Rock Island State Park

Rock Island State Park is not often that you find truly primitive campgrounds within driving distance, but if you make the trek from Chicago to Wisconsin's Door County islands, you'll be rewarded with the gloriously uninhabited territory. Stationed off the peninsula’s far tip, vehicle-free Rock Island is home to Wisconsin's oldest lighthouse, hiking trails, and a full 2,000 feet of sandy shores. The seasonal passenger-only ferry from Washington Island connects visitors to walk-in tent sites available for online booking. Picnic area flush toilets cover most of your bodily needs, but you'll have to do your bathing in Lake Michigan.

Take the ferry Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day to this primitive Lake Michigan island where no vehicles are allowed. This unique park features the Pottawatomie Lighthouse as well as stone buildings built by a wealthy inventor who owned the island between 1910 and 1964. Rock Island offers rustic, walk-in campsites, hiking trails, a swimming beach, and miles of shoreline to explore. Affectionately dubbed the Cape Cod of the Midwest, Door County is chock full of seasonal activities, from picking your own cherries at pastoral orchards to touring charming towns the old-fashioned way. Book a kayaking tour and catch a glimpse of a kayak that's listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for logging 30,000 miles at Bread and Water Kayaks and Paddling Museum on Washington Island.

Location: 82 Beach Rd, Rock Island, TN 38581, United States

Google Rating: 4.8/5