This is a topic I could go on and on about for way too long. 😉

I grew up just a few minutes from a state park in southern Minnesota and it was common for my family to take Sunday drives there, especially in the summer. Also, a city park held Sunday concerts in the park each summer. While the music often didn’t interest me much (usually ‘old people music’ like polka or country), my brother and I did enjoy running around the park, collecting acorns and things like that.

My first camping trip was not with my family, but was an overnight trip with a school program called summer science. It was fun and I was introduced to just how good the night sky could be away from city lights (though I grew up on the edge of a small town with a pretty dark sky to begin with).

I’ve been camping and visiting city, state, and national parks ever since.  Minnesota has some excellent parks, especially along the North Shore of Lake Superior, and while I haven’t camped with my family for years now, I often go there alone or with friends. The sight of the Northern Lights reflected on the big lake is unforgettable.

My first visit to a national park was with my family on a drive to Washington State, when we visited Yellowstone. My brother, who now lives near Seattle, introduced us to that state’s spectacular parks, and they remain among some of my favorite places.

With some friends from church, I went on several week-long trips to national parks back in the 90s (notably Rocky Mountain and Grand Teton) – talk about spectacular views by day and glorious skies at night.

Speaking of Michigan, @narnian78, I’ve only been to the UP, but made a couple of camping trips to Porcupine Mountains State Park in the 90s. That park is also worth visiting. (One of my fondest memories is from there, but it’s not nature-related per se. One evening a young couple in the campsite next to mine sang a lullaby to their children, “Once Upon a December” from the animated Anastasia. It was beautiful and still gives me goosebumps to recall it).

I haven’t camped for a couple of years but still enjoy day trips to parks, especially in the fall when the leaves are changing colors, and also to build campfires and enjoy stargazing sessions in the evening. It’s a chance to get away from city lights and enjoy a sky full of stars.

I went to the Porcupine Mountains in the 1980’s. It is larger and wilder than most of the natural areas of the Lower Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula offers the wilderness or something very close to that in Michigan. I have never been out west, but I have been to some natural places in New York State (near the Catskill Mts.) which look quite natural. And in Michigan I have been to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Tahquamenon Falls in the U.P.   Sleeping Bear Dunes is beautiful too, although there are more people living near it now than when I first visited it in the 1970’s.  We rolled down the car windows while driving through the park to listen to the flute song of the wood thrush. You can find wood thrushes in small areas of forest too in the months of May and June.  You just need about 200 acres of unfragmented woodland.  In areas smaller than that the thrush is threatened by the cowbird laying its own eggs in the thrush’s nest. You can also do astronomy in all of these places, but of course there is much light pollution in the more inhabited areas.  But those limitations should not stop you from doing it completely. 🙂

We had an article over Memorial Day weekend that one of our local State Parks had record turnouts for this past week and especially the previous year when everything was locked down, people could still get out and camp. 

I do visit a lot of state parks, but it's hard with three little kiddos in tow. We did go last year to a local lake with my bro-in-law and his wife, and they took the kids jet skiing. So that was fun. I like hiking myself, but haven't been much since my vacation to Glacier National Park last fall. 

I don't know if those quite count as Nature Preserves, but it comes close-ish imho.  

@fantasia

Often state parks have wild and preserved land —at least those here in Michigan. Porcupine Mountains and Tahquamenon Falls have thousands of acres of land that is either wilderness or something like it.  And the protection of these areas and their lands is virtually guaranteed.  Michigan does not have large areas of wilderness, (except for the  two state parks I mentioned) but the small areas can provide many hours of enjoyment.  🙂

Minnesota state parks have also reported high attendance during the pandemic, as people want to get outside and do things.

@fantasia, our group camped in Glacier back in 1996, but most of us remember that trip because it rained nearly constantly. If we hadn't traveled so far we probably would have left early rather than toughing it out. We decided to travel the main park road (Going to the Sun) the first day, which turned out well since it was the only dry day we had. I was able to stargaze that evening, and remember the sight of Saturn rising over the peaks.

On our return we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and that was also a highlight of the trip (and it wasn't raining!). Being able to see the battle ground laid out before us helped make history come alive.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the million acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeast Minnesota, a minimally-developed federal area that requires canoe travel to get very far inside. We camped there a number of times in the 1980s, and at night the only sound often was the call of loons echoing over the water.

I often thought if you made a list of the bird species you would be surprised at what you would find even in a small natural area. In fact I remember that one of my field guides recommended writing down the bird species in a little pocket notebook along with a brief description of each bird that you never saw before. In this way you can remember details and learn your birds at the same time. Birds are often visible for only a few seconds at each sighting so this seems like a good idea. 🙂

I have some friends who are avid birders, though I haven't gone with them for some time.  They were quite adept at identifying birds by call or by just the shortest glimpse.

This time of year, I enjoy driving out of the city to some of the state parks and nature areas to look at fall colors and finish the day with some stargazing. We have several nice parks within an hour of the cities so this works well.

On these trips, a bird I almost always hear at dusk or later is the barred owl - sometimes so loudly they echo in the woods. Listen to its "who cooks for you?" call here.

We are always visiting the state parks around here in Washington state. Even if the campgrounds are full, it's always possible to see some wildlife. Every summer we pick a different area to camp in. Last summer, it was the North Cascades and Baker Lake, and a month later, Salt Creek overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A bald eagle there flew down to the surf, and stood there not a 100 feet away, eyeing my elderly Lhasa Apso dog who had come along for the trip.

One thing I'd like to do is stargaze more, but you have to go way out in the boonies, away from the campground lights even. You can see a lot even with the lighting near, though. One year we saw a comet and there are always lots of streaking stars.

Sometimes one wonders how natural areas are preserved.  There is a city park in a town about five miles from where I live that has about one hundred acres of woods which are completely surrounded by suburban development. There is an historic home there which is well maintained by the town’s historical society, and somehow about a hundred acres of woods near it escaped the bulldozer. The park has some fine birding trails even though the area is quite small. I know of a county park along Lake Michigan which once was a sand mine, but today you cannot notice any trace of mining.  The land now looks like it was always in its natural state even though it was mined many years ago. Nature has a way of covering up man’s damage and making it look beautiful if people leave the land to become wild again. 🙂