NATIONAL PARKS

First day in Big Bend.

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Moderate hike of about 4.7 miles round trip.

My last day in Big Bend. 😢

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Great place.

Great park. I had to decrease the video quality to upload to Bitchute.

BEAUTIFUL

Great park, great day to be here. Sometimes what seems like bad luck can be the best luck of all. ?

Unique place.

Caverns are hard to photo, did my best.

Some people have let me know the first upload of this isn't viewable. Hope this is. 😃

This would make a great 3-4 day stay, we only had one day so this video is of two sights and the campground we stayed in.

Some of the overlooks and other sights on our 3 day drive on the parkway.

We had a one night stay at the campground. Very pleasant, definitely would come back. The Native land near the campground appears to have plenty to offer as well, shopping and family related things (also a casino I believe). Might make for a nice one week stay. The wild elk were a real surprise for us as we were leaving!

The first National Park on our 12 National Park trip. I was last here in 2018 and visited new parts of the park this time.

This is one of the newest US National Parks. Similar to Indiana Dunes, NP this park is fragmented and stretches out over a large area.

Very well-maintained and plenty of biking/hiking trails. This would be a nice place to relax for 3-4 days.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
https://www.nps.gov/cuva/index.htm

Only a portion of the cave complex was open for our visit due to the pandemic. This portion lacked dramatic formations and was primarily about the human history in the caves. Carlsbad Caverns, NP is much more impressive.

Caves are difficult to video with a cellphone and the caves were poorly lit with no flash allowed. Tried my best.

Many of the structures & tours were shut down due to the pandemic; also, we only a few hours to stop at this NP. This is therefore a cursory look only unfortunately.

This was actually a very good NP. Well worth the visit.

Good, well-guided tram tour in the center of the Everglades. $27/pp.

Excellent place to see alligators and varied bird life.

Shark Valley Visitor Center - Everglades National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/svdirections.htm

This is a relatively inexpensive 35-40 minute tour, $30/pp. Not bad if you just want to try an airboat ride.

Everglades Airboat Rides, Airboat Tours, Gator Shows
http://www.airboatrides.miami

Looks like a decent RV Park, we'd come back here for 3-4 nights to relax. Things to do in the immediate area are tours, fishing, biking, kayak/canoeing, photography...

One dump station near the bath. Online shows ⚡ sites are $45, non-⚡sites are $25. Military discounts avaliable.

Camping | Everglades Flamingo
https://flamingoeverglades.com/camping/

At first I thought the manatees were rocks as they're gray and covered with barnacles. Then they moved.

These were located in the salt-water lagoon by the marina in Flamingo.

I can't say that I recommend this tour other than as a way to get to Biscayne NP. For us it was a $120 ride to a cramped, noisy picnic area. Ranger Gary was a great guide but Boca Chita is only what it is. Also, the tour was actually only about 2.5 hours and some time could've been spent at least cruising around the Key.

LINK FOR BOAT TOUR:
Boca Chita Island Experience | Biscayne National Park Institute
https://www.biscaynenationalparkinstitute.org/island-experiences/deering-estate-boca-chita-key-cruise/

LINK FOR BISCAYNE NP:
Biscayne National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
https://www.nps.gov/bisc/index.ht