In 2026, the United States turns 250. There’s no better way to mark the moment than getting in the car, pointing it toward somewhere that matters, and seeing this country the way it was meant to be seen — from the ground, at your own pace, with nowhere pressing to be.
America’s semiquincentennial isn’t just a number — it’s an invitation to take one of the great historic road trips across the USA. An invitation to stand at the rim of the Badlands and imagine the homesteaders who crossed them on foot. To feel the mist of Niagara Falls and think about the engineers who dared to harness it. To sit beside a campfire in the Adirondacks under the same stars that lit the way for French voyageurs, Revolutionary soldiers, and Transcendentalist writers who changed how Americans thought about wilderness.
At HTR Resorts, we’ve built our seven properties with this kind of travel in mind — not just a place to park or sleep, but a genuine basecamp for exploring the stories baked into the American landscape. Each resort sits near a national park or landmark that shaped this country. Here’s where those stories live, and why each one deserves a place on your 2026 road trip.
Camping Near Mount Rushmore: HTR Black Hills, South Dakota
The History
The Black Hills were never just a backdrop. For the Lakota Sioux, they are Paha Sapa — the heart of everything that is. Long before sculptor Gutzon Borglum began carving four presidents into the granite face of Mount Rushmore in 1927, these hills had already witnessed centuries of ceremony, conflict, and consequence. Rushmore was completed in 1941; the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial, begun in 1948 by Korczak Ziolkowski at the request of Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear, is still being carved today — a reminder that the full American story is always still being written.
Push east into the Badlands, and the timeline stretches back further still — 65 million years of layered geology, ancient fossil beds, and landscapes so lunar they stopped westward travelers in their tracks. Standing here in 2026, you’re standing where the story of America goes deepest.
Why Stay at HTR Black Hills
HTR Black Hills puts you within minutes of Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and the Badlands — all in a single, well-positioned basecamp. For families camping near Mount Rushmore for the first time, the proximity is everything. Whether you’re rolling in with a rig or looking for a comfortable glamping setup, it’s the kind of place that makes the logistics disappear so the experience can take over.
Adirondacks Glamping & RV Resort, New York
The History
The Adirondacks predate the republic. These mountains watched the French and Indian War unfold along their ridgelines, saw Revolutionary War fire at Fort Ticonderoga, and bore witness to the naval battle on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812. But the Adirondacks’ most lasting contribution to American identity may be quieter than any of that: it was here, in the mid-19th century, that thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson began arguing that wilderness had value — not as timber or farmland, but as something worth protecting for its own sake. The Adirondack Park became the model for the national park idea, and it remains the largest protected wilderness area east of the Mississippi.
Why Stay at HTR Adirondacks
Set on the banks of the Moose River, HTR Adirondacks surrounds guests with 6 million acres of working wilderness — the kind you can actually get into, on foot or in a kayak, by morning. The resort offers full-hookup RV sites, Adirondack glamping options, and lodge-style accommodations that pair genuine north-woods character with the amenities that make a week in the woods feel like a proper vacation rather than an expedition. Campfire stargazing here hits different when you know what these skies have seen.
Niagara Falls RV Resort: HTR Niagara, New York
The History
Samuel de Champlain’s scouts were among the first Europeans to report the sound of Niagara — a roar audible miles before the falls came into view — in the early 1600s. Two centuries later, Niagara had become America’s first great tourist attraction, a honeymoon mecca, and a symbol of the young nation’s overwhelming natural grandeur. The falls straddling the US-Canada border played a strategic role in the War of 1812. Then, in 1895, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse built the world’s first large-scale alternating current power station on the American side — channeling Niagara’s force into electricity that lit Buffalo and, eventually, the modern world. The falls have been inspiring poets, terrifying daredevils, and powering civilization for the better part of 250 years.
Why Stay at HTR Niagara
Positioned between Niagara Falls and Buffalo, HTR Niagara is one of the best RV resorts in the region for exploring both the American and Canadian sides of the falls. As a full-service Niagara Falls RV resort, it offers full-hookup sites, family programming, and resort-style amenities that make it one of the East Coast’s most complete campground destinations — and the falls are right there, as astonishing as they’ve always been.
Estes Park Family Camping Near Rocky Mountain National Park
The History
Long before Joel Estes rode into this valley in 1859 — just months after gold was discovered in Colorado — the Arapaho and Ute peoples had been calling this landscape home for thousands of years. The town that took his name grew slowly, attracting conservationists and mountain lovers rather than the miners who crowded the lower elevations. Rocky Mountain National Park was established in 1915, one of the earliest in the national park system and a direct expression of the conservation ideas that had been building since the Adirondacks generation. Trail Ridge Road, at over 12,000 feet, remains one of the highest paved roads in the country — an engineering achievement and a jaw-dropping drive in equal measure.
Why Stay at Jellystone Park™ Estes Park
HTR Estes Park, operating as Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™, is one of Colorado’s top spots for Estes Park family camping — and it leans into that fully without sacrificing the scenery that makes it all worthwhile. It’s the right base for hiking Trail Ridge Road, watching elk herds at dusk, and explaining to your kids that yes, those really are bighorn sheep, and yes, they really do live up there.
Durango, Colorado Camping Resort Near Mesa Verde
The History
Durango was built by a railroad in 1880, and the Denver and Rio Grande Railway’s fingerprints are still everywhere. The town grew up on silver mining money and frontier ambition, the kind of place that appeared fully formed out of the Colorado wilderness and immediately got to work. Thirty-five miles west, the Ancestral Puebloans — known historically as the Anasazi — had already been building for a thousand years. Their cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are among the most significant archaeological sites in North America: multi-story stone communities tucked into canyon alcoves, abandoned around 1300 CE for reasons that still aren’t fully understood.
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a National Historic Landmark, has been running continuously since 1882. Climbing 45 miles through the San Juan Mountains on the same coal-fired steam engines, it’s one of the few places in America where history isn’t recreated — it just never stopped.
Why Stay at HTR Durango
HTR Durango puts you at the center of Colorado’s most historically layered corner. Durango, Colorado camping doesn’t get more well-placed than this — the steam train, the cliff dwellings, whitewater on the Animas River, and world-class mountain biking are all within reach. This is the resort for people who want a full week of doing things, not just seeing them.
Door County, Wisconsin Resort: Egg Harbor Camping & Lodging
The History
Door County’s peninsula reaches into Lake Michigan with more miles of shoreline than any other county in the contiguous United States — a fact that shaped everything about it. The Potawatomi and Menominee peoples fished and traded here long before French explorer Jean Nicolet came through in the 1630s. By the 19th century, the county’s ports were essential links in Great Lakes shipping, and its cherry orchards (still thriving today) supplied regional markets. Ten historic lighthouses mark the coastline, each one built to guide ore carriers and lumber schooners through the notoriously tricky straits that gave the county its name: “Death’s Door.”
Why Stay at HTR Door County
HTR Door County in Egg Harbor is a Door County, Wisconsin resort that people stumble onto and then return to every summer for the rest of their lives. Charming villages, scenic bike roads, sea-cave kayaking, working orchards, and lighthouse tours that genuinely teach you something — it’s Wisconsin’s best-kept secret, except that people who know it aren’t particularly quiet about it.
Moab Lodging Near Arches National Park: HTR Lodge & Cottages, Utah
The History
The Colorado River has been carving these canyons for around five million years. The rock walls it left behind are still covered in Ancestral Puebloan petroglyphs — hand-chipped images of deer, spirals, and human figures that date back two thousand years and remain startlingly vivid. Spanish missionaries and traders on the Old Spanish Trail passed through Moab in the 1830s. By the late 1800s, it had become a ranching and, eventually, uranium-mining outpost — a place where the landscape was always the main character and the human story played a supporting role.
Today, Moab is flanked by Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, which together contain more natural arches than anywhere else on the planet. The landscape here doesn’t look entirely of this world, which is precisely why it keeps drawing people back.
Why Stay at HTR Moab
HTR Moab Lodge & Cottages offers the best of Moab lodging — elevated lodge-style rooms and private cottages right at the gateway to Arches and Canyonlands. Whether you’re chasing a sunrise shot of Delicate Arch, riding the Slickrock Trail, or simply sitting on the porch watching the cliffs change color at dusk, Moab rewards every kind of attention you’re willing to give it.
Plan Your America’s 250th Road Trip
America’s semiquincentennial is a once-in-a-lifetime milestone. Seven resorts — each one among the best RV resorts and lodges near national parks in the country. Seven chapters of the American story. All you have to do is show up.