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Our family has the rare spring break that we all have the time off. We would love to do some hiking and camping. Originally we were thinking driving from Minnesota to Colorado springs. But now we realize that the will be too much snow. Our dates are March 9th through the 19th. We are new to planning such a road trip so any suggestions would be appreciated.
Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!
For hiking in the spring, getting away from the mountains also means getting away from the snow. For roughly the same driving time you'd spend getting to the Rockies, you can get to the lower Mississippi River and the Yazoo Delta area which is replete with hiking sites including
Delta National Forest and Yazoo and Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuges in Mississippi, Saint Francis National Forest and White River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, and Upper Ouachita and Handy Brake National Wildlife Refuges in Louisiana. Then there are the cultural attractions in Hannibal, St. Louis, and Memphis en route.
AZBuck
Love it! One of my original ideas was to follow the mississippi river south and see how far we get. Thank you for such specific suggestions. Any thoughts on specific camp grounds or if you think the will be open that time of year?
For my money, there are two grossly underutilized camping providers throughout the US, and that makes them both a great experience and often free. They are the national forest system which besides its prepared campgrounds often offers what is called dispersed camping where you pack in to and out of a site of your own choosing. The second is the state park system of each of the states you'd want to camp in. Just search on {statename state parks}. Seasons, hours, facilities, and costs will vary quite a bit, but I would be very surprised if you couldn't find some facilities open, at least in the southern portions of your trip, year-round.
AZBuck
One other great option for low costs camping, especially along the Mississippi are campgrounds run by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Much like Forest Service campgrounds, they can be cheap and underused.
You'll find many of them - along with many other federal/public camping options - on the reservations site recreation.gov
If the weather is "right", there are two decent campgrounds (or at least they were a few years back) in the northeast corner of Missouri.
One is the riverfront park near Lock & Dam No. 20 in Canton, MO. If the ferry is running you can watch it cross the river or ride on it yourself. The campground has bathrooms and electric hookups.
Another is Wakonda State Park outside of LaGrange, MO, which is just south of Canton.Wakonda campground is not right on the river, though.
Donna