the chronic complainers; one says "the food was just awful" and the other replies "I know, and the portions were so small."

Or maybe like "Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded."

Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try.

Sooo I guess we won’t be coming across you in our travel in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Montana since there’s worth mentioning or viewing oh well

[Perry Butler]

I’m not going to give out our favorite in Minnesota to prevent crowding, but Itasca State Park is one of our favorites. We only go in the fall though and won’t make it this year.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Jeremy Kessenich]

Devils Lake State Park in WI is listed as #1. It's a beautiful state park, I'd perhaps say stunning, but the camping there, not high on my list at all. Out of the 423 campsites I'd guess half are large grassy areas with nothing between the campsites. I go there for the park, lots to do and see, just not the camping. YMMV

[Mike G]

In AR, I prefer Petit Jean SP to Devil's Den.

[Telescopist]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

I've been to many of the ones listed, but I think they made a mistake leaving out Letchworth State Park in NY, and my favorite of all the state parks I've visited - Ricketts Glen State Park in PA. 21 waterfalls on a 4.5 mile hike. Letchworth on top. Ricketts Glen on the bottom

Hard to beat Letchworth State Park. I'm thinking that Greenlakes State Park comes close. Round Lake and Green Lake are two of only 36 Meromictic lakes in the world. (NYS has 6 of them). Great hiking trails. No waterfalls but Chittenango Falls is only 11 miles away.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tmlhq...vcoy31bm2&dl=0

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

I've been to many of the ones listed, but I think they made a mistake leaving out Letchworth State Park in NY, and my favorite of all the state parks I've visited - Ricketts Glen State Park in PA. 21 waterfalls on a 4.5 mile hike.

Letchworth on top Ricketts Glen on the bottom

I agree 100% that Letchworth is a much nicer State Park than Niagara Falls. We rented a cabin there every year each October for over 10 years. Absolutely beautiful fall colors.

We have also done two family reunions at Letchworth. Between the Letchworth Inn, the motor lodge, the Stone house and and other park houses for rent, as well as the Cabins and Campground, there is something for everyone's price range.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kessenich

Devils Lake State Park in WI is listed as #1. It's a beautiful state park, I'd perhaps say stunning, but the camping there, not high on my list at all. Out of the 423 campsites I'd guess half are large grassy areas with nothing between the campsites. I go there for the park, lots to do and see, just not the camping. YMMV

The same is true of Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. Beautiful hiking there, but, the campground is one of the worst in Ohio.

[sherminator]

My state park expertise is limited to Washington State and Oregon. I grew up less than 10 miles from Deception Pass State Park in Washington, and I agree that it is one of the most beautiful parks that I have ever been to, anywhere, and though I've never actually camped there, I'm sure it's fine on that front. No quibbles. However, as far as Oregon goes, I'm with Donna. Oswald West is a pretty park, but not Oregon's best. Also, it is a day park, and as a camper it is less desirable for my wants. I think Ft Stevens offers more bang for the buck all the way around, although I actually camp more at Nehalem Bay and South Beach. I should spend more time exploring the interior Oregon SPs, but the coast is so much fun.

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Interesting. I wouldn't rate Oswald West State Park here in Oregon in the top five and they rated it number one? It's a nice park, but nooooo.

Campgrounds were closed around 2010 because a tree fell over.....day use only now.

[rubicon327]

Island Beach State Park in NJ is a special place but no camping there. Agree it is one of the best if you like being on the coast.
https://nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/p...statepark.html

[Nindy]

Missouri has so many great state parks I wouldn’t be able to pick the best!

[Ian and Sue]

Originally Posted by Civilguy

Pretty much everything west of the Mississippi is just plain awful. The restrooms are filthy, there's no views worth mentioning, poisonous snakes and mosquitos abound, and my favorite peeve, they are always overcrowded. Stay home.

This is like the old joke about the chronic complainers; one says "the food was just awful" and the other replies "I know, and the portions were so small."

Or maybe like "Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded."

Anyway, I thought I'd give it a try.

Went skiing a few years ago at P Moutain in Utah and were having a great day...One of the ski ambassadors asked me if I knew the P Mtn code....I said no...she said repeat after me: "I had a great day of skiing yesterday at Alta"! Keep it quiet about P Mtn!