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Exploring the Parks

Homestead National Historical Park: Grit, Anguish, And Occasionally Jubilation

While the prospect of free land that the Homestead Act promised sounds typically American -- hard work and determination will lift you up -- the stories you can explore at Homestead National Historical Park in Nebraska reflect both jubilation and anguish, deprivation and self-determination.

Exploring Homestead National Historical Park

There are more than 400 units of the National Park System, though most of the roughly 300 million visitors a year head to only about two dozen of those units. The National Parks Traveler has worked this year to raise the profile of the other 400 units and explain why they deserve your attention. Homestead National Historical Park in Nebraska is one of those units.

Exploring The National Park System By RV: Lava Beds National Monument

What comes to mind when you think about California’s best national parks for RVers? Yosemite? Sequoia? The Redwoods? If you’re like most people, RVing to Lava Beds National Monument is not on the radar. Ranked as the 214th most visited location out of 423 National Park System sites, few people are willing to make the trek. But their loss is your gain if you go.

Exploring The Parks: Fort Larned National Historic Site

There are no walls around Fort Larned on the Kansas prairie, which makes it easy for your eyes to roam across the surrounding countryside that was home to soldiers from 1860 to 1878 when they were tasked with guarding travelers along the Santa Fe Trail, helping with mail deliveries, and negotiating with area tribes that grew increasingly concerned with growing numbers of settlers.

Essay | Wandering Through Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park

There are few outward signs that Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park is tucked into the middle of Macon, Georgia, surrounded by residential and commercial development. My family and I nearly drove past the entrance as our heads moved from the phone directions to the road and back again. But as soon as we followed the signature national park signs, it felt like a curtain of greenery wrapped itself around our car. We could hear sounds of the city, but all we saw were shades of emerald.

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The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

Here’s the definitive guide to National Park System campgrounds where RVers can park their rigs.

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

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The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

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