20 "Not-to-be-Missed" Family Picnic Sites Around the Country

by Mitch Kaplan

Pristine picnic spots abound across the country. Hit any park, beach or mountaintop and you'll find one of or your own. Here's a collection of top spots that we recommend.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire, Michigan; (231-326-5134).
A national seashore in Michigan? You betcha! And what a beauty. Obtain an free interpretive guide at the Visitors Center, then drive the 7.4 mile Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive's self-guided auto tour to learn the local lore, see flora and, most of all, ogle the spectacular views of Glen Lakes, Sleeping Bear Dunes and Lake Michigan. Stop for your picnic at the Picnic Mountain Picnic Area, which reveals Lake Michigan on one side, Glen Lake on the other and offers ready access to the Cottonwood Hiking Trail. Tables, grills and comfort facilities are onsite, and the area is handicap accessible.

Smugglers Notch State Park, Stowe, Vermont; (802-253-4014).
Located ten miles north of Stowe on VT Highway Smugglers Notch State Park is a corridor park that holds rock formations and cliffs with funny names like Elephants Head, The Singing Bird, The Hunter and His Dog, and the Smuggler. The picnic area is found roadside, as are an information booth, restroom facilities, and access to a variety of hiking trails. If you've got a mind to, you can hike from here to the top of Mt. Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak.

Deep Creek Lake State Park, Deep Creek Lake, Maryland; (301-387-5563).
Deep Creek Lake is Marlyand's largest lake, and about as pretty an inland body of water as you'll find anywhere. The park has about a mile of shoreline from which you can fish, swim, or launch a boat. A Discovery Center offers hands-on exhibits showing regional natural resources and history, as well as offering interpretive programs, talks and hikes. The park contains several picnic areas with easy access to the beach and other facilities.

Island Beach State Park, Seaside Park, New Jersey; (732-793-0506).
Here is the Jersey Shore at its purest and finest. The ten miles of unblemished white sand beach (one mile of which is life-guarded) attracts swimmers, sunbathers, anglers and surfers. As noncommercial as the park may be, you'll also find modern bathhouses, historic buildings, trails, naturalist programs, bike paths and facilities for people with disabilities. Picnic on the beach or by one of the bathhouses.

Battery Park, Broadway & State Street, New York, New York.
Set at the bottom of Manhattan's west side, Battery Park has undergone extensive renovation and makes a great place to eat, be it on a blanket or a bench. Here are thirty acres of gardens, playgrounds, a one-mile esplanade, public art, and views of the Hudson River and Statue of Liberty. Be sure to visit the remarkable Irish Hunger Memorial on a half-acre site at the corner of Vesey Street and North End Avenue between the Embassy Suites Hotel and the Hudson River. The Memorial represents a rural Irish landscape with an abandoned stone cottage, stonewalls, fallow potato fields and the flora on the north Connacht wetlands. Also, consider a ride on the Staten Island Ferry, which departs from the park's southern end.

Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, Virginia;(540-783-3422).
An unbelievably beautiful spot in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Hungry Mother is set just off I-81 in the southwestern section of the state. It centers on a 108-acre lake where you can swim on a sandy beach with bathhouse. In addition to picnic sites, you'll find boating, paddle boating and row boating concessions, a handicapped-accessible fishing peer, campgrounds, cabins, restaurant, a visitor center with an environmental center, hiking paths and guided horseback trail rides. This park has three large picnic shelters with grills, tables and access to restrooms.

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, Socorro, NM; (505- 835-1828).
Here you must picnic from your car and be certain to pack out anything you bring in, but the dusk "fly-in" of millions of shore birds is a sight you'll never forget. There's a fee to enter the refuge, which is located on the northern edge of the Chihuahuan desert. A Visitor Center is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. To see the greatest numbers of birds come from early November to mid-February. At dusk, thousands of geese, and Sandhill cranes fly in en masse. A walk on the hiking trails may reveal hawks, eagles, roadrunners, herons, deer and coyotes. Bring insect repellant!

Robert H. Treman State Park, Ithaca, NY; (607-273-3440).
The park has a variety of places to picnic. The highlight area is Enfield Glen, where a collection of craggy gorges and extensive winding trails. The short loop trail at the upper part of the park makes an easy and spectacular hike. The stream drops through drops 160 feet at Lucifer Falls into a deep, narrow cut, and you can walk right to head of this falls. Want to go long? Try the whole top-to-bottom-and-return loop trail through Enfield Glen. You can also swim in a stream-fed pool beneath some of the waterfalls. There's a vehicle admission fee to enter the park.

New River Gorge National River, Fayetteville, West Virginia; (304-465-0508 or 304-574-2115).
This unit of the National Park System encompasses more than 70,000 acres in which the New River has cut deep canyons in southern West Virginia. Hiking trails abound, ranging from a quarter-mile to seven miles long. Many biking trails are found here, too, as well as the New River Gorge Bridge, the world's longest steel arch span, which spans the mile-wide gorge. It's best viewed from the Canyon Rim Visitor Center from which a short hiking trail descends into the gorge on a wooden boardwalk to yield unobstructed views. Picnic at the Center, or along one of the trails. Other Visitors Centers are located at Grandview, Hinton, and Thurmond, and ranger guided hikes are available throughout the park.

Ricketts Glen State Park, Benton, Pennsylvania; (570-477-5675).
Here you'll find Glens Natural Area, a National Natural Landmark, which can be explored along the five-mile Falls Trail. Some twenty-two waterfalls, topped by the 94-foot Ganoga Falls, are found along the trail. A shorter hike of a half-mile on the Evergreen Trail offers an excellent view of the final series of falls. Old growth timber (many trees here are more than 500 years old and ring counts on fallen trees have revealed ages as high as 900 years) and diverse wildlife add to the experience. A large number of picnic spots are found in the park's 13,050 acres, especially in the Lake Jean area and in the park's lower areas off of PA Route 118.

City Beach, Whitefish, Montana.
Among all the funky places and fine restaurants in Whitefish, we loved the escape we made to City Beach. This is the town's free, general public access beach complete with boat launch. You can bring your canoe or kayak and launch from here, or just doggie paddle in the water. There are bathrooms and all that, and floating docks. If you're into paddling, you can "shoot the riffles" into the Whitefish River. The beach has its own picnic tables, so stop in at one of the town's groceries or get some restaurant food to go, and settle in for a lakeside lunch. Info: Whitefish Chamber of Commerce 877-862-3548 or 406-862-3501.

The Grotto, Zion National Park
To sit among the high, red rock cliffs of Zion is to be immersed in a visual paradise. The Grotto, located about halfway up the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, holds picnic tables, washrooms, fresh water for your water bottles (remember to bring those, please - it gets hot in here), and is handicap-accessible. Cars must be parked near the entrance to the park, so take the free Shuttle Service. The first shuttle of the day departs the Zion Canyon Visitor Center at 6:30 a.m. and they run till 11:00 p.m. You'll find some great hikes here. Cross the footbridge, turn left and follow the Kayenta Trail, which eventually leads to the Upper Emerald Pool Trail. Or, for an easy hike, take the Grotto Trail to Zion Lodge and either hike back or take the shuttle bus. Lower West Rim Trail is a strenuous climb to magnificent high-country viewpoint of canyons. Info: nps.gov/zion or 435-772-3256.

The Lodge at Sunspot - Winter Park, Colorado
Okay, we know this sounds a bit too "civilized," but by bringing your picnic up the mountain, you give yourself an incredible array of activity options. You can get to the Lodge at Sunspot either by hiking the Ute trails, which meander up a 1,700-foot elevation gain to the Lodge. Or, you can just ride the chairlift. Eat outside on the deck, and admire the views the, after lunch, take the Nystom trail to the top of the Rockies at 12,060 feet. Whew! Meanwhile if the kids are clamoring for things to do, Winter Park presents myriad activities, like: mountain biking, mini golf, a human maze, mountain scooters, and an alpine slide - oh the list goes on. Info: skiwinterpark.com or 800-729-5813.

Sun Valley, Idaho Sun Valley may be famous for being the original American ski resort, for attracting Hollywood stars and celebrities of all kinds, and for once being home to Ernest Hemingway, but in summer it's a whole 'nother ball game. Hiking, fishing, mountain biking, swimming and, yes, even ice-skating can still be done on the famous Sun Valley Lodge rink. A number of bucolic picnic sites can be found within a few miles of town. Among them: Penny Lake, located four miles outside of from Ketchum on Warm Springs Road, where there's good fishing for children; Sun Peak, set two miles north of Ketchum off Highway 75, where you'll find campsites, picnic tables and grills, potable water, and access to the Big Wood River and a bike path; and Boundary Picnic and Campground, three miles northeast of Ketchum on Trail Creek Road, which has picnic tables, fire rings and grills, potable water, restrooms and access to Trail Creek.

Travel north to the town of Stanley, gateway to the Sawtooth National Forest, the largest national forest area in the lower 48 states and you'll find National Forest Service facilities on Redfish Lake. Info: 800-634-3347 or visitsunvalley.com .

Along the Lakeshore, Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana; 1-888-677-3668
The day use area of the 2,800-acre park is located on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Numerous picnic sites, complete with tables and grills, and an adjacent pavilion are nestled under the oak trees in sight of the lake. On a clear day, visitors can see the lake dotted with multi-colored sailboats of all sizes and types. Fontainebleau contains an area accessible to Lake Pontchartrain from where wind surfers and small non-motorized boats may be launched.

Newport News Park, Newport News, VA; 757-886-7912
This is one of the largest, most diverse city parks you'll find anywhere. Among the attraction and activities you'll find here: archery range, bicycle rental, disc golf, freshwater fishing, boat ramp, boat rental, 180-site campground, Civil War battle site, golf course, horse show arena, interpretive programs, wildlife rehabilitation center, picnic shelters, playground, restrooms, stage, ropes and initiatives course, Tourist Information Center, 30 miles of hiking trails, five-mile mountain bike trail, and 5.3-mile bikeway. The park is the site of the Children's Festival of Friends, the Newport News Fall Festival of Folklife, and Celebration in Lights. You'll find it at 13564 Jefferson Avenue off I-64 Exit 250B.

St. Marks National Wildlife Reserve, Florida; 850-925-6121
Located 25 miles south of Tallahassee along the Gulf Coast of Florida, this is a well-known oasis of natural Florida habitats for wildlife, especially birds, featuring natural salt marshes, freshwater swamps, pine forests and lakes. Activities here include: fishing, hiking, bird watching, butterfly watching, hunting, and the historic St. Marks lighthouse on Apalachee Bay. A 6.8-mile wildlife drive runs from the Visitor Center to the old historic St. Marks lighthouse on Apalachee Bay. Picnic facilities are located next to Mounds Trail and at Otter Lake. Information: 850-925-6121.

D.L. Bliss State Park, Lake Tahoe, California:
This sandy beach sits on Lake Tahoe's West Shore and opens up to reveal Lake Tahoe's expansive emerald waters against snow capped Sierra peaks. Enjoy your picnic lakeside, and then hike the picturesque Rubicon Trail along the lake. Picnic and rest room facilities available. Fee to enter park.

Tidelands Park, Morro Bay, California:
Looking out to Morro Rock, a giant volcanic formation called the "Gibraltar of the Pacific", Tidelands Park features an awesome playground, complete with pirate ship, and abundant picnic tables for viewing the harbor.

Laupahoehoe Park, Hamakua Coast on Big Island, Hawaii
This park is nestled on a lava peninsula extending to the Pacific. Brilliantly lush and green, the spot exudes tranquility. The site of a 1946 tidal wave that killed 24 school children and teachers, a monument stands in memory. There's a large grassy area for ball play and several picnic tables and facilities.

For more picnic ideas, destinations and tips see our picnic section here.