There is nothing better than experiencing the great outdoors, and the best camping experience is the way to do it.
However, how do you decide when there is so much choice? You can venture up to the National Seashore in Cape Cod and explore the miles of hiking trails through the Sand Dunes.
You can even head South if you live around the New York area and sample places like Letchworth Park open year-round.
That could be a trip in itself, and you won’t have ventured as far as South Dakota and the Badlands National Park or further to sample many more places on offer.
Here you can find some of the best places to go camping and pitch a tent in the United States.
Best Camping Sites
1. Big Bend National Park
While Big Bend National Park in Texas may be one of the most under-visited Parks in the USA, it boasts several campsites, including Chisos Basin Campground. It is in this location you can find many of the park’s favorite miles of hiking trails.
Besides, there is the RV Rio Grande Village Campground, comprising a further 25 tent sites. Visitors can also find the Cottonwood Campground, located not far from Santa Elena Canyon.
One of the most significant drawbacks being visitors who venture to Big Bend National Park will face a limit of 28 nights camping in the park for each calendar year.
2. Arches National Park
Here, you can find above 2,000 arches made from sandstone. The naturally made arches are the most extensive collection of anywhere in the world. You can sample the most famous Delicate Arch and make most of your time at the ‘Devils Garden Campground.’
It is possible to select from any of the 51 campsites in the Arches National Park, which are open for reservation, and are conveniently located to the Dead Horse Point State Park and countless mountain bike trails.
3. Joshua Tree National Park
If you venture to the Joshua Tree National Park and it falls from October to May. You may find that all eight camping sites in Joshua Tree National Park California rapidly fill up over the weekends.
In the low-season months from June to September, campgrounds are more readily bookable.
A few of the campsites, Ryan Campground, included, shut down in the summer. Ryan Campground is also one of two camping sites on the Joshua Tree National Park, California, which has a designated horse campsite, and the other being Black Rock.
You can also find many places to go rock climbing around the hidden Valley Campground among the numerous rock formations.
4. Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon doesn’t take much introduction. Yet, it is a gorge carved out by the Colorado River and is located in the Grand Canyon National Park for those who need reminding.
If you are expecting to camp in the canyon, you will be disappointed, yet the park offers a handful of campgrounds in the surrounding region to pitch a tent.
You can find the Mather Campground, one of the few open all year, heading toward the South Rim. Heading in the opposite direction toward the North Rim Campground, you will find this open from 15th to October 31. (Read Best Michigan Hiking Trails)
Besides this, you can find several lodges in the South and the Trailer Village RV Park.
5. Great Smokey Mountains National Park
Sitting near the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina, you will find the Great Smoky Mountains, National Park.
It is the most visited of all U.S. National Parks. It’s easy to see why the Great Smoky Mountains are so famous when you find several types of campsites available and some of the best camping spots in the U.S.
There are many backpacker campsites around the various shelters on Mount LeConte, Kephart, and Laurel Gap Shelter.
There are also developed campsites in the Smoky Mountains National Park where it is possible to reserve campsites. In addition, there are primitive horse campsites if you are riding into the sizeable open countryside of the Smoky Mountains. (Find the Best Places To Camp In Colorado)
If you want to make things easier or have children, you can find the LeConte Lodge more suitable. Here, it’s situated in a very open clearing at the bottom of Mount LeConte’s summit. You will also find the highest guest lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the eastern part of the USA.
6. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Sitting close to the shore of Lake Superior, Michigan, you will find Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
The area stretches 42 miles, where you can take in all the natural archways, natural formations, waterfalls, and dunes of sand. You can choose from campgrounds, and either is worth a look.
Little Beaver Lake is small and comprises eight campsites with a one-mile self-guiding trail. Being somewhat larger is the Hurricane River Campground and comes with 21 campsites.
Twelve Mile Beach Campground offers more at 36 campsites, which lay on a sandy plateau. Two trails pass through the Park Campground and comprise North Country National Scenic Trail and White Birch Interpretative Trail. (Read Top Colorado Hiking Trails)
7. Ozark-St. Francis National Forests
Sitting in Arkansas, you can find the strangely named Ozark-St. Francis National Forests comprises two separate forests of St. Francis and Ozark.
Split between the two forests; you can find 23 campgrounds sitting along the lakes and rivers and even higher in the mountains. It is possible to go primitive camping in the National Forest, and areas where it is prohibited, are signposted.
The campgrounds offer areas for swimming and total around almost 400 miles of hiking trails. Some campgrounds you can find offer picnic tables and are available all year, while others are open from May to October.
8. Acadia National Park
When you visit Acadia National Park in Maine, you have around 50,000 acres of mountains, forests, and ocean views open to exploration.
There are several good camping places in the park. These comprise Blackwood’s, Seawall Campground, and Schoodic Woods.
You can find an island just off the coast in Maine called Isle au Haut. Here is another campsite named Duck Harbor Campground.
You can only reach this by mail boat, with five campsites open from May 15 to October 15. Acadia National Park has some of the best camping in the USA, but you need to be quick.
9. Glacier National Park
It can be easy to get the Glacier National Park mixed up with Glacier Bay in Alaska. However, this could be one of the best places to camp if; you were close to Bartlett Cove.
However, sitting on the Canada and U.S. border in Montana is the Glacier National Park. You will have over a million acres that span over two mountain ranges. Sitting in and around these are 130 different lakes.
In these places, you find most of the campgrounds around the vicinity of the more mammoth lakes.
Most are open from the middle of June through mid-September, although a couple is open all year, and being Apgar and St. Mary. Outside the season, they revert to primitive camping conditions so that you won’t find any amenities or running water.
10. Crater Lake
Deep in Oregon, you have Crater Lake National Park, and it happens to be the only park in the state.
You will find two developed campgrounds inside the park: Mazama Village Campground and Lost Creek Campground. Both won’t accept R.V. and campers with tents, although Mazama does accommodate both types of campers while Lost Creek is only for tents.
You also find they are both summer campgrounds and are both toward the south side of the lake. Here you can find one of the best places to go camping if you are in this state.
You will have a table for picnics and fire rings that come with a grill as well as a steel box to keep your food away from nosy bears.
Once you visit the area, you are in the area of the deepest lake in the USA. It was created 7,700 years ago via an eruption that caused a tall peak to collapse. While you may wish to look at this marvel, it can often be covered by dense clouds.
As you can see, there are many places to visit, and these are just some of the standout places to head off when camping.
Even if you are on a road trip, you can take in ones that cater for R.V.’s, and you will see a very different side of the countryside you are used to seeing in your home state.
