America’s state parks provide a wide range of recreational opportunities that are relatively close to home for most people and can also be enjoyable when traveling throughout the United States. There are aver 6,600 state parks in the United States covering 14 million acres of land. National Parks are popular places for experiencing the beautiful outdoors but state parks serve two and a half times as many visitors as the National Parks System with only 16 percent of the acreage.
State parks managed by state government agencies started in the late 19th century when New York set up the Adirondack and Catskill Preserves along with Niagara State Park Reservation in 1885. The first National Conference of State Parks was in 1921 where 19 states had state parks. By 1925, all 48 states had started development of state parks but the Great Depression halted some of the state parks progress. The biggest boost to the state park system came with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933. The CCC program involved planting trees, cutting trails and constructing picnic areas, campgrounds, cabins and other facilities.
State parks are generally designed for people to enjoy without having to travel great distances. Many people go to state parks for day visits or to camp for short periods of time. I spend lots of time in the state parks near my home and I enjoy visiting state parks during my travels. Visiting state parks lets me experience the local nature and see some of the local wildlife of the areas near my home and in the areas where I am visiting. I have been to many state parks within the United States and to date I have visited 22 state parks located within 10 different states.
The post that I feature in this website include state parks from the many of the states that I have visited. I hope that you will enjoy my posts on the state parks from around the United States and that I will be able to show why visiting state parks should be included in your travel agenda when traveling within the United States.
(Click on the photo below for more information on each topic.)
Colorado State Parks
Florida State Parks
New Mexico State Parks
Texas State Parks
Utah State Parks
I will be making more posts on other State Parks, so check back later to see these future posts.