Hey Everyone! Hope your week has gone well.  Today we have the battle of the parks. National VS State parks.  First of all let me say how lucky we are here in America to have so many natural resources that are available for us to recreate in. Being a Landscape photographer and Nature photographer I spend a lot of time in parks.  And to tell you the truth I like all of the camping and hiking that go along with the photography as much as the photography. To visit all of the parks is a goal that will never be reached there are so many of them. National parks in the US number  to this date 62 parks and 423 sites.  Thats a lot!  Some people make it a quest to see all 62 parks but to see them and the 423 sites would take a long time.  Now that's National Parks. State parks there are even more!  There are over 3700 state parks in the US with California having the most at 270.  North Carolina where I live has 34 which I have visited all of them.  I actually had a photography project in 2019 where I visited all of the state parks in NC in one year. So lets talk about National and State Parks.

National Parks- I am a big fan of National Parks and want to visit as many as I can.  This summer I plan on visiting 6 National Parks out west. Yellowstone became the first national park in 1872. The latest one is New River Gorge National Park which I visited last year with my photography club.  National parks are vast area's of land that are set aside to keep natural as possible and for the public to visit and recreate in Nature.  Let me tell you lots of people go the National Parks with Great Smokey Mountains being the most visited.  During the last couple of years the visitation to parks has almost doubled with people tired of being cooped up inside due to the Covid-19 outbreak.  This makes these parks very crowded with people .  Permits are required for a lot of the most popular parks and attractions to keep the wear and tear down on theses parks and for safety.  We are planning a hike in Zion National Park that is only 5 miles long but you must have a permit to go on it because of the popularity of the hike. National parks are sometimes referred to National Amusement parks because of the crowds.  But is it worth it to fight the crowds?  These are some of the most beautiful and unique places in the world like Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, or Death Valley.  They became National parks to preserve the Natural Beauty of our great nation for generations to enjoy. National Parks are usually very large in size and could take days to see only a little of them.  They have hiking, backpacking , camping, campgrounds, bike trails, and rock climbing in places. Thats just mentions a few things you can do in the National Parks not to forget photography!

State Parks- State Parks have advantages to them that the larger National Parks don't have. They are usually close by your house. I have one only 10 miles from my front door. As a matter of fact my first 10 mile backpacking adventure was from my house to this state park. I wanted to make sure I could hike 10 miles with a full pack on and if I failed I was only a phone call away from rescue. I made it . LOL These parks are usually smaller in size but may have the same features as their big brother parks.  These parks are less traveled.  People will travel to a National Park while driving right by Sandstone FallsSandstone Falls located in the New River Gorge National Park in WVa. many cool and unique state parks.  These parks are getting more crowded since the outbreak  but usually not as bad as National Parks.  If you live by a big city and are going to a State Park head out early! Some of the parking lots fill up fast.  The same activities that you can do in the National Parks can be done in State Parks and the prices are usually cheaper.  Some parks are free and some you have to pay to use same as the National Parks. I prefer to camp (Car Camp) in State Parks because its cheaper and the amities are usually better.  I like to backpack in both. So when I pull my little teardrop Goose Creek Grass camper to a campground (and its time to start again) I prefer State Park Campgrounds.

So I know the title said National Parks VS State Parks.  But why does it have to be either/or why can't it be and.  National Parks and State parks are a great way to get away from work and your house and get into nature.  I have been backpacking on the AT in the Great Smokey Mountains and Car camping at most of the State Parks in North Carolina and I love them both.  Go out and investigate your National and State Parks and enjoy the outdoors.

Screenshot Hey Everyone! Hope you had a great week.  This weeks blog is about my big trip this year. I have been hinting around it but really haven’t explained it .  This will be my biggest photo adventure to date. My friend and fellow “photo nut” Robert have been planning this trip for quite a while.  And next week we will be on our way. This years big trip will be out west on a 1000 mile road trip through Utah.  This road trip will start in Las Vegas NV and end in Albuquerque NM.   We will visit 6 national parks and at least 3 state parks and some more area’s of interest. It will be a whirlwind of a trip and I might need a vacation after this one. It will be photography and seeing new things all day every day.  It will be Go! Go! Go!.  We have made an extensive itinerary which I know we won’t be able to follow .  We will have to be flexible and do things on the fly but its a good start. We have bought tickets , rented a car and have hotel rooms all payed for .  We have had to get permits for hiking  and driving in the parks.  We have done loads and loads of research.  But hopefully we have done enough.  My photo nut buddy has been on big trips like this before but for me this is something big.  I have gone on week long photography trips with my photography club but I usually wasn’t planning them out. Let me give you a small outline of our trip.

Places we’ll visit-  We will visit 6 national parks.  The Mighty 5 in Utah and one in Colorado.  The Mighty 5 in Utah are Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Arches and Canyon Lands.  You could easily spend a week in each of these parks and still would not have seen them all.  We will have about a day in each of them so we will be skimming the top of what is there.  We are trying to get a sunrise or sunset in each of them and a hike or two in each and hopefully some great photo’s. We have a big hike scheduled in Zion, In Bryce we will have a sunset an sunrise I believe and a hike through the hoodoo’s. We are doing a scenic drive through Capital Reef and stopping for Pie. In Arches we are of course shooting arches and hopefully good sunset and sunrise.  In Canyon Lands there is of course Mesa Arch and surrounding area.  The other park we’ll visit is Mesa Verde in Colorado. It has the Indian dugout houses in the side of the cliffs which should be really cool to see. The other places that we have planned are the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada which looks really cool with great landscapes and Goblin State park in Utah and Dead Horse State park in Utah and Sandia Peak in New Mexico which we are taking a tram up to.  We will also check out some cool towns while there .  Moab Utah is an outdoor  sports Mecca for all kinds of sports from rock climbing to mountain biking.  This town will be real interesting and doing some street photography will be fun.  Taos New Mexico will have the Spanish style houses and buildings which will make for some interesting photography.  

After we get back from the trip I’ll write another blog to give you an after action report. And of course show you some photo's.  I’m hoping I'll have enough photographs to be able to make a photo book out of them like I do at the end of the year.  We will also be doing shooting video as well and I'm sure an epic video is in the works.  Maybe many. Well until  next week be safe and get out and shoot.

Hey Everyone! Hope you're doing great today. This week I want to tell you about a weekend trip me and some other "Photo Nuts" took to South Carolina to Congaree National Park.  If you haven't heard about it don't feel bad I hadn't either.  My friend Robert a partner in Photo Crimes , had suggested the trip and he always seems to have good trips planned. So after saying yes I started a little research.  The first place I went was YouTube.  I'm a big fan of YouTube and like to see what other people say in a review of a place. Well the first couple of reviews talk about Congaree as the worst National Park in the US.  That was not what I wanted to learn about this park. Located about an half hour drive from the eastern side(right side of the map)  of Columbia SC.  It is mostly a swampy National park great for Kayaking and exploring through the swampy land.  But as a hiker it had some trails but it also has a 2.5 mile boardwalk over the swamp to the Congaree River.  Now I love National Parks and want to visit as many as I can and this summer I'll add six more parks to my been there list.  So if nothing else it will me a tic mark on my list of National Parks. We, Me and Robert and another "Photo Nut" Mike decided to leave Friday night stay in Columbia do some night photography and go to Congaree in the morning.  Robert and Myself were going to do about a 7 mile trail and Mike was going to shoot some wildlife stuff near the water.  This park is known for flooding and the forecast was for rain.  Not looking good.  But that was the Plan.  Here is what happened.

Friday- Left home about 1:30ish in the afternoon for a 31/2 to 4 hour drive to Columbia. We started our trip and it was interstate driving most of the way so kind of boring and crowded.  But we passed the time cutting up and having fun conversations as three retired Military Vets would have.  You know War stories and the such. When we got to Columbia it had started to rain.  We found our hotel for the night near Ft. Jackson and put most of our things in the room. We donned our Rain Coats and headed out to our first destination. A man made waterfall at a park.  It was really coming down now.  When we got to the park the water was cut off to the waterfall and it was raining hard. We decided to go eat and see if it would let up. We went to Quakerstate and Lube and automotive themed restaurant that was a Sports Bar theme to it. We ordered Burgers and Wings and after we finished we were stuffed.  I mean loosen the top button of your pants full. We decided that the night was a wash (literally ) and to make plans for the next day.

Saturday- We had called the park Friday and found that some of the trails were under water.  So we figured we could at least show up , get the fridge magnet, T-shirt and call it a day and head to an alternate place Santee State Park. When we got to the park there wasn't too many cars in the parking lot of the visitors center so we got out and started to explore.  We found the Boardwalk and started to see how far we could go. Let me tell you it was gorgeous , lush and green and some of the trees were enormous .  There are some champion trees here, Loblolly Pine , and Birch. Champion trees are the largest of their species.  Pretty Cool. We did come to where the water overcame the boardwalk and had to turn around.  I actually didn't think that I would get anything good here but I was happily surprised. Our last stop in the park was the visitors center where we got our National Park Passports Stamped and souvenirs. Our next stop was Santee State Park a South Carolina State Park. It was an hour or so drive there from Congaree.  When we arrived we went to the Camp Store and walked out on the dock and could look upon the Lake Marion.  We then went on a hike that was suppose to be a 1/4 mile hike but ended up to be about 4 miles or so. We got a little off course. After the unexpected hike we were hungry and tired and a little sweaty. We went to a BBQ joint called Lone Star.  It was absolutely fabulous .  A comfort food home style cooking in a Buffet.  What could get better.  We did it again and ate too much but you can't pass on Banana Pudding. We then drove home about a 4 hour drive.

The whole trip we were cutting up and having a ball.  And it goes to show you that when your going on a photography trip you have to be flexible and you might find something better than what you had planned. It was a great trip and I got some good photo's to boot.  So until next week go out and explore and take a friend you'll have a blast. Here is a link to a trip video by Robert O'Sullivan Congaree Trip Video