Some New York state park campgrounds will not be opening this year.
Because of the state budget crunch, officials with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation say 11 of the 67 campgrounds maintained and operated by the office will not open this year.
With the closings, the number of campsites available through the parks department will fall from 9,400 to around 9,100, according to state officials.
Read the rest of the article from The Post-Star: State budget woes may make for not-so-happy campers.
On May 19, 2010, the Ozark Folk Center is pleased to present some Guest Performers on the evening show. The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will be providing three of their Quartets who will be “Fiddlin’ with the Classics”. The Rockefeller, Sturgis and Quapaw Quartets will join three of the regular Folk Center groups to create a very exciting evening of music. The concert will have a combination of Down-Home Classics and some Classic Down-Home tunes. In addition to the Orchestral Quartets, the show will feature Roger Fountain, Herbin’ League and Smith and Son.
The show will start at 7:00 p.m. with the doors opening at 6:00 p.m.
Ozark Folk Center State Park, Mountain View, Arkansas
Last week we took a short trip to eastern Arkansas and, after that, over to northeast Kentucky.
Our first campground was at Village Creek State Park. The park is located on Crowley’s Ridge, a geologic anomaly of rolling hills in eastern Arkansas’s Mississippi Alluvial Plain.
With five trails totaling 7 miles, we had hoped to spend one day in the park doing some hiking.
Unfortunately, there was some kind of gnats hatching out. After taking one walk the first evening where we couldn’t get away from them, we decided to alter our plans and check out some of the other parks in the area.
The first day, we went to Parkin State Archeological Park and Jacksonport State Park. The next day, we drove over to Memphis and spent a few hours at Mud Island. I’ll be posting more on these as I get the photo gallery set up for each one.
The last evening that we were there and the next morning before we left, we didn’t have much problem with insects at all.
Our next destination was Paducah, Kentucky, so that Karen could go to the annual Paducah Quilt Show. Karen has several posts on her blog from the quilt show:
A couple of weeks ago, we took a drive down to Hot Springs to visit Garvan Woodland Gardens.
(Click on any of the images
to view larger version)
We’ve been in Arkansas for nearly 30 years and this was the first time we had visited this wonderful attraction.
Photos from the visit are included in my newest photo gallery, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Garvan Woodland Gardens is a botanical garden in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA. The 210 acre garden is owned by the University of Arkansas and open almost every day during daylight hours, for a fee.
The gardens are situated on a wooded peninsula with 4.5 miles of shoreline on Lake Hamilton. The gardens feature rocky inclines reminiscent of the surrounding Ouachita Mountains, floral landscapes, streams, and waterfalls in a natural woodland setting, plus a Japanese Garden with Japanese maples and tree peonies, a conifer border, and various flower and rock gardens. Its collections display hundreds of rare shrubs and trees, including camellias, magnolias, roses, and over 160 different types of azaleas. (Wikipedia)
Gallery: Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
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Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
Click on photo to see larger version
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, September 13, 2009
On the Cliff Palace loop you may visit one of two cliff dwellings by guided tour, Cliff Palace or Balcony House. These sites can only be reached by a one-hour ranger-guided tour. Tickets for tours are purchased only at the Far View Visitor Center. Rangers begin the Cliff Palace tour from the overlook at the end of the entrance trail. To enter Cliff Palace on a guided tour, one must descend approximately 100 feet into the canyon on a steep trail that includes 120 uneven stone steps. Throughout the tour one will climb five eight foot ladders.
The photo is from the newest of my photo galleries and the second from Mesa Verde. The gallery includes images from Cliff Palace — a Puebloan culture cliff dwelling —, the Knife Edge Trail and more.
Gallery: Cliff Palace and More — September 13, 2009, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
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Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
According to the National park Service, New York will violate Federal regulations if it persists in plans to close parks around the state and some state property may revert back to Federal ownership.
In a letter dated March 31, National Parks Service Northeast Regional Director Dennis Reidenbach wrote that the move would put New York in "non-compliance" with the requirements for taking funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Federal Land for Parks Program.
"Also, NPS may initiate suspension and debarment procedures to have all Federal funds (e.g. Recreation, Housing, Transportation, Education etc.) withheld from the State of New York," Reidenbach wrote. "In addition, closure of any park acquired through FLP could result in reversion of the property to Federal ownership and subsequent sale of the property."
Gov. David Paterson proposed the closure of 41 parks and 14 historic sites — the majority of which, Reidenbach wrote, have received federal funds. The cuts are slated to save $6.3 million.
Read the more in the timesunion.com article: Feds: Risk millions if state parks close.
Other RV, Camping and Outdoors News:
A California Assemblyman, Bill Monning, Democrat from Santa Cruz, has introduced legislation that, if enacted, would ban the use of 6 chemicals that can damage various types of septic systems and pose threats to groundwater sources.
The legislation, AB 1824, would ban the use of holding tank products containing bronopol, dowicil, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, paraformaldehyde and para-dichlorobenzene, according to a news release.
“We fully support this legislation and think it will encourage businesses to step up their marketing and distribution of environmentally friendly holding tank products in California,” said Debbie Sipe, executive director of the California Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (CalARVC), which has spent the past five years trying to find ways to protect its members’ septic systems and nearby groundwater supplies without forcing private park operators to become “potty police.”
Read the more in the RVBuisness article: Law Would Ban RV Holding Tank Chemicals .
Other RV, Camping and Outdoors News:
I’m continuing to process photos from last year’s travels into photo galleries.
The most recent is from the day that we arrived at Mesa Verde National Park during our 2009 trip to Colorado.
Because it was actually a fairly short drive from Ouray to Mesa Verde, by the time we got set up at the campground, we still had plenty of time to go exploring, including a hike down to one of the cliff dwelling ruins, Spruce Treehouse.
The gallery includes images from the ruins as well as other views in the park, including several images of the beautiful Colorado sky that we had that day.
Gallery: Spruce Treehouse and More – September 12, 2009, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
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Image Galleries at Haw Creek.
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