Hi guys, first post here I live along the cape cod national seashore on cape cod, mass a historically ATV/Dirtbike unfriendly area unfortunely :( I just thought id provide some insight, Throughout most of the cape stretches a cleared area, probably about the size of a football field in width which has powerlines in the middle, and large access roads on each side aswell as some areas have a paved bike trail which runs off to the side, Alot of these powerlines are on town lands, and atv riding is generally allowed, however for me the area of the powerlines I live on is governed by the electric company, aswell as the NPS which leads to some problems. Heres a sattelite photo- The black line, shows the powerline route http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/xbreaka/Pit.jpg If you follow these powerlines to the south of where I live you reach a large sand/gravel pit which is now closed but the owner allows riding there. I have always riden on the powerlines, but today I was stopped by the rangers and issued a 300$ ticket for it? 1.I have several problems with this, first off the info is not posted anywhere, iv scoured google, and the cape cod national seashore website trying to find a spot where it says "ORV riding under the powerlines is prohibited" and have failed to find it. 2.The ranger vehicles themselves are much bigger than my dirtbike, and cause much more damage to the access road than I ever have. 3.They threw the book at me for it, I will be contesting the ticket however in the district court, I dont expect to win but will not tolerate getting ticketed with disturbing of wildlife(nothing lives on or around the powerlines its all sand), tresspasing on private property(the pit owner gives atv permission to ride there). Its these things than infuriate me, sure I dont condone riding in the habitats, in the dunes or in disturbed areas. However this is just ridiculous, riding on a all sand access road, which is uninhabited by any threatened or endangered animals or wildlife. The Cape Cod ORV community is slowly disapearing because of the actions of people like the ranger who stopped me, riding in a place where you dont disturb anyone, dont damage anything and then getting ticketed for the most BS offenses iv ever heard. Frustrating Sometimes.

A number of years ago we did the out-and-back Narrows hike in late May or early June (around Memorial Day). Water was moving but current not too strong. It was beautiful but seemed there were a lot of folks out that day and I would like to do the hike again without seeing quite so many people. Same trip it snowed at Bryce Canyon. We stayed at Flanigan's outside of Zion and I would stay there again. There very well might be nicer places but budget was a big factor in our choice of lodging on that trip.

DH got his senior pass in March at a National Park Kiosk for $20.00. It has more then paid for itself for us. We have RV'd for 40+ years and spent more for one visit to a park then we did for this pass. Something some might not know is that if any of the places you go have a campground within the park that is ran by the Park service not a concessionaire then your camp fees are 50 percent off. Many places we have paid $10.00 a day. I recently made reservations to Fort Pickens, FL and for 8 days the total cost is 104.00! Also several times in our travels we pull into a park campground just to use the RV dump and water fill. As I said the Park Pass easily pays for itself. I would have been glad to pay the 80.00 then for it!

Glad to share with you salonva. Yes I had roughly planned the days and where we stayed ahead of time, but in a very basic fashion. As we were there, if we found time to add we did or if we found we overbooked, we skipped something. But I made sure the drive time was doable each day. I also set the schedule so we would arrive at a new location in the afternoon when the rooms would be available. No point driving to arrive in the a.m. and then being told the room won't be ready until late afternoon. Day 1 we flew into Bismarck, saw Ft Abe Lincoln and drove to Medora Day 2 we saw Teddy Roosevelt Nat Park North unit, saw Medora Musical in the evening, stay Medora Day 3 we saw TRNP South Unit and drove in the afternoon to Spearfish Canyon, stayed Spearfish Canyon Lodge Day 4 we hiked and saw the falls in Spearfish Canyon, drove through deadwood and then through needles highway to Custer State Park. Stayed Creekside Lodge Day 5 we drove to see Mt rushmore and crazy horse, stayed creekside lodge Day 6 we drove the wildlife loop down to Wind Cave Nat'l Park, toured the cave, then down to Hot Springs to the Mammoth site. Stayed Creekside Lodge Day 7 we drove to Badlands Nat Park, toured the park then went to Wall Drug for refreshments. Drove back to Rapid City where we stayed for one night. Day 8 flew home from Rapid City