Lodging Adventures

These are stays rather than outings - places to sleep that are themselves the reason to go. Most are state park cabins, which are the best-value family lodging in the country and the least well known. You wake up inside the park, before the day visitors arrive, which changes the character of the whole trip.

Why a state park cabin

You are already there. No drive to the trailhead, no gate queue, no packing the car twice. The trail starts outside the door and the lake is a short walk away.

They are cheap. Dramatically cheaper than a hotel of equivalent location, because the location is not being priced.

They are the stepping stone out of hotels. If your family is not ready for a tent, a cabin gets you most of the camping experience - campfire, stars, no traffic noise - with beds, a roof and usually a bathroom. Bastrop State Park’s CCC-era cabins in Texas and the cabins at Beavers Bend in Oklahoma are the classics.

They book out first. This is the catch, and it is a serious one.

Booking, which is the hard part

State park cabins are the most competitive reservation in the system. Texas releases sites five months ahead, and popular parks are gone within minutes of opening for spring and fall weekends. New York and Oklahoma run their own windows. Set a calendar reminder for the release date rather than deciding to book when you feel like a trip - by then it is gone.

Midweek is far easier than weekends, and shoulder season is far easier than either.

What to check before you book

• What is actually in the cabin. Some have a full kitchen; some have a mini-fridge and nothing else. Some are a bunk and four walls with a bathhouse two hundred metres away.
• Whether bedding is provided. Frequently it is not. Turning up at nine at night without sheets is a bad discovery.
• Air conditioning and heat, depending on season and state. This is not universal.
• Whether dogs are allowed, which varies cabin to cabin within the same park.
• Check-in cut-off times. Many parks close their gates in the evening and a late arrival can mean no arrival.

The alternatives

Broken Bow’s treehouse and glamping stays are a whole local industry and a genuinely different experience from a cabin. Adirondak Loj in Lake Placid is a mountain lodge at a High Peaks trailhead. Wai’anapanapa in Hana and Kalopa on the Big Island put you inside two of Hawaii’s best parks for a fraction of a resort rate.

Best time

Spring and fall almost everywhere - the most comfortable weather and the reason those weekends book out first. Winter cabins with a fireplace are an underrated and much easier reservation.