“Growing up, every year my family would go camping at Fall Creek Falls State Park in eastern Tennessee. In Oxford, we recommend either the Chancellor’s House or the Graduate Oxford. The park also rents out six rustic cabins and a more modern cottage that sleeps four. Where to stay when visiting Tishomingo State Park: Campers can book one of 17 primitive sites and RV-ers can call one of 61 sites home.Nearest city to Tishomingo State Park: Tishomingo is located in the northeast corner of the state, 94 miles east of Oxford.Tranquil Bear Creek winds through the park in late spring through late fall, the park offers a two- to three-hour guided canoe float. And, with massive stone outcroppings, it’s the only place in the state to rock-climb (by permit only). Extending into the foothills of the Appalachians, the park is thickly forested, with 13 miles of trails. Named for Chief Tishomingo, who led the Chickasaw nation in the early 19th century, Tishomingo offers a peek at the past: Excavations reveal that native people called Tishomingo home as early as 7000 B.C.E. Where to stay when visiting Red Top Mountain State Park: In one of the 93 campsites, 20 cottages, or single yurt in Atlanta, you can’t go wrong with the Whitley.Nearest city to Red Top Mountain State Park: Atlanta is 45 miles southeast of the park.There’s a four-mile loop, Iron Hill Trail, where there are a lot of cool bridges you can walk over, and you can see green foliage and the lake through the trees.” -Adriana Garcia, cofounder of LatinXHikers You can usually get a normal spot a week or two before, but if you want a lakeside spot, you have to book far in advance. The campsites are very wooded, which makes great in the summer. It’s on the banks of Lake Allatoona-you can go swimming or boating or floating-and there are campsites right on the lake. It’s very close to Atlanta, only 45 minutes away, so you can easily shoot up there for the weekend or just a day hike. “My favorite state park right now is Red Top Mountain. So consider this list of the best state parks in the South-encompassing Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South and North Carolinas, Virginia and West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Texas-your starting line. The best way to understand them, of course, is to visit. Just try to compare the bayou-like waterways of Louisiana’s Chicot State Park with the otherworldly desert landscapes of Big Bend Ranch in Texas, or the dark lava rock moonscape of Oklahoma’s Black Mesa with the waterfall splendor that is Tennessee’s Fall Creek Falls. The state parks here may be bundled beneath one geographic designation-the South-but they couldn’t be more different from one another, encompassing some of the most mind-boggling features of this country. ![]() Though COVID-19 has stalled many travel plans, AFAR is continuing to cover the world, because while you may not be traveling right now, there’s always room for inspiration. This story is part of our “ See America, One State Park at a Time” series.
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