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For a true taste of camping in the Deep South, it doesn’t get much more authentic than Alabama. Hugging the bottom half of the state are the sugar white sands and clear teal waters of the Gulf Coast; while farther north, you’ll find scenic trails winding through rolling canyons and the southern tip of the Appalachian Mountains.

Will the real West Virginia please step forward? If all you know of this beautiful slice of Appalachia are the hackneyed backwoods stereotypes, you’re missing out on some of the most unspoiled camping in the U.S. As the writer Heather Day Gilbert described it: “I couldn’t describe the smells of West Virginia if I tried. It has something to do with the leaves composting in the woods, the cold trickle of little creeks and waterfalls, the ferns greening up everything. But somewhere deep below, I can smell the rock and the coal this state is built on.”

It can’t be proven, of course, but it sure feels like time slows to a creep the second you cross the Louisiana border. The rushed pace of modern life doesn’t stand a chance here, where local food, soulful music and slow living beats hurried productivity every time. This deep southern land feels delightfully off-grid, filled with hidden bayous, quiet cypress groves, farmland and forest. All that low land eventually leads to the warm, teal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where one can pitch a tent under a thick blanket of stars with a Po’ Boy and a beer.

Nothing fires up a camper’s imagination like the wild abandon of Wyoming. Dotted with rodeos, ranches and preserved visions of the Old West, the Cowboy State is blissfully less populated than the rest of the country. The land itself is vast and dramatic, with two majestic National Parks – Yellowstone and Grand Teton – located 40 minutes from each other in the state’s northwest corner.

Welcome to South Carolina, land of palmetto trees and pecans, birthplace of boiled peanuts and barbeque. It’s a state rich with history, its cities dripping with colonial-age charm, but venture off the beaten path and you’ll find a South Carolina that is wild and rugged.