As we planned our 12 day trip this summer, we decided to break the trip up into no more than 6 hour chunks of driving.
Stop 1: Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park in Logan County, Kansas Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park was established not that long ago in 2018. It is a 332-acre park with crazy formations that you would not expect to see in Kansas! This park is a site to see but be very aware that there is NO SHADE ANYWHERE. Unfortunately for us it was a toasty 93 degrees midday when we decided to travel out to explore these rock formations. They have two options for visitors to explore trails or you can take guided tours into the interior areas but those must be reserved in advance. One of the trails is just a short overlook off to the right (we sort of wished we had taken this one) or the other trail leads you to two other overlooks. The two overlooks trail is an out and back 1.5 miles out so a total of about 3 miles. Again, it was HOT and there was absolutely NO SHADE other than under a bench at each lookout spot. The views were very cool though and we are glad that we went. Merle was not a fan of the heat but he did enjoy the views. CAMPING FOR THE NIGHT: HIGH PLAINS CAMPING 462 US HIGHWAY 83, OAKLEY, KS 67748 There were not many options for camping around the Badlands area so we booked our spot at High Plains camping in Oakley, Kansas. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice the spot was considering it was just off the interstate. The entire place was surrounded by little trees (the only trees in the area) which really made you feel like you weren't right off the main road. We had a full hook up site and Merle enjoyed the many, many bunnies running around. The only downfall I would say would be the foxtails and thorns throughout the campground where we would walk the dog. There is not much they could really do about these things but I did have to check his paws each night.
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Since we just had our 5th camping weekend, we've added some items to our list for the camper:
I keep a running list on my phone of what to put back in the camper and if there is anything we need to add to the list. I just pull the list out when I am loading up and make sure we have all the essentials. A visit up to the parent's house led us to Hickory Hills Park and it is a little wood oasis in the middle of corn fields and farm land! We've always gone to Hickory Hills as a scenic drive and the wildlife reserve there. The park is known for it's Elk and Bison herds and usually they have other animals on the reserve but they have some construction going on so that is all we were able to find on this trip. The campground is very nice and spots aren't too close together. It is more grass than anything so make sure to have blocks or something for your jacks. We had a nice visit with family and some friends from back home. You can bring your boat (electric motors only) and you like fishing people were catching some nice ones out of the little lake. We went on 2 trails: Hickory Hills Overlook and the Casey Lake Trail. The reviews were all old online but many of them mentioned that they were overgrown and full of poison ivy. There was a lot of poison ivy off the trail, the trail itself was really nicely maintained. Oh and we were surprised by a posse of goats! Coming down the hill from the Overlook Trail, the trail splits off. To the right is the Casey Lake Trail which hugs the lake and the the left is the rest of the Overlook Trail which brings you back to the campsite. At this split we came across some goats laying down and we were trying to be careful not to scare them off. To our surprise, they were the opposite of scared! Not only did they not run away but they followed us! Merle's tail was wagging away and he thought it was cool to have a posse following after him...until...well Merle found out the hard way that the fence was electric when he went to get a closer look at some of the goats. After that he wanted nothing to do with the goats, he actually started to run away from them! I think he thought the goats were electric! Being the dork I am, when my dad arrived I said, "Want to go see the goats?!" and of course he said he'd come with us. Then when my mom came I said, "want to go see the goats?" and she came with me. Last but not least, when our friend Aaron came to visit I had to ask again and again we went to see the goats. Merle was pretty over it by the third visit but we got a kick out of it every time we went and the goats followed. And not just followed but ran after us, jumping on to downed trees and through brush. It was a fun surprise!
We had a great time at this campsite and it was nice to have trails right off the campground. There are a few more trails we didn't explore but everything seems to be pretty well maintained. If you find yourself in Northeast Iowa are looking for a nice spot to post up, this is definitely a place to do that! Last week we decided we hadn't been out for a few weeks and we were getting antsy to take the camper out again so we booked a site at Crow's Creek Campground in Smithville, Missouri. Smithville is only about an hour from home so it's like a nice little staycation. It was a nice open spot, but what you can't see is that we are on a shared site and we had NO IDEA we would be sharing because the campground map does not show you which spaces share a driveway. Luckily for us we were facing this nice open field BUT the people next to us ended up getting a great view of the side of our camper! Before we camp anywhere I try to look at the reviews and blogs of other campers since we are so new at this (just like I would do for hotels or vacation spots.) I came across a blog Roam with Friends with a Before you Book glance at Smithville. In my head I remembered their blog BUT thought they mentioned a different loop (head smack!) I read their warning but expected different results! Anyway, I snipped the campground map from their site to show you which sites are shared so you don't make the same mistake we did. The Clay County Parks site DOES NOT indicate you are sharing or not so be prepared and do your research! Roam with Friends below marked each site that is shared and starred the better spot if you do have to pick one of those sites. I want to note that 214 and 209 were amazing single spots with a pull through and if I had my choice those would have been the choice spots to pick! Trails: All the trails seem to be dog friendly as long as Fido is on a leash.
Google wasn't particularly helpful when it came to helping with the trails but Google Maps told us where the trailheads were once we just searched for trailheads in the area.
We'd been taking little adventures not too far from home to get used to the new camper. We thought it was time to take it a bit farther and go for a whole weekend since we had only done Friday to Saturday trips. After some research, we landed on Roaring River State Park in Cassville, Missouri. Oh my was this place beautiful and we couldn't have had a better spot! We were in Spot 96 and stayed 5/12/23-5/14/23. Our spot was right across from the river and our camp site had an amazing trail we could easily walk to. Missouri State Parks has awesome information about the trails for this park that we used a lot in our planning of what to do next. One big thing to note is that these trails were NOT FLAT. There are quite a bit of hills and elevation changes! It was so much fun, but so much sweat! The camping spots are nice and spaced out, you don't feel too close to your neighbors but close enough to make new friends. We met some awesome people from Texas next to us, they were super nice! Eagle's Nest Trail was beautiful and had great bluffs. It is not paved, it has a narrow trail that brings you on up hills and down hills and back up hills. It is a 2.6 mile loop and worth it if you can take the changes in elevation. There were cute little waterfalls along the way and we even got to meet a nonvenomous snake that surprised us along the way that I named Steve, next time I will have to contain myself and take a picture instead of jumping around screaming. Deer Leap Trail-So thinking about this trail has me cracking up! 0.2 miles, no problemo, right? Wrong, it is just about straight up! The point of this trail is to get you a nice overlook of the fish hatchery below and you get to climb just about straight up to get there. It was a beautiful view though! If you are not real sure about climbing up a rock stair case there are stairs to the right of the trail that I would use to go up and down. We are glutens for punishment so we took the hard way! On the way up the crazy incline of rock stairs there is a sign for the Fire Tower Trail and that was our adventure the next day! If I thought I had a laugh on the Deer Leap Trail I was not expecting what we encountered on the Fire Tower Trail! Fire Tower Trail-I usually do my research on a trail before we just set out. The length, terrain and all that. We came across this trail the day before at the hatchery from the Deer Leap Trail and decided let's do that one in the morning. It was an adventure to say the least! Beautiful trail btw, we started the trail from Deer Leap, since I did no research that is where we saw the sign and that is where we went from. After about a mile or so we did come across the Fire Tower and to our surprise Merle decided to climb those grated stairs before we could convince him otherwise. We got the top and caught our breath and hung out for a while. Coming down was quite the ordeal since Merle hadn't thought about how those grates would feel on his paw pads on the decent. With his Dad's help and encouragement we made it back down to the bottom. We walked and walked and walked curious how long this trail would be. Then we crossed the main road and walked some more and thought surely it would loop around. WE WERE WRONG! After 4 miles of hiking, the trail ended at a random parking lot almost two miles from the truck. We google mapped where we needed to go. The best part was, we had to walk right by our campsite to walk on the highway to get back to our truck at the hatchery! Our Fire Tower Trail ended up being a 6 and a half mile adventure, we were all exhausted but luckily I had snacks! Always bring snacks! Springhouse Trail-This 0.4 mile trail was a waste of time. It says it passes by an old homestead with a Springhouse but we never saw anything. It was just a quick loop through the woods. I would recommend skipping this little jaunt. The last thing to note is the Fishing Hatchery. It was amazing! The Rainbow Trout are huge! Below is information I found about the hatchery, if you'd like to check it out on the Missouri site here is the link: Roaring River Fish Hatchery. It is definitely something to see and if you are into fishing, this seems like a great place to go! 10 out of 10 stars! Favorite camping spot so far!
Starting out checklist:
For the camper: (we get most of our items from Amazon for convivence but you can find these items all over.)
Matt and I have being traveling around since we've been together. We've been on some great adventures and really started back in 2012 when my Grandpa passed away. My grandpa was my whole heart, he was an amazing man and ended up with dementia.
My grandpa passed away on July 2nd, 2012 and he lived out in Tucson, Arizona. At the time, I was living in Kansas City, Missouri and there was no way I was missing his funeral. Unfortunately, traveling any time around the fourth of July was ungodly expensive. Plane tickets were outrageous and I decided I was going to drive. My amazing husband (boyfriend at the time) decided to drop everything and come with me. We decided to take historic Route 66 as a tribute to my grandpa and make a trip instead of a sad pilgrimage to where he would be laid to rest. Long story short, we traveled from Joplin, Missouri to Albuquerque, New Mexico on Route 66. We wrote our grandpa's names on the cars at Cadillac Ranch and visited all the historic places we could. We had an app, which doesn't seem to exist anymore, to try to stay on as much of the old mother road as possible and see all the landmarks we could. Sometimes we ran out of road, sometimes there was only the new interstate, but it was one of our first road trip adventures and we were hooked on traveling together. Merle is our fur baby and the whole reason we bought a camper instead of road tripping and staying hotels like we used to. We've learned that National Parks are not very dog friendly but most State Parks are. If you want to go exploring in areas where dogs are not welcome make sure to use Rover.com and get doggy day care for the day. The dog sitters are amazing and our dog even has made some new friends along the way! Traveling with a pup it is always important to have water handy. When we first got Merle we got this amazing portable water dispenser and get asked about it all the time! Merle has broken several dog leads, just snapped them right off. We bought this new lead and it has worked well so far! It has a carabiner on both sides and is very convenient. We keep an extra food and water bowl in the camper so we never forget to have them.
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Tips for campersCindy and Matt EspyWe are the owners of Happy Camper Uniques. We work so we can travel. Experiences are better than things and we hope to have all the experiences we can as we travel through this life together! Adventures by MonthLocations |