Army Corps of Engineer Parks

To me, one of greatest secrets in camping are the Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds. To those who are not familiar with the ACE, it is a governmental organization involved in dam construction to control river flows, build lake reservoirs, and produce hydroelectric power. Part of their functions are to also open up these river and lakeside areas to the public and provide recreation opportunities. Consequently, these campgrounds are always on some sort of body of water and when you have water you have scores of water opportunities such as fishing, boating, swimming, hiking and of course camping.

With over 2,500 recreation areas at 450+ lakes managed by ACE, there certainly are an abundant of choices and we have stayed at many of them. Being we are Seniors we have the added benefit of staying at these campgrounds at half-price with the purchase of a Golden Age Passport for National Parks....there is a one-time $10 processing charge to obtain the Golden Age Passport. With the Passport it is extremely reasonable to stay at the ACE parks. The only drawback, possibly to some people, is that you do not have full hook-ups. At almost all the campgrounds you have electricity at your site but often you need to have your water and sewage self-contained. This is not a drawback to us as we are a big rig and can go about a week before having to get water or dump sewage. Being "less connected" is worth the trade for us in exchange for the beautiful parks we have stayed in.

..thousands of ducks and geese on Wright-Patman Lake @ Rocky Point campground in TX

sunset at Rocky Point Campground

We love being around the water and with water there is an abundance of bird viewing and wildlife. Many of the ACE parks are on the flyways of migratory animals, such as Canada geese, ducks, monarch butterflies, warblers, bald eagles, and many others. So the parks are a mecca for bird-watchers.

...road runner who frequented our camping area at Snake Creek Cove on Lake Tenkiller in Cookson, OK near the Ozarks..

.... vultures roosting back of our campsite @Campbell Point @ Table Rock Lake

Renovated campsites after flooding at Campbell Point Campground at Table Rock Lake near Branson, MO.

Our campsite at Campbell Point Campground on Table Rock Lake...3-1/2 miles SW of Branson, MO.

We have always found the campgrounds at COE clean and well maintained and offer the basic amenities: showers, restrooms, water, picnic tables and fire rings but some areas can be somewhat primitive. Also they will usually offer services for boaters and fishermen, like marinas, boat launches and tackle shops.

To find a COE campground go to Recreation.gov and the rest is easy. You can search for a campground by entering your personal preferences and then choosing a campground from the results. At many of the COE parks there may be anywhere from 3-10 campgrounds around the body of water. Each campground page will tell you a little bit about the area and show a detailed map of that campground's layout. You can then choose the area of the campground that interests you and read specifics about each campsite to find one that meets your needs.

Hope to see you there!

The following Web sites have everything you need to research and plan a camping adventure at an Army Corps of Engineers lakeside campsite:

Corps Lakes Gateway - easy ACE campground locator.

Recreation.gov - ACE campground reservations.

Joshua Tree National Park

We are HUGE fans of our National Parks and when we are in the area of one, we always plan a visit. So when we ended our stay in Las Vegas, we planned a visit to Joshua Tree N.P. It is located 140 miles east of Los Angeles, 175 miles northeast of San Diego, and 215 miles southwest of Las Vegas. ... and a stone's throw off I-10. JTNP is a combination of three different ecosystems...the Colorado Desert, the Mojave Desert and the Little San Bernadino Mountains. Consequently there is great and unusual diversity of plant and animal life and it is for that reason that in 1936 the area was set aside and became Joshua Tree National Monument and upgraded to a National Park in 1994.

We camped at JTNP for a week and explored the park and the surrounding area. Humans have inhabited this land area for well over 5000 years including early civilization, Native American Indians, miners, cattlemen and homesteaders to name a few. The park has a wonderful museum explaining the culture and history of the area. The animal life is very typical of the desert ecosystem...lizards, snakes, insects, burrowing animals, although we only saw a little lizard.

Zebratail lizard we came across on our hike.

The most interesting geologic features and make for great photo-ops. You will find huge areas of sculpted rock. It has all taken shape over thousands of years from erosional forces of water and to a lesser degree of wind. It is truly a very stark beauty.

"Skull Rock"....one of many sculpted rock areas.......

..."trying to hold up the rock".....

White Tank formation....one of the many areas of piled and sculpted rocks

If you plan your visit to Joshua Tree N.P. from February to late March you will be witness to one of the most beautiful spectacles of the desert... the creamy-white candle-like blossoms of Joshua trees for which the park is named.

Joshua trees, which were not in bloom yet, and the Little San Bernadino Mts. in the background.

Oatman, Arizona

If you are in the Laughlin area and want something different to do, other than gamble, then I would suggest a day trip to Oatman, AZ. It is approximately a 30 mile drive from Laughlin but you feel as though you are going back in time....to the days of the "wild west".

Welcome sign for travelers arriving in Oatman.

Oatman began over 100 years ago as a mining tent camp and quickly became a flourishing gold-mining center. In 1915, some miners struck a $10 million gold find, and within a year, the town's population grew to more than 3,500. But both the population and mining booms were short-lived. In 1921, a fire burned down many of the smaller shacks in town, and three years later, the main mining company shut down operations for good. Oatman survived by catering to travelers on old U.S. Route 66. But in the 1960s, when Route 66 became what is now Interstate 40, Oatman had to reinvent itself. It became a smaller version of a "Tombstone" with many little western-type shops, eateries, staged gunfights and gained a reputation as a fun place to visit. The one feature that it has, that Tombstone is lacking, are the wild burros roaming the streets.

....the burros have the run of the town and often are looking for handouts.

The burros are tame and can be hand fed. Oatman's "wild" Burro's are the descendants of burros brought here by the miners in the late 1800s; when the miners no longer needed them, they were turned loose. Each morning they come into town looking for food. They wander the streets and greet the tourists. Burro pellets are for sale at many of the shops -- the burros will eat all day if you feed them. Shortly before sunset they wander back to the hills for the night.

When we visited the baby burros were still "hanging" with their moms..

This was actually our second visit to Oatman and we chose to eat lunch at the same place we did the first time….the Oatman Hotel. It is a fun and eclectic place with dollar bills, thousands of them, pinned, stapled or taped EVERYWHERE in the restaurant. Many are signed, dated or have a story behind them. They serve a mean hamburger, with good size portions and a very friendly staff.

..."dollars dollars everywhere... but not a one to spend"....

Another tidbit to share is that while driving to Oatman,(if you are coming from Laughlin) on the old historic Route 66, you will find “Christmas” trees along the road.

..."red hat" decorated sagebrush

.....pink ribbons for breast cancer is the theme of this "Christmas tree"

The Christmas trees are actually sagebrush bushes and all are decorated in different themes from beer bottles, to "red hats", to patriotic, to bizarre! When talking to the locals, no one was quite sure how the custom started but it was an added treat on this fun day.

The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is an inland lake in extreme southeastern California. Both the Salton Sea Recreation Area and the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge are located on its shores. The Salton Sea was formed between 1905 and 1907 when the Colorado River burst through poorly built irrigation controls south of Yuma, Arizona. Continued filling of the Salton Sink was finally stopped in 1907, when a line of protective levees was built by boxcars dumping boulders into the breach. The Salton Sea is currently 35 miles by 15 miles. The lake's salinity is greater than the waters of the Pacific Ocean but less than that of the Great Salt Lake. The salinity concentration is increasing by about 1 percent a year and there are efforts at work to "save" the Salton Sea.

Nearly every evening we enjoyed awesome sunsets from our campsite.

It is the largest lake in California and a strategic resting area for birds in the Pacific Flyway. It also supports 30% of the remaining population of the American white pelican. We camped at the Recreation Area and had beautiful sunsets every evening. It is a great area for photography with the mountains, morning mist and all the bird activity. For birdwatchers, it is a "bird-mecca" with over 400 bird species being documented.

The Salton Sea is a mecca for bird watchers....pictured here are two wading stilts.

We so enjoyed our week stay here that we plan to return in the near future and do more bird watching and enjoy more sunsets!

One day I was looking at a friend’s photos on Facebook and came across some he posted titled….”White Sands Nat’l Monument”. They were of incredible beauty and I was blown away. We had gone past this very place many times in our travels on I-70 and had never stopped. It just didn’t look that interesting. After seeing these photos we made it a point to stop on our next drive through and what an experience it was. It is like no place else on earth…. great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand engulfing 275 square miles of desert and creating the world’s largest gypsum dune field. White Sands National Monumentpreserves about half the sands of this unique dune field, along with the plants and animals that have successfully adapted to this constantly changing environment.

A paved road (the Dunes Drive) leads from the monument entrance on US 70 to the start of the sands 2 miles north. The road is paved for a while although blowing sand often covers the surface. Towards the center of the drive the surface is just compacted gypsum and the ‘road’ becomes a series of large cleared areas. The sands move up to 20 feet per year. As you drive everything is white, dazzlingly bright and capped on most days by a clear blue sky.

The most prominent plant in the dunes is the soaptree yucca, a species with numerous thin narrow leaves and an extensive root system that can stabilize a mound of sand and remain in place after wind causes the surrounding dune to more away. It also supports a limited range of wildlife, some of which has evolved white coloration to match the white dunes, and exist as species unique to this region only, such as the white sands wood rat, the Apache pocket mouse, and several lizards.

As we drove through the miles and miles of dunes we noticed the quiet solitude and the varied patterns in the sands of the wind swept dunes. There were no footprints , just wind-created ripples and occasional lizard tracks….. a beauty all its own.

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Last fall, while “making time” heading to South Dakota from Wisconsin, we were approaching the town of Pipestone, MN. and we discovered there was a National Monument in the town. Being we are great fans of our wonderful National Park System we decided to check it out. Not only did we find a Nat’l Monument but also a really unique little town. The town contains 20 historic buildings built in the time period of 1880-1900 and all are made of the beautiful Sioux quartzite. The Pipestone County Courthouse (below) is a wonderful example of the beauty of the stone. The courthouse itself is basically a 100 x 75 foot rectangle, with a 110 foot renaissance dome topped by a bronze figure of “Justice,” which gazes north over the city. The tower features four clock faces, permanently set at different times.

The Pipestone National Monument is a “must see”. For countless generations, American Indians have quarried the red pipestone found at this site. These grounds are sacred to many people because the pipestone quarried here is carved into pipes used for prayer. Many believe that the pipe’s smoke carries one’s prayer to the Great Spirit. Indians used many pipes but those made from redstone were the most esteemed. Today only Native Americans are allowed to quarry the redstone and visitors are encouraged to watch live demonstrations of pipes and crafts being carved. Also do not forget to take the walk through the coteau prairie back to a great view of Winnewissa Falls…..a very enjoyable and easy walk.

Besides the wonderful architecture and Pipestone Nat’l Mon.. the town has a lot to offer from Native American History to the latest in wind technology with over 1000 wind turbines located in southwest corner of Minnesota.

….a jewel of a small town

If you would like to take a fascinating walk through a small town’s history, you should definitely visit Ashland, Wisconsin, and do the mural walk in the downtown business district. What started out as a “one-only” mural to celebrate the state sesquicentennial celebration has resulted in an entirely different purpose. The mural was so popular that the mural artists, Sue Martinsen and Kelly Meredith, were commissioned to do more and it blossomed into more than 11 murals over 12 years. It has turned Ashland into the Mural Capital of Wisconsin and the mission now is to promote art, history, and tourism to the area. The 8 block main street business district, where the majority of the murals are located, is listed on the National Register for Historic places. The murals display the history of Ashland i.e., founders of Ashland, lumberjack industry, WWII veterans of the town, area lighthouses, early storefront establishments, 1940′s waitresses, 1950 icons, and the iron ore docks to name a few.

The icing on the cake is that there has never been a problem with graffiti on the murals and the artists feel safe in just leaving their painting gear when they leave the various sites. It is always there and untouched when they return. Perhaps the murals are treated with respect because the community as a whole feels such a strong a sense of pride in them.

We stayed in Kreher Park, which is right in Ashland, located on Lake Superior and is an RV only campsite. We had a beautiful site right on the water and had awesome sunsets. It is a lovely park withvery reasonable rates. The Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center is a don’t miss stop, 2.5 miles west of Ashland off Highway 2. Interactive exhibits, multi-media theater, museum, gift shop, and 5-story observation tower. And while in the area, don’t miss the Apostle Islands which is another story in itself….

…..lucky rainy day

Due to bad weather and travel conditions, it was by happenstance that we stopped at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the U.P. of Michigan. Dedicated as a state park in 1945 to protect the last extensive tract of old-growth hardwood and hemlock forest remaining in the Midwest, it is the Midwest’s largest wilderness area. Located on the western edge of the U.P, the park contains nearly 60,000 acres of virgin forest on the shores of Lake Superior. Eastern hemlock (some over 600 yrs old), sugar maple and yellow birch dominate the 35,000 acres of old-growth forest in the park.
The “Porkies”, as they are fondly referred to by the locals, stopped growing a long time ago and millions of years of erosion have worn them down. The highest point in the park is only 1300 feet above lake level. But the area is by no means flat….the Porcupine Mountains themselves arise abruptly from Lake Superior to form a 12 mile long escarpment which parallels the lakeshore for a distance of 1.5 miles and at 2 billion years old, the mountains are a section of one of the oldest mountain chains in the world.
On the landward side of the escarpment is Lake of the Clouds, which is one of the spectacular views to be found from high peaks in the area and is one of Michigan’s premier scenic locations. On a clear day, you can see more than 25 miles to the west.
But even though the mountains have eroded over millions of years, the end result are a number of beautiful waterfalls that were formed. The largest and easiest to visit are the waterfalls on the Presque Isle River on the western edge of the park. Manabezho Falls is the most impressive of these…..many of the waterfalls were named from the language of the Ojibwa Indians. This is the largest waterfall in the park and so it is named Manabehzo after the powerful spirit God of the Ojibwa.
There is a beautiful boardwalk that follows the river and some of the falls and makes for great photo-ops. Nawadaha Falls is another waterfall…….in the spring of the year the river swells with rain and melting snow and peak flow reaches 12,000 gallons every second. The excellent water quality of the Presque Isle River makes it choice habitat for many species of fish such as brook and rainbow trout which are found year round. We stayed in the campground near the park entrance and our campsite was right on Lake Superior. It was one of the most enjoyable camp sites we have ever had.