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Get Outdoors

Fall means camping, and there’s plenty right around Memphis.

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The Memphis heat is fading, the leaves are falling, and the coronavirus says outdoor stuff is best. It’s time to go camping. 

Running those endless errands on your same old track through Memphis makes it tough to remember that the great outdoors is really at the city’s doorstep. State parks here are gorgeous, well maintained, easy to get to, oh, and social distancing-friendly.   

Even if you don’t want to load up the tent, a walk in the woods is restorative in these chaotic times, especially for your kids. But if you do want to camp out (or rent a cabin), there are some state parks that are hard to beat, especially being so close. 

T.O. Fuller State Park

The park has three hiking trails ranging from moderate to rugged. On the Discovery Trail, you’ll find Mississippi flood plains, bluff ridges, and the Chucalissa Indian Village. The park is well-known for its massive swimming pool and splash pad but those were closed for 2020. 

The park has 45 campsites that are all RV accessible but open to tent campers. The campground has a picnic shelter, playground, bathhouse, and laundry. Each campsite has a picnic table, lantern hanger, fire ring, grill, and electrical and water hook-ups. 

Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park

Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park is a massive hardwood bottomland area bordering the Mississippi River just north of Memphis. Most of the park sits atop the beautiful Chickasaw Bluffs, and below them in the bottomland are mature Bald Cypress and Tupelo swamps. 

Paddle around Poplar Tree Lake on your own (motorless) boat or rent canoes, kayaks, tandem kayaks, and paddleboards at the lake’s edge. The park is home to a huge, 36-hole disc golf course sought after by disc golfers throughout the Southeast. The Audubon Society designated Meeman-Shelby an Important Bird Area in 2006 and more than 240 species have been sighted there. There are 20 miles of hiking trails, a five-mile mountain bike track, and more than eight miles of horseback trails.

The park has 49 campsites, each equipped with table, grill, and electrical and water hookups. A bathhouse has toilets and hot showers. There are also six two-bedroom cabins right on the bank of Poplar Tree Lake in a heavily wooded section of the park.

Chickasaw State Park

I know, this one is a bit of a drive. But it’s worth it. 

There’s golf (on an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Design golf course), paddling (with easy rentals) on the 54-acre Lake Placid, birding, hiking on eight trails, mountain biking, fishing, horseback riding, and more. My family went in the dead of summer and promised we’d return this fall. 

There are tons of great campsites with views of the lake (which is amazing with a cup of morning coffee). There are 53 sites just for RVs. There’s also a huge “wrangler” camp set aside for those traveling with horses. (Even if you don’t stay in the wrangler camp, the kiddos love checking out the horses.) If camping’s just not your thing, there are 13 cabins to rent.