5 Best Places To Camp In The USA That Will Create Lasting Memories
The cool, refreshing breeze, the crackling of a campfire, the night sky filled with billions of stars–nothing quite compares to the wonderful experience of camping. It’s one of the best ways to reconnect with nature and enjoy the great outdoors.
If you read our article on the 9 camping essentials to bring along, now you need to find some sleeping spots to get started. Luckily, we’ve got you covered! In this post, we’ll look at 5 of Americas best camping spots to get you out on your next adventure.
1. Badlands National Park, South Dakota
The state famous for its iconic monument to Americas founding fathers, South Dakota offers plenty of other beautiful places to check out. Badlands National Park is 244,000 acres of scenic vistas and jaw-dropping landscape to enjoy while also being a hotspot for hunting fossils and early, primitive human artifact.
The park contains two established campgrounds, Cedar Pass Campground and Sage Creek Campground. Cedar Pass offers 96 level sites and provides picturesque views of badlands formations. It’s available to camp at year-round with a 14 day limit to stay. While campfires are not permitted, the site contains charcoal grills and allows camp stoves.
Sage Creek is a free, first-come first-served campground that provides 22 sites along Sage Creek Rim Road. The site is also open year-round and a portion of the campground is actually designed for horse use. Like Cedar Pass, campfires are prohibited.
2. The Adirondack Park, New York
Enjoy 6 million acres of mountains, wildlife, and just about anything you can imagine. The Adirondacks are filled with fun activities to enjoy including boating, sailing, climbing, hiking, and yes, camping. There are thousands of campsites spread throughout the area that offer unique and scenic vantage points.
One of the coolest places to pitch your tent is on one of the many islands that dot the expansive landscape. Lake Champlain, Saranac Lake Chain, Blue Mountain Lake, and Lake George are the four major island camping spots with each offering their own special features and advantages.
For those looking to head off the beaten trail, backcountry camping is a great option to look into. It is allow in the Adirondack Forest Preserve and State Forest Lands outside the Adirondack Park so long as campers follow the guidelines and regulations.
3. Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland
Only 9-miles south of Ocean City, enjoy the unique experience of camping on the beach at Marylands Assateague Island. It’s 37-miles of swimming, paddle-boarding, surfing kayaking, biking, and even wild horse spotting.
Planning ahead is key to a pleasant experience so make sure to bring along all your essentials like sunscreen, bug spray, and long stakes for securing your tent in the sand. The park also prohibits firewood to be brought in from out of state, it must be bought locally. You can reserve a campsite up to six months in advance although the weekend reservations tend to fill up as soon as they’re available.
You’ll have several options to pick from when choosing which campground you’d like to stay at. Drive-in sites are available for both oceanside and bayside spots where you can tent camp or bring your RV or trailer to stay in. You can also walk-in on the oceanside for great tent-only campsites to enjoy.
4. Glacier National Park, Montana
Stare in awe at the beautiful mountains and glaciers as you camp at one of the more the 1,000 sites within the park. You can spend your day hiking through the 700 miles of trails through Glacier National Parks forests, mountains, and meadows or go boating on one of its picturesque rivers.
When you’re ready to pitch the tent for the night, there’s several campsites to choose from including Apgar, Bowman Lake, Logging Creek, and Many Glacier. Be sure to check whether you’ll need to reserve a spot ahead of time or if the campground is first-come first-served.
There are also a limited number of campsites available exclusively for hikers and bicyclists. These sites are shared and have a capacity of 8 people. You also have the option to do some backcountry camping to experience solitude and primitive unconfined restrictions.
5. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Just north of Jackson Hole, immerse yourself in the stunning scenery of Grand Teton National Park and take in the Rocky Mountains, lakes, and wildlife. You can spot hundreds of elk at the National Elk Refuge that’s located next to the park. There are also over two hundred miles of trails to explore and the Snake River to float on.
Choose from seven park campgrounds that offer stunning views as well as standard amenities including modern comfort stations, potable water, metal fire grates, picnic tables, and metal bear boxes. If the parks campgrounds are full, you can also check out camping in the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway, National Forests, or Yellowstone National Park.
Gros Ventre Campground is located in the southeast of the park and is the closest to the town of Jackson Hole. It offers incredible views of the Grand Tetons and Blacktail Butte and is only of short walk away from the Gros Ventre River. Another great campsite to check out is the Jenny Lake Campsite, just a few hundred feet from the east shore of Jenny Lake. Explore the open forest dotted with Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, and subalpine fir.
