Bison Quest

Bison Quest Join our family en route to every
National Park Site in the United States!

Long hike, great view!
07/19/2024

Long hike, great view!

Palo Duro Canyon is a Texas State Park, featuring the second largest canyon in the United States. There’s a great campgr...
07/15/2024

Palo Duro Canyon is a Texas State Park, featuring the second largest canyon in the United States. There’s a great campground (with hookups!), and a stunning scenic drive into and around the canyon floor. The canyon is 40 miles long, 20 miles wide, and 1000 feet deep, with dramatic, steep multicolored mesa walls similar to the Grand Canyon. Summer nights feature fun outdoor theater with “The Texas Musical”, telling the story of early settlers in the Texas Panhandle. (Similar to the Medora Musical, if you know, you know!) Easy junior ranger book with a patch, requires a hike.

The attack at Wash*ta River actually begins at another National Park Site, Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in...
07/15/2024

The attack at Wash*ta River actually begins at another National Park Site, Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in eastern Colorado. There in November 1864, Col. Chivington, out of shear bigotry and against orders, attacked and destroyed Chief Black Kettle's village on Sand Creek. Black Kettle had been pursuing a policy of peace, and believed his village was protected by the US Army. Black Kettle survived the attack, but at least 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho were killed and mutilated. The Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota warriors responded with months of retaliatory attacks against military encampments and settlements. When multiple efforts at a treaty couldn’t stop the raids, Maj. General Sheridan planned to catch the Indians in their winter encampment on the Wash*ta River, when they would be most vulnerable. At midnight on November 27, 1868, Col. George Armstrong Custer carried out Sheridan’s orders, leading the 7th US Cavalry through a foot of new snow to attack Black Kettle’s sleeping village. While Custer watched from a nearby hill, the soldiers drove the Cheyenne from their lodges into the snow, barefoot and barely clothed. Black Kettle and his wife were killed. In the aftermath, Custer’s men slaughtered 650 Cheyenne ponies, then burned lodges, clothing, and their entire food supply, taking 53 women and children as captives to prevent further attack. The brutality of this attack forced many to give up their fight and accept life on the reservation. What’s left here now is the narrow river banked by barren hallowed ground. There are two badges here: the site badge and a site specific firefighter’s badge. Don’t miss the movie, which features stunning hand painted animation. The visitor center has an excellent small museum, interactive stations, and a moving exhibit about the slaughtered ponies.

Wear a bathing suit, bring water shoes, and expect a crowd. Little Niagara at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area is ...
07/08/2024

Wear a bathing suit, bring water shoes, and expect a crowd. Little Niagara at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area is a VERY popular swimming hole, where locals arrive for the day in giant pickup trucks loading with chairs, grills, food, and tubes. The water is icy cold, but that doesn’t stop anyone from swimming, floating, and jumping in off the travertine steps and damns built all along the creek. We had a wonderful time meeting some of the locals and joining in their fun. The Nature Center is small but well arranged, with several living examples of local wildlife. Very easy book could be completed in the nature center. There are captive bison in the park, but they were not near the viewing areas on this particular day. Old style plastic badges.

14 feet tall and over 20,000 pounds, Columbian mammoths once roamed across the southwest. These incredible fossils are t...
07/05/2024

14 feet tall and over 20,000 pounds, Columbian mammoths once roamed across the southwest. These incredible fossils are the remains of a nursery herd, the only find of its kind across the Americas, likely buried in mud during a flash flood. The site was accidentally discovered in 1978 by two teenagers searching for arrowheads in the ravine. It contains over 15 mammoths, a camel and a sabertooth tiger. Similar to the main exhibition hall at Dinosaur National Monument, the National Park Service constructed a temperature controlled building around the dig site so that scientists could continue to excavate, even as visitors come to witness this incredible find. Wooden badge, fun book, and several hands on exhibits including a kids sandbox dig site.

We were really looking forward to this site because the Junior Rangers wanted to see carnivorous plants. It didn’t disap...
07/05/2024

We were really looking forward to this site because the Junior Rangers wanted to see carnivorous plants. It didn’t disappoint. There are two short trails (both under a mile) that lead to an impressive growth of pitcher plants. The thicket here also has a fascinating history, beginning with families that refused to fight in the civil war and took refuge in the dense watery woods of the thicket. They lived with dogs for hunting, protecting and companionship, earning the nickname “dog men”. Rapid development in eastern Texas almost destroyed this unique landscape, until large tracks of it were restored as America’s first National Preserve. There’s a special 50th anniversary badge this year, no book required. The park workbook was fun, with lots of science related activities which the Junior Rangers love. Great small visitor center and moving park film.

The two plantations of this National Historical Park are preserved as a witness to the sharecropping system of the 1900’...
07/04/2024

The two plantations of this National Historical Park are preserved as a witness to the sharecropping system of the 1900’s. Company stores demonstrate the complex system of credit and debt that kept African Americans from breaking free of slavery. There are many well-preserved structures to tour here, from the Oakland Plantation house to the cotton press on the Magnolia Plantation. New wooden badges and a well done but challenging book.

Gold plating, hand-painted frescos, and an early form of indoor plumbing point to the opulent lifestyle of plantation ow...
07/04/2024

Gold plating, hand-painted frescos, and an early form of indoor plumbing point to the opulent lifestyle of plantation owners in the antebellum south, making their fortunes off the back-breaking labor of enslaved men, women, and children. For every beautiful artifact in this well-preserved museum, a story of luxury lives side by side with a story of dehumanization, from the table fan over the dining table to the trundle beds in the children’s rooms. The most moving part was the legacy trees, sprouted here before the revolution, and witness to hundreds of years of American stories. This National Historical Park has another site in downtown Natchez, which we didn’t visit due to a lack of motor home parking. Wooden badges and a well designed book that requires the house tour to complete. Sign up in advance on recreation.gov.

Over 4000 years ago, a community of hunter gatherers built an ancient city on the banks of the Mississippi River. Hand b...
07/04/2024

Over 4000 years ago, a community of hunter gatherers built an ancient city on the banks of the Mississippi River. Hand by hand and basket by basket, men and women shaped 53 million cubic yards of soil into massive 72-foot-tall mounds, dwelling platforms in concentric half-circles, and the smooth flat planes of a machine groomed playing field. They did so without domesticated animals or even wheeled carts. Archaeologists have uncovered millions of artifacts, pointing to this site as some kind of ancient residential, trade and ceremonial center. Stone and other materials were brought or traded from places as far away as the Ozark and Appalachian Mountains. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a rare remnant of an exceptional culture. There is a small visitor center with an impressive array of artifacts and interactive activities, plus outdoor demonstrations of ancient skills and crafts. The site itself can be toured by tram or personal vehicle. The Junior Ranger Book was on the easy side and could be completed entirely in the visitor center. Old style plastic badges.

“The Nation was divided, but both sides agreed: Vicksburg was Vital to Victory”The Mississippi River was the lifeblood o...
06/29/2024

“The Nation was divided, but both sides agreed: Vicksburg was Vital to Victory”

The Mississippi River was the lifeblood of America, and Vicksburg was the key to its control. Jefferson Davis called it the "nailhead that holds the South's two halves together." As the north closed in, led by future President Ulysses S. Grant, they were met by a ring of forts and over 170 cannons. It took over 6 months and 48,000 casualties before the Union Army prevailed. Town residents famously took up residence in caves to protect themselves from the shelling, moving in household goods like rugs and furniture. The Park today includes a very impressive collection of monuments, and a preserved Civil War era river warship, the USS Cairo, which was very cool to see. Typical Military Park Junior Ranger Book and a new wooden badge. Excellent visitor center with several hands on activities for kids.

Brand new Monument, celebrating two Civil Rights activists. Medgar was a lawyer with the NAACP and represented the Tills...
06/29/2024

Brand new Monument, celebrating two Civil Rights activists. Medgar was a lawyer with the NAACP and represented the Tills during the murder trial. Note the beds on the floor… the family received so many death threats, they did this to protect the children from stray bullets. Medgar was assassinated in his driveway. Myrlie moved with their two children to California and continues the work to this day. The house is a time capsule of a time period and a movement. Well done book, wooden badge, excellent ranger.

One of America’s newest National Monuments tells the long overdue truth about a 14 year old boy killed by bigotry and th...
06/29/2024

One of America’s newest National Monuments tells the long overdue truth about a 14 year old boy killed by bigotry and the mother who fought powerfully for justice on his behalf. The visitor center has a few small (but well done) exhibits, including one that shows how different newspapers at the time covered the story quite differently, and they have restored the courthouse where the sham of a trial took place. Look for this Monument to grow in the years to come. No badge yet. Make sure to make a reservation if you want to tour the courthouse.

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Mammoth Lakes, CA
93546

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