Fourth spring in a row! This one has a fishery. It's very spread out. Long drive up the hill to pick a site, drive back and check in, then later drive back to fish or walk or just see the sites. Swimming not allowed in the park, but just outside and across the bridge is river access where you can swim. Despite the reliance on driving, a very nice place. People were catching lots of fish!
Really nice place, quiet and well maintained and a beautiful situation, on the side of a high hill overlooking a huge, arid valley. Wildlife refuges right down the hill.
Migratory birds. long auto tour, beautiful setting, short hike up the ridge at the Vis Cen, camping at Lava Beds Nat'l Monument. Next to Lower Klamath NWR. August: Coots, Buffleheads, and Clarks Grebes - love those grebes!
Conveniently located next to Interstate 5, which somehow adds to the experience. You can see the semis rocketing along less than a mile away, but you're in another world. There's a nice hike through the marshes and along a tiny creek, and a very nice auto tour with a viewing platform stop in the middle. Sometimes I do the drive then the hike, sometimes the hike then the drive. Sunset looking back across the marshes from the viewing platform can be spectacular.
Beautiful place, quite surprising with hundreds of miles of flat farmland and prairie before and after. Bison, Elk (so they say), and a prairie dog town conveniently next to a parking area.
very remote, no camping nearby, not like the NWRs I'm used to. Lotta driving to individual cool little habitats tucked away, one big pond and a couple of really beautiful cold springs.
The campground itself is kinda noisy, but it's a better camping experience than Yellowstone, because you can walk to the lodge and the canyon rim.
lovely spot in the valley beneath the cape. Lots of little hikes, and the rocky coast.
At 9,300', so a short season. A dusty, cramped, low-amenity national park campground that's in a REALLY cool place.
merely the gravel parking lot for the tent camping ... not much in the way of amenities, but the park si very cool
A quiet little spot. Five miles of gravel road, then take a right into a little hollow at the back end of which are some county buildings and a loop with 12 campsites. The Visitors Center is quite nice. Nice balcony to hang out on last night, and pretty interesting inside the next morning.
The other campground at Bryce, open longer into the fall. I like this one better, more convenient to the Lodge and Visitor's Center (wifi) and right next to the Rim Trail, which is what Bryce is all about.
The real name of this place is Samuel Buckland Campground, but it's easier to just call it the campground at Fort Churchill. The terrain is barren high desert hills for miles, except for this lovely belt of ancient cottonwoods along the Walker River.
On the east side of the lake, making for spectacular sunsets over the water every night. Very quiet and beautiful and delightful. The big north-south highway and train tracks are pretty close and carry big noisy trucks and trains respectively.
Quite busy on Friday night. Lots of large, happy groups. Part of the crowd is for the observatory and the Friday night astronomy show!