Massive Cathedral Caverns draws visitors with its interesting stalactite and stalagmite formations, including one 45-foot-tall column that reaches the cave's ceiling. Tour guides host daily trips through the caverns, and visitors can pan through mining dirt for prepackaged gemstones on site. Camping at Cathedral Caverns State Park (alapark.com) is primitive, meaning there are no electrical hookups or bathhouses. Tent campers have access to cleared sites with fire pits, a community water spigot and port-a-potties. Campers must reserve a spot in advance. The park also has a backcountry campsite -- with no facilities -- for experienced hikers.
Cheaha State Park (alapark.com), an hour and a half east of Birmingham, is home to the state's highest point at 2,407 feet. The park protects pristine forests and Appalachian foothills and is a popular camping spot on race weekends at the nearby Talladega Superspeedway. Two campgrounds in the state park have tent camping and RV spots. The upper campground has 43 full-hookup campsites and two bathhouses with restrooms and hot showers. The lower campground is within walking distance of Cheaha Lake, a favorite for swimming and boating. The campground has 30 full-hookup sites and one bathhouse with restrooms and hot showers.
This 180,581-acre forest in northwestern Alabama has four developed campgrounds and allows tent campers to pitch anywhere in the forest in a practice called dispersed camping. The Brushy Lake campground has 12 campsites with picnic tables, fire pits and vault toilets. There are no electrical hookups or waste stations for RVs. Clear Creek is a large campground on with 97 RV and tent sites, water and electrical hookups, a waste station and bathhouses with restrooms and hot showers. Corinth campground on Lewis Smith Lake has 56 tent and RV sites with full hookups, waste station and bathhouses with restrooms and hot showers. Houston campground has 76 tent and RV sites with picnic tables, grills and bathhouses with restrooms and hot showers. Visitors have access to historical Civil War-era sites, fishing, hiking trails and the Little Natural Bridge rock formation.
Point Mallard Park (pointmallardpark.com) is in Decatur, in north-central Alabama. The 500-acre park covers a series of sloughs off the scenic Tennessee River, though the camping experience here is decidedly modern. The large campground has 233 RV sites and six primitive tent sites, with laundry, free Wi-Fi, waste station, grocery, restrooms and showers, playground and charcoal grills. The complex is within walking distance of Point Mallard Park's attractions: a golf course, batting cages, an indoor ice-skating rink, soccer fields, tennis courts and large water park.
