Top 10 Campsites

[Kelly]

MSN has a list of their picks for the nation's top 10 campsites.  I'm pretty sure they mean campgrounds     Anybody been to any of them?

I love the photo at the top of the story!  Anybody we know?


Any place you would nominate as a "Top 10" campground?[/FONT]

[massatari]

MSN has a list of their picks for the nation's top 10 campsites.  I'm pretty sure they mean campgrounds     Anybody been to any of them?

I love the photo at the top of the story!  Anybody we know?


Any place you would nominate as a "Top 10" campground?[/FONT]

Great link.. thank you!  I live kind of near the charelmont MA site.. I saw no alcohol in a quick blurb.. is that true?

[kwatson51]

Interesting choice of campgrounds.
We've been to Enchanted Rock..fun place to vist, but we chose not to camp there.
Sites are open (no shade) and close together - no privacy at all.

McKinney Falls is a great place to camp - been there several times.
Golden Gate SP is also nice - We drove through a month or so ago - We're scheduled to camp there in August.

[DoubleD]

Read the user reviews on Golden Gate in Colorado.  They are quite accurate.  I have driven through that park many times and have absolutely no desire to camp there.  Only reason I would ever even consider it would be if I had a bunch of weenie friends who can't get further than 15 miles from town to camp and I really wanted to camp with a bunch of weenie friends like that.  Maybe I am more of a seeker of solitude than the average camper, but I don't think so.  The article attempts to create a positive of this park being it's proximity to Denver, but that is its biggest negative.

Frankly, if that were the best camping in the state of Colorado, I would move.

[dthurk]

I'd have to take any "Top 10 Campground" list with a grain of salt.  There is such a wide range of camping, all the way from the A motorhomes to dry camping tenters that no list is going to be able to satisfy all.  I'd rather like to see a top 10 list that is more segmented, such as a Top 10 Campgrounds for PUP's.  But even then, some like National Parks, others are happier with full service private campgrounds.  

And Fort Wilderness didn't even make the list?  I've heard from many that that is the best campground anywhere.  

Personally, we haven't been to any of the campgrounds on this particular list.  Some seem interesting, but I don't know if we'll get to try them any time soon.

[AustinBoston]

I'd have to take any "Top 10 Campground" list with a grain of salt...I'd rather like to see a top 10 list that is more segmented, such as a Top 10 Campgrounds for PUP's.  But even then, some like National Parks, others are happier with full service private campgrounds.

Even whithin our household, it depends on our mood and our place.

We spent a couple nights at Terrible's on Pahrump, Nevada.  There wasn't a shade tree in the place.  But then, there wasn't a shade tree anywhere in any direction for hundreds of miles.  But it had green grass, and every blade of it was perfect.  After weeks in the desert (and weeks more to go), it was the perfect campground.

We spent a couple nights at a KOA (KOA? Isn't that Kamping On Ashpalt?) in the area of Klamath, California.  What we remember about it was we camped next to a tree stump.  But the tree stump was from a giant redwood, and it was bigger and taller than our pop-up.

Then there was the one at Crater Lake.  It was so tight, I could barely back in.  Once the roof was up and the slide-out was pulled out, we actually touched on all sides.  They were fir trees, and they were very dense.

Three very different campgrounds.  One family.  In fact, it was one trip.  We would all consider them among our all-time favorites.

The "best" campground is one where you would enjoy going back, and one where you come away with memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Oh, and with only one that might be considered midwest (Colorado), only one from the PNW (Oregon), nothing from northern New England, and the furthest into the south they got was Virginia...these "editors" don't get around much!

Austin

[Gone-Camping]

That's MSN's top ten, I have my own top-10!

Be that as it may, I've been to 2 of the parks listed.
 
#8 on their list is Mohawk Trail State Forest - Charlemont, Mass.
I've been to that in years gone by, not anything recent though. However, anything to do with the Mohawk Trail has gotta be worth checking out.
 
#10 on the list was kind of surprise to me, that was Pocahontas State Park - Chesterfield, Va.... This is truely a gem, I've stayed here 3 times over the last couple of years, even wagon-mastered the MAPCE Spring Fling here 2 years ago.

[tlhdoc]

I have not been to any of them on the list.  I would put Blackwoods CG in Acadia NP.  

[kwatson51]

Read the user reviews on Golden Gate in Colorado.  They are quite accurate.  I have driven through that park many times and have absolutely no desire to camp there.  Only reason I would ever even consider it would be if I had a bunch of weenie friends who can't get further than 15 miles from town to camp and I really wanted to camp with a bunch of weenie friends like that.  Maybe I am more of a seeker of solitude than the average camper, but I don't think so.  The article attempts to create a positive of this park being it's proximity to Denver, but that is its biggest negative.

Frankly, if that were the best camping in the state of Colorado, I would move.

DoubleD,
I guess I should have said Golden Gate "seems" nice . It is shady (I like that), well spaced out (compared to commercial campgrounds, I like that), and has "facilities" (wife likes that). I have no idea of what camping there is really like. Where could I find the reviews? I did a search on this site, but came up empty.  :confused:

[beacher]

I stayed at Malibu Creek State Park last year.  It actually appeared on another top ten list last year, I just had to visit being that it is really close to my home.  What a crock!  Since then, I take these lists much less seriouly, (even than I did before)!

The spaces are close to each other, only some have shade, and they are not level.    That is where I broke the welds on my BAL leveler, trying to raise high enough to level, never made it!  There was no maintenance done around the campsites, the wild grass was waist high in spots around the water bibs.  The public bathrooms were dirty.

The claim to fame of this location are the hiking trails, which are nice and scenic.  It's also the location for the Movie and television series M.A.S.H. and many other productions.  But the "nice and scenic" does not apply to the campsites.

[griffsmom]

I stayed at Malibu Creek State Park last year. It actually appeared on another top ten list last year, I just had to visit being that it is really close to my home. What a crock! Since then, I take these lists much less seriouly, (even than I did before)!
 
The spaces are close to each other, only some have shade, and they are not level. That is where I broke the welds on my BAL leveler, trying to raise high enough to level, never made it! There was no maintenance done around the campsites, the wild grass was waist high in spots around the water bibs. The public bathrooms were dirty.
 
The claim to fame of this location are the hiking trails, which are nice and scenic. It's also the location for the Movie and television series M.A.S.H. and many other productions. But the "nice and scenic" does not apply to the campsites.

Your experience seems to be the norm, beacher.  If you click on the msn link to Malibu Creek State Park and read the 11 reviews that have been written since 2002, each one describes a horrible place I would never take my family.  But I haven't taken "best of" and "top 10" lists seriously since I read one years ago that listed El Torito as the best Mexican food restaurant.  We live in So Cal, for Pete's sake.  There are thousands of Mexican food restaurants better than some commercial chain of Americanized-Mexican food restaurants.  Just goes to show, the people who put those things together really don't have a clue.

[DoubleD]

DoubleD,
I guess I should have said Golden Gate "seems" nice . It is shady (I like that), well spaced out (compared to commercial campgrounds, I like that), and has "facilities" (wife likes that). I have no idea of what camping there is really like. Where could I find the reviews? I did a search on this site, but came up empty.  :confused:

If you click on the name of the campground on the first page, the next page has the following:

"Golden Gate Canyon State Park
92 Crawford Gulch Rd
Golden, CO 80403-8189  
(303) 582-3707
Admission: Daily pass $5; annual pass $55

  Editorial Profile
Alpine wilderness on the Front Range proffers Rocky Mountain highs that are f... Read More | User Reviews (9) "

Click on "User Reviews" and you will see the nine reviews.

I didn't mean to sound sour, but I prefer much more primitive camping that isn't so close to civilization.  Colorado has so many secluded campgrounds, I just don't feel "away from it" when I can almost walk to the metro area from camp.

[wavery]

I drove through Malibu Creek State Park, just to see if I would like to stay there sometime. :yikes:  NO WAY!!! That place is a mess and expensive :mad: .

With all of the nice SPs right on the beach, close be , I wonder why anyone would camp there :confused:

[garym053]

Yes, Massatari, no alcohol in any Mass. State Park, at least that's the rule, the reality is far different!

We've stayed at the Mohawk Trail State Forest campground twice and I would not put it anywhere near the top 10! It's true, the area is beautiful and full of history, b ut the CG suffers from dirty bathrooms, among other issues. One bathroom smelled so bad that people were getting sick just walking into it.