Many travelers are reevaluating how they take their vacations with a lot of them preferring to go the route of the RV. This has resulted in a growing number of people now experiencing RV camping as one of the most exciting and rewarding ways to explore the United States. Few modes of transport allow travelers to cover so much distance for little cost while taking in many of the country’s national treasures. To help more RVers experience the nation’s natural wonders, we’ve put together five routes that’ll allow you to take in many of these beautiful preserves.
California Loop: 2,226 Miles
The state of California is among the most unique in the country offering such wide varieties of natural beauty from towering forests to vast deserts to breathtaking ocean views and shorelines. These 14 destinations will take RVers across the entire state. Please note you can take this journey with any location as your starting point and follow the loop accordingly. For this example though, we’re starting just northeast of San Diego and going clockwise from there.
Anza-Borrego State Park → Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park → Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park → Big Basin Redwoods State Park → Point Reyes → Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park → Klamath National Forest → Shasta National Forest → Lake Tahoe → Grover Hot Springs → Yosemite National Park → John Muir Wilderness → Death Valley → Joshua Tree National Park
Rocky Mountains: 2,826 Miles
The Rocky Mountains are one of our country’s most sought after vacation destinations stretching over 3,000 miles from New Mexico all the way up to British Columbia in Canada. You could spend weeks alone at some of the stopping points. Realistically, you could spend years exploring all the Rocky Mountains have to offer. We've chosen several of the more popular destinations to at least get you started and highly encourage you set aside plenty of time for your road trip. The 12 locations are once again in a clockwise order, but you can start your vacation at what ever is the most convenient destination. For this example though, we get started in southern Idaho.
Sawtooth National Forest → Craters of the Moon Monument → National Elk Refuge → Grand Teton National Park → Yellowstone National Park → Glacier National Park → Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area → Devil's Tower National Monument → Rocky Mountain National Park → Great Sand Dunes National Park → Mesa Verde National Park → Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Route 66: 2,332 Miles
Route 66 is a classic stretch of road between Chicago to Los Angeles that’s provided memorable trips to countless travelers. Unlike the other trips we’ve listed, this isn’t anywhere near as focused on nature and more on museums, city stops, and roadside attractions. There are literally hundreds of memorable stops you could make, but we’ve narrowed those down to 16 to focus on for this trip knowing you can do plenty of others on a future one. This is also only going in one direction from east to west. You could take in a lot more during the return trip going from the west back to the east.
Chicago, Illinois→ Route 66 Association Hall of Fame and Museum → Lincoln's Tomb → Saint Louis, Missouri → Mark Twain National Forest → Galena Mining and Historical Museum → Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum → Oklahoma Route 66 Museum → Palo Duro State Park → Cadillac Ranch → Route 66 Auto Museum → Red Rock State Park → Petrified Forest National Park → Meteor Crater → Grand Canyon → Los Angeles, California
New England Loop: 1,515 Miles
The northeast part of the United States in New England offers some of the most scenic adventures you’ll experience anywhere in the country. You’ll also get a little bit of everything from historic colonials to luscious forests to rocky shorelines to historic to stunning seaside communities overlooking the ocean. We start this particular journey into American history in upstate New York although you don’t necessarily have to start there and can begin at any of the locations listed below based on whatever is most convenient to your starting point.
Adirondack State Park → Green Mountain National Forest → White Mountain National Forest → Allagash Wilderness Waterway State Park → Acadia National Park → Minute Man National Historic Park → Salem, Massachusetts → Boston, Massachusetts → Cape Cod, Massachusetts → Jamestown, Rhode Island → Fort Adams State Park → Mystic Seaport, Connecticut → Hammonasset State Park → Fort Hale Park → Ferris Lake
The South: 5,776 Miles
An RV expedition throughout the southern United States will have you encountering just about everything you could imagine. The loop we’ve selected starts in historic Savannah, Georgia and finishing with a proper cool down to end the journey. Of course you’re obviously welcome to start your road trip whenever you want just as has been the case with all but one of the other suggestions we’ve provided. No matter where you start, following this loop will still have you finishing wherever you began.
Savannah, Georgia → Ocala National Forest → Big Cypress National Preserve → Everglades National Park → Apalachicola National Forest → Blackwater River State Park → De Soto National Forest → New Orleans, Louisiana → Kisatchie National Forest → Houston, Texas → Sam Houston National Forest → Ouachita National Forest → Ozark National Forest → Memphis, Tennessee → Nashville, Tennessee → Cherokee National Forest → Chattahoochee National Forest → George Washington National Forest → Virginia Beach, Virginia → Myrtle Beach, South Carolina → Hilton Head, South Carolina