Reply to Cheap (non-National Park) travel recs for this summer, please

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[quote=Anonymous]Having camped at both Mammoth Cave and Acadia NP campgrounds, I’d probably stay away from Acadia this summer.  Find a cheap family hotel or private campground nearby and enjoy hiking in Acadia and wandering around Bar Harbor.  I say this because even fully staffed Acadia was the most crowded NP campground I’ve ever been to.  I know others get more visitors annually, but in terms of area, we were really packed in like sardines.  Long waits for the bathroom.  Unpleasant showers.  (And I’m I lifelong camper.) I’d hate to see that place understaffed.  We met up there with cousins who had chosen to stay at a motel and I was so jealous.

Mammoth Cave camping was more spread out and more pleasant. It might not be as impacted by any understaffing.  We actually split our time in Cave City between camping 2 nights and 2 nights at a motel 6.  The motel was only slightly more expensive than camping and totally fine—I’d definitely stay there again. We enjoyed 2 tours of the caves, hiking in the park, going kayaking on the Green River, doing tasting on the Bourbon Trail, visiting Lincoln’s cabin, and spending a few hours in Bardstown.  Everything was cheap there.  (Also, everyone seemed to smoke there—it was kind of alarming). It was a great trip.

I agree with others that WV has great state parks.  Blackwater Falls is really beautiful.  Maryland has awesome state parks—and I find their reservation system so easy and their campgrounds really well maintained.  Gunpowder Falls, Swallow Falls, Deep Creek are probably my favorites.   In VA the relatively new Shenandoah River State Park has campsites right on the River.  There are good hikes and kayaking outfitters nearby and you can pop over to Luray Caverns.  We stayed there and then went down to Roanoke and stayed in the Explore Park then went on to a private campground near the Great Smokies.  Great cheap road trip.  Definitely check out the Hipcamp app for private campgrounds.[/quote]

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