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Reader Participation Day: Where is Your Favorite National Park Campground?

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If oceanscapes are your favorite, it's hard to beat the view from the campground at Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park. NPS photo.

Is there one particular national park campground you like to return to again and again and again?

For example, the Jenny Lake Campground in Grand Teton National Park has some of the most spectacular views of the Tetons, while the Slough Creek Campground in Yellowstone National Park is in the middle of wolf pack home ranges.

Back east, head to Cataloochee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and you're in the middle of elk habitat and off the well-trod path. Pitch your tent at the Seawall Campground in Acadia National Park and you're a ten-minute walk from the Atlantic Ocean.

Some folks like location, some like scenery, some like wildlife nearby. With that understood, where are your favorite national park campgrounds?

Comments

One of many secret spots in the backcountry is my favorite campground.

As far as formal campgrounds go, my best experience was at the Cottonwood Campground in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. When strange noises awaken you at dawn and you walk a hundred yards behind your tent down to the Little Missouri River and find a couple dozen bison crossing the river where you were about to gather water for cooking breakfast....well, my at that point not-too-well-traveled wife knew she wasn't in Michigan anymore.


The Grand Palace Hotel campground in Cloud Canyon, Kings Canyon National Park is my favorite (and it's free).


I'm afraid I must say I've never heard of that one, Mel. And I don't think it's a front-country campground that one can drive to, so where is it and how do you get there?


David and Kay Scott

One of our favorites is Belle Fourche Campground in Devils Tower National Monument. Situated in a grove of cottonwood trees, a trail leads through a prairie dog town on the way up the hill to the base of the tower. One summer evening we took a ranger-guided stroll while the tower was bathed in the light of a full moon. This was truly a "close encounter of the third kind."


Definitely the Chisos Basin Campground in Big Bend National Park on the Tex/Mex border. Least visited National Park, but the biggest: all sorts of hikes with incredible views, mountains, dessert, and hot springs right on the Rio Grande. The ghost towns nearby are great, too!


Watchman Campground in Zion is my absolute favorite, particularly in the autumn months when the park is less crowded and the leaves are changing. Also, Furnace Creek Campground at Death Valley, listening to the coyotes howl all night.

Potwisha in Sequoia is beautiful and serene, and is within earshot of waterfalls. And the night skies are unforgettable at Baker Creek at Great Basin.


Olympic National Park, Hoh Campground, Loop C, Site 65, during fall elk rut.


Teklanika Campground in Denali NP is my favorite among the scores of NP campgrounds I have visited. No tenting is allowed due to the high grizzly bear population in the area. Don't leave your wet boots outside to dry at night because a wolf may wander through the campground and take an interest in them. You are on the broad river bar of the Teklanika and you can hike for miles and miles in any direction. The short autumn (mid August - early September) is brilliantly colored and the bugs have all gone - our favorite time to visit.


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The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.